Korean Job Discussion Forums

[apugh2003]

I'm starting in Sept of this year and I've received a position in the Gangwon-do province. What are the living conditions, air quality, apartment styles, the best city to live in, etc. Also, what's the best airline or website to go through to get tickets?

[Morgen]

One of the nice things about Gangwondo is that there aren't as many shoebox apartments and you're much more likely to get a multiroom place. I only know one person who has the typical Korean sardine can.

Your other questions are completely dependent on your personal preferences or situation. The best airline depends mainly on which one has the most direct flight closest to your hometown. Which city is the "best" to live in depends on whether you want nightlife, ocean, big city, small town, proximity to Seoul, nearby hiking access, whatever. In this province there also won't be very many expats nearby, so an otherwise grim little town can be a fun place if you bond with the other waygooks, or the inverse for an otherwise nice city.

Honestly it really doesn't matter how you list your preferences, anyway, as there are, say, 12 spots for Gangneung and 100 people who want them.

[apugh2003]

This may seem like a long list: I would like a medium to big city, a decent proximity to seoul, nightlife, the ocean is okay. i'm here in florida. so it's good for the summer time. How do the people choose which 12 will get into the city they want? I was looking at Wonju. I want to be able to be where healthcare will be really accessible, and I wish there were other expats there. even if they're from different companies/countries.

[Morgen]

You won't be farther than about 3.5 hours away from Seoul anywhere in Gangwondo, but unfortunately you can't be both close to Seoul and near the ocean. Gangneung, on the coast, is about three hours, or a little over; Chuncheon is on the western side of the province and only takes about an hour. There aren't any big cities here, Gangneung being the largest at around 300,000 (with a pretty lively expat community) and Chuncheon a little smaller. Wonju is nice for proximity to basically anywhere else in Korea except the ocean. I've been told Sokcho is also nice to live in, but it's quite far north and therefore rather colder. Samcheok, where I live, is quite a small city but has HomePlus and is only about 25 minutes by bus from Donghae, which is somewhat larger and grittier. If you do a search you can find a lot more detailed, firsthand information about these cities (try using Google by typing site:eslcafe.com/korea after your keywords).

Unless it's been changed, placement is decided by individual interviews toward the end of orientation, and supposedly they discuss your preference with you and make a decision after they've talked to everyone, but in reality they decide on the spot. People who've already spent a year or more in Korea get to go first and then everyone else goes alphabetically. Yes, it's a bad system.

[Robot_Teacher]

You'd probably like Gangueng or Chuncheon, but unfortunately, it's not your call on where they place you in the province even if they tell you a town before you fly as a switcheroo happens. I got switched from Taebaek to a tiny town, but it works since it actually offers faster easier access to the cities with a multi room apartment including a real separate kitchen and my washing machine is not stuffed in my bathroom like I seen in other teachers apartments. The other teachers I know do have a shoebox and I lucked out of that due to their shoebox building being full. Housing is severely limited in rural areas so you'll get whatever they can get you, be it really nice and big, average, or a small crappy shoebox designed for a young soldier as young soldiers are all over the place in Gangwondo. Seems like they live in the shoeboxes on the local economy instead of on base barracks.

I understand if you want to stay after 1 year, you can xfer to where you want to be, but you'll probably get placed in a small town to start. The huge disadvantage to that is it can take 1.5 to 2 hours just to get to Gangnueng or Wonju even though distances are short in such a small country as the rural roads are very hilly, curvy, and loopy with slow speeds while the main express tollways connecting sizable cities like Gangnueng, Wonju, and Seoul allow travel as fast as 3.5 hour from Gangnueng to Seoul or Incheon airport going the speed limit when traffic jams are not an issue such as on holidays.

[apugh2003]

well i looked at Wonju because it has over 300k people there now, an E-mart, and 2 American Military bases. I don't want to be in a place that is TOO rural because I have to get medications. and i like the cold weather. being by the beach isn't the most important part to me. living in florida, beaches = bad weather at times, especially during a storm! so as far as healthcare, meds, and other good things such as military bases, what would you recommend. and since my last name begins w/a "P"... hmm... sigh.

So do I need to make them aware of the fact that i need to be placed where i need to get my certain meds? Is that a consideration that they think about as far as placement?

[Morgen]

Yes to that last question. Definitely stress that you need proximity to medical care and try to be as laid-back and gracious as possible, and they'll be more likely to put you somewhere nice.

Have you made sure that these medicines are available in Korea at all? Is it something you need a fresh supply of every day or week? If not, you may welcome the reason to go to Seoul or some other large nearby city periodically. In my experience local clinics and pharmacies tend to be very well-stocked anyway, as Korea is an overmedicated nation.

[Robot_Teacher]

Made another double blooper. Hopefully the site works right soon. One mod announced a few days ago they're working on it.

[oldtactics]

I'm in Chuncheon and it's basically my favourite city in all of Korea. Big enough city that there's more than enough to do every day of the week but small enough that traffic and shopping isn't intolerable. The expats here are fantastic, the EPIK coordinator is fantastic, and we're only 1.5 hours to Seoul by bus so we can zip in and out in a day if we need something.

This might be false but I heard from someone who works for EPIK that people who apply early have the best chance of getting placed where they ask. I was accepted but then deferred my start date to the next orientation, making me one of the first people on the list, and I got exactly what I asked for. Your mileage may vary, but it can't hurt to ask.

Gangwondo is so beautiful and so accessible that even if you're in a smaller city, you won't run out of things to do and people to see. Live it up!

To answer your questions:
Someone above said it best, but generally Gangwon province has extremely high qualitity living conditions - Everyone in Chuncheon has a 2-bedroom or bigger in clean, well maintained buildings.

Air quality is fantastic, in my experience. I moved here with mild asthma and despite the uphill walk to work every morning, I haven't had to use my puffer once. It's clean out here.

There are a handful of us on Dave's who live in Gangwondo, feel free to ask about anything you're concerned about.

[samcheokguy]

there aren't any women in gangwon-do, so bring at least two.

[apugh2003]

i'm a female so i don't need to bring any with me! lol. other than that, i just didn't want anywhere that's too rural. so i'll let them know about the health situation. what's great about chuncheon. like i was telling one of the other posters on here that i'm from the U.S. and i live in a beach city so I know how it can be when the weather gets severe. So it wouldn't be a huge problem for me not to be super near it. But how is the transportation? Are the people given cars?

[Morgen]

No one in EPIK is given a car, but if you REALLY wanted to you could pick one up for under two million won. Buses are generally frequent, although it's hard to find information about routes and costs outside of Seoul. Taxis are quite cheap, especially in a smallish city like Chuncheon, though probably most of the things you need will be more or less within walking distance. Staggering home drunk and vomiting onto the sidewalk is a Korean cultural experience. For travel between cities there are sufficiently frequent, comfortable buses (so frequent that I've taken more than a couple trips to Seoul with only two or three other passengers), and some cities have trains but unless it's KTX it will probably take much longer than the bus.

Frankly, if I were you, I would just make peace with the possibility that you'll be stuck out in the boonies somewhere. From what I've seen, if you teach in a really rural school you'll generally be given an apartment in the largest town within reasonable commuting distance (and you can also strongly request this from your school). Just cultivate some hobbies and make the most of your extra two weeks' vacation and rural bonus, and know that if you re-sign you'll have first choice.

Oh by the way, Korea doesn't have severe weather anything like Florida does. Its geographical situation shelters it from the brunt of it, so no worries.

[gazz]

[quote]Are the people given cars?[/quote]

With statements like this I can see problems ahead for you!

Like a couple of other posters have stated, expect to be in a very rural area and then you can only be nicely surprised if you get a larger city!

But even small towns (village sized 'towns') have good medical facilities from my EXPERIENCE.

As for your condition and the drugs you need, if it is a common condition I would imagine you will easily get the drugs you would need.

If I was you I would find out this info though and make 100% sure. (that means don't ask on Dave's! ). As a side note you might also want to find out if these drugs are covered on the national health scheme in Korea.

If not you might want to start finding out about private policies now ect before you leave your home country.

From my experience I have found the Koreans in general to be some of the nicest people I have ever met, even more so in the rural areas.

Yes you might get a few 'stares' at first esp because your female, but just smile and say 'Hi'

All this BS I here about rural Koreans being racist just hasn't happend from my experiences and the other foreigners I know.

The key is go with a open mind. The 'cultural' things as far as I am concerned are not as big as some people make out as long as you are polite and not too loud.

A smile and a little bit of patience (esp for your first couple of weeks in Korea) will help solve 70% of your problems.

One final thing. If anything is going to go wrong, it generally will do so in the first week or so (getting housing sorted) ect ect.

First impressions count at your school, make a good one!

+ remember even if they do stick you on the DMZ boarder within sight of a North korean tank don't hold it against your school they didn't choose you!

If this unlikely event does happen - watch out for land mines when you are walking!

[apugh2003]

The only reason why I asked about a car is because I didn't know how far away I would be from a hospital/health center, or if i needed to get to Seoul, because I would like to go there on the weekends to have fun. My friend stays i Incheon so I could probably stay with her for the weekend. Where can I find a list of medications on the insurance?

[Robot_Teacher]

I'm in a small town in Gangwondo that has a small hospital buang won with an English speaking doctor. They don't have all the technology for testing. If you really want access to all that without having to take a sick day to make a trip to the city, go to teach in Seoul. He can prescribe anything in his arsenal of medicines Korea offers as he is an internal medicine doctor. I got beta blocker and antibiotics as well as Rabaprazole heart burn pills. While these tiny hole in the wall small business pharmacies don't keep much in stock, they will order for next day pickup. It's precisely the, "just in time," inventory system (JIT) as doing business in Asia courses taught about. Korea is very small business based despite having some of the largest conglomerates like LG.