Welcome to our new and first apartment! This was before all of our stuff arrived, but I wanted to show you the open floor plan. We love it! In this post, I'm going to point out some features of our apartment that are common in Korea. Part 2 will be a video tour once I decorate a bit more!
The first thing is that in Seoul, everyone lives in apartments, so they got really good at building apartments that whole families will live in their whole lives. Our building has 21 floors, so it has a fabulous elevator. It also has a keypad instead of a keyhole, so that multiple people can have access without a key. I love being able to leave my house without worrying about remembering my key.
Our apartment feels very secure. There is a guard gate at the entrance to our parking lot and a locked door downstairs. If a guest comes to the apartment building, they can enter our apartment number and this phone will ring! It'll show a video of our guest and we can open the door for them to come up. It's in Korean, so our realtor put a "open door" sticker!
Inside the door are these awesome shoe cabinets. The rest of the apartment is a step up. The idea is to leave all your shoes in the entrance so that the apartment floors stay clean! This is especially important because Koreans spend time on the floor eating, playing games, watching television, and having after-dinner coffee. If you look at the first panorama in this post, you can see a long coffee table in front of the tv. I hope to do some entertaining around this table in true Korean style soon!
Next, there is heating control in every room. The problem is that it is in Celsius, so my American brain needs help figuring it out. In summer, you set it to very low so the heat is off. When it is hot, we rely on these AC units that you can see in the corner of this pic from moving day. There are only one large and two small units in the whole apartment, and Koreans try to conserve the use of AC because it uses expensive energy.
Speaking of temperature control, Korean apartments have these "verandas" on both sides to buffer the temperature with the outside. Like right now in early fall we probably could use the AC, but the windows let in a nice breeze. In the winter, the verandas will get cold before the apartment will. These are also an excellent place to hang your laundry to dry! This is also necessary because of the expensive energy thing.
The veranda next to our kitchen is our laundry room and pantry! Korean apartments have cabinets, cabinets, and more cabinets! Families who live here don't have garages or basements, so they need fantastic storage in their homes!
Finally, since we are leasing, our landlord provides use with some services. Included in our rent is internet, cable, and this water service. It is a blessing that we can drink clean water that is either refreshingly cold or hot and ready to make tea!
Seong and I are working on making this place our home. Even though we will only be here for 9 more months, I think that there is something special about our first home as a married couple!
P.S. 아파트 is an English loan word that is pronounced "Ah-pah-teu" from the beginning of the word "apartment".
Seoul is definitely living up to my expectations of a big city. It is crowded: the subway is always packed and people are always in a rush. It is noisy: I wake up to the sounds of someone sweeping the sidewalk or women walking and talking outside my window. It is dirty: public bathrooms leave much to be desired, and fine dust and pollution is everywhere. However, the city of Seoul also has a fantastic "natural" quality because of all the green.
Flowers planted on busy city streets are cheerful and invigorating!
Running through the city center is this tranquil stream with historical bridges.
The parks in Seoul are simply fabulous! People often bring blankets, tents, and food to the park to hang out with friends or have school/work get-togethers. It is on my Korea bucket list to eat ramen in the park! Couples can always be seen sitting on benches or riding rented bikes. This is a park on the bank of the Han River.
The Han River is a tourist destination and neighborhood favorite with paddleboats, river cruises, and breathtaking views.
Here we are enjoying a lovely river cruise on a cool evening.
We also enjoy the green streets around our NEW APARTMENT!!! One of the first things we learned when we moved in is that Korea is "green" in another way. Recycling is a big deal here. Trash can only be disposed of in government trash bags, which cost more than average trash bags. Recycling is free, so it is in our best interest to recycle as much as possible! And it isn't just one recycling bin for everything. The recycled materials must be split up. Even food waste has it's own container! I have a bowl of fruit and veggie peels in my freezer, waiting to be dumped. Recycling is half hassle, half satisfying.
Stay tuned for an apartment tour coming soon!
Waiting is so tough...
I have been here for almost 2 months and we are FINALLY moving into an apartment this week! Praise the Lord!
During this time, we have been so blessed to have a great (and reasonably priced) hotel to live in. I'm sure we will look back on this time with fond memories and laugh at how nervous and frustrated we were! Here's how we have been living:
Food can be one of the most expensive parts of a vacation. Eating out is so costly and can be very unhealthy. Our favorite food recently is fried chicken with Korean hot sauce and these cubed radishes. We can't get enough! But when we scarf down a whole chicken between the two of us, it's hard not to feel a tad guilty.
When we do have a chicken treat, biking to the resaurant is enough to justify it!
A few weeks ago, when I got sick of microwaving food, we bought this cute little crock pot so we could cook for ourselves. I have made pulled chicken, pot roast, fajitas, soup, and chili. I also got this single-serve blender so we can make green smoothies!
At some point we accepted that we would be here for a while and just dug in. Our stuff is in drawers, we have food in the cabinets, my toiletries are laid out on the dresser, and we have done many loads of laundry. I actually plan my day around when the cleaning lady will come make the bed! I know which members of the front desk staff are the nicest. We swim in the hotel pool nearly every day. My bike has a favorite spot on the bike rack outside!
My least favorite question is "So what do you do all day while Seong is working?" This question comes up way too much, so here I am writing an official answer. I do whatever I want!
Currently, I don't have a job. That may change soon, but for now I am simply enjoying myself. Today I went for a swim, organized some of my digital pictures archive (a big job which will take many sessions), and started a wedding photobook. I usually meet Seong for lunch at the hospital cafeteria, so we can spend an hour together in the middle of the day. After that I usually put dinner in the crock pot and then work on some ongoing projects.
Studying Korean takes up a nice chunk of the day. I should be more disciplined and set aside more time! I often try to study "while watching TV," which I admit doesn't work a lot of the time.
I enjoy going to the library to study because it is quiet, but there are also people so I don't feel lonely. I also pick up movies and books about my hobbies. I have a dream of being an awesome gardener and homemaker who makes her own soap, sews, crochets, and cooks amazing food! Those are the kinds of books I like reading.
Another project Seong and I are working on is Bible Quizzing. I am an alumna of Teen Bible Quizzing and I have been working with the Church of the Nazarene Korean District to bring back Bible Quizzing in South Korea! This ministry could use a lot of prayer!
While we have enjoyed our time on "vacation," we can't wait to move into our first home as a married couple. I promise to post pictures soon!
