11/02/2007

Searching for apartments is an adventure or a nightmare?


I’ve been waking up early which is great as all of a sudden I have more time on my hands and can enjoy my mornings without the rush. However there’s a reason for my early mornings as I’m constantly thinking about where I am moving to.
Friday after work I met Maryon (a fellow teacher in another school within my district) and Irene a friend that is able to speak Korean to see some apartments that my co-teacher had set up with a realtor. Off we went walking past numerous mom & pop shops selling all sorts from dried fish hanging on the side streets to juicy strawberries in little plastic bowls. We came to the building where the realtor pointed to the view for us to enjoy; so far we were satisfied however down we went into the basement to see the two-bedroom apartment. And oh my! The space was tiny and musty, sure there were two bedrooms but one was only two shoulder widths wide, the bathroom had the washing machine a toilet and a shower head with little space forcing one to shower over the toilet. The living room was an awkward space maybe big enough for a small love seat at one end with the kitchen at the other. The realtor had nothing else to offer saying that this was the best that he had, as the others are worse. We left the area feeling rather disappointed however we had a little adventure as we decided to go to our favorites Nepalese restaurant in Dondaemun however we ended up in Russia town and bought some yogurt pancake wraps that wasn’t so great.
Saturday Maryon and I went off to meet another realtor close to where we both live. Let me tell ya, this man was a little strange with a really slow speech. He kept reminding me that he doesn’t normally work on Saturdays and that his office hours are until 6 in the week, which leaves me no time. I have no idea how this guy makes money! He showed us one apartment that is similar to my current place however it was on the ground floor in between an access road and another apartment building meaning that people have to walk past my place to get to theirs. That was all he had to show, however Maryon and I were not ready to give up so we walked into another realtor place and my Korean was put to the test. This time we were shown five apartments, which were more promising than the other places with landlords that seemed great even the realtor, was cute with tons of energy. However at the end my moving date is about five weeks away, which is too far for them to do anything so I have to wait and hope that some of those places are still vacant. Aargh!

2 comments:

Desiree Byker said...

And I didn't know you have a blog either. Nice! This picture makes me seoul-sick.

Desiree Byker said...

And I didn't know you have a blog either. Nice! This picture makes me seoul-sick.