Teaching in Daejeon: A Home Away from Home

It’s 7.30am and my phone is ringing. Who on earth could be calling me at this hour? Turns out it was someone with a job offer. I had finally heard back from the English Program in Korea (EPIK) with the good news: I was going to teach in Korea! The only problem was they wanted me to work in Daejeon, a place I had never heard of. It didn't matter. I quickly said ‘yes’ there and then before such an amazing opportunity could be snatched away from me.

I didn’t care that Daejeon had not been on my list of requested cities, but initially I had no idea what the city had to offer. The only thing the EPIK staff member and my recruiter were able to tell me was that, ‘it’s a very nice city,’ so I decided to do some research online. Initial research just led to pages about mustard, then I realised how to spell it properly (doh!).

Life in Daejeon

I soon found out that Daejeon is the fifth largest city in Korea. I also garnered (from the lack of buzz on the internet) that it was not the most exciting of places. It has one subway line, two main areas to shop and socialize, and is surrounded by a few small mountains (or hills depending on how you look at them). Even then I was placed in a very small area – also known as the ‘ghetto’ – called Sintanjin. It is very far north of the city, and with no subway line, the only way to reach the centre is via bus which takes at least 40 minutes. There is very little information about Sintanjin on the internet, but since moving here I have realized there is little to do and the air is very polluted due to a number of factories in the area. The rest of Daejeon, however, is an extremely pleasant place to live.

As a tourist you might not think there is not much to see and do in Daejeon, but as a place to live it has proven to be most convenient. It’s not too big, nor too small. Finding western restaurants and entertainment is certainly not a challenge. There are a number of cinemas that show English speaking movies with Korean subtitles, as well as a number of bars and clubs in the two main areas of town – Dunsan-dong and Eunheng-dong. These two areas also offer great shopping with lots of quirky little stores and boutiques alongside the larger designer labels.

The Great Escape

It is relatively easy to travel to nearby cities from Daejeon using Korea’s fast train - the KTX, (Korea Train Express). Daejeon is located right in the center of Korea and most people have to change here if they are travelling from the North to the South of the country or vice versa. The six largest cities in Korea are: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon and Gwangju. The KTX (with a top speed of 305km per hour) can take you into downtown Seoul in under an hour!

Traveling south by KTX will take you to Busan in about 90 minutes. Trains run every five to ten minutes to both Seoul and Busan from Daejeon Station, making Daejeon a very convenient place to live if you intend to travel a lot throughout South Korea. There are also a number of slower trains that go through Daejeon and even Sintanjin, these are called the Mugunghwa and the Saemaul. Taking the bus to more remote parts of South Korea is also easily possible from Daejeon’s main bus terminal – Dongbu.

Why I Made the Right Choice

Initially when I applied for a teaching job in South Korea I wanted to live in a small city or rural area so I could experience the true Korean culture. Life didn’t work out that way, however, but I couldn’t be happier. Living in Daejeon has proven to be more convenient than I could have imagined: I have been able to visit so many other cities and towns and experienced so much of the culture Korea has to offer. It is also not a tourist city, so you don’t have to deal with huge crowds on the weekends and during public holidays. This makes it – in my opinion - the perfect home away from home!