I can’t believe that it’s been a year since I left Cheonan! I never really took the time to decompress and write about my year living in Cheonan, because I had to move and start work in Busan so quickly, so I’d like to talk about it.
My year living and working in Cheonan, Korea
First off, I moved to Cheonan because I couldn’t get a job in Seoul, but I wanted to get a little closer. Cheonan is a nice mid-sized city, don’t get me wrong, but Seoul has more of the things I’m into. Cheonan has a lot of transportation options. It’s connected to Seoul by subway, but the trip is long and uncomfortable. There is a bus, but you have to go downtown to get to the bus station. There are two train stations: the normal (mugungwah) train, and the KTX train. A ticket on the KTX from Cheonan to Seoul will cost you about 13,000 won, but it will get you there in about a half an hour to 45 minutes.
For greater ease using the city bus, download the phone app, 천안버스.
Now, there are things for a foreigner to do in Cheonan. Most of the activity is centered around the Shinsegae department store downtown. There are three foreigner bars right across the street from it: Banana bar, Caliente, and Dolce. Almost every foreigner in Cheonan hangs out at those places. Besides that, there’s the bus station in the Shinsegae, the Arario art gallery, an excellent English-speaking hair-stylist at Sunny’s hair salon, a language exchange that meets up at the Nescafe cafe, a billiard room, and a boxing gym. A lot of the community communicates in the Facebook group, Cheonan People.
My favorite places to go to eat were, in no particular order: Cantina (California-Mexican), Sinore (pizza), Dono Marco (Italian), 운보 찻집 (ice dessert), LA 북창동순두부 (tofu soup), 멘야마쯔리 (Japanese ramen), and Coffee Mission (coffee and dessert).
If you’re looking to study Korean, I recommend my old teacher, Jung Youn (최정윤). She works with all levels and is highly qualified.
Cheonan is a transportation hub of sorts and it’s really easy to travel to other cities in Korea by train or bus. There’s plenty to see within the city as well.
My favorite places to take friends visiting from out of the town were the cat cafe, Gakwonsa Temple (각원사), and Sengbulsa Temple (성불사).
In the winter, you’ll see snow. In the spring, you’ll see beautiful cherry blossoms. In the summer, you’ll see beautiful roses. Life is what you make of it, so get out there and explore!
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