Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

TYPES OF HOUSING
http://www.ace-realty.co.kr/homepage/htm/main/main/system.htm

Ask Candy Glerup what advice she'd give to military families moving to South Korea and she has two words: Be prepared. Not for the challenges of living in a foreign country, but for the run-down condition of the military housing.
http://ww2.pstripes.osd.mil/01/jul01/ed072301c.html

Apartment Buildings
http://homepage.usask.ca/~tsp121/koreaapt.jpg
http://homepage.usask.ca/~tsp121/phkoreaapt.html

http://pjacobs.sutrodigital.com/images/korea/DSCF0399.jpg
http://pjacobs.sutrodigital.com/images/korea/sunchon.html

[chronicpride]

As Patrick said, best bet is to come over on your own dollar, check places out, negotiate a contract with reimbursement.

If you have to sign from overseas, get pictures or talk to the foreign teacher there, who is currently using the apartment, if possible.

Also, just a tip, ask what is below your apartment. If there's a restaurant on the main floor, you might have major infestation problem. My first apartment had that issue, as well as all other apartments in the building.

[mindmetoo]

[Gollum]

I wrote my congressman about the inflated housing prices inflated especially for the military. I lived in an apartment near the military once, and the similar apartment next to mine went for several million won per month. I was paying 500,000 per month.

The US gov\'t pays the rent for the officers, as I understand. An officer was living there.

[Grotto]

When I moved into my apartment I had a major problem with tiny little red ants. They never bit me or anything but any time I had any type of food out there would be a line of these invaders hauling off any crumbs or dribbles.

Cleaning did not work...they would have scouts out all over the place searching for food. Raid and ant trap hotels didnt work, they avoided the hotels and the Raid only worked if sprayed directly onto the buggers. Luckily one of my adult students is a vet and he gave me some industrial strength poison. I sprayed it around all of the outlets, along the doorframes, under the sinks and anywhere else I thought they might pop out of. Instant success. I have gone from having literally thousands of invaders to the occasional one every 2 or 3 months. When I see a new ant pop out I respray the areas mentioned. This spraying is so effective that my co-worker in the apartment next to mine also doesnt suffer from these little buggers.

[Demophobe]

Keep your place clean...as was said, try not to live above a restaurant. A sanitary environment will keep the bugs out.

My first place, I bought 4 tubes of caulking and plugged up all the cracks, floor joints under the lino, the bathroom and in the kitchen, where the counter meets the floor. Also, many bugs live under the linoleum...I sealed the lino to the wall with caulking. Yeah, it will be a bugger to get up, but it wasn't my place, and the owner was a cheap guy....he wasn't going to replace the lino anytime soon anyways.

Put some bleach in a spray bottle and do the corners of the house weekly with a couple of sprits to keep the mold at bay....same with the window caulking. (They don't use that 'sterile' caulking...it seems to sprout mold)

Don't keep any open food around, do the dishes daily...really, a super-clean house will not attract any bugs. I would caution against using the cans of "raid"-like stuff. It just can't be good to live with. Don't let those dudes in with the silver pump-can of chemicals....that is just liquid death.

When you move in, clean the places you don't want to...the really gross areas...under the fridge, counters, under the sinks, etc... ...if you don't want to clean it, probably no one else has either....these places are where the bugs like.

Get dirty....some rubber gloves, a plastic hair-hat....go nuts once, and you will be fine.

[fidel]

Whether or not your place is clean or not also depends somewhat on the departing teacher. I've lived in a couple of places where the previous tenants basically just packed their personal goods then left, leaving the detris of their habitation behind. At my first job, the director of the hogwan opened the apartment door and switched on the lights. Before he could hurriedly switch it off again I saw hundreds of little German roaches scurrying around. He waited a short time before switching the light back on to give them a chance to hide themselves. There were dirty dishes in the sink, food in the fridge and on the shelves, accumulated stuff from several years of living in Korea and of course the chaos from moving. There were also overflowing trash bags, dozens of empty water/beer bottle and neither the floor or the bathroom looked like they had ever been cleaned.

Not impressive, however not being the type of person who is afraid of a little hard work I spent a couple of days cleaning, disinfecting, spraying and making the place livable. However, I always had problems with those accursed roaches. The bonus of moving into a place previously occupied by this type of tenant was that the place was a treasure trove of useful stuff, including a couple of hundred bucks worth of food.

My current place was a pigsty when I moved into it, and I won't hesitate to name and shame the previous teacher. An older guy by the name of SCHIMECK. The fridge was full of rotting food, the balcony full of trash, under the bed was beyond description,and the kitchen had years of accumulated grime and filth. To say I was angry is of course an understatement. How someone can live like a swine is beyond comprehension.

Leaving your previous digs clean and trash free is a sign of manners and a basic courtesy. Please show some respect for the teachers replacing you and for yourself.

[jay-shi]

Moldy season is at our doorstep, bleach and cleanliness are your best friends.

[joe_doufu]

i suggest you ask the boss if you can talk to the current or former Foreign Teacher who lives in the apartment. if they are renting a new place instead, ask why, and ask for photos + details. i don't think roaches are a problem, it's not a tropical climate like SE Asia. obviously, don't leave food lying around your apartment. take your trash out on a regular basis.

shouldn't have to say that... but many posters on these forums are 21, just out of college, and haven't yet made the mental connection between the three week old pizza in the corner and the family of mice inhabiting their apartment. life is a journey of discovery.

[Hanson]

[Tiger Beer]

[denverdeath]

"Bad luck" is the reason they don't clean 'em, huh? Interesting theory. I thought their stand may have been more like, "It was f^*king filthy when I moved in and I'll leave it in the same condition when I move out." Anyway, as everyone else has mentioned, it depends on the place. Newer usually means better, although older may be much more spacious. Cleaning the windows is usually a big pain, but makes the apartment seem so much cleaner(usually necessary with an older place). Having good screens on the windows is a plus to keep most vermin out. Keep your place clean, especially if you want to keep roaches away. Always keep a good variety of sprays nearby just in case. Good advice from others saying talk to current/former teachers and getting a pic. Some places REALLY are terrible, but most places I've been in have been half-decent.

[Derrek]

[pegpig]

[pegpig]