Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Iamronin11]

Dear Readers ,

I am scheduled to start working Gwangju and I am , to be honest, a bit nervous about moving to the city. Could anyone please tell me , if they have inside knowledge, about the city , its people, the night life , the most recent and up to date information would be appreciated.

My main areas of concern are

Will this city provide me with an active lifestyle ?

Does this city have friendly people? How are westerners viewed , is there discrimination?

How is the nightlife? Are the korean bars open to westerers or are they shunned?

How are the girls? Are the locals open to making friendships and building ties with western immigrants?

Can a westerner with no Korean knowledge join a Tae Kwon Do gym?

How are the costs of living?

Ive read over some of the posts about Gwangju but a lot of them didnt address these specific questions. If anyone has any information on this it would greatly be appreciated.

[SydCShell]

Well, I may be able to help, but it depends on which Gwanju are you moving to?

There is the larger province Gwanju-do down south that I know nothing about. And there is there is the city Gwanju-si in Gyeongi-do fairly close to Seoul and Bundang where I'm living right now.

[Jane]

[Iamronin11]

It is the southern city of Gwangju with 1.5 million people where the civil rights massacre took place in the 80s.

[ekul]

[blurgalurgalurga]

Will this city provide me with an active lifestyle ? You can be as active as you want, or as inactive as you want. The city will not care.
There is a foreigner soccer team, and lots of gyms, and some excellent hiking and biking to be found in the area.

Does this city have friendly people? How are westerners viewed , is there discrimination? Yes, people here are friendly. They are also pretty brash and can be a lot more feisty than in other places. I've found the locals to be generally pretty kind, but not as willing to take abuse as they sometimes are in Seoul. There are very occasional fights between foreigners and locals, but not often at all.

How is the nightlife? Are the korean bars open to westerers or are they shunned? You can go wherever you want. I've never been turned away anyplace. If you go out with a big group of foreigners though, or hang around only in the foreigner bars, you'll not meet a huge number of locals. Some, for sure, but not that many.

a) How are the girls? b) Are the locals open to making friendships and building ties with western immigrants? a) They're okay, and b) sure.

Can a westerner with no Korean knowledge join a Tae Kwon Do gym?
I don't know. Probably.

How are the costs of living? Not bad. If you have a taste for foreign food, it can be a little more expensive of course, but in general prices are similar to what you'll find anywhere else.

[monnymite]