Korean Job Discussion Forums

[barbbui]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me about this area? Is Guri nice place to live? How far from Seoul?

Thanks

[Big Mac]

I lived in Guri about four years ago. It's pretty close to Seoul. When I lived there, there wasn't a subway station and it would take me about 20-25 minutes to get to either Gwangnaru Station (purple line) or Gangbyeon Station (green line) on the bus.

Guri is OK. It's a lot quieter than Seoul. A lot more families and kids. There's a nice park there. Nightlife is OK, but not great. There was only a small foreigner community when I was there and it tended to be kind of clicky. After Guri I spent two years in Seoul (Gangnam) and it was a much better experience.

[eIn07912]

wait... it depends on what Guri ur talking about.

theres Guri the town just outside of seoul (south, south east i think) there isnt much down there and u would need to come into seoul for most non-day to day things.

then theres Guri station on the green line near Gwangnaru, kind of close to Wangsimni. If u mean there, ur just outside central seoul, so ur well within the city and close to whatever u need. i lived there a few years ago and cant complain, it was pretty cool.

just curious as to what ur school is there? my old hogwon was there and i knew some of the foreigners that worked at some of the neighboring schools.

[Misera]

Guri the city is directly east of Seoul.. its in the nook thats kinda lil above the most eastern part of Seoul.

If you live around Guri station (of Guri city), it's a nice area There's a nice market nearby (Doldari) that has 2 Daiso's (sort of a dollar store), lil market food shops, lots of restaurants, clothing stores, bars, noraebangs (sort of more for the older korean type of noraebang though), and 2 grocery stores. It's not very big, but it was enough for me to get mostly everything I needed. There's also a big GS Square department store directly connected to the station if you need any better quality items (though more expensive). The grocery store there has some pretty decent prices though. It's really easy to get into Seoul from Guri as it borders Seoul. Plenty of buses to get to Seoul or just hop onto the subway.

I agree, the foreigner crowd here is very clickish.. However, the newer people here seem to be a lot more open. I'm actually just now getting to know more people in the city as I didn't really really like the crowd before. They just weren't very open to the newbies. Guri/Namyangju educational office plans a lot of extra things for us to do but it lets you meet more people. There's always a camp they make you do with some surrounding schools (this year it was a all Guri/Namyangju camp but anyway..) and they plan a few extra optional camps.

I do go into Seoul just about every weekend, but transportation is so cheap it's not like it matters much. I've also gone into Seoul on a few weekdays for certain things so it's close enough if you need to go on the week day. The busy area of Guri is very city like.. so might be a lil old/dirtier than places like Suwon. Anyway, I like it here :p

[barbbui]

thanks for the info.

i was offered a position at elementary school with gepik. i was told that the school is a 10min bus ride to guri station.

[Hanson]

I lived in Sootaek-dong, Guri for a year in 2000-2001.

When I lived there, forget the fact that there was no subway station, there were zero other foreigners living in our area. I say "our" because I worked in a hagwon with 2 other waegooks and we were the "foreigner community".

There's a really good kimbap place run by a Mrs. Kim, right near the family mart, if memory serves. Tell 'em Hanson teacher says hi.

As much as time flies by and things change, some things stay the same!

[elavndrc]

I've been to Guri a few times...there will always be cliqueish people around but you make your own friends. There are new teachers coming and going all the time. I live near Guri not in it but I would say it's quite a nice place to live. Close enough to Seoul...there's a subway station right there....and it's far enough that it's not too crazy.

[Misera]