Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ceadem]

...What is it like?

This'll be my first time in Korea (and teaching) so I have no clue as to what to expect, nor do I know anyone there. This seems like a strange question to ask but what will my life be like there for the first couple of months?, how will I meet people?, are there art classes?, rock clubs?, scenery?, many G.I. Joes?

[stacyrb]

I would be interested in this as well as we are going to Ulsan the 2nd week of November.

Stacy

[Temporary]

Never lived there myself but I've been there quite a few times. Its a smaller city by Korean standards, industrial, many shipyards and refineries. I've never heard of a big expat community but I am sure there is one. Upside is that its quite close to Busan and Haeundae beach area. The poster for tourist attraction is a giant Chemical plant in Ulsan.

[Imrahil]

I have lived there for many years, it is not a bad city has many (not lots) of western restaurants now. Shopping is fairly good, if you are not an extra large person.(not trying to be rude to anyone) The most important thing is going to be living in the main city, since the public transportation system in Ulsan sucks. The buses are not very efficent unless you live in the main city and taxi's can be expensive. There is no subway in Ulsan. If you know where in the city you would be living I could probably give you more information.

[Cohiba]

NEVER live anywhere except Seoul (or close to it)

Remember "Cohiba's Rule" (Now better than ever!):

Think twice before you live outside of Seoul. "In Seoul" and
"outside of Seoul" are like two different countries. Seoul
is an interesting place with variety and venues for most
tastes. Outside of Seoul you will find a homogeneous Korean
culture. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you will never
find things like: French, Greek, Indian or any other ethnic
foods. Markets that sell sherry, pate, pastrami, ricotta cheese.
Specialty shops that sell cuban cigars, European pies, cold
cuts or rye breads. Just to name a few things.

The FFF RULE: FFF=Fun For Foreigners.

If FFF in Seoul = 100, then FFF decreases at
1/distance. So 2km from Seoul FFF=1/2(100)=50;
10km from Seoul FFF=1/10(100)=10. This rule is
a rule for nightlife, food and foreign products only.
Nature etc. is on a different scale altogether.

This means you will be wasting a lot of time commuting
to Seoul. This is especially a drag if you have been
boozing on a Friday night and there are no buses or
trains.

I, unfortunately, live near Seoul where the FFF factor
is almost in the negative range. I know!

[DJTwoTone]

Cohiba's rule is complete shit... I'm sure you are a perfectly nice person, but your rule is stupid. I have never and will never live in Seoul... It's not a place I enjoy spending time in. It's not for everyone... In fact, It isn't for a lot of people.

That being said, Ulsan... It isn't a bad place, but it isn't great either... Where ever you live you will have positives and negatives... Choose wisely.

[losing_touch]

I live in Ulsan. I have been here for a couple of months now. I find it to be a nice little city with plenty to do. Busan is close, but I admit that I haven't had the time to make my way there yet. My apartment is 10 minutes from the beach by foot and 2 minutes to the mountains. There are plenty of bars and restaurants around. Everything here is low-key and relaxed.

As for making friends, it is dead easy. I was plugged into a group of English teachers on arrival. There are loads of teachers on Facebook. If teachers aren't your cup of tea and you want to diversify the types of friends you have, there are loads of HHI people living and working here from every corner of the world. We get together often. This Saturday is Scottish dancing for example.....

Overall, Ulsan is a swell place.

[Temporary]

[afsjesse]

It's an interesting rule/theory. But I think it has to be reajusted for the cities of of Busan and Daegu. I've lived in Busan and its amazing, even tops Seoul in my opinion. Daegu is also pretty good.

So if we take the KTX route, say the FFF becomes negative past Daejeon and than reappears near Gumi! Just a thought.

[Cohiba]

[Ukon]

I'm gonna have to second cohiba's rule....if some foreigner said he wanted to move to the usa would you say

"naw....screw new york, chicago, and Miami.....move to a suburb and get a job there or a tiny city...thats where the real fun is at!"

Unless your really big on small town life, go to a big city like seoul, daegu, or busan.

I already know one guy who's bored out of his mind in his newly placed GEPIK position....

Let's face it,those 3 cities have everything rural korea can't offer you in spades.... If I wanna see rural korea, I can take a $10 bus ride and get my fill of hicksville.

Also, the the seoul citizens are more sophisticated.....soon as I left seoul,then I started getting those "Migook Saram" and random people staring thing people always complain about.

I wonder what people in nowheresville korea do for fun......play xox 360 while drinking soju every night? Getting drunk in the same 2-3 hang outs with the same group of foreigners every weekend? Playing against kids in the PC bang?

[aimeecate]

I agree with some of the other posters. Ulsan is not a bad city, but not great compared to say Busan or Seoul. I lived there for a year last year.

There is a decent downtown shopping area, 3 movie theaters and a pretty good variety of food. You can get Indian, Italian, Chinese and even Vietnamese. There are also 2 or 3 foreigner bars where you could meet people. My favorite bar was Tombstones which is near the Ulsan University area.

You can also find foreign restaurants like Bennigans and Outback Steak House near the Lotte Department Store. There are 2 Starbucks locations as well.

I found the bus system was pretty good in the main city, I had to commute about half an hour to my school when I first moved there and it wasn't too bad.

Sometimes I felt like I was in a small town because children would shout "foreigner" or point and adults sometimes stared at me. However, I also lived in Gumi (which is about 40-60 minutes from Daegu). That felt much smaller and industrial. The staring and shouting was worse there.

Ulsan is a pretty good city but if you ever get tired of it you are only about an hour and a half bus ride from Busan and a little more to Daegu. You could take a train to Seoul in about 4 hours or so. We didn't do that too much, there was enough in Ulsan to keep us occupied most of the time.

[Saram]