Korean Living

Well, I'm officially approaching the three month mark on my year in Korea, and I honestly can't believe that two months have already passed.  It's gone by relatively fast, but not without notice....  All I seem to want to do is lie in my bed, watch every episode of The Golden Girls, listen to music on my iTunes, and drink beer, and at some point pass out..... which I'm not sure if that's from the beer, lack of sleep or from complete boredom!

However, I do know that none of these things would be possible without a place to call "home."  So I've decided that I will fill everyone in on my little slice of Korean heaven, my little sanctuary, and let you all have a glimpse of the inside of my Korean style officetel apartment!  I know what you're thinking.... someone of my celebrity status would never let a lay person into their home, but this is what sets me apart from the rest of the Z-Listers.... I give the people what they want!  So, without further ado: Here's my home!

Wait, wait, wait!!!  Before I can embark on what I'm sure is going to be an epic tale, I must first fill you all in on the accommodations I experienced my first week in South Korea.  Upon arriving in Seoul, my fellow trainers and I were all bussed from the airport to the bus terminal in downtown Seoul, then were taxied to the Hotel Coatel, which is where we would be living while trying to survive training.

This is the outside of the Hotel Coatel.  I believe that it was about 21 stories high....and of course my room was on the 18th floor, I believe!

Here is the entrance to the Hotel Coatel, and the red and black van in front is one of the taxis that we were required to ride for our drive to this lovely establishment! (P.S. on a side note, Taxi Drivers in South Korea are awful!)

The entrance and kitchenette in our room.  We didn't cook anything while we were here, but it was nice to at least have the option.  In the set of far cabinets there is a mini-fridge that had bottles of water in them, but I didn't want to be charged 200,000 Won for them, so I never drank them, instead I died from dehydration!  

Here are the beds....  and yes, that's my roommate, Thompson, sleeping!  It seemed that we did a lot of that in this room and probably not much else!  Notice the nice King/Queen sized bed he's in....

And this was my bed.... that's right, a cot!  Imagine that!  I think it was nice of the people to provide us with the cot, but I'm not really sure why we didn't just share the giant bed for the week.  For some reason we both were following the "finders keepers, losers weepers" or "first come, first serve" rule!  I never got to sleep in luxury....come to think of it, I don't even think he let me sit on the bed! ;-) 

This contraption may look like just an ordinary heating/air conditioning control to you, which is it, but it's also the source for hot water in Korea.  It has to be turned on in order for the hot water to work AT ALL!  It took us a bit to figure that out, considering its all in Hangul, but it was crack the code or shower in the cold!  We figured it out!!!

The is the fancy toilet that we used.  There are about 15 different options on its electronic control panel, one in which is a "Female Only" option.  I'm not quite sure what that means, nor do I think I want to know..... But it didn't feel as weird as you would think!  hahaha!

Finally, this is the shower we used!  Not too much different than a shower you might find in an American hotel!  Detachable shower head.... is that the women only option too?  

So, after a week of living in Seoul's Hotel Coatel and a week of intense training, I was finally heading to Changwon, my real "home" for the next year!  So, Liz, a coworker and training partner of mine, and I were taxied to another bus terminal in Seoul and hopped on a bus directly to Changwon! It was about a 4 hour bus ride from Seoul to Changwon, so Liz and I had ample time to sleep, chit chat, and sleep some more.  At one point the bus stopped at a rest area about half way to Changwon.  Liz and I decided it was best to exit the bus, use the restroom and possibly get something to eat.  Well, there were about 300 million people bustling about at this rest area, so I was a little overwhelmed.  Instead of getting food, I waited on Liz to use the restroom, which turned into about a 15 minute ordeal.  At this point I was certain that we had been left at this rest area by our bus.  Liz insisted on looking around for food....but I just wanted to make sure that we caught our bus before we were stranded.  So, I finally convinced her to come back to the bus with me.  The only problem is, we didn't remember which bus was ours.....  So, that meant I had to  climb on about 4-5 busses looking for a familiar face!  Do you know how hard that is here?  After a while everyone starts to look the same!!  Anyways... I eventually find our bus just in time for departure....  Changwon here we come!!!

Once in Changwon, we had dinner with our new coworkers, and I was informed that my apartment was not ready yet, because the guy whose place I was taking wasn't going to be moved out until Sunday.  Therefore, I would be staying in a "Love Motel" for the next couple of nights, until I could officially move into my own apartment!  Go figure, right!?

Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term "love motel," it is absolutely 100% what you are probably thinking.  Most of the business love motels receive is from men and their paid-for lovers (A.K.A. hookers).  I guess I could believe that sometimes actual "couples" go there while traveling to stay, or possibly for their honeymoon.  However, I prefer to only believe that they are used for hookers, their gentlemen callers, and of course....ME!  Oh, I almost forgot to add that they are relatively cheap in comparison to other motels!  I got a room in a love motel for like $30, I believe!!

Anyhow, here are a couple of shots of my digs in the Love Motel:

So, this is the entry way to my room in the Love Motel.  This is where you are supposed to kick off your shows before entering the room, and the bathroom is connected to this entry way as well.  

Speaking of the bathroom, this is what you see when you open up the door!  That's the shower area and the sink.  There is no door to the shower, so everything in the bathroom gets wet if you aren't careful!

Here's the other half of the bathroom; the toilet, the sink and the vanity.  Notice the trashcan isn't on the floor, probably to avoid having wet trash.  Also, the bathroom is stocked with shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, and toothpaste!  This bathroom was much bigger than the one at my hotel in Seoul!

This is the ULTIMATE shower!  There is the regular shower head, but you are also able to adjust one of those knob thingies which will cause water to shoot out from just about everywhere! That's when things really get messy, but at the time you don't care because it's so much fun! ;-)  Oh yeah, there is bar soap strategically placed there for the shower and the sink!  These Koreans have things figured out!

Here is where the magic happens, usually!  There was no magic happening here when I stayed....besides my snoring!  Anyhow, this is the bed!  On the wall there are a set of controls in which you can set the mood appropriately with lights,  and on the beside table, behind the tissue box, there is a set of controls for the bed.  I played around with these, but nothing really happened! I was hoping the bed would vibrate or something, but unfortunately that didn't happen! Maybe it only works when the bed knows there are 2 people in the room!?

Across from the bed, there is a computer station, which I assume is for you to "check your e-mail." I mean, that's the only purpose I found for it..... Well, e-mail and facebook! 

This is a shot of all the freebies you get when you check into the room.  The lotion, hairspray, bodyspray, cologne, and combs come standard with every room.  However, I was given 2 toothbrushes, and 2 razors when I checked in.  I'm assuming they thought I was going to eventually have company, which is why I got 2 of those things..... Oh, there is also a coffee maker and a hairdryer!  

Finally, here is the TV and mini-fridge!  I was only able to find like 2-3 channels in which people spoke English, and these channels were labeled FOX on the screen.  However, they played shows from all the major networks in America; ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX!  I think that Law & Order, and Tru Calling are pretty popular selections here!  The channel playing here obviously isn't one of those English speaking channels!  I think it's one of the 20-30 channels that play KPop performances on repeat all day! Oh, I almost forgot..... Channel 88 is the "adult film channel" but it doesn't show anything below the waste and mostly just shows heavy petting instead of actual action! BUMMER!

So, after 2 days of living the dream in the love motel, I was actually able to move into my own place!  All of the foreign teachers that work for Chungdahm live in the same building.  The name of our building is Saerom Officetel.  An officetel is a building that has businesses of some sort on the first couple of floors and apartments on the remaining floors.  Here at Saerom we have a convenience store, which is actually very "convenient," a restaurant (never eaten there....smells weird), a travel agency, a dry cleaner, and a couple of offices on the bottom floor.  I've never been to the second floor of this building, but I think it is just a lot more offices.  I always see men running around in suits and such, so I'm assuming the work somewhere in the building!

Well, without further ado, here is my little slice of heaven in Korea:

This is the doorway to my apartment!  Its pretty dirty for some reason, I'm not quite sure why!?  Maybe I should clean it?  Maybe I shouldn't?  Anyways, the top lock on this door is broken and will probably fall out sometime soon, but the bottom one works and keeps me safe at night!

Room #502 - That's me!  Oh yeah, and no minors are allowed in my room either!  Nothing illegal happening here.... I promise!  Haha!  I'm not sure why this is on the door, but in case any minors try anything foolish, they will know not to mess with me!

This is my fancy doorbell!  There is a camera inside of it that lets me see who is at my door, and I can talk to whoever is out there through my phone!

This is my entry way.... The bathroom is through the door on the right, and my closets and refrigerator are on the left side.  This is also where you take your shoes off.... can't forget that!  It's Korean tradition!

Here is a view from the opposite side of this entry way!  See, my shoes are there waiting for me!  I'm so Korean!

Here is a shot of my shower.... This one actually has glass too keep the water from getting too crazy in the bathroom.... and when I moved in you couldn't see through the glass!  Gross!

Here is the rest of my bathroom.... See the drain?  That's the only drain in the bathroom, so that's where all my shower water runs to!  I obviously had showered prior to taking this picture because there is soap in the drain!  But yes, the ENTIRE floor gets wet when you shower, so we have to wear shower shoes and/or have a neat little wooden thing to step on so our socks don't get wet!

Here is my bed.... and the only window I have in my apartment!  It's freezing cold by this window in the mornings!!!  The bedding was provided to me by Chungdahm!

This is a shot of my kitchen are!  I have a small stove with two burners, a couple of drawers and two cabinets! The cabinet above the stove holds some weird equipment, so I can't really put things there!  Also, my washer/dryer combo unit is in this area too!  It's really rough on my clothes though and it smells weird, so I have to use a drying rack to dry my clothes!

Here is my couch and a small table that I have in my apartment!  I honestly don't use either of these too much.....

Finally, all of this stuff is on the opposite wall from the couch!  There is a mini table.... which I think it a traditional Korean table.  I don't sit there because I don't like sitting on the floor, but mostly because I can't sit "Indian style" and my legs fall asleep when I do sit there! Also here you can see a small bedside table, a plastic chair (I have to take whatever furniture I can get), a couple of boxes, and the hula-hoop I inherited from the previous tenant!  

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my living arrangements here in Korea! It's been a lot of fun thus far, and I like actually having a place to call my own while I'm here!  I'm glad that I actually cleaned up the day I took all these pics too, otherwise I'd be a little embarrassed! That being said, I probably should clean up again sometime soon!