Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jackmckenzie]

Hi everyone

I am being lined up by my recruiter for a position in a public elementary school in Gwangju, near Seoul (not the bigger Gwangju City in the south of Korea).

So doing research isn't really working and I can't find much info on the place. Anyone live there now or lived there in the past and care to share any info that could be useful to me?

I understand (wikipedia) that has a population of 200,000 odd, so not big but not tiny, that suits me, and v close to Seoul - is it easy to get in and out of Seoul?

Hope someone gets back to me on this - would be very much appreciated

All the best
Jack

[young_clinton]

[nathanrutledge]

Hit or miss.

It's a BIG city. You could be on the west side which abuts Seongnam/Bundang, and then it's a short bus ride to the Bundang line. OR, you could be on the east side which is in the middle of nowhere. Buses that DO get into Seoul are usually only heading the far east side of town - Songpa/Gangdong-gu area.

Personally, I'd say it depends on the job. If it's good, the location is workable. If the job is so/so or worse, I wouldn't want to add the location into that mix. Just my two cents.

[atwood]

There's very little there. There's a big E-Mart at the bus terminal. There's a greenbelt, that if it hooks up with Bundang's, would be good for bike riding. It's fairly close to Bundang, which is a very nice place, but I'd guess it's at least a half-hour by bus. There was a bar run by either New Zealanders or Australians, but I don't know if it's still open.

[jackmckenzie]

Anyone got any more info..?

[ttompatz]

Worked there for years and it is pretty much covered here already.
It really depends on WHERE in the district you get placed.

I lived in Bundang (Seohyun) and commuted to work (30 minutes).

I had other friends who worked on the east side and it was a 90 minute bus ride (#17) to get into Seohyun or 90 minutes to Seoul.

The town itself is smaller (by Korean standards) but does have most things that a foreigner would want in terms of daily living. The only drawback was that a night in Seoul usually meant either coming home early or staying all night.

There is also the fortress/temple at the north end of town (abutting Seongnam) and the ceramic festival.

.

[TM107]

It's a sprawling mass of old town/apartment settlements/general dross that percolates over several valleys south east of Seoul. I am rather fond of its 'non-entity-ness', characterized perhaps by its focal point/ mecca i.e. the E-Mart shopping complex, just outside of which (well, 50 metres down the road) is your only escape, the 1113 or 1113-1 bus to the big city itself (a 45 minute ride to Gangbyeon Bus terminal and then the subway into Seoul central, perhaps another 25 minute ride on Line 2 - and dirt cheap at the price/ just stock up on one of the Hi Seoul travel cards which you can get at Gangbyeon Station). But back to the delights of Gwangju itself....
....not much I am afraid, good covered food market, half a dozen coffee shops (occasional young bevies of blondes materialize in these but as to their origin, I remain clueless), Bangladeshi cricket team practising down on the park beside the river (one of the few saving graces - lots of space to expand/people gaze/fly your kite), AWFUL pretentious art gallery up on the hillside opposite the park, few karaoke establishments and billiards if you are into that sort of thing. Get yourself a bike and start exploring the cycle paths beside the rivers - a good way to start understanding the geography and setting of the place. Enjoy!

[fosterman]

gwang ju is the boonies..

buy a xbox because you will need it out there.. seriously.. NOTHING out there
best to come into bundang on weekends.

[SojuQueen]

I lived there for a year, but I was in a terrible job situation. Like the others sad here it's a big sprawling mess of apartment buildings and shops. There is an E-mart and some foreign restaurants (Thai and Indian). There is also a nice hiking path. It's pretty close to Bundang( I think you can take the 300 bus there). There is also a WA BAR where foreigners meet once a month. The people there were not particularly nice. I hate it. I personally think there is better places to give you a good first impression of Korea.

Cheers.

[mick]

Lived there for a year. Met a nice bunch of people but when I started my second contract in the Sanbon/Anyang area, realised that Gwangju itself was a pretty crap place to live. I was there 2005/2006 so things might have changed since then.