Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JLarter]

I've been offered a position in Chongju a small city in the center of Korea.
Does anyone have any opinions on the place?
It seems out of the way but the accomodation is huge and the pay is good.

[soviet_man]

It is a little confusing because "Chongju" isn't the correct spelling.

There are two cities in that general area, with very similar names:

"Chungju"
http://www.chungju.chungbuk.kr/english/

AND

"Cheongju"
http://english.cheongju.go.kr/

Find out which one you are working in.

They are both about 1 hour apart by road.

I lived and worked at a school in "Chungju" briefly (nearly 2 years ago) and it was awful. The school, the city, the whole place. Plain Awful. Especially avoid Ho-Am-dong.

"Cheongju" on the other hand is nicer. You could probably *tolerate* living there for a while. It has ok shops, ok drinking places, an airport with a couple of flights a day and a few more things available for foreigners.

[SweetBear]

Well, if it's Chung- Ju I lived there for three years and absolutely loved it. Everything about it was good enough for me.

[tomato]

Here is an older thread in which someone else asks a similar question--
and the exact same title!

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=35677&highlight=

[soviet_man]

Look the mountains and fresh air were nice - but the rest of Chungju, frankly, was like working on pluto.

I never saw another non-Korean all the months I was there.

Infact on my first day in Chungju, I found a gun in my apartment left by the previous foreign teacher, who resigned because he had "problems" (So let me know which school it is, as I may be know the guy who worked there).

Also - the buses from Seoul to "Chongju/Cheongju/Chungju" are also totally incorrectly labelled. Speaking from personal experience, you WILL frequently arrive in completely the wrong town.

[JLarter]

Yea sorry, it was a typo. It was meant to be Chungju.
I gather by the reaction that I should give this place a miss?