Home away from home
For each of my blogs, I'm going to focus on different topics. For this one, my apartment. Be warned, this is kind of a rant for a good portion, so proceed at your own caution. If you don't want to read that, you can skip down to the END RANT section and read a happier section. :)
After reaching Daegu and getting the whirlwind tour of my school and my apartment, I was left to my own devices in my new home. That meant scoping out all the things that I needed to buy and what I had been left by the past NETs. The last NET to live in the apartment was a guy from England. Yup, a guy, and like a guy, he never cleaned.
This is not an exaggeration.
In the first night, I dusted the whole apartment 3 times, each time bringing up super gross amounts of dirt and dust bunnies and cleaned off most of the furniture. I did four loads of laundry and tried to make the beddings that were left "usable." I will probably never use them since I still don't feel like they are clean enough. It's really frustrating when your house still feels like a hotel. Even after one month, I'm still stuck with the feeling that I'm borrowing half the things in this apartment and that it isn't "homey." Hopefully I'll be able to fix this soon. I want to love my apartment, really I do, but I just can't with how gross it is.
Not only was I surprised with dirty beddings and floors, but there was mold. SO MUCH MOLD. I just spent the last hour cleaning and scrubbing a new treasure trove of the black spots all over my bathroom. I have bought "Thirsty Hippos" and run my air con, but it's expensive and a real problem. This could have been avoided had mister-perfect-from-England (you'll hear more about him when I talk about my co-teachers and my school) even f***ing cleaned. JUST ONCE. IT WON'T KILL YOU TO SCRUB. ONCE. UGH.
And the toilette. Don't get me started. That blasted thing has broken TWICE in one month. At least the land lord is super nice and fixed it both times without asking for anything in payment. That's the plus side, and that my toilette is working again.
Other than the mold and yucky dirt that I have been slowly getting rid of, my apartment is okay. I don't really have a dresser that I can use (because the one that is here is FILTHY AND I CAN'T, JUST CAN'T, USE IT) and will probably order one soon or buy collapsible containers to store my clothes in so I can get out of my suitcase. The other NETs are shocked that I'm still living out of my suitcase.
Okay, last thing: CLEAN THE FRIDGE WHEN YOU LEAVE. I do not want your yucky freezer burned meat.
END RANT.
On a happy note, I like the size of my apartment. It's shockingly close to my school, the subway, and a large grocery store. I have the largest apartment out of all my friends and my bed is nice and big. I also have a couch and a closet where I can put my clothes and the extra bedding that the last NET left. The kitchen is rather cramped and where I need to hang my clothes to dry, which makes cooking an adventure. I have a gas stove and no oven (which not many Korean apartments have).
I've finally started making the kitchen feel more like my kitchen. I cook in it everyday and enjoy the cupboard space I have and storage as well.
The only thing that really bugs me is that my laundry machine is in my bathroom and my showering area is VERY small, like as wide as me. I can fit right between the sink and the washing machine. Water gets everywhere but that's to be expected. It's a big bathroom and a pain to clean but hopefully once Alan gets here, I'll have a better system figured out. It's not so crazy hot outside anymore so humidity is not as big of an issue, but with a bathroom that big, I was really anxious when I first moved in about cleaning it during the hotter seasons and keeping the mold count down.
Other than a dresser, I would really like to have a bookshelf of some kind, but that is not on the top of my list. Right now, dresser and storage containers.
Perhaps this place might feel like a home away from home soon enough. :)
Coming up next: My neighborhood and neighbors, always a treat.
Till then, stay cool, cats. ^^