Our Apartment

These are a few of my favorite things . . . about our apartment in Seoul.

 #1- I have a housekeeper.   Actually, although I do appreciate not having to do things like change the sheets and clean the toilets, I really do value work and desire that my children learn to value it as well.  So although the help is greatly appreciated, I don't want our family to become a bunch of slackers.  I still insist that we do all our dishes and kitchen clean-up, make our own beds each day, and do all of our own laundry.  And although the housekeeper does vacuum everyday, I'm planning to buy a broom today because we can easily sweep a dustpan full of food and dirt off the floor at the end of the day.


#2- I have a heated toilet seat in my bathroom.  (Need I say more?)  We might as well only have one bathroom in the apartment as this one is of course the favorite.  Joy will pull her pants down in another bathroom and then announce, "oh, actually I want a warm seat", and shuffle across the apartment to my bathroom with her pants around her ankles.


#3- I don't have to cook breakfast anymore!  We get breakfast downstairs every morning.  And I'm not talking about a glass of juice and a donut.  It is a combination Korean/American breakfast and it is quite a spread.  We're talking scrambled, boiled, and fried eggs, bacon, sausage, fries, cereal, toast, bagels, croissants, yogurt, a couple different juices, cheese, deli meat, a couple of different fresh fruits, rice, salad, cooked veggies, cooked meats, kimchi, a couple of different soups, and more.  Just a few more options than I usually give my kids at breakfast ;).  And no dishes or clean-up!  We do miss things like pancakes and french toast and oatmeal, but now we just make those for dinner occasionally.

#4- We have an awesome view.  And I'm the type of person that really appreciates a great view.  This is the type of view that you often pay big bucks to have out the window of a tower restaurant in the city, and we get to have it from our kitchen table everyday for lunch and dinner.  We live on the 22nd floor of a 23-story apartment complex.  I think they heard that we had four wild American kids and decided to stick us up in a corner far away from the rest of the patrons, but it has suited us great.  The whole eastside wall of the apartment is windows, so we can enjoy the view from almost any room.


You'd think with all of these great things, I wouldn't have anything to complain about, but I'll be honest and say that although there is nothing "terrible" about our apartment, there are a few things that make me miss our house.

#1- No backyard.  I was thinking that our backyard in Texas was getting a little too small for us, but now that we don't have one it seems like we lost  2,000 square feet off our living space.  There is a park close by that we frequent, but it's not quite the same as just being able to send them outside for a while to let some energy out.

#2- We have to be quieter and slower.  I don't have the noisiest kids ever, but I definitely wouldn't describe them as quiet (especially not in their own home).  I feel like I do enough correcting without also having to constantly "shhh" them, but now I have to do that too.  They are starting to get the idea that our neighbors are only a "wall-away", but it has not been an easy transition.  They also can't just run out the front door or around the corners in the halls or they could knock into some one.  I don't think I realized how bouncey my kids were and how often they walk without looking where they are going until we moved here.

#3- We went from a no-TV-family to a three-TV-family.  This likely sounds like heaven to most of you.  And honestly, so far it has been okay.  In fact, the last time that I wished we had a TV in our house was during the Olympics.  And since we have been here we have all really enjoyed watching the Olympics.  Plus, our shipment containers have not arrived yet, so the kids have had very little to do inside the apartment.  But once our things arrive, and the Olympics are over, I hope I won't have to keep saying "no you can't turn on the TV".  Fortunately, a lot of the shows are in Korean so it's not as tempting as it could be.  Wish me luck!

#4- I have a tiny washing machine and dryer.  If you've ever lived oversees I'm sure you can relate.  I used to have two laundry days-- Monday and Thursday.  Now everyday is laundry day.  At least I don't have to do the bedding.  There is no way that I could fit a normal sized quilt in one of these machines.  Not only are they both small, but they both take forever to wash and dry one tiny load.  Does that make any sense?  I often just dry the clothes halfway and then hang them up just so I can get another load going.  My oven is also very small.  I don't have my cookie sheets yet, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit them in or not.  I hope so!  I'm just dying to make some cookies!