Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Great Toad]

I was considering moving to Wando or Jindo for my next contract this Summer. I liked Jeju but they had no bridge to the mainland - that is next on the list of things to build after the Corean Canal.

Anyhow, I rode my bike to Jindo Island last year.



The biking was great and the small main city there seemed pleasant enough.

I was also considering going to Wando, but I have never been there. Though I may visit later when it warms up.

I was curious about the EPIK / other legit (not Academy) public school teaching there. Well, actually private boys/girls schools are basically the same too- unlike America where the pay is less.

If any of you would be so kind as to describe your Jindo / Wando experience in the life style/amenities/ traffic density please do. As you all know I am an incredibly strong, fat, speedy, and mildly dangerous former bicycle race winner and presently the truck drafting terror of Corea. So, if you might brief me on road conditions for bicycles. I really thought Jindo was excellent but I was not there during the summer so perhaps it gets jammed. I have no clue about Wando at all.

The thing is if I signed up for Wando or Jundo EPIK they might just put me in the general area- which also includes outlying isles NOT connected by the mainland by bridges- and I had enough f the True Island experience on Isolated Jeju. (ok it is accessible by ferry or jet but that is a bother.)

So please advice me here or PM me if you d not want others to know your details...

[Chamchiman]

Awesome.

[Zutronius]

I've been to both places several times and I enjoyed the scenery at Wando more. You can't beat the amazing beach near the town come warmer weather as well. Wando would be my choice of the two. I had friends who lived in Wando and didn't mind it. The foreign community is very small and it got lonely for them at times. Gwangju is the closest large urban area and it's a good two bus ride away.

[The Great Toad]

Thanks Z, cool I may then lean towards Wando... even though Jindo was nice. Any clues on the EPIk teachers / pravate school teachers there?

[samd]

A serious post from The Great Toad? I feel like a kid who just learnt the truth about Santa.

[VanIslander]

The town of Wando itself reminds me of dreary small prairie towns back in Canada. That said, the island does have some beautiful areas and is certainly CENTRAL to plenty of weekend jaunts to awesome islands about.

Jindo is less depressing looking as a town and has some hills and beaches of some interest and plenty of dogs to play with , and I have considered moving there myself, but it is less centralized it seemed when I was thereabouts.

I personally think Namhae Island and Geoje Island (Okpo and Jangseungpo at least) are better bridged islands than Wando and Jindo in terms of development, natural beauty, relative location, weather, pretty much everything. In fact, the mainland port of Tongyeong is ideal for weekend trips to islands of the southeast.

But if you wanna do Jeollanamdo, then the Wando will be great from May through September and perhaps an extra month on each end as well. There are express buses to many places from there as well as ferries up the yinyang. Town shuts down remarkably early though.

[driftingfocus]

I live on Jindo, and I have been to Wando.

Personally, I prefer Jindo. Wando is quite far from any place to do a reasonable amount of shopping (like Emart, etc) - about 2-2.5 hours. Jindo is only one hour from Mokpo. Wando is slightly more central, but really, I have found that I can get pretty much anywhere rather easily if I go up to Mokpo first.

Jindo is not generally as pretty as Wando, but it does have a lot of attractions. I actually wrote a post on my blog about it (trying to get folks to come visit) recently, which you can see here: http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/?p=2612 On my list were:

hundreds (if not thousands) of Jindo dogs and puppies
three fortresses, including one overlooking the town and one with an intact and still-inhabited village inside
two-three nice beaches
a really nice temple
the third-fastest current in the Pacific ocean - it literally roars
wacky totem poles
weekly performances of the Jindo arirang, a very famous funeral rite/dance
one of the three �national performance spaces� in Korea (due to the aforementioned rite/dance)
clean air

For biking, Jindo is quite nice. It's a considerably larger island than Wando, for one thing. It's not a road bike, but I do have a motorcycle here (I need it to get to work), and I love driving around. It's quite a nice island. Nobody ever really comes to visit Jindo except during one week in May for the Moses Miracle, and so all the traffic is local. The same number of cars have been on the road here in January as in July.

Don't sign up through EPIK here - talk to Canadian Connections about going through the JLP program - it's a province-run program, and your pay will be higher.

As for working in a school here, you will not be placed living on an outlying island, but you will most likely have to commute to school. There is only one middle school in the main town, and it already has a teacher (though there are rumblings of getting a second one), which leaves the ones in more rural locations. The good thing is, if you teach somewhere other than the main town, you get a 20,000won daily travel allowance. I used mine to buy a motorcycle and to take a taxi when it's poor weather, and a married couple used theirs to buy a car. But don't worry, you will still be *living* in the main town, which is a pretty good size. Plus, you will likely have a pretty good-sized apartment (one couple has an entire house), if slightly older. Here is a panorama of the main town, as seen from my window: http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/?p=2573

If you want to get a little better idea of conditions/life here on Jindo, you can check out the Korea-specific category on my blog, here: http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/?cat=24 or my blog in general here: http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/