Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Daechidong Waygookin]

[Kimchieluver]

I felt the swaying too and I live on the second floor. It turns out there was an earthquake in Japan and we felt a bit of it. A couple of guys at lunch today felt it too.

[saw6436]

First 3 years here I lived in a house built in the 1920's. Unique blend of traditional Korean architecture (sliding wood/paper doors, small doors, outdoor bathroom) and Western (fireplaces in the bed room). Place was a real dump but incredible location, huge yard and garden, and great neighbors. North Korean soldiers lived in the house during the war (you can see the bullet holes on the outside walls). No aircon, 2 small fridges, ricecooker, bed, utensiles, pots....supplied by the school.
Now I take care of my own housing. Much better.

[JongnoGuru]

Great pics and a neat place you have there, Polly. Thank you for posting that.

For posters who have those lofts, how do you use them? Were it me, I'd put a big thick futon -- not a yo that needs to be folded -- up there, and a TV & night stand. But I see bookshelves in Polly's photos. Maybe a few books for night-time reading, but I wouldn't want to crawl around up there too much. If you have a bed or mattress up there, then there's not enough clearance even to walk hunch-backed, is there? You have to crawl on all fours, don't you?

We also looked into one of those officetels with a loft some years ago. I decided on a regular single-floor layout, however, since we were only using it as an office 90% of the time. Thus, usable floor space, max headroom and boring functionality won out over... trendy "funktionality". But had a place like yours existed 10 years ago when I was "travelling light", I'd've definitely jumped on it.

When I first came to Korea, I went completely native in the home-furnishings department. A yo for a bed, floor cushions for chairs, folding-leg table for a dining table, etc. (I did not, however, get so carried away as to have them replace the throne with a squat toilet.) It was both cheaper and saved space to go native. Yet I hadn't done anything like that in Hong Kong, where the natives themselves had stopped "going native" generations before I got there, or in Japan, where I rented a furnished Western-style pad. Only in Korea.

Even the desk I bought for home was one of those built low to the ground. It was a drab miniature version of every desk you'd see in a government office in those days, save for the fact that it was smaller and its legs were really, REALLY short. It was built so that you'd sit on the floor and slip your (crossed) legs underneath it, and there was a "legless chair" -- just the seat & the back -- that you'd sit on to brace yourself. Like those in the private rooms of a Japanese restaurant. A real "yangban relic" from the generation just before this one.

Anyhow, I spent the better part of my first year or two in the Republic surveying my immediate scene from a toddler's elevation. From that perspective, the TV screen seemed larger, the windows taller, the doorbell louder, the drunken altercations of men in the street noisier, and the wailing of women and kids echoing through the stairwell shriller.

One thing I noticed when I'd be working at my runty little desk was, if I ever felt the tiniest bit fatigued or sleepy, it was all too easy to just roll over and catch a few winks right there without really having to "go lie down". Indeed, I kept a pillow and a thin yo right beside the desk for this purpose.

On days when I'd work or study all day at home, I'd wake up, pry myself off the yo, shower & shave, make some breakfast, change into my "business attire" ... and then flop right back down onto the floor again, at that stubby little desk. And whenever I'd bring a girl home, we'd necessarily sit & talk on the floor, drink on the floor, eat on the floor, watch a video on the floor, XXX on the floor, sleep on the floor, etc.

However productive or rewarding the activity might be, this constant clinging-to-the-ground lifestyle, as it were, began to wear on me. I felt increasingly slothful... like I was just sort of wallowing through life. And I didn't like it.

When money and time eventually allowed, I pulled myself up off the ground and back into the 20th century with a bed, sofa, proper chairs & dining table, regular desk w/PC set-up, phone/fax, floor-to-ceiling shelving, etc. This simple upgrade in home & home-office furnishings did me a power of good in so many ways. Work schedules, meetings, dates, visa deadlines, life events -- these things no longer just swept over and engulfed me -- I now felt, and literally was, more "on top of things" and in command. I began to ooze self-confidence, forward-looking determination, and a readiness and ambition to venture forth into the wide world, defeating and subjugating all the peoples of low-living cultures who dared cross my path. Life indeed began to please me.

[d503]

I live in a loft officetel deal, pretty freaking sweet on the whole, brand new building and all that. It came with fridge and freezer, washer dryer combo, electric stove, table chair, drawer thing (that I use as a tv stand), matress, some built in shelving, and a tv from my school.

I live on the floor here, floor cushions and a low table as a computer desk, though as my hondol is no longer on I am probably gonna move it back to the floor soon.

THe table and chair are only used for doing puzzles, cause i found the pieces get dusty on the floor.

up in the loft which has about a 4ft, maybe 4.5 foot clearance I have my bed, stack of nighttime books, and a couple of alarm clocks, i really only sleep up there.
pictures are on my website http://www.geocities.com/d503we/ under the go where i go link.