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Stay in the Provinces, or A Larger City?

 
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jhuntingtonus



Joined: 09 Dec 2008
Location: Jeonju

PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:49 am    Post subject: Stay in the Provinces, or A Larger City? Reply with quote

I'm a 52-year-old American man whose public elementary school contract expires late April. I have had a good time on the job here in Jeonju, but don't feel successful personally:

- Although females of all ages seem to like me, I have no girlfriend, mainly because the pool of candidates here anywhere near my age who speak English is tiny

- There are no evening or weekend Korean classes here, and I want to learn

- The expat community is young, small, and revolves around drinking, which I don't do and get no pleasure from being around when it gets heavy.

I like my job here, but have been assigned a completely new set of schools and co-teachers, so can't count on good situations there. I have read enough about Seoul on these pages to see it's probably not a good idea - the bad job climate, especially for those my age, seems reason enough. So how about Busan? Do you think the things above would be better there? How about Daegu, Gwangju, or even Daejeon?
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ttompatz



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea

PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Stay in the Provinces, or A Larger City? Reply with quote

jhuntingtonus wrote:
I'm a 52-year-old American man whose public elementary school contract expires late April. I have had a good time on the job here in Jeonju, but don't feel successful personally:

- Although females of all ages seem to like me, I have no girlfriend, mainly because the pool of candidates here anywhere near my age who speak English is tiny

- There are no evening or weekend Korean classes here, and I want to learn

- The expat community is young, small, and revolves around drinking, which I don't do and get no pleasure from being around when it gets heavy.

I like my job here, but have been assigned a completely new set of schools and co-teachers, so can't count on good situations there. I have read enough about Seoul on these pages to see it's probably not a good idea - the bad job climate, especially for those my age, seems reason enough. So how about Busan? Do you think the things above would be better there? How about Daegu, Gwangju, or even Daejeon?


I am similar to your self description in many respects.

Personally, after many years in Korea, I found Bundang to be a good option.

I lived in Seohyun1 dong (easy (30 minute) commute to seoul), decent shopping and amenities at hand, entertainment close by, dating options existed (till I got married) and had a 20 minute morning commute to a "rural school" just over the city line in Gwangju (Gyoneggi - not Jeolla).

Just my 20 won worth for your consideration.

.
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jhuntingtonus



Joined: 09 Dec 2008
Location: Jeonju

PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting - perhaps I should consider cities connected to Seoul by subway. I've thought of them as being "Seoul" also, but guess they're really not.
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