Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alwynjo]

Hi
Does anyone work at or know anything about ECC Masan?

Also

Does anyone know what Masan is like?


(I have 2 job offers atm and one is in Masan and the other is in Seoul so just wondering which is better - not sure what Masan is like though)

thanks!

[chronicpride]

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=19120
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=26616

As much as we don't mind helping you out, you'd get a lot more research done quicker, if you use the search button at the top part of the eslcafe tools, type in your keyword, like Masan, search for all terms if you are using more than one word, and browse the results. This is how I retrieved the two Masan threads.

[Cacique]

I have lived in Masan for 10 months and find it to be a decent place.

I looked at the threads that chronicpride provided links for, and they seem to be pretty accurate. Masan is an old city. It is a port city, and an industrial city. Although it's located on the ocean, most of the oceanfront is occupied by industries such as the port. There really are no beaches here, which I found rather disappointing. Park-space is sadly almost non-existant, but Muhak mountain is good for hiking on, and is right at the edge of the city. You can be out in the countryside in 15 minutes by car.

However, Masan can be enjoyable. It depends what you're looking for. The 50-100 foreigners living here are a tight-knit group, and we hang out regularly at a couple of foreigner pubs on weekends. It's kind of like the tv show "Cheers" where everybody knows your name. If you like knowing the other foreigners personally, and seeing them regularly, this is one of it's strong points.

The population of Masan is about 400 - 500 000 people, and the sister-city Changwon is about another 500 000 people. When you are driving from Masan into Changwon there is no gap between them, the cities just meld together, so it's really like living in one big city of about a million people. That being said, I almost never venture into Changwon, but it's there.

If you like the feeling of a mid-sized city, without all the traffic, noise, and congestion of a city like Seoul, than Masan is good. Even at the worst times, traffic here is not much of a problem. We have a Walmart, Lotte Mart, Daewoo Department Store, Electronics Market, Fish Market, Shinsaegae Department Store, 3 movie theaters, a museum, art gallery (albeit small.) The city is sort of split into the 3 downtown areas, Shin Masan, Changdong, and Habsungdong. ChangDong is my favorite as the streets are closed off to cars and you can walk around and do your shopping and eating at restaurants, go barhopping, etc..

Sometimes, I feel that Masan can be a little boring. Always the same faces (foreigners,) and always the same places, but anyplace is what you make of it, and everything is here that I need. I know that Changwon is next door, Busan is 45 minutes away, and Gimhae is 30 minutes away.

I'm not familiar with that school, but I would suggest digging into that further. I know some foreiners here who have had some harrowing experiences with their hagwons, and if that school is one of them, it would be worth finding out. If you want to research it further, send me a PM and I will call my friend who has lived here 7 years, and he will probably know the details of the school.

Good luck!

[just because]

I've known a couple of people who have worked there and they said it was Ok.

However, the hours can be long.