Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Beyond]

I'm being asked for a job in Gwangju, the small satellite city south east of Seoul.. The thing is it's like 200k people, and I was wondering if there's much going on there? I realize Seoul is just an hour away, but I like to be able to walk to places Monday-Friday.

From their website, they specialize in being clean air and healthy food...

Basically--any nightlife going on in cities like this? am I just being picky..

[8 years down]

My first 2 years in Korea were there.

It has cleaned up a bit in the past couple years but it's still a dump overall imo. Some small local pubs and a couple hard-core Korean style nightclubs but nothing else.

It is closer to Seoul than you think. No subway line but an express bus can get you deep into Seoul in 30-40 mins tops.

Clean air? lol. Maybe, but the ground is dirty. It's old. The streets are mostly those little alleys with trash and dirt everywhere. The main strip looks nice lately but anything off the main road looks like crap.

I didn't care at that time because I just wanted to save money. But if you want to have activities within walking distance, or live in a modern city, it might not be the place for you.

[atwood]

I think there is one New Zealand pub there. There's not much there. They just got a big imported car dealership and the people are happy about it because they can go and look at the cars--no intention of ever buying, just looking.

There are some nice hiking trails there and an old castle.

Bundang is close and that's probably where you would want to spend most of your your free time.

[ttompatz]

I worked in Gwangju from 2005-2009 (and lived in Bundang).

It meant a 30 minute commute to work in the morning (2 hours if it snowed) but the school district was OK to work.

It is pretty boring as a place to live (no nightlife to speak of) but close enough to be in Seoul on the weekends and 30-40k for a cab home if you didn't want to wait for the 1st bus in the morning or catch the last one home at night.

Great place to save money.

.

[Beyond]

Thanks for the info.

http://english.gjcity.go.kr/eng_about/character.asp

This website suggests with two mascots "Greeny" and "Cleany" that it's a super clean and whatever place, haha. Guess that's not true.. Though I am interested in all the specialty mushrooms their site claims the city has, which I presume are imported to every nearby city..

[ennoncha]

Hey,
I live in Gwangju right now. It's actually not that terrible, its really developed in the last few years. There's plenty of express buses that can get you to either the pink or yellow line in around 20 minutes. You can also get into Bundang in around 30 minutes. Theres a lot of migrant workers here, so we have a Thai market, a foreign food store and a few good "ethnic" restaurants. It's a pretty cheap place to live and there's quite a few foreign teachers. However, the other posters were quite right about the non-existant night life. It's not the best place to live in Korea, but far, far, far from the worst !

[Beyond]

Ahh, yes, I just had the interview and I'm susceptible to the woman's voice who interviewed me, her sweet voice has lured me into thinking I want this job...

It's so hard to decide now.

Also, when they ask you if you drink? Should you say yes or no? I wondered if the workers want to drink with me sometimes or something.

[stuckinGwangjuwith]

They probably don't want to drink with just you... nudge nudge... but it's quite common for any Korean workplace to have a company dinner at a restaurant with some alcohol involved where they relax a bit.

Shouldn't matter which answer you give, although if you are a heavy drinker and let that on early, they might try to keep you drinking the whole evening, especially the male teachers.