Studio living

I was surprised when we got here on Friday to find that we are in a studio apartment. They had made it sound like a one bedroom. It is an awesome place though, and the building is well-situated. We are on the 8th floor out of 15. The school says we should be getting a bigger place once I am further along in the pregnancy. We are hoping for 2 bedrooms. We do have a midwife coming to stay with us!

It is a very different apartment than I've ever seen. To open the front door, there are no keys. You type in the pin number and it beeps at you then unlocks. If you aren't careful, it will slam behind you as you walk in. Beeps again, then locks. It is korean, so you remove your shoes at the door. There is a nice little bathroom with a shower, sink, and a toilet that has a LOT of buttons. Not sure what they do yet. I'm sure when Justin figures it out he will have a post dedicated to it. :)

We have a nice little kitchen with a toaster, fridge and microwave. There is the tiniest dishwasher, no oven, and a very nice gas stove. We went all over the place this weekend to get the necessities for the kitchen; rice cooker, knife, cutting board, kettle, etc. We were able to find everything very cheap in the market behind us. But that will be in the next post.

Our bed is SO hard. You cannot find soft mattresses in Korea. We've already gotten used to it though. It helped that our friend Tim brought us two mattress pads. There is a tv, we just bought a nice little dvd player for those cheap movies we bought!

There is an enclosed balcony that has a washing machine. It took me several tries (I won't say how many) to figure out how to use it. No dryer, gotta use a drying rack or clothesline. The wooden floors are heated. That is the heat for the whole place. Even when our apartment's heat is off though, it gets warmer from the other apartments around us. It is really nice.

I've already gotten my first couple plants. I have an idea that I will be getting at least a few more. During the summer, the balcony is going to be great for growing all sorts of things. My first plant I got at the Lotte Mart down the block from us on the first day we were here. It is a very tiny succulent. Yesterday I got a medium/small sized Rosemary plant in the market. Very good price for 3,000 won. Rosemary is my favorite herb, so it is no surprise I already have one. Even though I brought seeds to grow my own. I actually brought quite a few seeds, but most of them got lost on the flight inspection, it seems. Only the rosemary, chamomile, and snow peas made it.

I think that is most everything about our apartment. I really like how centrally located it is. Haru coffee and 3 pc bangs across the street, the huge market behind the place, Lotte Mart down the block, and the school just down the alley. I will post about the market next.