Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Shoon]

Does anybody know good places to meet foreigners down here in Gwanju? Ive been here working in a really small school, and am getting desperate to meet some new people!!! If you know bars or any groups/clubs(sports etc) that are frequented by foreigners please pass on your knowledge.......keen to get out and about with people I don't work with.......
Thanks!!

[Deconstructor]

When I was there I often went to Hard Rock Cafe. I forget the name of the neighbourhood. You'll meet lots of Americans and Canadians.

[Deconstructor]

Just remembered the name of the neighbourhood: Hun-gum-dong.

[Shoon]

Thanks a lot, I'll check it out tonight. Did you ever go to the Gwangju International Centre?

[fusionbarnone]

Soul train is another bar you can check out.
Blue monkey is another.
The late late bar people go to is Mad Seasons.
You'll find people at burger king and "Thank God it's friday" as well

[julian_w]

Alas, alack, the latest news as I've heard from here outside of Gwangju is that Mad Season is no more. Long live Soul Train, Julliard and the occassional other bar.

If you're not into meeting people who are working on getting drunk to a certain extent, then yeah, GIC is a good alternative. I don't go there anymore but that's only cos I'm not in Gwangju anymore. Actually... it's cos I'm not even in Corea anymore.

Anyway, let me know if you want directions or anymore info on the centre. And if you get to getting there, say hi to Singsing, Minsu, Jeenyoung and all the others. They're good people.

[Shoon]

Yeah, I've been down there once on a Sunday but it was all closed up(presume that's a day off). What's on offer there? Def. looking to meet people and also interested in finding out about Korean lessons etc. Any info. would be really appreciated. Also anything else you can give in general about Gwangju........
Thanks.....

[julian_w]

GIC is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) that is essentially the brain-child of this super-nice guy by the name of Professor Shin Gyong-gu. He's a professor of English / linguistics or something at Chonnam University. He and his mate who's an eye-doctor-type-specialist paid for the setting up of the whole thing, and they're supported financially by a bunch of other very cool and solid-good local types.

Yeah yeah okay, so their main goal (as I always understood it) is to both provide for local students of English to get contact with local native English speakers, while at the same time provide useful services to those locally based native speakers.

Yep, that includes running really cheap Korean language skills courses.

Also a monthly magazine published entirely by volunteers, including both foreigners and Koreans. 'Gwangju News' has a bunch of local and topical info. and articles, and last I heard was available both by very cheap subscription or for free by checking out magazine stands at the main inter-city bus terminal and various other places around town.

They also do monthly 'culture trips' around the Jeolla-nam region, which are really cheap, well planned, and a good way to meet either other local foreigners, or super-helpful Korean students who are ready to answer questions you have about life in and around the local place.

GIC also runs an annual 'Foreigners' Night,' which last I heard actually started during the day and went late into the autumn evening. It's a bit of a multi-cultural festival really, with games, shows, demonstrations, people dressing up in national costume, oodles of different foods and beer available... It's a full-on do.

But then again, please remember I'm a couple of years out of date. The best people to know what's really going on are Singsing or Jeenyoung. Singsing (pro.: 'Shingshing') is the co-ordinator, Jeenyoung was an official translator-type person, last I heard. Minsu's there again now too, but whether she's a coordinator or specialist publisher with the magazine, I'm not sure. They're all good though, and are usually there on Saturday mornings.

Let me know by PM if you need a phone number.
j.

[natemk]

yea mad season and blue monkey dont exist anymore..

go downtown - just say 'shinae, il-ga' to the taxi driver..

seoul train is on the main stretch there. usually a lot of foreigners hanging around on the weekends. they just got a new pool table so I think it'll be really good

another is juliards, right around the corner (towards the rotary).

I really like rock bar (or happy bar in chinese). its 2 doors down from seoul train. Quiet and nice staff, plus a pool table.

other than that I would suggest DB nightclub which is downtown or Gangsta club which is near Chonam University.

What dong are you in?