Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deanjcrawford]

Hello all!

Right, i need some advice. This might be a bit long winded but please bear with me...

I'm currently work just outside london in film, but have previously lived in Korea for going on 3 1/2 years off and on over a 6 year period. My girlfriend and I returned to England 20 months ago (we've been together 3 years), and even though i've been working solidly since, she is definitely going back to Korea in August and I think I am going to go back with her. But here is my dilemma that I would like some advice on.

Basically, do we go back to the city we have lived in previously, which is Jeonju, about 2 1/2 hours south of Seoul, or do we/I take the plunge and go to Seoul where we don't know anyone, in the hope that the experience will be just as good as my previous years in Korea.

I know this is one of those "We can't make your decisions for you!" type of deals, but i would love to hear opinions of anyone who has been in a similar situation or lives in Seoul, as here i what i'm thinking.

My head is telling me to go back to Jeonju as i know the place like the back of my hand, i still have friends there, and i will undoubtedly be able to save some money, as i haven't been able to do that at all working in film. It's a cool place, much like every medium sized city in Korea, with a good nightlife and great expats. However, my biggest gripe about living here was that I found after a while, it was bascially the same old same old and I used to bitch all the time about the lack of variety. There was a lack of "culture" per se. It seems like it has changed a bit since i've been there, with more live music and what not, but i still want to do a bit more extra curricular stuff.

So, part of me feels just go on a new adventure and go to Seoul. (not that i am lacking adventure in my life as i went to korea as a wide eyed 21 year old who knew no one!!). Though, these are my thoughts are Seoul. A big part of me feels like it's a great place to go to, but even better come home. I live on the outskirts of London right now, 30 mins from the centre by train) yet i seldom go in and rarely do i see most of my friends due to work. So part of me is worried that if i choose Seoul, it won't turn out to be the holy grail that I make it out to be in my head and will only see it on the weekends, which would have been the same as if i had of gone back to the smaller city.

Once again, i know that a big city is what you make of it, but do any of you Seoul-ites find time to do stuff during the weeks? If one went to Seoul, are there lot's of extra cirricular activities one could take part in? For example, I'm bang into my film, would like to carry on making stuff. Film clubs? I also like to drink! Do you guys that live in Seoul actually go out during the week? In jeonju we pretty much went out every night, but getting home was no more than a 7000won cab ride away so we could. What part of town should i be looking at moving too. I always seemed to hang out in Hongdae but is it a good place to live?

I know this might sound a bit like a lonely hearts advert, but i was really just trying to start a discussion about the pro's and con's of living in Seoul, as opposed to moving to a smaller, more "comfortable" city. And trying to sort my life out at the same time!!

Any words or advice would be much appreciated! And yes, i am a fickle git and can't make up my mind about anything i do!!!

Peace,
Dean.

http://thekinkyafro.tumblr.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3095911/

[seoulsucker]

Take the plunge.

Anyone moving back to Korea should try to make it as much of a step forward as possible. Seoul or bust.

[SanchoPanza]

Remember "Cohiba's Rule" (Now better than ever!):

Think twice before you live outside of Seoul. "In Seoul" and
"outside of Seoul" are like two different countries. Seoul
is an interesting place with variety and venues for most
tastes. Outside of Seoul you will find a homogeneous Korean
culture. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you will never
find things like: French, Greek, Indian or any other ethnic
foods. Markets that sell sherry, pate, pastrami, ricotta cheese.
Specialty shops that sell Cuban cigars, European pies, cold
cuts or rye breads. Just to name a few things. Also clubs such
as photography, drama, public speaking, sailing are 99% in
the capital city. If you want to experiment with a very Korean
culture, which unfortunately means "closed", then choose the
countryside. If you want to make money and have the lifestyle
choices similar to a western country, then there is no other
choice than Seoul.

The FFF RULE: FFF=Fun For Foreigners.

If FFF in Seoul = 100, then FFF decreases at
1/distance. So 2km from Seoul FFF=1/2(100)=50;
10km from Seoul FFF=1/10(100)=10. This rule is
a rule for nightlife, food and foreign products only.
Nature etc. is on a different scale altogether.

This means you will be wasting a lot of time commuting
to Seoul. This is especially a drag if you have been
boozing on a Friday night and there are no buses or
trains.

I, unfortunately, live near Seoul where the FFF factor
is almost in the negative range. I know!

[jaywood42]

Yeah man, another vote for Seoul.

I've never lived anywhere else in Korea but there are things that happening in Seoul that I know aint happening anywhere else in Korea.

Sweet Mountains surrounding the city too, but I guess those are everywhere else in Korea, but Bukansan and Suraksan can't be beat.

Seoul is where the sparkle really...sparkles.

[matthews_world]

Depends on your future plans.

If you choose the married route, then take a look at Seoul simply for the economics. Remember though, Seoul is pretty expensive - real estate, etc.

If you are in for the simple life, then you can surely save money in a smaller town.

[kinerry]

Hellllllllllllllo, Busan and Jeju?

[deanjcrawford]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice.

Just wondering that Cohiba's Rule sure is an interesting read, and i can see what he's talking about. Though do some of you ever feel like you're missing out on the korean culture a bit by living in seoul? My korean got pretty good after a while (forgotten most of i now!) but i remember hardly having to speak korean at all up in seoul.

And matthew, i doubt i'm going to be married any time soon, ha ha! My partner and i are both english so we definitely will be going back to england at some point. Saving money is a concern too though.

Do any of you guys know of any links, or websites that tells you what's going on in seoul, like drama clubs, film clubs etc?

oh, hey kinerry, the lone voice in the corner over there! Busan is cool, too far away from my old city.

Peace,
Dean.

http://thekinkyafro.tumblr.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3095911/

[Nick Adams]

Live in Seoul (i.e. downtown central Seoul), Gangnam, Hongdae-Sinchon. Ilsan and Bundang are o.k. too but small and far away from Seoul.

You will get bored in the countryside - fast!

I lived in Korea for 4 years.

[air76]

I would definitely choose to return to Jeonju. Jeonju is a nice city and plenty big to have everything that you need. We live just outside of Seoul now and almost never go into Seoul...other than foreign restaurants and more western style night clubs I am not sure where all this "extra" is that Seoul has to offer. For one thing, foreign restaurants are expensive (relative to Korean restaurants), so if you're at all interested in saving money then you'd only be eating at these places once in a blue moon anyway. Once you've done all the "touristy" things in Seoul, which takes one weekend, there isn't all that much there that is different from the average sized Korean city.

I do know what you mean about wanting to go somewhere different though...when we came back to Korea we decided to try another medium sized town instead of going back to the first place we lived....even though we liked Mokpo, we wanted something different and somewhere new to explore (even if Korea does all look the same)

Especially as a couple I don't think that Seoul has so much more to offer. Of course this topic has been hashed to death time and time again, but I still think that Seoul is more of a BIG Korean city than anything close to a Madrid, New York, or Buenos Aires. Seoul still has a lot of growing up to do before it can even start to put itself in the mix with the great cities of the world.

I would venture to guess that 80% of the people who say "It's Seoul or bust." are 23-30 year old single males. I'm not saying anything against this demographic...just that once you take the electronics market, bars/night clubs/Burger King out of the equation that Seoul starts to look a lot more like anywhere else in Korea but with higher prices, more traffic, and pollution.

[ChilgokBlackHole]

If I had to choose between taking 10 minutes snorkeling in pig dung here in Lake Wobegon and 10 minutes walking down the street in Itaewon, I'd choose the dung. Every time.