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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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 Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:49 am Post subject: |
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| fermentation wrote: |
| Doesn't matter. When you're wearing full combat gear and marching 40km in the mountains, it can be below freezing and you'll still think its hot. |
Plus the heat in Korea comes with its own special brand of disgustingness i.e. humidity. Dry heat>>>>>>>wet, disgusting, soggy, monsoon season heat. Plus the government's on a crusade against A/C use which compounds the disgustingness. Not that you even HAVE A/C in the military. They won't even give you hot water because they can't afford the gas for the water heater. The money they got from the government, all the officers embezzled it probably. The Korean military's more corrupt than a Soviet bureaucracy.
These days there's a huge drought too so probably no fire truck coming around to spray water on the dorms either (btw, this doesn't help). They're too busy watering the rice paddies. |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| fermentation wrote: |
| Doesn't matter. When you're wearing full combat gear and marching 40km in the mountains, it can be below freezing and you'll still think its hot. |
Plus the heat in Korea comes with its own special brand of disgustingness i.e. humidity. Dry heat>>>>>>>wet, disgusting, soggy, monsoon season heat. Plus the government's on a crusade against A/C use which compounds the disgustingness. Not that you even HAVE A/C in the military. They won't even give you hot water because they can't afford the gas for the water heater. The money they got from the government, all the officers embezzled it probably. The Korean military's more corrupt than a Soviet bureaucracy.
These days there's a huge drought too so probably no fire truck coming around to spray water on the dorms either (btw, this doesn't help). They're too busy watering the rice paddies. |
NC was 100 degrees last week with a humidity of 80%. That's pretty effing humid. Regardless, I'm not going into the military because it's easy... I'm going in because it's something I have to do in order to get to where I want to go. |
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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:30 am Post subject: |
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NC doesn't have the third highest population density in the world and a landmass that's 2/3 uninhabitable and with water on three sides. And something about the bulidings here make summers more disgustingly hot and winters even colder. The cold I don't mind so much as the summer heat. I have a special appreciation for A/C now...
...And NC probably has A/C on full blast everywhere right about now. For some reason Koreans don't believe in central A/C which makes things worse. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:16 am Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| NC doesn't have the third highest population density in the world and a landmass that's 2/3 uninhabitable and with water on three sides. And something about the bulidings here make summers more disgustingly hot and winters even colder. The cold I don't mind so much as the summer heat. I have a special appreciation for A/C now.... |
Single paned windows. |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
Plus the heat in Korea comes with its own special brand of disgustingness i.e. humidity. Dry heat>>>>>>>wet, disgusting, soggy, monsoon season heat. Plus the government's on a crusade against A/C use which compounds the disgustingness. Not that you even HAVE A/C in the military. They won't even give you hot water because they can't afford the gas for the water heater. The money they got from the government, all the officers embezzled it probably. The Korean military's more corrupt than a Soviet bureaucracy.
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Well, that's not necessarily true, at least in my experience. If you're a desk jockey like I was, you'll be working with NCOs and officers who'll bitch and moan and ignore government regulations about AC use. In my barracks, the NCOs had enough of the heat and actually pooled together money to install one in the situation room. Technically you can't turn the temperature lower than 26 C or something but nobody really follows regulations. This is Korea afterall. I was lucky in that regard.
If you're a grunt who spends most of his time digging trenches, then yeah, you're screwed. There aren't any ACs in the rooms (생활관) where conscripts sleep, but they're are at least, fans.
As for water, my CO was actually pretty good at providing hot water for us. One of the good things that sociopath did. During basic though I had to shower with ice cold water despite it being January. Depends on the unit.
I'm not sure the ROK military is corrupt enough to be compared to the Soviet Union. I've read of some crazy amounts of corruption and stupidity going on in the current day Russian Army. Stuff that made the ROK military look like disney land. |
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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| NC doesn't have the third highest population density in the world and a landmass that's 2/3 uninhabitable and with water on three sides. And something about the bulidings here make summers more disgustingly hot and winters even colder. The cold I don't mind so much as the summer heat. I have a special appreciation for A/C now.... |
Single paned windows. |
....And the lack of insulation. I wonder if Korean developers even heard of the stuff. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 12:36 am Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| ....And the lack of insulation. I wonder if Korean developers even heard of the stuff. |
You do realize they use styrofoam, it's a pretty good insulator. They slap it on the outside of the concrete and them put those pretty stone squares on top of it. |
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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 7:28 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| ....And the lack of insulation. I wonder if Korean developers even heard of the stuff. |
You do realize they use styrofoam, it's a pretty good insulator. They slap it on the outside of the concrete and them put those pretty stone squares on top of it. |
Ok fair enough, but I still think all modern buildings should have central A/C and heat. I can't imagine buying a $500k apartment that doesn't even have central A/C. Korean apartments are tiny already-you don't need an air conditioner taking up valuable space. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| jvalmer wrote: |
| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| ....And the lack of insulation. I wonder if Korean developers even heard of the stuff. |
You do realize they use styrofoam, it's a pretty good insulator. They slap it on the outside of the concrete and them put those pretty stone squares on top of it. |
Ok fair enough, but I still think all modern buildings should have central A/C and heat. I can't imagine buying a $500k apartment that doesn't even have central A/C. Korean apartments are tiny already-you don't need an air conditioner taking up valuable space. |
The heat is taken care of with those heating pipes in the floor (a result of their traditional home designs). A design I prefer.
As for A/C, don't ask me why they don't use central A/C. But, I've noticed generally Koreans like it hot, like in the 25C range, where I want it at 21C or below. Maybe they don't want to spend more making ducts to every room in the unit. Or maybe the constructions companies made a deal with the A/C companies to make Koreans buy more fans and A/C units.
And the apartment sizes are ok imo, some of the family ones are bigger than the sq-footage of the home I grew up in back in Canada (that's including the basement). |
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motiontodismiss
Joined: 18 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:25 pm Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
And the apartment sizes are ok imo, some of the family ones are bigger than the sq-footage of the home I grew up in back in Canada (that's including the basement). |
The square footages are okay, it's just how they're divided up that's just horrible. You should NOT cram 3 bedrooms into a space that's 660 square feet (~60 sq meters or 25 pyung). And the 32 pyung places are actually only 900 or so square feet since that 32 pyung includes parking spaces and hallways and whatever other amenities. That sq footage would get you a one bedroom or a really big studio in New York or Toronto.
The developers making a deal with the A/C manufacturers sounds like a likely scenario. I imagine Samsung Electronics would be pretty pissed if Samsung C&T went out and equipped all the apartments they build with central A/C and hired Carrier to do it. Actually I'm not sure if Samsung Electronics even HAS the technology to design and install a central A/C system.
And really, what's with the lack of closets? Up until like 2-3 years ago Koreans for some reason didn't believe in closets.
I admit I like it fairly cold (at between 17C and 20C, humidity below 30%). Humidity is the primary reason for my love for A/C.  And it would really improve my quality of life if I could set my thermostat to run the A/C 20 minutes before I get home so that when I get home it's nice and cool inside. Really unpleasant walking into a hot, humid apartment after a long day at work. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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| motiontodismiss wrote: |
| The square footages are okay, it's just how they're divided up that's just horrible. You should NOT cram 3 bedrooms into a space that's 660 square feet (~60 sq meters or 25 pyung). And the 32 pyung places are actually only 900 or so square feet since that 32 pyung includes parking spaces and hallways and whatever other amenities. That sq footage would get you a one bedroom or a really big studio in New York or Toronto. |
You do realize Korean apartments are typically designed to mimic a traditional Korean home? That's why it may seem cramped to North Americans, but for a Korean it's the best they can get without buying an actual house. |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm reporting for reserve training this week. I'll write a post on my experience after I get back. I'm not looking forward to it but at least I get to do some shooting. |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 1:48 am Post subject: |
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| Well, that was a waste of time. Reserve training is three days of sitting, lying down, sleeping, waiting, with a few minutes of "education" and training mixed in. It's even more half-assed than anything I've seen as an active duty conscript. I really didn't see the point of it at all, and it seemed like every other reservist felt the same. |
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dehanmingook
Joined: 07 Apr 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:29 am Post subject: |
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| fermentation wrote: |
| Well, that was a waste of time. Reserve training is three days of sitting, lying down, sleeping, waiting, with a few minutes of "education" and training mixed in. It's even more half-assed than anything I've seen as an active duty conscript. I really didn't see the point of it at all, and it seemed like every other reservist felt the same. |
Hey
How often are you supposed to report to reserve training after you finished with your service? Is it until you are 35 and over?
And is it by monthly or how does it go?
Hopefully it doesn't take away your freedom too much after you do your service |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:32 am Post subject: |
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| dehanmingook wrote: |
| fermentation wrote: |
| Well, that was a waste of time. Reserve training is three days of sitting, lying down, sleeping, waiting, with a few minutes of "education" and training mixed in. It's even more half-assed than anything I've seen as an active duty conscript. I really didn't see the point of it at all, and it seemed like every other reservist felt the same. |
Hey
How often are you supposed to report to reserve training after you finished with your service? Is it until you are 35 and over?
And is it by monthly or how does it go?
Hopefully it doesn't take away your freedom too much after you do your service |
I believe it's one weekend a year. |
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