Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dingle]

My gf and I are considering taking a couples' position at the Korea Herald School in Sanbon, near Seoul. Does anyone know anything about this school or Sanbon-dong, or the recruiter we've been talking with, Matthew Kim ([email protected])?

[sojourner1]

They have videos up on Youtube. You get a shoe box on the floor directly above the school and the school appeared to be well stocked with supplies. They look like they could be very strict and over ruling of your life, but I could be wrong about this. Maybe it is a good school, maybe not. It's in an office building in a flashy neon light city center kind of place.

[Octavius Hite]

Sanbon is a great place to live. Its 45 minutes from Itaewon by subway 25$ cab fare for those late drunken nights.

It is 10 minutes from Anyang which has everything.

Sanbon is a great suburb, clean, lots of things to do and very close to seoul.

I have resigned here and have lots of waygookin friends to hangout with.

[yeremy]

Sanbon is part of Gunpo City, which is in Gyonggi Province. Sanbon has it's own subway stop, Sanbon Station #444 on the number four line of the Seoul Metro Subway System. Geumjeong Station is a major transfer station for the number one line going to Suwon, Cheonan and for the number four line which goes to SW to Oido.
Sanbon is also one of the planned satellite surburbs, which people say failed, but I do not understand how Sanbon really failed. It has shopping, decent restaurants, coffee shops, small mountains, almost anything you want to do except for the Seoul nightlife. Basically, Sanbon is pretty much a family-oriented suburb with a rep for being fairly foreigner friendly. A lot of the other people I have worked with or known here seem to head to Seoul after they work here for a year, or maybe two. Or they go on to work at a lower tier university, and a small minority seem to go to the sticks to teach and study Korean. I like Sanbon a lot. I've been here almost five years and I recommend it, but you may spend more time on the subway going to Seoul, it sounds like, than you think.
I don't know much about the KH English Schools, but they're a big franchise hagwon. You'll have about the same experience there as anyone who works in a hagwon does. Don't expect to find heaven at work, I think. But some love their jobs at their hagwon, so you can't knock it.
It takes about 50 minutes to get to Seoul Station, but most foreign teachers here really are heading for Itaewon, which means that they're heading for Samgachi Station on the number 4 blue line, where they can get a subway train that takes them to Itaewon. I guess that there is more pleasure drinking in numbers because Sanbon has their share of bars, too.
The entertainment district next to Geumjeong Station on the Sanbon side is slightly better for bars, I think, than Sanbon. It's seedier (Love Hotels and Hostess Bars) than Sanbon, too, which apparently appeals to single couples staggering around with their arms around each other, and the bars/restaurants draw large groups of salary workers et al. Annyang and Pyoungchan are not far away, too. You'll find more of what you may be interested in there. Sanbon is a good place, but if you are looking for the hot nightlife, then you want to go to Seoul.

[wylies99]

Korea Herald chain is bad news. Stay away.

[Roch]

[garykasparov]

I heard the owner was arrested for operating brothels, immoral activities that shame Korean people [Engaging in sexual activities with the same sex], and tax evasion.