Quieter Closet

There are many things one has to battle with on a daily basis living in Korea. For instance, if you don't know the language then that means you can't really speak to the people around you. Other occurrences are the lack of trash receptacles along the street or that people still smoke indoors in this country.

I don't know about the rest of the expat population here but for me some days these aspects of life really get to me and other days I just look past it all.

Whenever you move into a new place in this country it seems there is a list of things that is bothersome, which you have no control over. At my last place it was the Octopus restaurant underneath me that had fowl smells wafting up into my room. And now at the goshiwon it has been that I was positioned close to a main road, which meant the constant hum and buzz of cars going past. Along with this the window faced the alleyway where the buildings vents are located. Therefore I heard the humming sound of the vents and on occasion getting a whiff of what was coming out.

That is why I am grateful now that I managed to move rooms to a more quieter space in the Goshiwon. How I managed this seems like it was a miracle but took the finessing skills that I think is picked up after living here for a while.

I met another tenant here while I was in the kitchen last week. She spoke English and asked about my residency. She was an older woman staying in the goshiwon to help her daughter who lives nearby as she studies for a college entrance exam. That was a brief meeting until today when I ran into her again.

I was doing my laundry and had run into some trouble with the machine. It had finished washing but my clothes were still dripping wet. I had seen her in the kitchen on my way to the laundry room and figured I could ask her for help. She did just that and we started up a conversation in the meantime while my clothes took another spin in the washer. It turned out she knew the owners of the goshiwon as close friends and I took this as an opportunity to talk about how I want to change rooms. But I did it with great finesse!

Me: Oh, I like living in this goshiwon.
Nice Ahjumma: Ah yes, I know the owners they are friends of my daughter.
Me: Ah that is nice. Hmm I like living here but my room is so noisy. Unfortunately I am next to the big road.
NA: Oh really?! Well I know there are open rooms over here. (Near the laundry room side...which is in the back of the building).
Me: Oh yes, I was thinking of asking my boyfriend to ask the Ahjusshi if I can move rooms. But I think he might say no.
NA: Oh I will talk to him and I think there will not be a problem.
Me: Oh really? Thank you so much.

There you have it, for that is how I managed to get into the quieter side of the building. Sure the room is still small and everything but I think I will sleep better.

Nothing comes for free, you know, so in exchange for her helping me out she mentioned how her daughter will need tutoring next year as she starts University. I gladly exchanged contact information and so will work on that.

I made a little video of my new room. Why? Oh what the heck right?

Living in a Goshiwon the Video

As promised here is my video of living in a Goshiwon. Jason tells me I should be more careful with sharing personal info on the web, and I am sure it is nothing to joke about. After this time I think I will be more careful.




And for those who want to see the shower-hose-holder thing more closely here are the pictures of the product and packaging.
When shopping look for it in Emart or Homeplus (I got it at Emart) in the bathroom stuff section. It is usually located near the model shower hoses.

The funny story about Sunday was that JH was worried someone would steal his shoes near the shoe locker. I had gone ahead and so he didn't have the key to put his shoes in the locker. So he put his shoes atop the area near the locker. When he did so he heard a loud plunk sound, which is the kind of sound a shoe makes when falling to the ground. Apparently, he dropped one of his shoes behind the locker cabinet. It fell all the way down and was out of reach.

What made this especially funny was his reaction. He whimpered and wanted his shoe back really badly. And now he had one shoe so he was perplexed at how to get out of the building. We figured it out that I would drive the car up to get him. Then we would drive to his house and get his second pair of shoes. Next we went to a shoe store nearby (ABC Mart) and he found a nice new shiny pair of shoes. I have to say I think it was fate because the shoe he lost was part of a pair, which was kind of old. I had been mentioning to him to buy new shoes for a while. haha..

Now when we pass by the shoe locker he taps the wooden part and says "My shoe is so lonely."

hehe

Moved Out / In

Moving out was interesting, because I learned that I have a lot of stuff. How much? Four car loads worth! How the heck did I end up with so much stuff and where I am going to put it in my new place? So far my plan is to either throw out or give away a lot of stuff when I move again or store it somewhere for the future.

The man who helped me out during all this was JH. Boy was he a trooper, and somehow all my stuff is stored at his house in their storage space.

Saturday night I moved into the Goshiwon and I have to say I was really tired but also perplexed at how I was going to live in such a small space.

This is the street where the Goshiwon is located. I am in the Konkuk University area just a street up near the Children's Grand Park.

The place is called the "F. House".

Never mind the fact that in the basement is a business room...yes look past this please.

The goshiwon is very pretty inside and is also nice and clean.
I am going to make a video soon to show you a "walk through" of the goshiwon.

You come up these stairs to where the rooms are located.

This will be just a short rendition as the video will provide more of a peek into the whole place. Down this hallway is the door to my room.

You enter my room through a keypad electronic door mechanism.

This is it folks all the space one needs for one month in Seoul. I have to say I kind of wish I spent more time on looking for a goshiwon with more space (of course you had to pay a lot).

So where you see the drying rack there is the only open space. Next to the drying rack is the shower unit which is closed in via a glass box. I could put the drying rack on the roof but I don't want to take any chances with a random rain shower.

Yes the bed is nice and cozy mostly because I doubled up my winter blanket to act as a mattress pad.

Here is the desk area where there was a TV situated on top, but I wasn't really using it so I tucked it underneath. Also you can see a mini-frig. There is a shared kitchen where you can store stuff in a larger frig.

Yes that is a real window there people. I have a lovely view of a brick wall but I think since these days are getting colder I won't have the window open too wide. Oh I would like to remark that I brought in my own lamp. I can't stand fluorescent lighting~
The place is quiet with I think mostly gals living in the other rooms. Although there is a major road nearby so I get to hear the traffic from that.

There were a few issues I had to get fixed yesterday before feeling completely comfortable in here. One, the shower drain was extremely clogged. Solution: Got the Ahjumma to clean it. Two, needed something to store my personal dishes. Fixed it by going to Emart. And basically had to organize my stuff and put it all in logical spaces.

Yesterday JH took me around the Children's Grand Park (pictures and story to come) and we had a jolly good time. Funny story too about something that happened yesterday.

Well of course I don't want to spend all my time in this closet but it sure is darn cold today. However, I need to get photos for my new job documents and get them mailed off. So I do have some work to get done.