Korean Job Discussion Forums

[moneill2]

In terms of city living i found a website that claims the population of eumseong is 96,993, but I don't know how big the actual village that I will be in is. I am guessing pretty small and at least a 1 hour ride from any cities. Gongju is about a half hour from the closest city with a train, and a bit bigger but can anyone offer advice on living in either place. Eumseong said to have about 10 other expats Gongju about 40

[lemak]

96,000 over the entire county, right? And how big is that 1 or 200km/sq?

You're talking farming villages and rice fields, which don't get me wrong some people *love* to teach among that. Back in the day I lived a stone's throw from Eumseong in a place called Janghowon which is likely where you'd call "civilization" were you to be living there. Pretty much a one pony town i.e dead. You're in the soju belt. Very conservative, old fashioned, grungier, feels like Korea must have felt in the late 1970s.

Gongju is a relatively pretty "city", and owing to a few universities and a lot of money being pumped into the area - reasonably modern. Has most of the mod cons, but is still close enough to mountains and national parks should you want that. I've been there a few times. It's not a huge place, but you can get to bigger cities like Daejon or Cheonan in 30 mins or so if you're jonesing for Krispy Kreme or need to do a Costco run.

Depending on your location in Eumseong you might be looking at a 30 minute walk just to get to a Mom and Pop store to stock up on ramyen.

Both places might take an hour and a half to 2 hours to get to Seoul by bus.

Personally I'd go for the Gongju option. The other one has a better than average chance of sending you to the loony bin halfway into your contract.