This is our new apartment! Keith and I are so excited to finally have our first place together:) We expected our apartment to be very small; however, we lucked out and it is extremely large! It came with a lovely bed, a new desk, new computer and computer chair, a new TV, a refrigerator/freezer, a washing machine/dryer, a new microwave, a large bathroom with a normal toilet and normal shower head (separated from the toilet which is not common in South Korea), and little things left in the apartment....wall hooks, sharp kitchen knives. The apartment also has lots of storage space, floors that heat, a video door bell, airconditioning, a kitchen table and a kitchen chairs. We really felt like they hooked us up! It was especially nice to have a normal bathroom with a shower head and a glass wall to separate the shower from the bathroom. In Korea, you can find bathrooms with normal toilets and also traditional toilets (with holes on the ground with a drain). Also, toilet paper is an interesting concept, because Koreans will use them for everything...drying hands, wiping things, as knapkins and paper towels, and for toilet paper. In most public bathrooms you have to rememeber to grab the toilet paper (if they have some) before going into your bathroom stall, though, because they do not always have it right next to the toilet but on the wall near the sink. So you have to guess how much toilet paper you will need, therwise you will have to find some other way to get more. :) This is why you should always carry around a little tp in your purse and hand sanitizer (because at public bathrooms sometimes they are out of this too). I hardly ever bring these items with me and I usually never have trouble or just don't worry about it.
We already bought a few groceries...milk (although it's very expensive), cereal, fruit...bananas and apples, some veggies, chicken, soup and quick rice dinners, green tea rolls (my favorite), oj, and yogurt. We also bought some dishes, cups, silverware...only spoons and chopsticks though. I am still getting used to using the metal chopsticks (which are harder than wooden ones), but we decided not get get knives, besides sharp knives, and also did not get forks...which are very expensive here, and we have found that we do not need forks when eating because of the food we eat.
We also bought hand towels and all the small necessites for the apartment. But I was very disappointed to learn that I should have brought a big shower towel from home because you cannot find them here. The biggest towels are hand-towel sized. I could buy a beach towel somewhere but it has not been a problem yet, just a little getting used to.
In addition, we also have our whole building filled with EPIK teachers (10 total)...most of whom we had already met and became friends with during the 10 day orienation...which has been helpful with learning about the city, traveling and doing touristy things together, having ENGLISH friends to talk to, etc.... but it definitely hasn't held us back from meeting Koreans, going off and doing our own thing...me and Keith...and really getting into the culture.
Our apartment building is in the heart of everything! It is right across the immigration office, a 5 minute walk from a small mountain...Mount Sarabong...which we hike up, run the trails, use the fitness equipment, see beautiful views of the city, other mountains, and the ports). We are also a short walk or cab ride from the downtown city area (where you can find anything you need...clothes, food, etc.), 30 minutes from Mount Halla (the largest mountain in South Korea), 45 minutes at the other end of the island, five minutes from the ports, 10 minutes from a beach, and an 8 minute bus ride to my school that I teach at. And cab rides are pretty cheap when you split between people, and buses are only 1,000 or 2,000 won ($1 or $2). This helps with transportation. Some of our friends are beginning to buy cars and motorcycles. We're thinking we can just do with walking, cabs and buses at least for now.
To wrap this section up....I pretty much love my apartment, area and environment that's around me!! :)
In addition, we also have our whole building filled with EPIK teachers (10 total)...most of whom we had already met and became friends with during the 10 day orienation...which has been helpful with learning about the city, traveling and doing touristy things together, having ENGLISH friends to talk to, etc.... but it definitely hasn't held us back from meeting Koreans, going off and doing our own thing...me and Keith...and really getting into the culture.
Our apartment building is in the heart of everything! It is right across the immigration office, a 5 minute walk from a small mountain...Mount Sarabong...which we hike up, run the trails, use the fitness equipment, see beautiful views of the city, other mountains, and the ports). We are also a short walk or cab ride from the downtown city area (where you can find anything you need...clothes, food, etc.), 30 minutes from Mount Halla (the largest mountain in South Korea), 45 minutes at the other end of the island, five minutes from the ports, 10 minutes from a beach, and an 8 minute bus ride to my school that I teach at. And cab rides are pretty cheap when you split between people, and buses are only 1,000 or 2,000 won ($1 or $2). This helps with transportation. Some of our friends are beginning to buy cars and motorcycles. We're thinking we can just do with walking, cabs and buses at least for now.
To wrap this section up....I pretty much love my apartment, area and environment that's around me!! :)
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