Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TheTeacher..]

I've got a teaching gig in Jangyu starting in a few weeks time.

Just wondering if anyone can tell me anything about the area?

Banged Jangyu in to the 'search' facility and it brought up few bits and bobs but nothing special, so any info would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers..

[bobbyhanlon]

i spent 4 months there back in 2004. i left because i was bored out of my mind! having said that, i was 21 at the time, and wanted the big city life and all that entails. my hakwon boss told me 'come to our school, its in busan', and when i got there, i found that that wasn't quite the case.

the bus ride to busan is 20 minutes, but the total time including waiting and transfers to get into the centre of busan is easily more than an hour. changwon takes slightly less time.
i'm assuming you know about busan, so i'll just tell you about changwon- its pretty good, although i only ever went there to party. there was a place called international pub, and another called o'briens, that were good. in those early days i only knew waygook saramdeul so i couldn't tell you about more 'korean' hangouts.

locals are quite nice there, but you will definitely feel foreign, a minor celebrity even. when i was there, there were about 10 other foreign teachers in town, so i couldn't even avoid the weirdos who i wanted to avoid.
basically jangyu is small-town korea, with the possible advantage of being close-ish to busan. there's some nice countryside around there too, and although i found the place boring, the locals were really nice.

what school are you going to, by the way?

[TheTeacher..]

haha quite amusing that I am also 21!

The school is called Seokhwa E-Kids Language School, have you heard of it?

Are there still things to keep me occupied like a gym, cinema etc?

Cheers for the info..

[bobbyhanlon]

ah... i don't remember that school, maybe its a new one.
there's a couple of gyms, membership is pretty cheap from what i remember, and they are in the centre of town. jangyu is really small so you'll probably find you live close to the school and the gym, and anywhere else you need to go.

if you want to go to the cinema you'll probably have to go to changwon or busan. the same goes for pretty much anything else i'm afraid!
also, you'll have to get used to korean food quickly, because that's all that you'll get.
is it your first time living in korea? if i were doing this all over again, i'd want to live in seoul for my first year, just to get used to everything. now i know korea well, like the food and can have a vague and broken conversation in korean, i wouldn't mind going to a place like jangyu.. but as a starting point, it wasn't so great.
if you have any more questions, feel free to send a pm. good luck!

[just because]

Jangyu is to put it nicely a hole...

It was up until a few years ago a little village when they decided to build(and are still building) a new city to take some of the population pressures off Gimhae and Changwon.

The problem is it is in the middle of nowhere, not too far away from either Changwon or busan but far enough to be a pain in the butt.
There is a town bus to Changwon every 10-15 mins or so which is only 1000 won so if you need to go in the day it is fine....buses no. 58,59,97,98 and 170 all connect Jangyu with Changers.

Problem is if you like a drink you will need a taxi home which is a 15 000 fare...fixed.

Also one of my friends just moved to jangyu and said he hasn't seen one foreigner in 1 month since living there which means it is pretty isolated.

Good luck....

[TheTeacher..]

Happy days...

Eeee well from your highly positive comments it appears i'm in for an interesting year!

15000 to get a taxi home from town is pretty cheap compared to English prices, so I reckon I can deal with that side of it!

Anyway i'll find out for myself what it's all about in a couple weeks..

Thanks for the advice.

[mervsdamun]

The worst thing about living in Jangyu would be deciding whether to support Busan I�Park or Gyeongnam FC. You kind of stuck in the middle.

[sojourner1]

I just went to Jangyu yesterday. I went high up the mountain to Jangyu temple and could see Jangyu down in the low land. It's very beautiful up there, but none of the towns are beautiful to be honest. Jangyu-si is a small town that looks no different than any other Korean town. Just groups of white high rise apartments.

I found the towns to look all the same with the food being the same thing all over the country. It does get boring and I would say, you want to be centrally located and in a town that serves as a good transit hub. Daegu, Milyang, Masan, etc. are good choices. Regardless of where you go, your going to get many of the same experiences during your sojourn.

[TheTeacher..]

Mervesdamun, having spent the last 15 years wasting my money supporting a team of underachieving mercenaries, I�m probably most suited to the team that closest matches that criteria.

[bobbyhanlon]

ah, a spurs fan?
anyway, this is getting me all nostalgic about jangyu! i never thought that would happen. i almost forgot- try and find out where indio fusion bar is, and have a drink there. that was a great bar, with really nice staff and a free pool table.

[just because]

[sjk1128]

If you buy a car, you'll be 30 minutes from Seomyeon, or downtown Busan. It's a straight highway/overpass shot so you'll only get stuck during rush hour or when there's an accident, but you won't get lost. It's roughly half that (15 min) to Sasang - where you may want to go to do larger shopping or see a movie. Without a car, the others are right: you may be bored and lonely.

Good luck.

[mervsdamun]

[TheTeacher..]

haha you were right with Newcastle! Oh the depression I have had to put up with following that team..

So all in all it seems fitting that I should become an adopted Busan I�Park fan, it sounds like I won't have any problems getting hold of tickets!

And back to the Jangyu chat, Fusion Bar for twelve months is the plan then, I'll be a right pool shark by the time i'm done!

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Jangyu people very dirty, teacher.