Welcome to my Apartment!

Apartment block complexes are EVERYWHERE in Korean cities. You can also live in a 'villa' which is essentially a less tall apartment block without concierge. Actual houses seem to be few and far between.

The insides of the apartments are essentially the same... so today I'm going to show you around mine... welcome!!

How to live in a Korean apartment, in 10 easy steps...

Step 1: find your apartment

What is the name of your complex and building number? It's written in big letters on the side- phew.

Step 2: hit the floor



(Korean lifts are a bit feisty, so if you want the door to stay open for multiple persons, hold the 'door open' button. I learned from experience that if you just block the door from closing with your bag, an alarm goes off...)

And don't do this...

Step 3: Find your apartment. Be quiet in the corridors. (Our neighbours are feisty too.)



Step 4: No keys! Just enter your pin and the door magically opens. The doors are made of metal.

Step 5: Take off your shoes and don your slippers... more about shoe etiquette in my previous post here...


Step 6: Enter your compact kitchen-diner and eat some rice from the rice cooker. 


Ovens are not commonplace ㅠㅠ. Everything is cooked on the hob and occasionally using the microwave.

Step 7: Wash your clothes in the handy wet-utility-room where you have a top-loader washing machine. Sometimes the washing machine is kept on the balcony.

Make sure you wear your waterproof slippers, like Koreans, or, stand on a handy raised platform, like my housemates, thus saving yourself the bother of incessantly changing soggy socks, like me.

*Unlike England's side-loading washing machines, the one in my apt. doesn't have 'cycle' or 'temperature' options. It's either hot or cold water and 'go'. On the plus side, if you forget something, you can just open the lid and add it.*

Step 8: When they have finished, both washing machines and rice cookers play a song for you. If you've identified the source of the sound as the washing machine, empty it and go to your balcony, where you can hang out your clothes.


Whilst you're on the balcony, take a moment to check up on the suitcases, bedding and toilet-roll you have stored out there. It's more of a practical/storage area than a place to enjoy. Make sure you change into balcony slippers whilst out there, (house or bathroom or utility room slippers just won't do).

Step 9: Time for a shower. Change back into your house slippers and walk to the bathroom. Change out of your house slippers and into the bathroom slippers.


The bathrooms are wet rooms. Does everything get soaked?... yes. But I have learned that there are ways around this and from a cleaning point of view, it's really handy.

a) Put your clothes in a plastic bag.
b) Take off the bathroom slippers and put them in a corner somewhere away from the water, as they aren't supposed to get wet.
b) Shower. Get everything except the slippers soaked. It doesn't matter.
c) Wipe down the toilet seat with a tissue and remove hair from the drain.
d) Depart. There should be a bathmat outside the bathroom door for you to dry your feet on. Put on house slippers.

Step 10: Unroll your futon, turn on your scalding electric blanket, remove slippers and go to sleep.

*Korean electric blankets are for health as well as to keep you warm. I have experienced them reaching temperatures of 70oC.

If someone lovingly offers you an electric blanket, check with them as to how to turn it off. Thus you avoid the awkward decision in the middle of the night as to whether in stinking, sweat soaked PJs you wake up a nearby Korean to turn it off for you, or whether you just spend the entire night politely cooking.*

Bonus step: when you wake up, fold up your futon. This is like 'setting your bed'. Bedrooms are kind of multipurpose and could serve as a rest/living room during the day if there isn't a separate living room.

Final facts...

- There aren't really any carpets, it's mostly laminate flooring.
- Rooms have doors, sliding doors or concertina flappy doors.
- 14th floor is considered the 'golden floor'...
- 4th floor is considered unlucky and in some older buildings there actually isn't a 4th floor, and storeys are numbered 3, 5, 6 etc.
- There is no such thing as a ground floor. The ground floor is called the first floor. This confuses me everyday!
- The letterboxes are in the foyer. Concierge will take your parcel if you are not in.
Otherwise, postmen deliver parcels directly to your flat door! However, it's hit or miss whether they knock, ring the bell or, just stand outside and yell 'it's the postman'!

I'll soon be visiting Taiwan and also the most stunning place in Korea [IMHO] so keep checking back. Also, I'll be risking life and limb (probably literally) to unlock the secret functions of the mysterious multiple buttons on Korean electric toilets. Lots to look forward to...

Weird and wonderful

I am really enjoying discovering some really unexpected cultural differences. Sorry about the appalling captions. 

I think this epitomises the phrase 'weird and wonderful'.

Shampoo. Comes with a free hymn book... pahaaa 

Relief for the indecisive among us.

Milk. Hats off to the boldness of the false advertising here...

Sounds like a fair exchange...

I'm assuming that if you shove your hands into this bears eye sockets on your way to the phone shop, something good might happen to you.

I'm very much in agreement with Koreans that cold toilet seats are not nice. I've discovered heated toilet seats which you could sit on all day, and this is another alternative: lovely, insulating silicone.

Sounds painful...

This is agonising, but if you walk barefoot over this stone floor, it is supposed to be good for you, as the information board explains. 

On Wednesday, my furniture will finally arrive and I can do a guide to what to expect inside a modern Korean apartment... special windows, a functional balcony and fingerprint keys!

Culture shock- Part 1

Hi!
I've been in Korea for just over a week. Here are the top 5 cultural differences I've experienced so far!

1. WATER- you can't drink the tap water unless you boil it!!! Apparently it's to do with the pipes... You can buy bottled water from 1000 won (around 75p) up for a litre, or if you're lucky enough to live in my house, you can have a filter plumbed in.
Alternatively, many businesses, e.g. phone shops, banks, churches, have water dispensers which you can use to refill your water bottles, within reason.

Our amazing water filter xx

2. DON'T CROSS YOUR LEGS. I do if my legs are hidden by something, but if they can be seen, it's rude...




3. NO SHOES! It's rude to wear your shoes in the house. You can put them in a shoe cupboard which is usually near the door or leave them at the threshold.
Koreans usually provide slippers for their guests. When you go into the bathroom, you swap those slippers for plastic slippers, to stop your feet from getting wet. When you go onto the balcony, again you swap your slippers for balcony slippers, as the balcony is more dirty than the house. Mercifully, I love slippers.

*If you walk into a restaurant and trip over a big pile of shoes, it's also a 'no-shoes' restaurant!*

4. NO CHAIRS! In many Korean-food restaurants, you are provided with cushions on which to sit kneeling or cross-legged at a very low table. It's quite fun unless you are tall, in which case, it's a potentially painful exercise.

5. RUBBISH- this is admirable. Koreans separate all rubbish into: rubbish, recyclables (which is almost everything) and food waste. Top tip from my amazing flatmates: store the food waste in a bag in the freezer until you take it out, to avoid filling your flat with the enticing aroma of rot.

Our beautiful bag of food waste.

The only downside is that when you take the rubbish out, there aren't usually bins. As my friend explained: You dump your waste in front of the apartment block in the hope that one day someone might take it away. No bin day here. The rubbish dump area smells, and I fear as the weather gets warmer, that will intensify.

*You have to buy special green bin liners from the supermarkets for about 50p a bag, which goes to the government as 'trash tax'.*

Finally, the Korean pear is delicious and tastes like gritty watermelon, in the very best sense of the phrase, and the winner of the best name for a cake goes to...

The 'Always Think about Chocolate' Bun!

Day 6- Korean supermarket- Part 1: Top 10 Western foods

Homeplus supermarket part 1: 

top 10 Western Foods

What?

Yes, yes, it really is! Korean Tesco!

There are over 4 floors of clothes, cafes, restaurants and even a pet shop...

A pink puppy with blonde hair!

But the all important grocery store is on the second floor. 

It's laid out just like any English supermarket, except the fish counter takes approx. 1/4 of the entire shop floor, but I'll talk about that in part 2.

So what Western style food is a available?

1. Bread! Croissants, donuts, cream filled bread, churros, savoury filled breads. Watch out as the majority is sweet- even the sliced loaves. Haven't seen any brown bread.

However, in chain-bakery Tous Les Jours you can buy unsweetened sliced white bread and baguette-style bread. 

콘푸로스티- "Corn prostee"

2. Cereal! Lots of Kellogg's favourites, just in Korean. Haven't spotted any porridge or muesli though. 5,490 is just under £3. 

For other breakfasts options, there is... yoghurt! croissants! dairy, soya and almond milk! fruit- bananas, apples, pears, mangoes, persimmons/sharon fruit (at the end of season), kiwi, strawberries, even avocados and tomatoes etc.

*It's cheaper to buy fresh fruit at markets or smaller local 'marts', 

but visit Homeplus in the evening for reduced stuff!*

And for my breakfast: 

My beloved frozen fruit for smoothies ♥ (in various pack sizes) 




3. Herbs and spices

4. Meat: Bacon, lots of chicken (mostly on the bone), pork and beef. I've not seen much lamb. Every conceivable fish including tinned tuna (although maybe no mackerel?)

5. Good old sandwiches :-) and there are some classic flavours too (with English translations). These can also be found in 'bakery' cafes as well, such as Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours, also a nice cafe I found called Cafe Dono.

*Beware sweetened butter and marg. 

I stuck with Lurpak to be on the safe side but was stung for it.*

6. Salad leaves! (also, olives and olive oil) and...

7. Veg! Well, every conceivable type of mushroom. I also spotted broccoli, carrots, cabbage, onions, spring onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, spinach...


8. For the modern Westerner, a sushi counter.

9. Granted, you can't eat this, but once you've had your nostalgic Western meal, you inevitably have to wash up, so I thought I'd include it. Familiar brands of laundry detergents and other cleaning products are readily available. 



10. Panic over. Tesco Finest tea and... abundant chocolate. Let's just make that last picture bigger.

A tiny snapshot of the vast confectionary aisle...

My humble haul.

P.S. And pasta and pasta sauces and baked beans and a whole aisle of instant noodles...

Day 4- Kim Bap

About a Korean equivalent to a sandwich- and I love it!

It's Kim (김) Bap (밥) which means literally 'seaweed' 'rice'. 

Seaweed is 'good for the blood' apparently, and used here as stock or as a vegetable.

(Interestingly, as 'Jones' and 'Smith' are to England, so 'Kim', 'Park' and 'Lee' are to Korea. 
So the next time you meet a sophisticated Mr. Kim, you can have a silent and of course, affectionate and culturally embracing internal chuckle that his English name is in fact, Mr. Seaweed. In context of how the food is used,  this would be like 1/3 of the English population being called Mr, Miss or Mrs Stockcube.)




There were at least 5 different flavours. I chose kimchi (fermented, spicy cabbage) flavour because it was the only one I understood.

The rice is still hot and the kimbap man, (let's call him Mr. Kim), makes it in front of you, laying the rice on a sheet of seaweed, layering the fillings on top, then rolling it up and finally cutting it, like you would do with a swiss roll. The pieces are slightly smaller and thicker than Hobnobs. 

 
Mr. Kim was really kind and smiley and I managed to actually place my whole order in Korean (which translates literally as: Give me kimbap!... sir.) 

You have to put it all into your mouth at once. This is difficult. Therefore, my personal opinion is that this is not a social food unless you are eating with a dentist. But as a portable snack it's great. 
 


Taste: chewing on the seaweed sheet is a bit like chewing on seaweed flavoured sellotape. But the rice is so flavoursome and the other ingredients are really flavoursome. It's so flavoursome. It's also cheap: 2,500 Won (about £1.70). 

In conclusion, here's a word of wisdom that I found on a Korean tablecloth. 



























(To fight the wind and without Have lost the wind bent
You're also lowering of need
For 1000 years the prop I have to deepen the roots.)

Deep!