Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Lexiloo555]

Hey everyone,

I know that this may have been discussed elsewhere ad nauseum but....
I am moving to Pyeongtaek on September 1st (about 10-15 minutes from the subway station) and it will be my first time teaching and also living in Korea. I took a public school job through GEPIK and have been researching EVERYTHING for weeks upon weeks... there is some good information out there about Pyeongtaek but not really anything that I am looking for (groups, yoga, gyms, etc.). I was wondering if there were any other teachers on this board living in Pyeongtaek or had lived in Pyeongtaek? I am a social kind of person and am worried that I will end up not meeting any other people there... any advice on what is fun around there or what it is really like to live there would be appreciated (other than going to Seoul... which I already plan to do)...

Thank you!!!

[yellowdove]

I don't live there, but my co-worker does (she pretty much travels back and forth from Daejeon to Pyongtaek every day) because her boyfriend is in the army.

My input into this thread - you'll find a lot of foreigners there because of the army base. Apart from Seoul, it's the most foreigners I've seen in my travels. So I don't think you'll have much problems meeting people.

[northway]

It's the boonies. When my students are bad I tell them I'm sending them to Pyeongtaek.

[Lexiloo555]

Thank you yellowdove... that is kind of what I figured... I guess that means that I will not have many problems meeting people at all.

Also, thank you northway for making me laugh! Hahaha

[captain kirk]

You, OP, haven't mentioned noticing that Cheonan is just south of Pyongtaek. I lived there for two years. It's a big place with a correspondingly large number of foreigners (compared to Pyongtaek). There's a bar FTs go to, downtown across from the burgerking.

[Lexiloo555]

Thank you captain kirk , you are right I did not notice that at all... I will have to check it out! Thank you for the information!

[sojusucks]

Pyeongtaek may be far from Seoul but you have an advantage. If you are that close to the subway station, on the #1 line, then you can get to Seoul very easily.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_Subway_Line_1

[I-am-me]

I live close to Pyeontaek. Its a nice small city. It has most everything downtown. There is a brand new dept store at the train station with new cinema, restaurants, shops. Bus #20 in front of Mcdonalds will take you to the army base if you want to find some black market american foods. There is a new rapid train now that will take you to seoul in 50 min. Its pretty nice too. I doubt you will run into many foreigners unless you go to the dept store. Its a quiet little city, but convenient. I live 30 minutes west and its even smaller!!! I love it though.

[Lexiloo555]

Thank you I-am-Me I think that I will like Pyeongtaek then... it seems like a not so bad place to live...

[cassimira]

I'm not sure of the exact details, but i believe there is also a facebook group for foreigners living in Pyeongtaek... that might be a good place to hook up with some friends.

[I-am-me]

I would also advise you to go the the army base to buy a calling card to the US. I use the "mission" card. $10 for about 3 hours of talk time. You might feel lonely the first few weeks. Pm me if you need to know anything once you get here. I might also have a prepaid phone to sell you.

[sojusucks]

[Lexiloo555]

Thank you again I-am-Me for being very helpful and so nice! I might have to take you up on that pre-paid ohone offer if you have it when I get there, that would be awesome and would save me a lot of headaches when I first get there! Thank you also for the offer of help via PM, I will be sure to remember that!

[McGenghis]

I go there solely for the Nepali-Indian restaurant near the KFC. Called 'Yak Mountain Outfitting' or something similar that would seem to suggest a dealer in saddlebags or otherwise non food-related equipment, this is a haven of mine. They keep random hours, the food usually takes about 30 minutes to arrive, but the owner is very kind and the curries are amazing.

They also have about ten English books at the BOOKS-LIBRO in the AeKyung Department Store, which is ten more than most other book stores here (Seoul excepted).

Pyeongtaek sadly has no mountains, but has a pretty big industrial harbour and a few smelly tidal flats where you can catch crabs. It also has a sprawling, ugly red light district known for similar yields.

[sojusucks]