My Korean Life #28: House Hunting Part 4 - Moving In

Part 4: Moving In

The day I moved in wasn't all that eventful actually. After arriving a little earlier than expected I found the building owner outside cleaning up and said in Korean I was his new 402 resident. He smiled and ushered me to the keypad to show me the password to unlock the door. He demonstrated once and then had me do it twice to firmly etch it into memory.

Thankfully there is an elevator so we both rode the elevator up to my new abode. He then unlocked the door and instructed me to input a new door password (Note: many Korean apartments no longer have keys and only have an electronic lock). After punching in a few new digits he said "OK" and welcomed me into my new place. He first remarked the bed and mattress were brand new and asked if it was to my liking. It's your standard XL twin bed with some drawers underneath. The actual bed frame is kind of light to it's easy to move about in case I happened to drop something behind the bed.

Next was the air conditioner (essential during the hot and humid Korean summer). There is a little remote that sits right next to my desk so I can adjust the fan speed, temperature, timer, etc. One thing I didn't expect was there is a panel that controls the hot water for the shower. It is not always on as is usually the case in American households. If I want hot water, I press a button and then can adjust the temperature using the same panel. This panel also controls the underfloor heating during the winter.

The bathroom and kitchen were pretty self-explanatory except for the range fan hood. The fan hood is more like a drawer that pulls out to extend over the whole counter. This much be fully extended for the fan to work and for the overhead light to turn on.

I'm going to have to play with the washer/dryer a little as it has a billion buttons and functions it seems. The real estate agent who speaks English gave me a quick run down of the main functions. He also showed me where to put the garbage and where to get mail.

I mentioned that I might want to buy a TV later and my real estate agent said any setup associated with that would be included. In fact I have a cable TV box already but no TV yet.

As the previous places I lived had a lot of kitchen things in them, I currently don't have any kitchen things (pots/pans/dishes/etc). I'm slowly working to acquire items, I bought a knife but I really need pots and pans so I can start cooking again. The problem is that I have an induction range so only certain pans work well with it, if at all.

I will finish moving everything from my old place(s) this week.

Part 5 will cover changing my address at immigration.