So after having whimpered early off about my introduction to my apartment and Daegu, I’ve been reluctant to show you my free English teacher’s apartment. Well first of all, it’s not really called an “apartment”. This is what Koreans call an apartment.
My apartment is really called a “villa”, a lower level housing building.
My apartment is actually pretty nice, it’s much larger than my New York shoebox, it’s free and it’s been one of the best things about my stay in Korea!
Unlike my evacuation from my New York City apartment, packing up and leaving this one has been sad. So with no further ado, here it is. There is a washer room and a mini foyer I’ve left out, but I think you get the gist…
There aren’t many things which make my apartment seem distinctly “Korean”, but here are some small touches…
Ondol heating and controls to turn on hot water: In my 8 Ways I Stay Warm During Winter in Korea, I spoke a bit about the heated floor system (aka Ondol) but you can also control hot water from this same heating unit. Koreans believe in conserving energy and thus, even heating the water has a control device.
The sink/shower unit: Both are attached and works by way of a knob-like switch which controls shower and sink. Many foreigners who are new to this device, occasionally forget to change the shower back to sink and often shoot themselves in the face. This is a problem when you do this just before going to work…
Non-separated bathroom and bathroom slippers: It’s asian bathroom and there are no partitions between shower, sink and toilet, One drain the middle of the room takes the water from the shower down. It has it’s perks- from shaving your legs by propping them on the toilet to brushing your teeth, showering and spitting on the floor. Best of all, it’s easy to clean.
“Suregi” or trash: In Korea, trash is often separated and coded. My building trash is separated by regular trash and perishables, but some have buildings also have to separate recyclables. The red pail is for the perishables and a you need to purchase and insert coins in order for them to be picked up by the garbage collector . The bags that I need to purchase for trash is specifically for residential trash (I must use this vs. plastic bags I get from grocery shopping) and bags from stores, restaurants, and commercial vendors, etc… are color-coded.
Thank you for sharing this! It looks like you made it home. I hope my apartment is as nice. xo
@Feather: Fingers crossed. Am hoping you get an apt that blows mine away!
@Mich: Ha ha… I use them and then bind them up and throw them in the Korean ones. Total double-duty but the store grocery bags just feel more spacious sometimes.
@Laura: Thanks!
Awesome apartment. Not bad for a freebie!
Amazing how detail it was in comes to trash separation but it does make sense. How do you dispose the grocery bags? In recycling?
That’s a pretty nice apartment! I like all the little cultural differences with the bathroom and the trash system
I am very jealous of your microwave. As for the trash, I’m amazed that there aren’t more plastic bags with which to throw mine out. There are 3-4 bags for the whole building outside, but that seems odd to just dump everything in them, especially since they don’t seem very sturdy or large.
@Jacki: You should be able to buy the plastic bags at the store. They come in a variety of sizes. I think I stayed w/ the 20lb? ones for regular trash but they should have larger sizes. I just wished we could use the bags we get at the store for trash bags.