Korean Showers and Other Technology

I am officially the tenant of my very own apartment! Finding the apartment was actually a relatively easy experience. The company recommended an English-speaking realtor for those teachers remaining in Seoul, and I set up an appointment with her for one day before class to look at apartments. She ended up running late, so her semi-English-speaking coworker came to pick me up from the subway instead. He called me "Miss Jessica" and carried all my things for me while we were walking. He seemed to be in his 50's and was wearing extremely fabulous shiny silver pants with white pinstripes. I was taken to five different apartments in the area of my school and allowed to choose my favorite. The building I selected is brand new; I think I am the first person to ever live in this room.

One important thing to know about apartments in Seoul is that they tend to be extremely tiny. All five of the apartments I was shown were around 200 sqft of total living space, not including the bathroom. I was therefore extra happy with the final option I was shown which had a loft area for the bed, essentially doubling my living space by allowing the bed to be stored out of sight. Plus, the apartment I chose comes standard with a microwave, quite the rarity here from my experience. Another important thing to know about Seoul apartments is that many of them (even the brand new ones) don't have an actual shower. Instead, there is a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor and a shower head that is attached to the sink faucet. Basically the system ensures that the disorganized bather will drench everything in the bathroom with water. This shower system also explains why all the toilet paper holders have a metallic "shield" portion to help keep the toilet paper dry. I have yet to figure out the justification behind this system, although it saves a marginal amount of space and water.

I moved on Saturday with the help of Roger, from my training group. My new apartment in Mokdong was about an hour from my hotel by subway, so we dragged all my bags through the public transportation system and bought a beer each from 7-11 immediately upon exiting the subway turnstiles (yes, it was after noon and yes, it is legal to drink on the streets in Seoul. And yes, they sell beer cans at 7-11.) We got all my things to my new apartment with the help of my new favorite realtor (this time wearing a rather Wild West-looking getup). Then it was simply a matter of finding a place able to deliver me a mattress that same day. After wandering the streets for about an hour, we found a used furniture store that sold me a "super single" size mattress and frame for 70,000 won, which they delivered and assembled in my loft two hours later (no extra charge). Service really has an entirely different meaning over here. I went back to the store the next day and bought a kitchen table and nightstand for 75,000 won more, bringing my apartment to a livable level.

Many apartments in Korea feature a very futuristic key system in which each apartment door has its own electronic keypad in lieu of a key. You swipe your hand over the keypad and little blue numbers appear, and you type your pin number to enter the room. Needless to say, I think it is pretty awesome. In addition to the electronic keypad, the doorbells are equipped with video cameras, which light up a small screen on the wall when someone rings the doorbell so you can see who is outside. The screen is accompanied by 8 buttons which are all labeled in Korean and which my landlord claims can be used to talk to visitors at the main entrance and then buzz them up. My experiments with the system have been more or less a complete disaster. The first button I pushed turned out to be the emergency alarm button, which summons the landlord (or presumably, the police). Luckily I managed to turn off the alarm rather quickly, but my landlord still came up to see if I needed help/was being attacked. I have been less hesitant to push the remaining buttons, but after translating them online, I have discovered them to have such enlightening meanings as "transformation," "currency," and "door line rim." As a result, I am unfortunately still unable to communicate with visitors at the front door.

(PS - I have many pictures of my apartment that I will post and link to as soon as possible!)