The month of November has been crazy!
I did so much over-time for three weeks straight that I barely had time to eat or go to the bathroom, from sun-up to sun-down Monday through Friday. Then by the time the weekend showed up?? I was so damn tired from work, I didn't do any sight-seeing...unless you count searching for an appointment.
So.
After a couple of weeks of searching frantically for an apartment in Samseong-dong (which was close to impossible to find) because it is one of the most expensive and desired districts of Seoul to live in.
I finally found my little apartment!!!
It is super small but very cute. It has faux hardwood floors, a renovated kitchen, brand new cabinets, and a bathroom with a shower stall (and a washer machine) as opposed to the shower head over your sink found here in Korea. Which means no more showering in the middle of the bathroom floor!
I mean....what else can a girl whose is a germaphobe ask for here?
Not much else!
I am completely satisfied with what I found. Maybe, not so much with the price. But happy nonetheless with my little treasure....that might I add, is also only a ten minute walk to work for me!
And let me tell you someting, some of the places I looked at with my Real Estate Agent were disgusting!
Old, dingy...smelled like cat pee. Some had dead flies sticking to the walls. While the bathrooms looked like a dirty molded dungeon.
It was disgusting.
I moved into my apartment this past Thursday (Korea Time for me, Thanksgiving day for you) and just finished cleaning it from top to bottom this evening....even though maintenance did a pretty good job cleaning it.
Nobody can do a better job of cleaning this place than me.
Not to mention, I could not have felt completely comfortable until I did anyway.
Some of the pluses about apartments like mine in Korea:
1) Just about every single one has a key-less entry. So, you enter your apartment by typing in your private number.
2) They all have floor heating instead of central air heating. Apparently, your place heats up faster this way and it is needed....Korea's Winters are comparable to Wisconsin's 'it's so cold it hurts' Winters. So, what Korean people often do when it gets below zero is sleep on a floor mat on the floor to stay warm and cozy.
3) A majority of them have balconies like me as well. This balcony has multiple purposes too. Many people use them to hang their wet clothes out on throughout the year. Because there aren't many dryers within apartment buildings (my temporary housing had one though) and there are zero laundry mats.
4) Most of the apartments here have relatively new appliances too, since the location is within the LG and Samsung capitals of the world.
5) A lot of the apartment buildings have full length mirrors. So you can look at yourself on your way out of the door and I really love this, since I don't have a full length mirror inside of my place.
As soon as I 'personalize' my place a bit more. I'll add pictures for everyone to see! I have this awful wall paper near my bed that I need to problem-solve how to hide.
