WELCOME

To Our Korean Apartment

So, your thinking about making the trip to Korea with your military spouse?  Well let me tell you what an exciting time and what a great adventure you are about to begin.  When I first thought about going to Korea with my husband and doing the "uncommand sponsored tour," I didn't know what to expect.  Luckily, I found a great lady on the internet who had also done an uncommand sponsored tour to Korea with her husband and she helped prepare me for my great adventure.  I hope to pass on the "torch" so to speak and help other military spouses who are up for the challenge prepare.

As far as living arrangements go, the one thing you have to keep in your mind is that Korean apartments are NOTHING like American apartments.  So many things are different in Korea and I think a lot of wives head to Korea not really knowing what to expect.  My page hopefully will help you a little in preparing yourself for your new Korean apartment.  Keep in mind, the following pictures are of the 2nd apartment we rented.  I allowed my husband to pick out the first one (BIG mistake!), but upon my arrival, I found a much nicer one that I could handle.  Below is a picture of the first Korean apartment we lived in outside of Camp Casey's "side" gate.  Its in what is called "American Alley" where a lot of Americans live. 

The first apartment my husband picked out was a real... how should I put this... well it wasn't all that great.  But he had done my bidding and found what is considered a large Korean apartment.  It was 4 rooms and a bathroom, which is definately large by Korean standards.  The only problem with the apartment was that it was terribly cold, damp and there was a huge hole (large enough for your average dog to crawl through) in one of the bedrooms!  Not to mention it was right in the middle of a rice patti with thousands of ribbiting bullfrogs going on at night.  It took me weeks to get used to the sound of the toads croaking all night.  Anyway, below is the picture of the first apartment

Here is the entranceway to the apartment.  Our apartment was actually down this corridor to the right, you can't actually see our door.  There were several other American families living in this complex also.  We made some good friends in the short time we stayed there.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the inside of this apartment to show you.  I was in the process of videoing the apartment, but never got around to taking any actual pictures.  Maybe some day I can get some "stills" from my camcorder and use them as pictures to show you what this first apartment looked like inside.

Below is our 2nd Korean apartment.   I was really lucky to find this apartment.  It is a luxury compared to most of the other apartments.  I met a lady at the Pear Blossom Cottage who told me of her apartment coming available in a few weeks.  I went to check it out and was happily surprised to find how nice the apartment actually was.  And the absolutely GREAT thing about it was the landlord actually spoke English!!!  That is practically unheard of!  He had lived in the States off and on for over 20 years!  Not to mention he was a great landlord!  His name is Mr. Yoon.  If you get a chance to rent an apartment in this building, I say go for it!

Another thing to keep in mind though is a lot of Korean landlords consider your apartment still part of their "home" and will frequently come in unannounced, even if you have the door locked!  So beware and double bolt your door!  They aren't trying to be rude, its just their custom.

The name of this apartment complex is "Yoon Ha Village" and it even says it on the front of the door.  Mr. Yoon's apartment is straight in the door to your left.  I believe its apartment No. 101. 

Now on to the inside of our apartment.  The first picture you will see is the entryway/kitchen of our apartment.

The door is to your left.  The small cabinet on the rear wall is a cabinet for keeping your shoes.  Remember, Koreans do not wear their shoes in their apartment.  Its extremely hard to keep the floors clean if you wear shoes.  I brought along several of the stacking plastic shelves in my husband's household goods.  These really came in handy.  You'll see to the far left of the picture we have a cabinet which holds our food.  You also see our bottled water.  Keep in mind you CAN NOT drink the water in Korea.  Even if you are cooking, use the bottled water bought in the comissary.  Do not use the Korean water!!!  Also, always keep everything that is open in rubber maid or Tupperware.  Cockroaches are abundant in Korea.  It doesn't matter how clean you keep your house, you are still going to have cockroaches!  Its a part of life and you'll eventually learn to tolerate it.

You'll notice to the right is our bathroom.  Yes, they do have real toilets in a lot of the apartments.   Especially the ones in American Alley which cater to the Americans.  You will find your occasional "squat" toilet where you have to squat over a hole in the floor, but its not everywhere.  A lot of places do have the Americanized toilets now. :)

This is our kitchen.  Remember that most of your Korean apartments do not come with a refrigerator or a stove eye burner.   You can usually purchase or borrow the burners from your landlord.  They usually have extra ones, but refrigerators are much harder to come by.  We were lucky enough to find an American family who was leaving and we bought our refrigerator from them.  I think we paid $80.00 for this used refrigerator.  Remember if you buy a refrigerator from someone that you must unplug the refrigerator and let it set for 24 hours before moving it.  You then must after moving it let it set another 24 hours before plugging it in.  If you don't, then you could ruin the refrigerator.

Also, Koreans do not have ovens.   So sorry, no baking in your apartment while you are in Korea.  You can buy convection ovens at the PX for approxmiately $100 or so.  Or you can use the Pear Blossom Cottage where there were two or three ovens.  The Pear Blossom Cottage is open 5 days a week from 9:00 a.m. to about 5:00 p.m.  They have American stoves, refrigerators, lots of cooking equipment, a playroom, big screen t.v. and AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!  A great place to hang out and make friends.  Oh yeah, it also has an American washer & dryer.  But you need to put your name on the calendar to reserve it first. :)

This is our living room.  Keep in mind that Koreans are much smaller people than Americans, therefore most of their furniture is very small and very low to the ground.  We actually found one of these couches on the street and the other one we bought from another American family who was returning to the States.  People post messages at the Pear Blossom Cottage of things they are selling.  Check back often and ask around for any furniture you might need.

Also, in the background you will see my bicycle.  Remember, you are not authorized a vehicle at Camp Casey, so your feet, the buses, subway system and taxis are your only means of transportation.  So sometimes a bicycle is a great means of transportation also.  I worked while at Camp Casey so I rode my bike to work every morning.

Another great thing is if you purchase Korean cable t.v., you can get a couple of American stations.  You get AFKN (Armed Forces Korean Network) which is ran by the military and shows all American shows (though no commercials) and also a couple of other British television stations.  On Camp Casey they have cable television that gets about 20 channels, including HBO, Country Music Channel, CNN, etc.  But off post you will only get a few.  The good thing is, the Korean cable is only about 2,500 Won or at the current Won rate while we were there about $2.00 per month.  Very cheap and well worth it!

We were also lucky enough to find a bed from a couple who was leaving.  I believe we paid $60.00 for the bed and it was practically brand new.  If you find a bed, buy it!  They were the one thing that was really hard to come by.  Most of the beds take your full size sheets, but you can also use queen size sheets because the mattress and boxsprings is all in one, so its your preference.  Also, the beds are extremely hard by American standards.

Another thing to keep in mind is to check your bed every night under the sheets before jumping in for critters that might be lurking there!

Also, if you have a computer TAKE IT!!!!  Its very easy to get hooked up to the internet and very cheap.  Kornet was the local provider and can be purchased through the Korean phone company.  It was approximately $7.00 per month for unlimited service!!!  Its a great way to keep in touch with your family back home.  Keep in mind that you can get a phone very easily off post, the initial start up is expensive ($200 - $300), but if you live off post, you MUST have a phone or most Commanders will not allow you to live off post.  So keep this in mind.  The wait on post for a telephone in your room can be up to one year because of the phone lines on Camp Casey, so keep that in mind also if your not actually going to Korea.  Its very doubtful that your husband will have his own phone in his room.  He could possibly have one that he shares with other soldiers, but not a personal line.

The table you see my computer sitting on is actually a table that Koreans eat on.  They sit very low to the ground, but I used this table for my computer.  It was so great to be able to email and chat with my family back home.  Not to mention it saved a great deal on long distance bills.

You'll also notice to your left these bookshelves that we kept our clothes on.  This was a great help!  We did have a wardrobe for hanging clothes (but I don't have a picture), but this bookshelf was great also!  We bought this from an American couple for about $10.00.

Lets not forget a nice comfy place to play on our computer!  Also, of course there is no air conditioning in the apartments in Korea, so you must use your trusty fan.  One thing to remember also, is the electrical systems in Korea is different than in the States, so everything you use, unless it is dual voltage, you must have a transformer.  Transformers also can be bought from people who are leaving the country.  If you try and buy them new, they are pretty expensive.  We luckily had a few things left over from Germany (including this fan) that was dual voltage.  So we just had to pay $.33 and buy the plug that fits onto the end and switch it over to 220 Volts and plug it in!

Also, we didn't have a dryer, so the fan sometimes served another purpose!

This little machine was a definate a LIFESAVER!  Without my Korean washing machine I would have been totally lost!   Remember, you have to carry everything with you, no cars here (or take a taxi).   So if you needed to go on post to do your laundry, you had to lug it either on your back or in some sort of little push cart.  I paid $30.00 for this washing machine and it more than paid for itself many, many times over!  It was very easy to use once someone showed you how and it actually washed the clothes quite well.  You just pulled it over to the hookup under the shower knobs and plugged it up.  You put the drain hose into the shower drain and she was ready to work!  I then just hung the clothes up.  For things like sheets and towels, I just put those into a backpack and had my husband take them into the barracks and wash them. It worked out quite well.

And last but not least is our Korean shower.  Most Korean apartments do not have bathtubs.  Its usually just tile on the floor with a hole somewhere in the middle of the bathroom floor.  This of course means you can't be leaving anything on the bathroom floor or it will get wet.  We actually put up a shower curtain so water wouldn't splash all over the bathroom.  It worked out quite well.  Once you were done taking a shower, we just used a sponge mop and pushed all of the water down the drain.  That way the water didn't sit on the floor and make you fall and slip.  It would dry much quicker and also kept the floor cleaner.  Ever few days I would have to scrub down the floors and the walls around the shower to keep it clean.

Well I guess that basically covers our Korean apartment.  I hope you enjoyed your tour.  I hope this page will help you better understand the place and culture your about to experience.  I went to Korea kind of blind and I hope this page will help some of you out.  I loved my time in Korea and I wouldn't exchange my experience for anything, hardships and all.  Its really not THAT bad when you think about it.  I know us Americans are so used to all those luxuries, but its definately worth all the great times we had.

Last Updated - 7/31/99