Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

I've never been there or even in southwest Korea at all. Anyone care to offer experieces/opinions?

What seems like a good place in Kwangju (or is it Gwangju now?) to work has contacted me for an interview. One point of hesistation is going all the way down there from Seoul to visit one school.

[peemil]

Where is the King when you need him?

[katydid]

Gwangju is good to live in, if you like smallish city life. It's got plenty of Western-style fusion and fast food restarants, shops, a couple of ex pat bars...I didn't mind my year in Gwangju at all. It now even has a subway system (which it didn't have when I lived there.)

I think if you lived closer to "downtown" that would be more ideal than being on the outside of it.

If you have any specific questions you can PM me.

[Pligganease]

I took a job in Gwangju as my first tour in Korea, and I have been here for only two months. However, I love this place very much. I've heard that in Seoul it is different, simply because there are so many foreigners there. Here, however, is a different story. Everyone looks at you and wants to say "Hi!" or "Where are you from?" I live 3,000 won/cab from downtown. Downtown is pretty cool. All of the foreigners here know each other simply because there are not som many of us. The area is beautiful, if you like the contry atmosphere. You'll have a department store beside a field of cabbage. It's a trip. Don't take my word for it, or anyone else's for that matter. Check it out.

[Real Reality]

Pligganease wrote,
"Everyone looks at you and wants to say 'Hi!' or 'Where are you from?'"

While I have learned to read hangeul and enjoy practising it every time I take the bus, it is the feelings of anti-Americanism that impede my average workday. For instance, I have been turned away by galbi restaurant owners at the door. "No miguk (America)!" they say. Another time, at one of Korea's bigger department store chains, I was refused the right to purchase an electronics item. Again, "No miguk!" was the reason.

Aside from these issues, there's the one prevailing issue that no foreigner in Korea enjoys. Being gawked at. Everywhere I go I am stared at in shock as if I have green horns growing out of my head. This was curious enough when I first arrived here a year ago to start work for a Korean company, but after a short while it started to become very annoying.
Giving foreigners here a hard time
by Nathan Drescher, Korea Herald (October 13, 2004)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/10/13/200410130012.asp

[CBrown]

My wife and I have been in Korea for 4 months now, and have almost exclusively stuck to Gwangju since we got here. There's lots to do, but it's not a huge city like I hear Seoul is. You can easily get up into the mountains on the weekends, or to the coast if you prefer. Like someone else said, there are all the fast food places and usual department stores, or really whatever else you're looking for.
Yes, I get all the stares that have been mentioned, but I've never been turned away from anywhere, and, in fact, most people are really excited to talk to me when I tell them I'm American. I did get a bit nervous one weekend downtown when there was some sort of large anti-America protest going on, complete with TONS of cops in full riot gear, but even then no one said a negative word to us. Of course I'd recommend coming down to see for yourself, but I think it's a great place to live.

[Yangkho]

For those of us out in the country towns in Jeollanamdo, Gwangju is the place to go once a month, or every other month, to get your fix.

Outback Steakhouse. A decent CD shop. A store that sells guitar strings. You'll get it all in Hwanggeumdong. Or something like that.

The new subway is really nice.

Mudeung mountain is really cool and it's right there.