Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mog]

Well, I'll be heading to Cheonan as a complete ESL newbie in a week. From the searching I've done here, the people on this board that are there are Hotel Cheonan, Justagirl, and Zyf-something or other. Is there anything about Cheonan that I should know that I can't find in searches of "Cheonan" and "Chonan?" I'm from Utah and am not someone who is looking for "action" (despite the fact that one of my last things I'm doing here is going to a strip club) so Cheonan seems like a good fit. Thanks all.




Oh yeah, if anyone can tell me anything about the Athena English Academy, I'd be obliged.

[Harin]

[mog]

Kinda hard as I'm not Mormon.

[Harin]

[mog]

Always room for hope.

[Zyzyfer]

I'm not in Cheonan any more, but I did spend 2 years there. It's small, definitely smaller than Seoul, and about an hour from Seoul (probably less with the new bullet train). They're also constructing a subway from Cheonan to Seoul, but I don't have much info on that.

The city has cleaner air than Seoul, but it's no country bumpkin town. There's still air pollution, and at the rate the city and surrounding areas are expanding, it'll only get worse.

The foreigner crowd tends to be closely knit and mellow. You may want to send a PM to Hotel Cheonan about a link for a Cheonanite message board. The biggest downside to Cheonan is that there's not an awful lot to do in your down time (I did a lot of hapkido and computer gaming........), so you'll want to hook up with some people.

Athena academy? Now I remember it...it's down the street from where I used to work/live. If it's the same one, you'll be working in Ssangyongdong. I don't know about the academy itself, but the location is fairly central. It's a cheap taxi to the train station or E-mart, and there is a bar section around the other side of Bongseo Middle School, about 10 blocks down, though there aren't any foreigners there. There's also another academy next door to Athena, James Academy or something like that. You might find foreigners there, as well as two people who are working at Bongseo Middle (my old job).

[captain kirk]

I lived in Cheonan for a year and left six months ago, about.
Yes it's a quick trip to Seoul on the weekend, by train or bus (about an hour). This is good. You can get into the cosmopolitan bustle and stay over someplace if you know someone in Seoul or you could get to know someone.
Cheonan, by itself, is a city of (400,000 thousand?) maybe half a million located on a plain. There aren't many mountains around and the scenery isn't dramatic. If you go West you get to the Yellow Sea, and that takes an hour. To the South there is the old Paekche empire capitol near a big old river. I always liked driving down there on the motorbike, along the great wide river, and to the old capitol place. It's by the river and when it was overpowered, long ago, the ladies retreated to the cliff by the river and leapt to avoid being taken prisoner and defiled (so the story goes). It's an awesome leap, when you're there taking a look at it.
I regret not patrolling the Western coast much. Instead, I usually took the bus or train up to Seoul on the weekend. Seoul has a magnetic pull when you're only an hour away, it seems. Which can be a drain on the pocketbook. But it sure is interesting.
The air in Cheonan is a lot better than Seoul, and you can see the stars as opposed to looking up at the night sky in Seoul. With the fresher air I felt more invigorated, noticed the difference.
Yup, not much to do there. Kind of a provincial city in the middle of a plain. I lived in Ssangyongdong where you're going. It's the 'third downtown'. At the first downtown, near the express bus terminal, is a big movie theatre complex. And near that is a snazzy art gallery with a giant human torso three stories tall done in enamel-painted metal with the internal organs visible along with the brain. It's 'worth a fortune' and by a very famous London big name artist, if you're a 'culture vulture'.

[mog]

Seems like my kind of place.

I read that Justagirl is interested in trading books. I may have to bring some with me.

[justagirl]

Hey Mog,


I've been lazy in replying to this thread, but then again, if you went back and read the past Cheonan threads, you probably have read my posts and I can't think of anything new to say.

I constantly hold open the "let's lend each other some books" idea, but haven't had any takers yet. I was considering taking about 70 books up to Seoul and just collecting the cash, but maybe I'll hold off on that now that someone has finally showed some interest.

I've never heard of your hakwon...but I also live in the same neighborhood (Ssangyong-dong). Everything is just around the corner, from the video store, to the pharmacy, grocery store, stationery shop, etc. It's really convenient and all.

Have fun while you're counting down your days to come to Korea!

justagirl

ps, confused about that whole Utah thing..you ARE LDS or not? The whole thing about "action" and Cheonan is boring never really made sense to me. I mean, whatever city someone is in, they always go to a bar for "action" and there are bars everywhere...I hear people puking outside my window from all the bars around my apartment. Ick.

Cheonan has bars, a great theatre (8 screens, English movies), bowling alleys, singing (norebang) rooms, dvd rooms, hiking trails, boardgame cafe, temples, national war memorial, etc. You can even buy granola bars and nacho chips and salsa at the grocery stores. Ooooh! It's not a bad place to be, if you're in Korea for a year (or 3 like me)

anyway..........enough rambling. Gotta go watch a movie!

[peppermint]

If you want to know about the action in Cheonan, just run a quick search under "cheonanas"

[Zyzyfer]

[mog]

When I mean action I mean all the things related to nightlife and the bar scene. I don't go to bars much, rarely drink (never to get drunk) and prefer a more sedentary lifestyle. I saw the "Introvert or extrovert" thread in Q&A and I'm definitely an introvert.

Nope, I'm certainly not LDS.

How many Ssangyongdongs are there?

The address of the academy is on the third floor. Not sure why that interests me.

That boardgame cafe seems intriguing.

Justagirl, do you have the Ender Series by Orson Scott Card and/or the Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth? Both are in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category. I'd be willing to do some swapping and returning of those.

[matthews_world]

Anything worth visiting there?

[justagirl]

Mog, I haven't read either of those.

I do have:
Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series
Otherworld Series

Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time 1-9
George R.R. Martin's books
all of Sherri Teppers books
Piers Anthony: Apprentice Adept trilogy

I think those are most of the sets I have. Martin's books are the best! The 4th book in the series is coming out this summer.

There's only one Ssangyong-dong, just so you know, but it's rather large!

[mog]

I've heard good things about the Wheel of Time series.

Ender's Game is a classic. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'll be in Cheonan on the 16th. Hope to see you or others soon.