Where Do I Want to Live?

"Nothing is to be feared; it is only to be understood." - Marie Curie

This is a matter of subjectivity, and it's a surprisingly important decision to make. Being from a small town, when I first started looking into teaching in Korea, I realized that I didn't want to live in a chaotic crush of millions of people. I decided that working in a smaller city would be a priority. That really narrowed down my initial job search.

My first year was in Changwon, a "small" city of about 500,000 people (yes, in Korea that's considered small) in South Kyeongsang Province. Being a more provincial town, I felt that the Koreans (and the foreigners) there were more friendly, and that it was generally easier to meet people and make friends. The foreigner community there was quite close-knit; people (total strangers) would always say "Hi!" to each other on the streets, and everyone knew everyone else. True, it didn't have all the amenities and comforts of Seoul, and granted, it did get a little stale by the end of my year there, but sometimes I think I'd be very content to go back there.

My second year was in Ilsan, a suburb/"satellite city" near Seoul, which was about 45-60 minutes away by bus or subway. Seoul is.... indescribable. You *can* get almost anything you could want or need, but it often takes some effort, dedication, and time to do it. Trying to sort out which combination of subway lines, buses, & taxis to take in order to reach your destination in the least amount of time possible, or in the greatest comfort, or for the lowest cost, or any combination of these factors... well, it's almost enough to make one want to stay home and rent videos for the weekend instead! Some people really love that metropolitan rush, others can only put up with it for short periods. Yes, this time I'm living in southern Seoul, and while I can't say that I really LOVE living here, so far I'm bearing up fairly well. If you do decide to come to Seoul, you will have to put up with heavy traffic, congestion, bad air, dirty, crowded sidewalks... but on the other hand, most Seoulites are more accustomed to seeing foreigners out and about than Koreans in other smaller towns and cities are. You'll also be just another face in the already-large-and-growing crowd of ex-pats, since most expats don't give each other a 2nd glance, or even a friendly "hello" as they pass on the streets. You will also have much readier access to various amenities and "luxuries" than you might in a smaller city. Just beware of the dark side of living in Seoul.

The "Seoul Gravitational Effect" is a strange but real phenomenon among the foreign crowd, in that those who choose to live in Seoul rarely venture out into the country (I can personally attest to this). That's really a shame, because Seoul is NOT Korea, and there's a whole lot more out there. Kyungju (Gyeongju) is a beautiful and historical city in the southeast, but very few Seoul-based foreigners ever get there. The south/central mountains are spectacular, as are the coastlines, but you'd be hard-pressed to find many Seoul-based ex-pats who have ever been there. Armed with little more than a decent guide book, a backpack, and a little courage, you'd be amazed at what you can find. Travelling in Korea is really quite easy, especially if you can read Hangul. Korea has an extensive network of trains and a mind-boggling bus system. The larger bus/train terminals (in the major cities) usually have english assistance. Travel by bus/train is also quite reasonably priced, and with some determination and planning you can get just about anywhere you might want to go. Get out there and search out those far flung corners of the country and find those hidden surprises, like that deserted 1/2-mile-long beach, or that temple hidden in a bamboo grove, or the limestone caves with musical stalagtites... you won't regret it.

Skiers and boarders might like to know that they can find hills in the northeast near Kangnung and Sokcho, and in the south/central area (near Changwon or even Daegu). Sunlovers would be better to stay south (even Cheju Do as the weather varies a fair bit from north to south). Beachbums may like Busan or Cheju-Do, although Haeundae beach (Busan) gets pretty crowded in summertime, and people living on Cheju are subject to unpredictable bouts of island fever and summer tropical storms. Generally speaking, larger towns have better travel networks so you will have more variety in terms of other places you can get to and more flexible schedules. A small community like Danyang may be a very pretty place to live, but it's pretty tough to get to other places.

To sum it up, the southwest and west are fairly rural; the southeast has Busan, Gyeongju and easy access to Japan and Cheju-do; the northeast and center are very mountainous, and the northwest is dominated by Seoul and her "satellite cities".

Got asthma? You'll probably want to avoid the larger cities like Seoul, Busan, Pohang, Ulsan, Kwangju, and Daegu, due to pollution. The northern cities also get the worst of the annual "yellow dust" storms every spring, which is basically dust from the Gobi Desert (and pollution from China) picked up by the Siberian winds and dropped over China, northern Korea, Japan, and even occasionally making over to N. America.

There will be trade-offs wherever you choose to go. You have to know what it is you want out of your time there, too. Are you there just to make money, or do you want to get out of the city and explore the country some, get some cultural experiences, and actually learn something about life in Asia? Think about it.

(Thanks to "Captain Korea" for his help on this page!)

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