Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hagwonnewbie]

Has anybody lived near Nowon-gu. I got offered a job there. Apparently it is the most densely populated are in Seoul which is the second most densely populated city on Earth. HMMMMMM...... I think it might suck. I don't know......

[Roch]

It's pretty good for Seoul in my opinion.

[DanielP]

It's not bad.

There's a small expat community there, and a few foreign bars.
It's also far enough from the city center to take a break from it, and close enough to the center to go to it.

I've lived there for almost a year now, and have liked it. I'm now moving just a little ways south because I want a change of scenery.

The drawbacks, however, is that most Koreans there, imho, don't speak English AT ALL, or are quite scared of foreigners still. I haven't had the best impression of Koreans in Nowon, but maybe it's just me.

All in all, it's one of the better areas in my opinion.

DanP

[twg]

Whats with all the Nowon threads over the last few months? Did they have an explosion of new hagwons open up there?

[fustiancorduroy]

I lived there last year. I think I like it more in retrospect. There are a good amount of restaurants and places to shop, especially near Nowon station. And if you want to go into central Seoul, subway lines 4, 6, and 7 are all close by. If you work near/at Eunhaeng Sageori (in Junggye-dong) there will be quite a few foreigners lurking about, so you could probably make friends if you are so inclined.

There isn't much English spoken among the Koreans there, but that's just incentive to pick up the local language, right?

[polonius]

Been here 6 years, and haven't had the urge to leave the hood. I have moved apartments to get a bigger apartment, and have stayed with the same academy for the whole time. If you are in Junggye or Sanggye dong, there is a nice mountain that you can climb very near by. I can practically spit on it from my balcony.

As others have said, there are decent restaurants: lots of galbi places, duk galbi, TGIF, Outback, Bennigans, Pho Hoa (Vietnamese noodles and wraps) Krispy Kreme, a couple bagel shops, a hot dog shop, Starbucks. There is also a good selection of grocery stores, bars gyms, and there is a sports complex as well. Outside of it there is a roller blade track. The actual area around Nowon subway can be a bit chaotic and rather dirty because of all the pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The subway is also elevated, so you feel like you are in a scene from BladeRunner.

I give it my thumbs up. There is also a good contingent of foreigners hanging around, and you are bound to get along with some of them.

[fustiancorduroy]

[pkang0202]

[mindmetoo]

[Max_Power]

I didn't live in Nowon but I lived a couple of stops away. Nowon sucks for any nightlife. Also, whenever I met a girl in Hongdae or Itaewon and they asked where I lived...the converstaion didn't last much longer when I told them I lived in Nowon. Girls do not want to spend an hour on the subway to come visit you.

[HapKi]

[twg]

[mack the knife]

Nowon is a horrible place filled with every vice imaginable. They even made a movie about it a few years ago about all these underage kids pimping out their girlfriends.

It's disgusting don't come here.

[mindmetoo]

[Thunndarr]