Though it's a little
late, here's an entry about my Korean apartment. I figured I should make it
pretty clean before I show it off. I even hand washed the floor.
As an EPIK teacher, I am really lucky that
rent is included in my contract. I just pay for the utilities. I’ve checked out
several teacher’s apartments and they really all vary in both looks and features. Mine is relatively small
compared with others I’ve seen, but I don’t mind since it means I have less
space to clean. I’ve seen some with balconies and others with only one room, including the kitchen. I’ve seen one apartment with two rooms and I’ve
seen apartments with the washing machine in the bathroom. There’s no
one-size-fits-all apartment for EPIK teachers.
The first thing that’s
both neat and different about my apartment, is that it has a key-less entry. It’s nice
to not worry about losing my keys, but for the first month I was here, I kept
freaking out about the lack of keys to meticulously manage every time
I left my door.
My apartment is basically a studio with a separate kitchen/laundry area. I lucked out with a big bed and a pretty nice television. Though I have cable, I don't really watch it much. I usually connect my computer to the tv and watch Korean dramas with subtitles or movies I brought from home. The cord for the tv only cost 5,000 won.
When you enter the apartment, there's a storage cupboard to the left that I use for shoes, towels, and supplies, etc.
I have a pretty small refrigerator, but I have a toaster oven and a microwave, both of which were left by the previous EPIK teacher. He also left speakers, lots of dishes, a rice cooker, an electric teapot, tissues, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. It made my first few days here much less hectic than they could have been. Some teachers had to start from scratch.
I have a pretty tiny eating table, but I make it work. I worry about my poor friend's sore butts since I don't have any floor cushions to sit on. I have to work on that one, but I haven't seen anything that calls my name as far as seat cushions go. Maybe I need to just look more carefully.
Next is the bathroom, which is by far the most different room when comparing it to American bathrooms. I have seen one apartment with a bathtub, but most have just a drain in the floor with nothing separating it from the rest of the room. The shower head is connected to the sink and you have to flip a knob in order for the water to go to it. This actually was incredibly helpful when I had stitches in my arm. I was able to avoid getting the bandage wet most of the time. This style of bathrooms also makes it easy to clean. You just scrub everything down then, turn on the shower head and wash everything down the drain. Because the entire bathroom gets pretty wet, there are usually a set of shower shoes in each bathroom so you can keep your feet dry if someone has just showered.
The one bad thing is that the drain is a bit slow, though the previous tenant was a guy, so I don't think it's because of hair. I make sure to capture all my little fly away hairs and I use a drain cover
The kitchen is a bit awkward because there is hardly any counter space so sometimes I set things on the washing machine when it's closed. Yep, the washing machine is in the kitchen. And interestingly enough, so is my clothes closet instead of the refrigerator. I think it's because the lack of electrical outlets. The washing machine seems to take up all the outlets in the kitchen. There aren't any on the walls at all. The only extra one is hidden above the stove inside the cabinet and it took me a good couple of weeks to figure that one out.
Take note of my sticky tabs. I had to translate my washing machine buttons before I could use it. I still haven't figured out what most of the buttons say. Also, the metal rack next to the washer is for drying clothes since Koreans don't really use dryers...at least I haven't come across any while I've been here.
The sliding door encloses the kitchen. My tea pot has to sit on the floor because that's where the extra outlets are.
Overall I'm extremely pleased with my living situation. I can even keep my bike in the entry way of the downstairs which is a relief since there's no elevator. My poor co-teacher almost died when she tried to help me carry my two 50 pound suit cases up two flights of stairs. She's tiny. If I decide to stay another year, though, she won't have to help anyone else haul them up the stairs. We'll see what happens!
