Korean Job Discussion Forums

[onk]

I have three contract offers. All three contracts are pretty much the same. They all come from good (reputation) recruiters. All three schools have positive reviews from current teachers.

But they're in different cities.

Not saying this will be the only deciding factor, but all things being equal, which would you chose??

Yongin, Daegu, or Daejeon

(those are the only three choices for now)

thanks for your input!

[edwardcatflap]

Yongin. It's virtually Seoul. Connected by bus and subway and a 30,000 won taxi ride.

[saram_]

I would say either Daegu or Yongin.

Daegu because it's a nice large city.. A lot smaller than Seoul comparably (in feel) but you can get anything you need there very easily. There is a large Expat community and area there if you want to blend in or you could just hang with lots of new Korean friends too. It is quite central in Korea- Busan is close during Summer and Seoul is easy enough to get to too..when you want a different vibe up there.

Daejon is a much smaller version than Daegu and frankly there doesn't seem to be much to do there. Not many people would go out of their way to visit Daejon for example. Seoul is an hour and a half away by bus and Busan is further. I can't say much about the expat community there but I imagine it would be close knit... (small town feel) which can be good if you are starting out too.

Yongin because, its close to Seoul (where some would say is where it's at).
It is a lot more rural than you might expect being only 30 mins from central Seoul by bus.
There isn't too much to do there and getting around might be difficult.
You'll prob be up to Seoul most weekends if you move here.

As someone starting off in Korea, I would choose Daegu. Daejon doesn't do much for me but I am sure others know a bit more. Yongin is someplace you can go and live in if you've been in Korea a long time and would like to set up base near but not in Seoul.

[sligo]

Daejon is almost as central as possible in Korea. It is a small "big" city, so it has everything you would need for everyday life. It has several drinking areas and even a costco for tastes of home. The best thing is, it has a KTX (super fast train) station which will get you to Busan in a little over 2 hours, and less than 90 minutes to Seoul (as well as most other places in Korea).

The one bonus it has over Seoul, is that due to its size, it will not have everything that Seoul will have, so this means you will be more likely to travel around and experience more of Korea.

I live in Cheongju (the next city along, and smaller still). I like it here, but at it is smaller than Daejon, if i want to do something a little different, i do a little research and make a weekend out of it. I honestly think i would not have seen as much of Korea as i have, if i had worked in Seoul. Plenty of people i know who live in Seoul never bother to travel as: "Everything i need is in Seoul".

So, do you want everything on your doorstep, or all the excuses you need to find new sights in new cities?

[young_clinton]

Yongin is in the Seoul metro area and the Seoul Metro Subway (Bundang subway) connects to Yongin. Daegu (2.5 million) is very large in of itself and is a quick bus trip to Pusan (4 million) which has a bunch of stuff in it. Or if you like you can take a quick KTX trip to Seoul (two hours, expensive). Taejon is a two hour bus trip to Seoul or a one hour KTX trip (expensive). Taejon is large (1.5 million) and also has things in it, but not all that much. One thing to consider about the cities though is the quality of the children you are going to teach. Rural children are much nicer than in the large cities especially the Seoul Metro. Based on this alone you might consider Taejon which in some aspects is much more rurally located. Taejon is also in close proximity to things like old forts and a lot of culturally revelant stuff.

I wouldn't recommend one city over the other. However in a more centrally located city (Taejon) you might be better set to see more of the things in Korea.

[toddt82]

I'm sorry, I don't have anything to say about the locations, but could you tell me which recruiters with good reputations you were referring to? I'm trying to do my homework with regard to finding an agency that is not just in it for the money. Thanks!

[ttompatz]

[Tyshine]

Do you know what part of Daegu?

[onk]

[sirius black]

onk,

You ask a ver broad question. If someone said 'Where in America should I live?' how would you answer that.

My first advice is look at the job first. Doesn't matter where you live if the job sucks. If all things being equal with the job then you can start thinking about the city. However, do the research on the job. Talk to present and/or former teachers, do a search on here on other sites to see if the school has any comments.

If all three jobs are basically the same then start thinking about what YOU want. What do you want out of your experience here? Are you a city person, country person, etc. Do you like the solitary life? Are you a party animal? Nothinig wrong with either.

With regards to the three cities, they are all fine. Suburban Seoul can have some cities that have a small town feeling to it but being close by bus and train to a city of 10 million with many cultural, social, etc. things makes the stay much easier.

Daegu and Daejeon are good cities. The smaller of two, Daejeon has 1.6 million people and a big city with a small town feeling to it. Daegu has just under 3 million people. A large city, a thriving downtown scene and things to do.

You can have a great time anywhere. It comes down to three things. 1) the job. If the job sucks, life sucks. 2) Who you meet and befriend. There are some great people and some losers. Choose wisely. 3. You. if you are a fairly well adjusted person, you will get along pretty much anywhere. If you are socially awkward and never really fit in anywhere and you're coming to korea to 'reinvent' yourself, you may struggle but you'd struggle anywhere.

PS
Be careful about a post by a person named FDNY who will post some Cohiba's rule thingy about living in Seoul. Its bullshyt...lol. Some have this Seoul or nothing attitude because its the largest city. Its the equivalent of telling someone its NYC or nothing if they move to America or London or nothiing if you moved to England.

By and large the larger Korean cities (which Seoul, Daegu and Daejeon are) look boringly far more similar than different. You have the benefit also of being in a fairly small country connected by high speed trains so you can enjoy all three cities as they are easy to get to anyway.

[onk]

[young_clinton]

I think you're going to find that the local (their should be several actually) greasy spoon will have real good Korean food at an inexpensive price. You can look for your usual food on weekends if you have to.