Hi KSK,
I can help give you an idea about some of your questions. I don't want to give you wrong info for the others.
2) You can easily save $5K-7K by the time your contract is over. It's all up to you & your lifestyle. I drink casually but I'm not a huge party goer. If you don't like Korean food and only eat at the western restaurants (ex. TGIFridays, Bennigan's, Outback Steakhouse, etc.), you will spend more. If you're thinking who would move to Korea if they don't like Korean food, I actually know quite a few foreigners with this problem. Legit Korean clothes are about the same prices as Canadian prices (a.k.a. America is so much cheaper). Transportation costs are dirt cheap. If you luck out and you're of walking distance to your school, that's great. I have a 45 minute bus ride every day =( . I spend about $55 p/month on bus fare.
Basically your BIG expenses will come from your country-hopping adventures during summer & winter break and any electronics you want to purchase while you're here.
5) The city has more Koreans that speak english but you can survive here w/ minimal Korean. It helps if you can read Hangul. Learning the numbers is great but you can always tell them to write it down for you -- and by tell them, i mean play charades w/ them. You'll be doing that most of the time and you'll get really good. As for restaurants, I look for places that have pictures and then I point haha. As long as you've made peace that what you think you're getting is not actually what you're going to get and if you have a positive attitude, you'll enjoy the (learning) experience.
6) I am finishing up my year in public school. The good thing about EPIK is you don't have to worry about your school screwing you when it comes down to the money or school hours. You will make more money in hagwons. However, there may be more stress when it comes to the paperwork. It depends on what's important to you. I chose public b/c I wanted to travel a lot.
As far as class sizes, my biggest class is 29 kids. If you've worked w/ kids before, you'll do fine. Don't be afraid to discipline or the kids will eat you alive. Learn some classroom phrases. The ones I use the most are: sit down, stand up, repeat after me, louder, be quiet, homework, and write down. The most important word is the korean version of "HEY!" It's all about the tone. I'm a non-threatening-looking 5 footer but when I use that with a gym/coach booming voice, my students stop in their tracks.
7) Not hard at all to make friends, especially if you go to the EPIK orientation. Facebook is your friend and social connection to all the foreigners in Korea. Koreans are really nice and they love practising their english with you.
8) If you are vegetarian, allergic to seafood and don't like spicy food then I would say think carefully about coming to Korea. That's their 3 main dishes, plus kimchi and something salty. I'm a wuss when it comes to spicy so sometimes I don't eat the school lunches but most restaurants serve meat so I survive through that. Portion sizes are a lot smaller except for the rice. They eat a ton of rice and rice cakes (the heavy stuff, not the light diet kind).
