Apartment Tour!
Written by Bessie on Friday, May 08, 2009 in Korea, Republic of
Feelin' normal
Well, we're really living in South Korea, and here are the pictures to prove it!Feelin' normal
Take off your shoes. No shoes allowed inside Korean homes or schools. Even in some areas in restaurants you take your shoes off. There's always a ledge too. Keep that dirt out!
Here's our hallway. Closets on the left. Bedroom on the right - literally a bed-room.
Our bathroom is the next door on the right (blog about Korean bathrooms). And this is our "kitchen" The fridge is in the tall white doors on the left. And yes, our stove is on top of our washing machine.
And what do those buttons say? Yeah, we have no idea either. We just push play, literally. Gets clothes pretty dry, then we hang them on a rack.
This is our livingroom area. A friend lent us the couch, and we eat all our meals at the table. We made the middle section by the windows into a desk for Kyle to computer program away. The tree on the right is this fun sticker thing I put up.
Here's Kyle taking a moment to chill on our couch. The map is all in Korean, which makes things interesting. You can see laundry drying on the rack. We have floor heating & the top right plastic thing is an AC.
This is the view out our window. We have a view into central park, where we run 3 times a week. All the tall buildings are thousands of apartments.
Comments on "Apartment Tour!"
actually, writing this post finally was the spark for me to ask one of my co-workers what all the buttons say. They're things you'd expect like normal wash, delicate, fast wash, etc.
Yeah we're pretty happy with our place. Some people do get crap apartments, and we've got a nice one in a nice building. Part of the reason we couldn't pass up this job. :)
Cute, cute, cute!! I'm enjoying hearing your stories as you settle into your new home.
I love your apartment. It really needed your tree though. Do you have a TV. So nice you look over the park. What is the weather now? How far is the grocery store? Anything you especially miss? English library any place? That may be a stupid question. Keep having fun.
I think the tree really adds something. I just put up another picture of Kyle laying on our couch - we also have a world map IN KOREAN, which adds an extra flair to dreaming on future traverls...
No tv, but we watch everything on our computer, and we bought a 22 inch monitor to enjoy (not in a picture). Everything is still so new we don't really miss much. I hear there are great English bookstores, and even a used one, but really, I've had zero time to read... I hear there's an english library in our town, but I don't know where it is.
I'm sure in a few short months things will feel normal, and we'll be missing things more.
My grandchildren must be Korean because the first thing that comes off at our house are their shoes!
Dad and I love all the photos of your clean, efficient apartment. Try taking a nighttime shot from your window....or are there any visible lights after dark? The one burner washer/dryer stove is hysterical! Guess you don't boil spaghetti and cook the sauce at the same time! No wonder you eat out so much! Also got a hoot out of your bed-room...so aptly named! How about a trip to E-mart for a throw pillow for Kyle's head. Looks like Korea will give you stories to tell for years to come.
We really have a great place - we've met people with bad stories of having no heat all winter & leaking pipes fixed by plastic bags... I don't think we'll have any situations like that here.
The nighttime view out the window isn't too exciting because we're sort of far from all the apartments. Makes me happy, so people can't look into our apartment. There are some neon signs a few floors down on the building across from us, so red, blue, and green reflect in at night. :)
Yeah - there are actually 2 burners, but it's not spacious!! We only had 1 pot until 2 days ago - we have friends moving out of their apartment so they gave us lots of kitchen stuff & 2 throw pillows! :)
You seem to be settling in nicely! Great place to practice Minimalism. :) I understand that fellow teachers who live in "singles" apartments reside in smaller arrangements. Are efficient-kitchen apartments like yours MEANT for people who Spend Very Little Time at Home, or is NOT preparing multiple-pot meals normal for city residents/families? Is THAT why you have mentioned that eating out is cheap?
From what I've been told & seen housing is all pretty cozy, but our apartment is actually an "office-tel", so it's meant to be an office & apartment for someone during the week. There are lots of people that seem to live here full time, but our building & the surrounding streets are much quieter on the weekends when people return to their real homes. All we can guess is it's for people that work in the city, but live far away, so they can work from the "office-tel" or commute from it.
A lot of things are cheap in Korea - pretty much all basic necessity things that are mad here are much cheaper than the US. A normal nice haircut cost me US$10, and cleaning supplies, clothes, many foods are also cheaper - including restaurants. It's easy to eat a big meal out for $5.
It seems that you're now settling in Korea for good. Am I right? Yes, Korean always take off their shoes when they come home or even to Korean restaurants. That's one of their practice that I've noticed on some of my Korean friends.
We've signed 1 year teaching contracts - pretty typical for English teachers here. So we're calling it home until next April.
I am really impressed at your beautiful apartment. I was expecting you to be living in a run down apartment like some of my friends who went to teach in Korea. Hopefully one of your Korean friends can interpret those buttons on the washing machine. I would be really interested in finding out what those buttons represents compared to the buttons on our washers. The view is fabulous - enjoy!
by Rose P. at May 08, 2009 08:36 AM