Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wakinghour]

actually, i'll be in youngju, which is in the middle of korea in kyungbuk province. one good thing about it is that it's a transportation hub and will be connected to lots of nearby cities like andong and kangnung, both places i'd like to visit. i guess i won't be severely disappointed if the town isn't beautiful, as long as i can get out and about on my own. the school is thirty minutes walking distance from downtown, which doesn't seem too far.

hmm...i'd say that in general people seem very negative about the small town experience. i do have an opportunity to teach in seoul, but i feel like if i were in seoul, i'd never get out of the seoul vortex. i want to see me some of korea!

[captain kirk]

yeah, kiwiboy, that's amazing. 45minutes a day inner eye-opener upon arising for thirty years. my dad's a sceptic. 'there is more to heaven and earth than is in your philosophy, horatio'; so i tended to go to where he would NOT go. there are light and sound machines, called mind machines, you can get at toolsforwellness.com. if you don't feel like sitting and wandering these machines, though i haven't tried them, come at you and do it for you i imagine. they are 100-200bucks u.s. the more time you put into it, the 'weirder' it gets. like side effects. ended up going to a three month zen buddhist retreat in korea. my 'goal' to meditate was sort of misguided, like 'to escape mundanity' and be 'beyond harm' by being 'supercharged' and 'superaware', or something. but the temple said that meditation and a buddhist life are to help others; that's the purpose. be clear and clearly able to assess what somebody else needs, and have the energy to deliver the cure; what you say, do. being out in the country there was all this 'nothingness'. run from it or go into it. that way. your dad rocks.
no, there weren't any eligible women around. having a gf is a rest at ease, comfort, reassurance. would have to be very discreet, the logistics requiring training in espionage, like a 'ninja'. in the country 'the crickets have eyes'.

[waterbaby]

[peppermint]

Yeah, there are definite perks to being in a city outside of the big smog
(Seoul)

Aside from the obvious ones (cleaner air and less traffic), there's generally more of a sense of community among the foreigners in a smaller place, as well as friendlier Koreans.

I actually find Seoul very inconvenient because it takes at least an hour to get anywhere from my end of Seoul (up the side of Gwanaksan), but when I lived in the "country" I was a 15 minute walk from the grocery store, 5 minutes to the bar district and 2 minutes to work.

I found it easier to learn Korean because I had many more opportunities to practice it.

Less stress when/if Anti American sentiment flares up again.

Anywhere outside Seoul is slightly safer, if you're worried about the North Korea situation.

life in the country is much calmer (not boring, just more time doing what you want to do and less time trying to get there) All of my friends who live outside Seoul tell me they are exhausted after a day of running around with me here. (It's all about the stamina, baby, yeah!)

[TheUrbanMyth]

Yes, from my experience in small towns, Koreans tend to be more friendly. I can't count the times I've had fees (for using pc cafes, buying food, or clothes) reduced. Now before some idiot posts and says something like "Well I was in a small town and they treated me like ****..." I said from MY experience.

And it has also been my experience 9 times of out 10 that when foreigners get treated like **** they have asked for it in some fashion. This can range from not bothering to read up on local customs and thus offending someone, to taking on 4-5 guys by one's self. Of course there are times when foreigners get screwed over through no fault of their own. But again 9 times out of 10 that is the fault of their hakwon boss and not every other Korean person that populates the landscape.

[kangnamdragon]

When I lived in a small town, children followed me and asked for my autograph....

[the_beaver]

In my small town experience my students often told me what I had done the previous day -- life in a fishbowl.

[whatthefunk]

[mexican-american-in-korea]

I have lived in a small town of 40,000 for the past 6 months and found it to be very lonely and isolating. No movie theater, nothing to do except sing karaoke and drink soju (both of which I do rarely). I am only 23 years old and have only met one person my age. I DO study Korean but most Koreans in my town assume you know nothing and give you puzzled looks when you speak to them. I get lots of children pointing on the street and saying "Look foreigner person" (In Korean). In my free time I work out, watch TV, read, blog, go jogging, and hang out with the few friends I have (1 Korean, 2 Americans). Overall, I would not recommend living in a small town especially if you are young. I regret accepting the first offer given to me.

[TiGrBaLm]

[whatthefunk]

i dont know. i kind of enjoyed it for a year. definitely wouldnt do it for another year, but it was interesting. join a gym or something to beat the boredom.

[nicholas_chiasson]

-I've requested a small town, but being a delaware boy means my idea of small is kind of wack. I freaked out when I realized Gwangwon province has several cities with over 100,000 people. Newark DE is so small all the good bars fit easily on one hand, and its a college town no less. But they knocked down the Stone Balloon.
-So if the town I get has more than 20,000 I won't be suprised, or consider it small at all.

[dogshed]

I'm in Podunk. I'm in a fairly modern apartment but some of my neighbors
have traditional huts with outhouses.

I'm sure everything I do gets reported, but I don't do a lot here.

I take the bus to Seoul or Wonju when I need to get away. I bring
home groceries from Emart on the bus. The locals probably wonder what
I'm eating since I buy mostly milk and ice cream locally.

Today I had someone dump a pile of sand next to my door.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=90188&highlight=

[Smee]

I'm in a town of 16,000. During the week I have a pretty simple life: work, study, internet, work out, hike, sleep. It doesn't matter whether I live in Seoul or Gangjin, as my work week would be pretty similar. There are a few grocery stores where I can buy the necessities. When I get bored with Korean food there are a handful of pizza and fried chicken places to add some variety. As I work in a public school I have a lot of free time, so I can head to nearby towns or cities when I get cabin fever.

On the whole people are friendly. It helps that I speak a fair bit of Korean. There are the catcalls and "herro"s, of course, which on bad days can drive me crazy. It's been a relatively pleasant experience, and I have a lot of great memories. However, there are a few points worth mentioning:
(1) loneliness. I'm a private person and so I spend a lot of time alone, whether I'm in a big city or a small town. However, there really aren't any foreigners around, so it can be tough to go extended periods of time without having a meanignful conversation.
(2) social life. This is sort of in line with number 1. I came to the countryside, after a year in Bundang, to improve my Korean and to immerse myself in Korean culture and among Korean people. I've certainly done those things, but it's been difficult to make Korean friends. Reason being, everyone leaves after high school, so there's almost no one in the 18-35 demographic (I'm 26). There are no universities or colleges around, and outside of farms, a few gov't offices, and public schools, there are no jobs to be had. So, while I feel people are generally friendly I've found it hard to make meaningful relationships in my community because of completely different schedules and lifestyles.

There are definite pros and cons to consider before coming to the countryside. Look into your area before coming. And, although a town of 100,000 or 200,000 isn't going to have the same things as a city that size in North America, there are still some big differences between a town that size and one like mine (16,000). In August I'm moving to a city of 250,000 that has a few department stores and western restaurants, but is still a 3 minute bus ride to the rice paddies.

[Adahma]

This is great information, I've been trying to consider where I would like to go. Thanks.