Apartment Grand Tour!

Hello! Welcome to my Korea abode!

This is my building! My room is on the third floor. And yes, the other two floors are places of business. Living in a building alongside businesses seems to be common in Korea. The first floor is an instrument store I think? There's always a guy watching TV and blasting classical music. I don't see many customers. The second floor is a math academy where some of my students attend--I've already run into them a few times and today they came up to our floor and went into my coworkers room...so it's a little awkward.

This is where I work! It is diagonal from the building I live in so I just have to cross the alleyway to get to work. It's a pretty sweet deal. A lot of teachers in Korea have to commute via subway 45 minutes to get to work so I feel quite blessed. I will feel even more grateful during the winter!

Raffles! Don't asked why it's called Raffles. I really don't know. Fun fact: according to the Hangul (Korean writing) it's pronounced Reh-pul-ju. I get a kick out of this.



 Okay it's a toasty day here in Gwangju so come inside and look at my trash. Look.

Really though, Korea takes recycling and trash disposal seriously. These are our fancy recycling boxes. Aaand that's my bag of trash that I've been meaning to put out on the street under the unspoken designated-trash-pick-up-spot tree. My trash is in a special purple bag I bought from a grocery store because that's how Koreans pay for trash service--they purchase the bags assigned to their area. Ours are purple. So there you have it. I put my trash in a magic special bag, leave it under a tree, and trash fairies come and take it away in the dark of the night.

Hey! This is my hallway! There are six rooms but only three are occupied. My coworker is in the first room on the left, I'm in the second, and some random Korean guy who works in the coffee shop in front of the school lives in the one on the end.

 This is our state of the art washing machine. It's pretty much the only thing that lives on the fourth floor. But where is the dryer, you ask???...

...Right here! We have a pretty sick green roof where we can dry our clothes during the summer (except for monsoon season)

My predecessor told me we have an inflatable kiddy pool. Roof-top pool party, anyone? Oh, and there is Raffles in the background! 

I quite enjoy our view. The trees are so lovely! Looks pretty rural, right?

...Boom! City.

And if you look down, you will see some slum-y houses.

Okay you can come back inside now. But please remove your shoes first!!

Panda is unsure of you but I say, "Come on in, friend!"

Colorado pride! I bought this magnet the day before I left. I guess my door is as good as anyplace for it to live for the next year.

One half of my room! The wall paper is old and creepy and probably has a lot of mold fighting its way out from underneath so it can kill me. But it's home!!

And no, my floor is not carpeted--it's an illusion! It's actually really hard and uncomfortable. But it's hilarious that it's designed to look like carpet.

Hangul cheat sheets! And fun stuff from home!

That's my kitchen door to the left. My bathroom door is to the right and it always stays closed because it's gross and creeps me out.

Bathroom shoes! My coworker and predecessors never used them but, like I said, I think the bathroom is gross so I use them. Fun fact: all showers are hand showers. I don't actually have a shower in the bathroom--the whole bathroom is my shower. It was weird the first time but doesn't bother me now.

Second half of my room! My bed is super huge and comfy.

Ready to see the kitchen?? I absolutely love the sliding doors.

Ta-da!...Ignore the dishes...I'll get to them.

Table for one!

Of course I had to bring this to Korea with me. Okay, would you like to see some of my neighborhood outside?????

Well too bad. I don't have many pictures. But I do have a picture of the drink vending machine in the subway! Everything is so cheap! A lot of my spare change goes towards a refreshing drink when I'm on my way home from riding the subway.

You can buy a cold bottle of water from a vending machine for 59 cents. No joke. Can you do that in the US, hmmm?? I think not!

Err I'm not sure what to take a picture of...here is Hakdong (my neighborhood). Or at least our major street. I don't know what to say...this is where taxis drop me off.

Okay I don't know what else to show you in Hakdong for now so I'm getting ice cream.

Om-nom-nom-nom

Okay! This has been a fun tour, yes? Come back again soon! Perhaps next time I can show you around downtown Gwangju!

Love you all! Bye!