Korean Job Discussion Forums

[0rangeorchid]

Hi all,
I am considering a job in Cheungju and I thought I ask some opinions of the city. I asked for a somewhat smaller city where I would be a bit less inundated with western-ness, but I don't know much about the city. This would be my first time in Korea.

Thanks!
Amanda

EDIT: I am taling about the one that is capital city of Chungcheongbuk-do province, spelled Cheongju/Cheungju, NOT Chungju

[Earthy]

If you are talking about this city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chungju

Then I can tell you quite a bit. Been living here working with EPIK for over a year now.


Even though it is considered the second biggest city in the province it isn't actually that big. It has a downtown area with bars and shops that is about 3-4 blocks in all. Other then that there is not that much in chungju that is too interesting, but it is a good city in my opinion to live in as a base of operations. There is about 40-50 foreigners which in all isn't that much at all.

Um if you have any questions feel free to ask me or you can email me at [email protected]

[sirius black]

Its a nice city. Has over 600k population I think. I've been there but haven't worked there. There seems to be a fairly close group of foreigners. About 3 or 4 pretty good bars for different types of crowds (MJ, Pearl Jam are some of the names I recall). Friendly local teacher crowd. I visited and locals saw a new face and said hello. That won't happen in Seoul.

Its also about a 30 minute bus ride from Daejeon which has 1.6 million people and a Costco. Cheoungju seems a cool place and if you get tired of the same crowd you can make a trip to Daejeon. Seoul is only a couple hours away if you yearn for something else bigger once in a while.

I can think of much worse places to spend a year.

[0rangeorchid]

[r122925]

[L&MaC's]

[r122925]

Yes obviously there are inconsistencies with romanization of Korean place names. But in this case, since there are two cities with very similar names, getting it right is important. So which is it Cheongju (청주) or Chungju (충주)?

You found 2 links where foreigners spelled it that way, but which of these two cities are they refering to? That's the important question to be answered here.

[L&MaC's]

The second link I gave is the bus terminals spelling.

Its says

Cheongju Gyeongbu / Yeongdong
Cheongju Honam
Cheongpyeong Honam
Cheongyang Honam
Cheungju Honam

Chungju is a city in North Chungcheong province

Cheongju is the capital city of Chungcheongbuk-do province

My guess is that Cheungju is the same as Cheongju-city, Chungcheongbuk-do with the Cheungju University at

http://community.eflclassroom.com/events/teachers-workshop-may-17

http://www.artside.org/artist/artist_view.php?num=28

[bekinseki]

It's confusing. Cheongju is pronounced more like how someone who doesn't know Korean would say "Chungju," and Chungju is pronounced more like "Choongju."

I used to stubbornly call Cheongju Chungju, until I met up with a friend there and he called to say "Hey, I'm in Choongju."

[0rangeorchid]

I mean the one pronounced like a westerner would say chong but is spelled cheong/cheung and is the capital city of Chungcheongbuk-do province.
Sorry for all the confusion.

[L&MaC's]

Cheongju is the capital city of Chungcheongbuk-do province

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

[0rangeorchid]

Yes, that's the one. But I'm looking for info a bit more personal than the wiki page.

[Dog Soldier]

I live in CheongJu and have done for the last couple of years. WHat do you want to know?

[bekinseki]

Cheongju is a decent university town, much more interesting than Choongju.

[0rangeorchid]