Korean Job Discussion Forums

[squirrelbait]

Hi,

My fianc� and I are about to sign a contract in Daejeon, so I'm wondering what it's like there. I haven't seen much on these forums about Daejeon. Any and all info will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[yellowdove]

There are a few threads on this board about Daejeon, with mixed reviews. When you read the negative, take it with a grain of salt.

Daejeon is in the middle of Korea, and is an awesome place to live if you like to travel, because all the railroad lines meet in Daejeon and you can go just about everywhere easily. It's a 50 minute KTX ride to Seoul (2 hours by slow train) and 2 hours KTX to Busan (3 hours slow train).

It has a decent sized population, about 2 million (I might be wrong on that, but that was what I've read). It's a fairly small city by size, however, for what it's worth - you can go from one end of the city to the other in 30 minutes by car.

The bus system is great if you have the time and know where you're going. (It's also good if you're going to explore, to just get on a random bus and go somewhere new.) Taxis are just like everywhere else in Korea, really cheap and easy to take.

There are two downtown areas - Eunhang-dong and Dunsan-dong. Both have bars and restaurants, with Eunhang-dong being better for shopping and Dunsan-dong being better (it seems to me) for foreigner bars at night (although there are a couple in Eunhang-dong as well). There is also a spattering of foreigner bars around the city in other areas, you'll get to know them when you move here.

If bars aren't your thing, Daejeon is perfect for hiking. We are surrounded by mountains, and have a big one in the south of the city (Bomunsan) that all have beautiful hiking trails.

If people say there isn't anything to do in Daejeon, they're about half right. It's not a prime tourist area, so you won't find the multitude of things to do like in Busan or Seoul. But we have movies, a small amusement park, a science museum, a zoo (albeit small), and lots of shopping (Time World galleria, Say Dept. store, Lotte Dept. store, etc). Lots of Home Plus stores, Lotte Marts and E Marts, and we have a Costco.

There are quite a few foreigners here, and everyone is really nice. I don't think I've met a disgruntled, depressed teacher here yet, and my husband and I have been here for... omg, almost 8 months. Wow, how time flies!

If you have any other questions, let me know, or I'm sure there are lots of other people on the board who could help as well. Do you know what area of Daejeon your school is in?

[B of NC]

I don't particularly like yellowdove but I must agree with her sentiments. I live in a town outside of Daejeon and am in the city every weekend, I'm getting ready to start my second year and really in just the past 2 months really started to get out and do things other than drinking and it's nice. A bunch of Koreans who can speak English, some rather nice urban open spaces not on top of mountains it's the kind of town I could spend a few years living outside of and coming to. I mean as long as yellowdove is there once she move away I'll move into Daejeon proper.

[Dr. Whom]

I was scanning a few older posts. This guy Cohiba seemed to have
summed it up nicely:

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. Also clubs such
as photography, drama, public speaking, sailing are 99% in
the capital city. If you want to experiment with a very Korean
culture, which unfortunately means "closed", then choose the
countryside. If you want to make money and have the lifestyle
choices similar to a western country, then there is no other
choice than Seoul.

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!

[yellowdove]

B, never again will I let you stay at my place when you need to go to the airport early. *grrrrr*. lol jk Come back soon, you missed a wicked-fun mudfest. (Oh, and I played the disc golf again, and scored slightly better this time. )

The thing about living outside of Seoul is that some people prefer to not live in such a huge city. It's all a matter of choice. You can find fun anywhere you go, so I'm not a huge fan of that FFF thing.

Daejeon is by no means 'countryside'. There are lots of Italian places in Daejeon, two Indian restaurants, and lots of other things. True, it's nothing compared to Seoul as far as the variety, but honestly, do you really need ricotta cheese at your disposal?

Nightlife here isn't as diverse as Seoul is, but nightlife isn't the end-all-be-all of living in Korea.

Also, living in Daejeon, you save money because it's not nearly as expensive as Seoul. Because Seoul has so many options, you're always spending money to do something. In Daejeon, you spend less money because you're finding things to do like hiking and photography trips and park picnics.

For me, the benefits of living in Daejeon far outweigh the negatives.

[B of NC]

The FFF is the most shallow thing ever. The people around you are what make the place you live not how much crap there is for you to do. I used to go to Seoul every other weekend but I wasn't having a great time in Korea until I found more people in Daejeon who were into similar things I was. Now I get up to Seoul probably once every 2 months or when there's something that sounds really cool there but the FFF is once again the most mind numbling stupid thing I've heard and only a total dolt with the personality and imagination of a box of rock would really need to be there. You can have just as good a time in Daejeon as you can in Seoul and you can have just as good a time in a smaller town than Daejeon as you can in Daejeon and as you can in Seoul.

[Dr. Whom]

[tukmax]

I didn't like living in Daejeon at all, really. I found the city to be too small to be any fun, but too large to be what I would consider quaint. Even though it is a city of 1.5 million people officially, it sure doesn't feel like a city that big. I remember hearing a rule that take any city in industrialized Asia and divide the populate by 3 to see what it is really like. I would say this perfectly applies to Daejeon as it seems like a city of 400-500,000 instead of 1.5 million. After living there for a couple of months I got sick of going to the same old places on the weekends for entertainment like Timeworld or Eunendong, and seeing the same faces over and over.

Foreigners still get a lot of stares (hello it is 2010) and weird and uncomfortable behavior from Koreans who like to yell hi and hello when they are drunk at night.

There are quite a few foreigners who are pretty cliquee, judgmental and like to gossip a lot. Expect everyone to know your business as soon as it happens. In many ways I felt like I was in high school again with all the gossip.

It can also be quite expensive too if you live around City Hall in Dunsan-dong, as this is a new, and quite affluent area. People say it is cheaper than Seoul, but it depends on where in Seoul you live. I live in Gwanak-gu now (the ghetto) and I'm shocked to find that a lot of the prices of daily goods are actually cheaper here than they are in Dunsan-dong, Daejeon. You can get some pretty snobby kids as students too again because this is an affluent neighborhood. Lots of the kids are children of professors, doctors, etc. They were some of the most nationalist, xenophobes I ever met. They would refuse to take english names, and do other trivial things to try to piss me off. They are completely the 'new rich' type of people that have to broadcast to the world that they are rich, yet, they lack the sophistication of city dweller types. The students where I am now I find a lot sweeter and more down to earth, and I think they realize that it costs their parents a lot more of their disposable income to send them to the hagwon so they seem to give more of an effort. I, in turn, feel more compelled to help them as well.

It is a very conservative city. You can see this by the ways that the locals dress. 98% of them wear the same clothes. You wont see any Koreans wearing avant guard or slightly risky clothing like you will in Busan or Seoul. Girls will cover up, so much so that before I came to Seoul I was convinced that all Korean women were completely flat chested! No low cut tops at all. All the guys wear baseball caps and north face jackets.

The infrastructure around the City Hall Dunsan area is relatively new and clean, however, the buildings seem to lack any soul to them. When I first came I was really excited by all the coffee shops and restaurants but there is something lacking to them. A sort of sterile, almost too clean feeling to it.

Then again, this is me, a 26 year old guy. Living in Daejeon can be quite comfortable for people in other situations. My friend and his fiance love living in Daejeon for the reasons people have posted in comments above, which I agree with 100%. They don't really like to party or stay out late, and they are saving up money and doing their masters so Daejeon is perfect for them. Oh and FYI the most interesting foreigners I met in Daejeon were international students studying at KAIST. I preferred hanging out with them over your usual english teacher type. They seemed to have more drive, ambition, and were just generally more interesting. You can meet a lot of them at Santa's bar in kungdong.

In the end it all comes down to what sort of person you are if you will enjoy Daejeon. I would say for a young, single person in their 20's, especially those who have never lived in a big city, that Daejeon might be too boring for you. But if you are older, 30+, and/or are not someone who likes to drink/party then you may really enjoy Daejeon. In fact it might actually be the best city in Korea for you.

[kjane]

http://socius.or.kr/local-info/

english daejeon website

[jss1919]

I would agree that Daejeon wouldn't be as exciting for the 20-something crowd.

[sirius black]