Korean Job Discussion Forums

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004

Well, there's not much money there

Cohiba · Joined: 01 Feb 2005

I have a friend who lives in Nowon and he ALWAYS has to
waste time coming into Seoul for fun. Read the post below
about Korean cities. I posted it before, but it still applies:

THE FFF RULE:

Think twice before you live outside of Seoul. "In Seoul" and
"outside of Seoul" are like two different countries. Seoul
is an interesting place with variety and venues for most
tastes. Outside of Seoul you will find a homogenous Korean
culture. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you will never
find things like: brown bread, good beer, bars with good
tunes, English book stores etc.

Remember the FFF RULE. FFF=Fun For Foreigners.

If FFF in Seoul = 100, then FFF decreases at
1/distance. So 2km from Seoul FFF=1/2(100)=50;
10km from Seoul FFF=1/10(100)=10. This rule is
a rule for nightlife, food and foreign products only.
Nature etc. is on a different scale altogether.

This means you will be wasting a lot of time commuting
to Seoul. This is especially a drag if you have been
boozing on a Friday night and there are no buses or
trains.

I, unfortunately, live in Inchon where the FFF factor
is almost in the negative range. I know!

plattwaz · Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Location: <Write something dumb here>

Nowon isn't a se4perate city from Seoul, it is a "gu" or ward within the city. However, it is in the north-east corner, so it does take some travel time to get to the centre of the city.

I lived there for a couple of years and really liked it. Close to the mountains, the train station outta here, and generally, absolutely no different from any other "gu" in the city - same norae-bangs, pc rooms, hofs, department stores, etc.

Thunndarr · Joined: 30 Sep 2003

Nowon is just a neighborhood in northeast Seoul. It's not like you're going to be in a completely seperate city. And it's a decent enough place to live. And what you sacrifice in commute time to the hot spots on the weekend you more than make up for in quality of life during the week.

SarcasmKills · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

Nothing wrong with Nowon... good group of expats there along with decent nightlife.. and if you must travel to the centre of Seoul it's not that far either... Lines 7 and 4 are there for it's also very convienient for travelling throughout the city...

HapKi · Joined: 10 Dec 2004 Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL

Nowon Station to Chungmuro=about 30 minutes

Seokye Station to Itaewon=about 25 minutes

Of course, Nowon to western Seoul takes about an hour.

kermo · Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject:

A few really nice restaurants, kooky bars, and a reliable "foreigner" bar. Some great views of the mountains.

What are some important questions for directors?
Ask about pension and medical. It's best to be in a place which offers the national health plan, and the pension plan works out really nicely if you're Canadian.
Ask about whether overtime is paid.
Ask about the school's overall philosophy, and find out whether it jives with your talents. For example, I'm a bubbly and rowdy teacher currently in a straight-laced, white-knuckle institute. Recipe for disaster.
Ask if they use cameras. Some managers have them in their offices, and others have got heaps of them for all (i.e. parents) to see.
Ask about class sizes, dress code, teaching material, discipline procedures...

Shall I go on?

SPINOZA · Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul

It's absolutely correct that pretty much all areas in Seoul have the same stuff. I've never actually been to Nowon (apart from Subway stn, which obviously doesn't count) so can't comment on it but I've heard Nowon's pretty good. As has also been said, the main problem with that part of town is that it takes fookin' ages on the subway to get to places like Hongdae and Itaewon and pretty much anywhere really. That can be a good thing of course because if you're put off Hongdae and Itaewon because of the 30-40k cab home, you'll save more money than those of us who only need spend 5-7k from Hongdae and 10-12 from Itaewon. Even Kangnam is only 17k for me in NW Seoul. It's nice up there in the NE but I wouldn't wanna live there personally.

Saunagukin · Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 7:03 pm Post subject:

I lived in Nowon for a couple of years. I agree that outside of "foreigner areas", Korea can be...um...a bit provincial, what with the "hello-hello-nice-to-meet-yous". Nowon was that way sometimes. However, I also agree that it is a nice area. There is a nice mountain to hike around and the buildings are not as tall (sun-blocking-out) as, say, Gangnam. Good saunas, if you're into that. The foreigners that I knew there were the usual. Another plus is that it is cheaper than 'downtown'. I live in Gangnam now and it is a little more worldly, well as worldly as Korea gets, but also more expensive. If I had to choose again, I would pick Nowon...I think.

Good idea to ask about cameras, but probably only if it would affect your decision. If they use cameras, they're not going to remove them for you.

Good luck.

SarcasmKills · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

I truly doubt that any of them post on here but the Nowonites finished a healthy 2nd to us Uijeongbu'ers in our Waegookin Spring Olympics..

Good bunch.

In the know · Joined: 12 Oct 2004

SarcasmKills · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

mack the knife · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: standing right behind you...

Thunndarr · Joined: 30 Sep 2003

I agree about Dragon bar, I can't stand that place. Too loud, too expensive, and if I wanted to watch a bunch of drunk guys playing with fire and dropping bottles everywhere, well, then I would be stupid for wanting to watch that.

I've been heading over to Cancun about once or twice a week. Good, not overly loud, music. Decent prices for beer. Chance of winning a bottle of whiskey for playing darts. All in all, about 10 steps up from Dragon Bar.