Setting up NH Internet Banking in Korea

If you are with the Public School program here in South Korea, you will have to set up a bank account with NH (Nonghyup). This is the standard bank the government/education department uses to pay your salary. You can open another account at a later stage for sending money home (we have an Easy One Account with KEB which we use to send money home easily to South Africa as KEB changes KRW straight into ZAR without having to first convert to US dollars).

Please Note: Internet Explorer & NH are best friends. I often have problems trying to use my Mac to do internet banking. Some days it works and some days it doesn't. But it always works with Internet Explorer on my school computer.

To set up internet banking with NH you need to visit a branch. Do this straight away when you first go set up your bank account (hopefully you have a friendly co-teacher/friend to help you). Farmboy and I both have check cards that we can use for paying for goodies online (some internet sites accept these check cards and some don't so it's a bit of a luck of the draw). A check card is basically a debit card which acts as a credit card without any overdraft. You can use it to pay online but the money is automatically debited from your account. As far as I know, I can only use my check card here in Korea. I tried to use it to pay for flights online like I used to be able to use my South African check card, but no luck so far.

When you set up internet banking at the bank, you need to give them your passport (they will make a copy for you), you also need your ARC card (if you don't have this yet you need to show them your ARC certificate which you get from your nearest education office when you apply for your ARC card. It acts as a temporary ARC card until yours arrives). There is also a charge, it was a whopping W1000 when I opened mine.

What to Bring:

-passport
-ARC card/temporary certificate
-cash 
-address (of your apartment or school)

They will give you:

-an Internet banking registration form
-a banking password card (this looks like a credit card with a load of different number combinations)

The following will be given to you if you are setting your bank account up for the first time (ie you don't get a separate card & bank book for Internet Banking)
-a bank card 
-an account book (which is actually pretty important in Korea, and you can use it to withdraw money without your bank card, and to print out statements)

Once you are all set up you will have to create an internet banking pin (usually 10 - 15 numbers and letters) to make transactions & another pin called a User ID to log onto internet banking. Keep those all somewhere safe. And you will need to have your card/ATM pin handy (4 letters).

You will then be given a OTP (one time pin) to use to set up internet banking for the first time. You usually one have 2 -3 days to use it before it expires.

To use internet banking you also need to have a digital certificate which gets loaded onto a USB. You use this every time you log onto internet banking so make sure you keep this on you all the time. If you lose it, its pretty easy to re-issue. You issue it for the first time through NH (click here) on the top menu bar = Certificate Centre. Keep this on a USB so that you can access Internet Banking from any computer in Korea. Whenever you do internet banking you will need this certificate so keep that USB safe!

Here are some wonderful step by step instructions from Asrune at TeachTravelLearn. Once you have been given the One Time Pin from the bank, you can set up Internet Banking at home/at school.

On a computer with Internet Explorer:

1. Go to http://banking.nonghyup.com/nhbank.html

2. In the bottom right hand corner, select "Global Banking" and "English"

3. You will see this page. It is prompting you to download a keyboard protection program. Click the left hand option to download and continue:

4. Go to the "Certificate Center" and click "Issue a Certificate"

5. Enter your ID, which you created at the bank. It is listed on your registration form under "이용지명 ID:" on the second line of text.

6. Enter your foreign number (National Identification Number), or passport number. Select the free certificate, and confirm

7. Accept the terms of Service

8. Register. Have your registration form (given to you at the bank) and password card ready.

9. Create your banking password.

A pop up message will appear and ask you to create a Banking password. It must be 8 digits with both letters and numbers. You use this with your USB digital certificate every time you do Internet Banking 

10. Save your Certificate to a USB device.

You can use a USB so that you can log on any computer, or save it directly to your computer. You have to have a certificate to access Internet banking in Korea. A USB is recommended. After you have Internet banking set up, you can also add it to your phone, but that's a whole other blog post waiting to be written.

11. Log on! A pop up window like this will show up. Find where you saved your certificate, select your name, and enter your 8 digit banking password at the bottom (created in Step 9 above).

If you have any other problems, call the NH English customer service at 1588-2100 *730 for English Help.

Now that you have your digital certificate set up you can log in and start doing banking transfers. As the NH site is all in English it should be easy enough to follow. Good Luck!

Owning a Dog in Korea {Part 2} Health Check Ups & Vaccinations

This is a follow on post from Part 1 in this series Owning A Dog in Korea.

In Part 1 I talked about all the things you need to have to make sure you and your pup are happy. Nothing in the guide is compulsory by any means, but rather is is written from my experience. Keeping a dog in an apartment here in South Korea is hard, and so that blog post is filled with ideas of items you may want to buy, as well as links to places you can get hold of them. Things like where to buy collars, harnesses, crates & toys for larger dogs. I hope you find it helpful!

We have had our rescue pup, Shadow, for just over 6 months (click here to read more about how he came into our lives) and had no idea what needed to be done in terms of health check ups. This post will hopefully provide you with enough information about what your pup needs to be healthy and happy.

The first thing you need to do with your new pup/dog is to take him to the vet to have a thorough health check. This basic check up will determine whether your dog has any diseases. Depending on whether your pup had a previous owner, you may or may not need to have vaccinations. We rescued Shadow from the side of the road when he was tiny, and so he needed to have every test done as well as all his vaccinations.  You also need to ask your vet to check for Heartworm which is a very nasty disease very prevalent here in Korea.

If you have rescued a puppy you need to be very mindful of Parvo virus which is incredibly contagious and deadly to young dogs. Parvo is spread through the feces and vomit of infected dogs and puppies. This virus can live in feces for about two weeks and can survive in the environment (areas on floors and cages) for many months. This survival rate allows it to be passed along by hands, clothing or shoes of anyone who comes in contact with it. We were warned by many dog owners not to let our puppy go outside until he had had all his shots, but this just wasn't practical for us. When we go home to South Africa, Shadow will be an outside dog and so we needed to toilet train him outdoors. I know many people here in Korea who use pee pads, and it works for them but is a personal and situational preference (if you live on the 20th floor of a sky rise building, it might not be practical to take out a young puppy every 3 hours). Getting up at all hours in the freezing cold to go outside was hard, but it was something we decided and have just put up with. 

What to Do if your dog Tests Positive for Heartworm

I don't have any experience with treating heart worm and so I asked the local dog owning community here in Korea for some advice. I just want to say thank you to each of these ladies for taking the time to respond to me and offer help and advice to dog owners who may have to go through heartworm treatment.

"Finding out your new foster or adopted pup has heartworm is awful. This happened to me in January 2013. All dogs in Korea need to be given monthly heartworm preventatives as heartworm is rampant in Korea.
At first the vet will just do a quick blood test to determine if your dog is heartworm positive or negative. If it is positive, the most important thing is that you ACT QUICKLY!
You do not have time to save up for a month or so! Find a vet that will do a payment plan if money is an issue. Heartworm is more difficult to treat the longer it progresses. There are 4 stages of heartworm - you will find out which stage your dog is by having scans done. If it's stage 1 or 2 - it's treatable. Stage 3 and 4 treatment options are not as successful and will depend on your dogs health.
I have experience with treating stage 2 heart worm. My dog was given two rounds of injections 24 hours apart. After the first injection, she cried for a solid 8 hours. It was agonising to watch. The second one was a little better but still awful.
The dog must be kept calm during the few weeks following treatment - their heart rate needs to stay steady.
About 4 months later we retested my dog and she tested negative! We were really lucky! I have heard it can take up to 9 months for a negative test result. Or worse, the treatment may need to be repeated" Julie

---

"Our dog, Sue, had to have 2 rounds of Immiticide before she tested negative for HW. For Close to 4 weeks each time, she had to be quite still and not have too many walks.  She was a bit lethargic and tired after the injections. Each round of treatment was 400,000won.  I did not check around as I wanted her to have the treatment right away.  My vet also kept her over night on an IV to give her fluids and monitor her.

She was rescued from a shelter, nearly dead, from malnutrition and she had just given birth. The initial injection causes them to be in quite a bit of pain and sometimes they writhe around on the floor and you feel completely helpless as you watch.  they don't understand what is causing the pain and you can't help them at all. It is usually 1 injection and then you wait for the medicine, which is essentially poison to kill the worms near the heart and hope it does not kill the dog in the process.  We had to get Sue to a good weight and moderate healthy before she could even have the injection. One round just did not kill all the worms and we had to go back and do it again" Erin

---

"From my experience, once my dog tested positive, we did blood test to find out if he had any worm eggs in his blood. My vet also did an ultrasound of the heart and he was able to see the condition of his heart and adult worms in his heart.
Next, he staged his heartworm given his symptoms. This is an indication of how advanced the heartworm is. It goes from Stage 1 through 4 (1 being the mildest and 4 being the most serious).
It is important that dogs are at a normal weight and try to maintain their weight during the treatment. My dog was underweight. So, we had to wait some time for him to gain weight before starting actual heartworm shots. Being arsenic based, these shots take a lot from a dog’s body.
While we were waiting for him to gain weight, he was on antibiotics (2 rounds). My vet also put him on puppy food for a month as puppy food is higher in protein and calories to help with his weight gain. He had poor appetite, which is one of the symptoms of heartworm disease. I bought him My Beau nutritional supplement, salmon oil for dogs and some wet food to mix in his dry food alternatively to encourage him to eat more. I also offered him a hard-boiled egg once or twice a day.
I tried to offer 3 or 4 mini meals when I was around over the weekends to help with his weight gain. I weighed him every other day so that I could see my progress.
We gave him pills with Greenies pill pockets as he didn’t want to swallow them otherwise. I have heard people mix them with a bit of jam/peanut butter/bread as well.
Some of the other symptoms of heartworm disease include: cough, shortness of breath, labored breathing, lethargy, swollen/distended abdomen, and edema of the legs.
Once heartworm shots are initiated, the most important thing is to restrict exercise. Dogs should only be brought out for the toilet and always on a leash. We have to restrict things which increase heart rate such as running, jumping, playing ball, climbing steps/stairs/hills, barking a lot and mating.

Also, it is important that the day dogs get an injection not to rub/massage the area even if they may be in pain. It is very important to do everything possible to keep them calm" Dee Dee

As heartworm is such a problem here in Korea, Vets advise giving dogs heartworm preventatives. These are given once a month and come in tablet form. You can take your dog in once or month to your vet or buy a couple of months supply to give your dog at home. The tablets aren't that expensive and most definitely worth doing. 

Vaccinations

Here in South Korea vets give dogs the following vaccinations:

•  DHLLP (Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Papainfluenza & Leptospirosis (x5 shots)
•  Corona Virus (x2 shots) 
• Kennel Cough (x2 shots)
• It's also a good idea to get the rabies vaccination done too.

Some people feel very strongly about not over vaccinating their dogs, and lots of websites suggest having a Titer Test (anti body test) after about the 3rd or 4th round of DHLLP. I trusted my vet, and as Shadow is a larger breed than most dogs here in Korea I took my Vet's advice to have all 5 rounds of DHLLP.

Vets usually administer 2 shots together, 2 - 4 weeks apart. In my case Shadow had the following:

• Round 1: DHLLP & Corona
• Round 2: DHLLP & Corona
• Round 3: DHLLP & Kennel Cough
• Round 4: DHLLP & Kennel Cough
• Round 5: DHLLP & Rabies

Each visit to the vet cost W22 000 (I do live in a small town so I think the prices are slightly less than in bigger cities). The rabies shot was a little more and was more painful for him than the others.

After the initial vaccinations, you are advised to take your dog in for yearly booster shots.

All of the above is very important to bear in mind before you get a dog. There are so many abandoned pups on the streets here in Korea, but before you just pick them up make sure you know what you're getting into financially.

A few numbers to chew on:

Heart worm treatment: +-W400 000 a shot (often times you may need 2 or even 3 rounds) basic Basic Vaccinations: +-W150 000

Neutering: -+W200 000 (male) can be as much as W400 000 for a female

Spaying: +-W400 000

And thats before the food and toys and bedding and treats. And of course the final cost of transporting your pet home.

Even with all of the above, we can't imagine our lives without Shadow. He has brought so much joy to our lives and we don't regret picking him up off the streets one bit.

Do you have anything you want to add, or is there something I've left off here? Please drop me a comment below or email me and I will update this post. Thank you!

Owning a Dog in Korea {Part 1} What you need to keep you and your pup happy.

Our lives changed in September 2014 when we rescued Shadow, then a tiny black and brown ball of fluff. We had no plans on having any pets while living here in Korea, but we have very little control over who and what God places in our lives.

We spent 3 weeks deliberating over what to do with him, mainly because it costs thousands of dollars to take a dog back home to South Africa, and also because we had no idea what owning a puppy really meant.

This post will hopefully help you with the basics of what you need to keep both you and your pup happy while living in an apartment here in Korea. I am by no means a dog expert, but I have spent countless hours watching youtube tutorials for training dogs, and have had the past 3 months (not a huge amount of time but a LOT of time when you get a puppy) to learn a few things.

These things will also be useful for anyone getting a dog (not just a puppy) but there will be a few things you won't have to worry about if you live in a house with a garden. Here in Korea we live in relatively small apartments and so choosing to have a dog needs to be well thought out and planned process to ensure minimal stress for everyone. 

*I will be doing another post on getting a health check for your dog here, heart worm medication as well as all the vaccinations they need*

Sleeping:

Farmboy and I live in a relatively large apartment, and so have converted one of the rooms we have into the dog den. Not everyone will have this luxury, so I suggest getting a 'play pen' of sorts to contain your puppy/dog while you are out the house or can't keep an eye on him. This has been the most important thing we have done, and has really helped us relax when we are gone to work 8 hours of the day. We bought this dog gate off Gmarket (W45 000 or $45 click here for the link) which means he can see us, but he can't escape. He cried a lot the first few days we locked him up, but now he is happy to be in there and just sleeps when we aren't at home. This keeps him safe, as well as protecting the rest of our house from puppy mayhem. This also helps with housebreaking your puppy, as they tend not to mess where the sleep (the same is said for crate training...see below). 

His crate goes in his room as well as a cheap little bed we found at Daiso. He doesn't like blankets or anything that most dogs like to snuggle in. Even now with it snowing outside, he doesn't like the underfloor heating and chooses to sleep on the cold stone floor by the front door when he isn't in his room....strange pup.

I had never heard of crate training before, but as we will one day leave Korea, Shadow will have to travel in a crate for over 20 hours and so getting him used to it as soon as possible was very important for us. The sooner your pup gets used to the crate (and hopefully to see it as a happy and safe place to be) the easier it will be when they really have to be in it. There are lost of great videos on crate training (just google it and you'll find hundreds of great resources) and it took Shadow a while to be comfortable being inside it. He still doesn't like being locked in it for hours at a time, but he is getting used to it and it's only to help him in the end. We feed him in his crate, and put him inside it with some treats while we watch TV. He will eventually fall asleep in it and then we leave him in it over night. With crate training it's important to start off slowly, and progress gradually. Don't rush it or your poor pup will start to hate it. Also, never 'banish' your pup to his crate when he is naughty. You want the crate to always be a safe and welcoming place for him to be in.

Finding the right size crate can also be difficult. We had no idea how big Shadow would be and so had to make a guess. Crates are also super expensive here (this is one of the largest sizes and cost W165 000 or $165 on Gmarket. Click here for the link). If your pup is going to be traveling by air, the crate needs to be sturdy, IATA approved, and your dog needs to be able to stand up and turn around comfortably. Our crate is still a little too big for Shadow, but he is probably going to grow into it and we would want his journey home to be as comfortable as possible. 

Food

This has been a tough one as there are soooo many different opinions and different kinds of foods. I had done a lot of research and decided that I wanted to feed Shadow grain free food (a lot of the super market brands use grains as fillers, leaving far fewer nutrients in the food and leading to huge poos). We were feeding him Taste of The Wild grain free puppy food until the stockist ran out on Gmarket and have resorted to Kirkland Nature's Domain food for all life stages until we can order more Taste of The Wild.  Click here for a great comparison of dog foods as well as star ratings for quality and nutritional value. 

We buy in bulk and store the food in large kimchi containers to keep it fresh. I got this 13litre containers from Daiso. 

Toys

You can go wild with all the fun things you can buy for your dog here in Korea. Shadow loves his homemade toys the most (the tennis ball alien thingy that Farmboy made using old rope and a drill) and the grey t-shirt. We bought lots of toys that have rough edges on so he can chew away and help relive his itchy gums now that he is teething. 

Here are the links for the toys above:

Blue Ball thrower, Green squeaky ball, rope

Red Fireball Bento Treat Chew Toy

Black Squeaky Food/Treat Dispenser (this makes dinner time fun and keeps them occupied and their brain stimulated as they have to work out how to get the food out).

Ball Thrower

Purple food dispenser: bought at a pet shop in Gwangju

White nylabone

Treats

I mainly use treats for training (I follow Clicker Training which is based on positive reinforcement). You can find treats online through Gmarket, or at most marts and all pet stores here in Korea. When we leave the house for the day we also always make sure we give Shadow a Kong (the red toy pictured above) which will save your lives and keep your pup entertained for a good amount of time while you are gone. You fill the kong with treats, peanut butter, cheese, meat, carrots, bananas apples etc and the pop it in the freezer over night and voila! One very happy pooch! Click here for a link to them on gmarket. 

Grooming

I found all of these things at my local DC mart. The orange brush helps to really scrub and remove the dirt from Shadows thick fur. I also have a bunch of old small towels for drying him off after baths and for putting over his bed when we give him frozen bones. That just stops the yucky bits of blood and tissue from the bones messing everything. 

Training

I have been very strict with Shadow from the moment we got him and it has led to us having a very calm, well behaved dog. He doesn't jump on people, he has good manner, waits to be let in and out of doors and most importantly doesn't snap or grab things from people. It hasn't been easy but it has been worth it, and using a clicker (pictured above) has been life changing. This being said, we have only had him for 3 months and it's important to stick with your training, especially when you feel like your dogs knows all the tricks you have taught them. It's especially important to keep changing up the environment in which you ask your dog to do things for you, thereby helping to cement their learning.   I can highly recommend Kiko Pup on youtube & Training Positive.  Clicker training used food based rewards, but these videos give lots of advice for weaning your pup off the treats and ensuring your dog continues to do what you want him to do even without the treats. 

Walking

One of our biggest challenges has been to train Shadow to walk nicely on the lead. Using a harness instead of his just his collar has helped a lot but he still pulls and is a bit of a pain to take on walks. We do have a car, so luckily we can drive off to a field to give him his exercise but lead walking is a very important skill your dog needs to know how to do, and to do well. Click here for the link to where we bought this harness. It's soft and padded and doesn't cut into him like other harnesses have. They also have all sizes and colours and so you should be able to find one to fit your dog.

We only use the extension lead when we take him out to go to the bathroom.

Bathroom

Deciding where or how you want your dog to use the bathroom is another big decision to make. A lot of people use pee pads for their dogs, but we don't want our dog to get used to those and then have to be re-trained to go outside when we move back home. It's not easy having to wake up in the middle of the night in the freezing cold and take your dog out for a walk in the snow but it's a decision we have made. Shadow was pretty much housetrained from the moment we got him (something that is a common trait of Korean Jindos) and only pooed in the house on the first night we got him. Since then he has only had a handful off weeing accidents, mostly due to us not taking him out after he has eaten, slept  or been playing. Puppies should be taken out to the bathroom after each meal, ,nap, or play time until they are about 4 months old. 

Collar

Shadow is growing like a weed and has outgrown two collars already. This is one I found on Gmarket (click here) for him that included laser engraving for his name and for my number in case he gets lost. It comes in a variety of colours and sizes (it can be very hard to find a collar for larger dogs and this company were super easy to deal with!).

There is alot more I am still to learn about having a dog, but these are the basics that have helped us over the past 3 months. Do you have any other suggestions of tips for having a dog here in Korea? 

Vacuum Bags in South Korea

The title of this post should really be something like "How to squeeze mountains of clothing and bedding into a small bag" but that is a little long winded. With spring in full swing, (and being in the small apartment that we are in) we have needed to do something with all of our feather jackets, coats, blankets and duvets to make way for the hot and humid weather that is going to hit soon. Space is very limited in our house, limited to a tiny square of open floor underneath our bed. I found the perfect solution in Daiso a few weeks ago. Vacuum sealing bags. I have seen these before in South Africa, but have never really needed to use them. 

Basically, these bags are designed to store big and bulky (soft) items by reducing the space they take up. You use a vacuum cleaner to suction out all the air and you're left with a compact, and easy to store bag. You can buy these at any mart here in Korea, but I got these in Daiso as they seem to have the biggest selection and the best prices. When you buy them make sure that your bag included the little grey clip thingy, which helps seal your bag before removing the air (see picture below). Not all of the bags I bought included this handy gadget, so just make sure to keep an eye out and buy at least on that does. You only need one of them, and you can use it for every bag you have. Once you've sealed the bag, make sure to open the valve (the round shaped suction area) by removing the white cap. Then simply place your vacuum cleaner on the valve opening and bombs away. Packing has never been so much fun! Every time we pack away something, Farmboy and I are both mesmerised by the suction, it's amazing. Here's ate some pictures of what the bags look like as well as a before and after of our winter clothes and bedding. 

I hope you found this post useful! Look out for more space saving posts coming soon!