Tag Archives: apartment

I Believe in Suction Cups

I love the idea that, like the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, suction cups are magical. It hits hardest when I’m organizing a rented apartment and afraid to screw something up. Shopping for small baskets, racks and any storage solution…that’s when suction cups tempt me. Suddenly, I’m scheming to stick something on any surface that’s flat and smooth: the shower, the kitchen backsplash, the side of the refrigerator. Even the indoor/outdoor thermometer is now a necessity. I lick them, I stick them. They slide, pop, and drop off. They never work. But somehow, I still believe in suction cups.

Plenty of water

Colorado qualifies as nearly a desert with only 10-12 inches of rain a year, so this is very different here!

When I wake up, I can see the ocean in front of me (less than 100m away). When I walk home from work, I walk along the coast the last block or two.

It is technically monsoon season now, so it rains part of nearly every day. So far, it hasn’t been bad walking as long as I have an umbrella. If I’m at home, I can hear the rain out my front and back windows.  When I hear voices of kids playing or people walking along the coastal path or down my street, I know it’s stopped again.

 

When I leave, I often leave my laundry hanging out since it usually takes a couple days to dry. It’s indoors inside my patio, but if I leave the sliding door open, about half the time the laundry is wetter than when I left it due to rain that comes through the screen!

It’s even tricky to know if the clothes are actually dry. The humidity is so high here that everything feels a little damp!

My shower and bathroom are all one in the same. So after a shower, everything in there is wet for about a day! Thus, it’s almost always wet. It’s not a bad system. It’s only when I’m wearing socks in my room and the bathroom flip-flops are wet that I end up with wet socks! I need one more pair of slippers for that case, I guess. But also, if I forget to turn the sink control from shower to sink, when I turn on the bathroom faucet, the shower sprays! oops!

In my kitchen sink, there is high pressure and an old nozzle. Result is fine spray in various unpredictable directions if I turn it on too high!

I’m figuring it all out little by little. And mostly thankful that I have plenty of water for drinking, showers and enjoying every day!

My new apartment

Sunday night I moved one block from my temporary spot to my ‘permanent’ apartment. The new place is THE closest building to the water at this point in the road. I measured …it’s 90 steps from my door (at the rear of the building) to the front and on to the water’s edge. There’s a stone wall and small harbor there.

My place has a refrigerator, washing machine, TV, internet, double/queen bed, a chest of drawers, two small tables, and two chairs. It has plenty of dishes, cooking pans, and a big rice cooker. The bathroom has a wall-mounted shower head and tile everything, so the room kinda doubles as the shower.

I’m still new at being a single person so I still feel like I’m getting away with something to have the whole place to myself… small, but perfectly fine!

The funny thing is that I just barely have a view of the ocean, as there’s a pine tree and roof of a little outdoor patio area in front of me. Of course, I can always the 90 steps outside and just be at the ocean, so I’m not gonna complain about that!

 

 

Quiet Christmas Eve

Pretty funny going out to dinner when you can only whisper. Most people who know me would agree that if anything, I talk too much! So, only being able to whisper a little really cramped my style!  We laughed a lot.

My friend had wanted to take me to a fancy place in Haeundae but I wasn’t up to it. So, we ate at another traditional Korean food place in Seomyeon.  Here we had some kind of kimchi bap dish. So, again it’s kimchi, but in this dish the rice is already in the broth. It’s served boiling in individual hot pots.  In this case, they give you a small bowl to spoon out bites out so you can cool it down enough to eat it. So hot, nutritious, delicious! Yummy.

It was so cold! About 20F and windy! We enjoyed our dinner, briskly walked past the Christmas displays at Lotte Department store, and then I rode the subway back home.  I found out how to operate my floor heat, so my apartment is warm and cozy!

Can you make money teaching in Korea?

Can you make money teaching English abroad?In many parts of the world, English teachers do it for the experience…with their pay barely meeting expenses in country.  

Many people choose Korea because it has the best finances for someone with my qualifications: bachelor’s degree plus a TEFL (CELTA) certificate.

My goal was to have an extra $1,000 per month. In my previous travels to Ghana and taking a year off, I ‘pre-spent’ money so want to pay that off.

Can you make money teaching English abroad? In many parts of the world, the pay for English teachers barely meets their expenses in country.

Many people (like me!) choose Korea because it has the best finances for someone with my qualifications: bachelor’s degree plus a TEFL (CELTA) certificate.

My goal was to have an extra $1,000 per month. In my previous travels to Ghana and taking a year off, I ‘pre-spent’ money so want to pay that off. Compared to engineering salaries at home, it’s a modest salary but I wanted to break out of engineering and reprogram myself… you’re a teacher! you’re not an engineer! And, Asia is the only continent I hadn’t yet visited. So, beyond salary, I had other reasons to choose Korea.

But money is (always!) important. Was I able to do it? To save $1,000 per month? 

Most months, yes, barely! This came at the physical exhaustion price of working overtime. I never asked for overtime, but most months was assigned it. Also, I pretty much lived on the cheap. I didn’t buy clothes, go to movies, travel. I stayed local: hiked, went to the beach, and ate cheap Korean food…which was all very wonderful!

A few months, the answer was no, just given my teaching salary. But I did a few extra jobs for clients at home, for an extra $400 every few months. You can lose your visa if you do private tutoring, because your contract prohibits it.

Here’s how the economics work out for a typical month. October I worked 10 hours of overtime. I taught five courses, plus Saturday and some 1-to-1 classes. I netted $1,790. This is after all taxes and my apartment too. I didn’t realize when I came that the housing payment of 250,000 that the school does pays for only half the rent for the apt I ended up with. I have another $140 in monthly expenses for all my phone and utilities, leaving $1,350.

So, to save $1,000, leaves $350 to live on. You can actually live ok on $10 a day here, eating out once or twice for $3-$4. But coffee at a coffee shop also costs $4 so you have to be careful! No money is required for transportation usually, but when you take the subway it’s only $1 each way.

The biggest bonus though comes for those who last the whole 12 months. I didn’t! People that stay for a full year, get an extra month of pay and/or your return flight paid for, plus some other refunds. I’ll get my pension contribution returned, and maybe some of my income tax.

In summary, teaching English is a good way to experience another culture. Can you save $1,000 per month doing it in Korea? Maybe, but as a first year teacher, it’s a little optimistic.  If I had decided to stay, I think with more experience now and being in country for interviews, I could have gotten a position with a public school or university with more vacation for the same or better pay.

Overall, I’m thankful for the experience. But, it’s not exactly easy money! ha ha

  Oct-10
 Regular  2300000
 Overtime  190000
 GROSS PAY           2,490,000
 Income tax  49110
 Residence Tax  4910
 National Pension  72450
 Medical Insurance  61290
 Longterm Care Insurance  4010
 Housing Cost  250000
 TOTAL DEDUCTIONS              441,770
 NET PAY Korean Won  2048230
 NET PAY USD  $1790

 



 



Elevator Etiquette

Since most people live in high-rise apartments, Koreans spend a lot of time riding elevators. And the rules for what’s allowed and not allowed are a bit different here. They are almost all reflective surfaces, so it’s like a big mirror all around you.

Usual or Allowed:

  • Checking yourself out …looking at your reflection. You don’t have to be shy about this. You can fix your hair, remedy any blemishes on your face, check your teeth, your butt, anything’s ok. It doesn’t matter how many other people are in the elevator.
  • Carrying your recycling and compost. Most of your life is private, but your decomposing food, empty beer cans, plastic wraps of your Ghana chocolate moon pies. That’s all out in the open on display for 20+ floors while you awkwardly balance five different types of recycling categories from your apt to the recycling center on the ground floor.
  • Answering your phone. It’s fine to answer your phone and talk loudly. And you can even utter some surprised words when it cuts you off, as it does always around the fifth floor.
  • The elevator itself will greet you when you walk in. A woman’s voice announces “going up” (olahanmida), “going down” (melahanmida). Also she has helped me learn my numbers. i-ship-i choen (22nd floor). ship-pahl choen (18th floor).

Not Usual:

  • People don’t talk to each other unless they are friends and are talking as they walk on.
  • Even if you get off on the same floor and walk down the hall together, nope.  

I get it now. You spend a lot of time riding, with a lot of people. Maybe it’s too much to greet everyone all the time. And, who needs a 3-way mirror. You can check out all sides of yourself in the elevator, and adjust anything that needs adjusting. ha!