Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KuroBara]

It looks like this will be my school for GEPIK. Does anyone know what the academic environment is like? How is living in the surrounding area? Is Paju very rural or more suburban? Any info about the school or area would be appreciated. Thanks!

[soul rebels]

paju is rural but it depends where your school is in paju as to how rural? if your in kyowha then your not to far from illsan which is one of seouls better outer suburbs, if your in geumchon then your in a middle sized town/very small city. musan is another resonable sized town further north. other than that its banjo strummers all the way everywhere else in paju.

as far as i know if you want to see a moivie or buy a wide range of foods from a western style supermarket you'll have to go to illsan which is about 10-20 km's away depending where you live in paju.

the good thing about paju is if you like a rural environment your in the right place, thiers mountains to climb and the dmz runs along the top of paju (dunno if thats a good thing but its close if you want to do a dmz tour)
thiers a train that takes you to seoul station and it's about 50min - 1hr ride to seoul, the train also stop at sinchon station which is one of seouls main university/party/entertainment area's.

where are you from? when do you start working in paju?

[KuroBara]

I'm from Memphis, TN. From the e-mail from my recruiter, I'll be in Gyoha. So that's the good one, right?

[tomato]

I visited the town about four years ago, trying to get a job in their elementary school.
It's a quiet place, as one would expect from a small town.
They have army trucks cruising all over the place.
(Soul Rebels just explained why.)

Since it's a small town, I didn't expect anyone to speak English to me.
Several people did, though.
Now that Paju has subway connection to Seoul, the Korean people probably speak English to foreigners even more than before.

Nearby is Paju English Village.
It was established as a theme park for the kiddies, which was exactly what it was for a while.
However, the foreign employees felt like slaves and prisoners.
They all left the minute their contract was up.
With their bad reputation, and with their bad references from their former employees, the management had to close the theme park.
Last I heard, English Village was giving intensive classes for older students, and the teachers giving those classes were much happier than the earlier employees in the theme park.

Someone once sent a message to this forum saying that he took a bus to English Village.
Instead of visiting the Village, however, he took a skinny dip in the nearby countryside.
Then he took the bus back home, along with those who visited the Village.

About two years ago, I had a chance for an interview at Paju.
I was very excited, because Paju was the most isolated place I knew of.
Excited as I was, I misunderstood the directions from the recruiter and missed the interview.

For the last two years, I kicked myself for that mistake.
Recently, though, I got a job in another nature-lover's paradise which I think is even more isolated.
Keep in touch, because I am still curious about what I have been missing.