Hey guys! So as you know, we have been showing you every week A Day in the Life of an ESL teacher in South Korea. Up until now, we have shown you mostly videos of our students, but this week we decided to mix it up a bit and do a video apartment tour!
Before we came over here, we were really curious about what sort of housing arrangement we would end up with. We searched around online and watched a few other apartment tours, but each apartment is of course going to be different. We have friends working here who totally lucked out with a two bedroom place, while others get crammed into studios the size of a closet. We were a bit nervous that we would be unhappy with the housing arrangement our school gave us, and when we first moved into our apartment, we were a bit shocked.
From all the research we did, we noticed that couples who come over to teach in Korea typically get a larger apartment, or officetel. These places either have a lofted bedroom above the kitchen/living room or at least a small separate bedroom. However, when we moved into our assigned place back in February, we were very surprised to see we had been given a smaller single apartment. It is a studio sized place, that is usually given to single teachers. Furthermore, for the entire first week, the hot water was broken. This meant freezing cold showers in the middle of winter and sleeping with our winter coats on since Korean homes are heated through hot water running under the floors. We were jet lagged and honestly really upset with the situation.
Nonetheless, after the first week was over and our hot water was fixed, we started to ease up a bit and really enjoy our new home. Though small, on the entire back wall are three big windows with an amazing view of the mountain behind our building. It makes the small space seem larger than it is with all the light that it lets in. Moreover, one of the windows opens up to a huge balcony that stretches the whole length of the building. Balconies of any kind are unheard of in Korea, and ours came with a bench right underneath our window which is great for sitting and drinking coffee in the mornings.
We have lived here for six months now, and after cleaning up, decorating, and settling in we have come to love our little abode. Comfy and cozy and not too bad after all! Hope you all enjoy the pictures and video and stay tuned for more next week!
Hedgers Abroad 
That may be small, but such a seriously amazing view!
Just found your blog and it’s so helpful. I’m assessing my options for next year’s teaching post so it’s super helpful to see life in Korea.
Thanks so much for checking out our blog! We just moved here in February and before then we had a million questions about coming over here. We really wanted to help other potential ESL teachers by making some informative posts. If you have any requests or questions, let us know and we will do our best to answer them for you!
I just found your blog and it is interesting the differences in Korean living compared to Taiwanese living. Hope you are enjoying your time there!! I have been to Korea before and had a great time there!
We love living in Korea and now that we have become expat ESL teachers, we are also interested in seeing how life and working in other Asian countries is. Do you teach in Taiwan?
Enjoyed the video. You have experience living in small spaces now…ready to live on a sailboat?
I think we could manage now that we have all this great practice!
Loved this one too! It was so fun to see your apartment! The biggest thing we have learned is to never compare our jobs/ living conditions to other people in korea because we would get so down about it. We also have been placed as a married couple into what they consider housing for one person. We felt the same way about being so discouraged in the beginning, but have really made it “home.” AWESOME balcony! That is unheard of!!! We do have the rooftop available, but a balcony is soooo much more convienant. You guys have GREAT storage so that is a plus… and I loved the little table/ countertop space that is on rollers… we also did initially have two twin beds put together! HAHA. So funny. My husband is 6’4 so he needs the space as well, but right now we are making it work with them stacked on top of each other (it is nice we have the separate room) but with the two beds put together we had no space to walk. 🙂 Oh, korea!
Our apartment also has a really cool rooftop terrace, but they have locked it up and no one is allowed up there for whatever reason :T
The two beds pushed together actually forced us to use two twin sized comforters because Korea doesn’t sell anything over full sized. We had Ryan’s mom bring us a comforter when she came and visited haha nothing in Korea is catered towards larger people!
I think your guys’ apartment is awesome. I love small spaces like this that are set up adequately for storage. Your view is amazing!
We love our view too! Thanks for checking out our blog!
Looks like home!! Bloom where you are planted!