Korean Job Discussion Forums

[twistedhorizions]

Hi all,

Just wondering if any1 can give me advice on where to go for my first teaching job on korea... had offers for all the places mentioned and i dont really have a clue where to go. Gunpo/Bundang sound cool - close to Seoul so I guess more nightlife but they are both suburbs aint they? And Geoje sound nice - by the beach etc but might be too quiet. I like a bit of a party but I'm not too bothered - I think.
Any advice??

[shevek]

[VanIslander]

Geoje Island has over a thousand foreigners, and plenty of them are out drinking in the bars, if you wanna get drunk and chat, and there are too many local women hanging around to take extra cash off their hands late at night too: the foreigners on the island are mostly fortysomething engineers and construction workers at the shipyards. Not the partying crowd for twentysomethings, but great to hang out and chat over a beer after work!

Here's a picture of Okpo, on Geoje:


That's about a third of Okpo, with the shipyards in the top left, and one of the neon bar street areas in the centre (the biggest areas are off the picture to the right).

Because there are so many high-income foreign men around, many of them away from their families for six months to a year at a time, there are also Russian women in the bars:

It doesn't feel like an island of under a half million people when you're in the middle of Okpo, IMO.

There are also several twentysomething ESL teachers on the island, most of whom are friendly and easy to go out for lunch or hiking with.

And Busan is 50 minutes away by ferry for weekend jaunts to party royally with other twentysomethings if you want.
(In contrast, it can easily take an hour to simply get across Seoul by subway! two hours to get from a burb to a partying place.)

Geoje is not boonyville. Where I am NOW is typical Boonyville.

My three-plus years on Geoje are fondly remembered.