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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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ItsmeVT
Joined: 13 Aug 2010
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 Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:25 am Post subject: New to Korea |
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Hi I am planning to move to Korea for my new Job.
I would like to know how it will be for a foreigner. I mean the language (is english used in shopping places, items etc), is it comparable to Thailand as I have been to thailand and I loved the place.
I am moving to Suwon, how is that place? I heard that Seoul is close, and I guess Seoul will be a fun place to be in.
Will I be able to get all kinds of food stuff? Like International? Atleast to buy and cook?
Hope I wll like the place. Any feedback from you will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:37 am Post subject: Re: New to Korea |
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| ItsmeVT wrote: |
Hi I am planning to move to Korea for my new Job.
I would like to know how it will be for a foreigner. I mean the language (is english used in shopping places, items etc), is it comparable to Thailand as I have been to thailand and I loved the place.
I am moving to Suwon, how is that place? I heard that Seoul is close, and I guess Seoul will be a fun place to be in.
Will I be able to get all kinds of food stuff? Like International? Atleast to buy and cook?
Hope I wll like the place. Any feedback from you will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance |
Suwon, the capital of Gyeonggi province is a small city of about 1.2 million.
To answer your question accurately would require some idea of where in the city you will be located.
Central Seoul is about an hour away by bus. Depending on which subway train you take the ride can be as short as 40 minutes and as long as 90 to get to Yongsan station/Seoul station.
You can find just about everything you need for most styles of cooking at places like Homeplus, e-mart, kims club or lotte-mart. You will find a mix of English and Korean on the labels so you will be able to function with a minimum of Korean but learning to at least read (phonically) will be a big bonus to you.
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fugitive chicken
Joined: 20 Apr 2010
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:50 am Post subject: |
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and to add to that, international food does tend to be quite a bit more expensive than you're used to back home. Korean food is dirt cheap though.
Also, you won't have an oven in your apartment. So when cooking, you will be doing mostly stovetop cooking. Buying a toaster oven is waaay worth it though. |
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ItsmeVT
Joined: 13 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 2:02 am Post subject: |
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Hi thanks for the replies. I am not very sure about the city I will be in.
I am coming to Samsung, so I guess it will be near the company.
What about the cost of living, as in prices of food items, rice, vegetables, internet, electricity bills etc? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 2:56 am Post subject: |
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| ItsmeVT wrote: |
Hi thanks for the replies. I am not very sure about the city I will be in.
I am coming to Samsung, so I guess it will be near the company.
What about the cost of living, as in prices of food items, rice, vegetables, internet, electricity bills etc? |
Cost of living will vary proportionately with your lifestyle choices.
Internet can be as cheap as a cable/internet package for 15k won (2mbs service) and as much as 55k won for 1 gigabit service (download movies in a matter of minutes).
Veggies again - depends on where you shop, what is in season and whether the adjuma likes you.
Rice in small quantities runs about 3-4k won per kilo. 25kg bags run 20-50k won depending on variety and origin.
Meat is expensive.
Electricity starts cheap but is on a sliding scale so the more you use the higher the rate that you pay per kwh.
Working for Samsung (in Suwon) means you could be just about anywhere in the city. They have offices all over and plants in the south, south east and west parts of town. It would depend on Samsung what? (samsung cars, samsung cell phones, samsung TVs, samsung appliances, samsung electonics, samsung insurance, samsung research, samsung ..., you get the idea).
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IlIlNine
Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Location: Gunpo, Gyonggi, SoKo
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| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 3:47 am Post subject: |
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| ItsmeVT wrote: |
Hi thanks for the replies. I am not very sure about the city I will be in.
I am coming to Samsung, so I guess it will be near the company.
What about the cost of living, as in prices of food items, rice, vegetables, internet, electricity bills etc? |
Just wondering if you'd like to share what you'll be doing at Samsung and why you decided to come to Korea.
Suwon can be a decent enough place - but it's fairly big by land-area and there are good and bad places to be in (like every city, really). Depending on how long you stay, there should be a pretty big expansion to the subway system happening in the next couple years or so, which should make life easier.
There are lots of buses to just about anywhere in the country - and seoul in particular is not too far by bus (but just far enough to be a bit of a pain to get to). The bonus is that there are quite a few areas like Yongtong which have lots of bars, foreigners, food, etc. You can also try going out in some of the other nearby cities like Ansan, Anyang, and Sanbon when you get bored.
Anyways, I'm sure you'll be too busy working to worry about things like "having fun".
Good luck! |
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Waluigi
Joined: 09 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 5:39 am Post subject: |
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Don't expect it to be anything like Thailand.... it isn't.
Put it this way. I've lived and worked in both countries, and although I mostly like Korea, if the money was the same in Thailand there's no doubt I'd be living there instead. |
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