Things We Have

A small, low table (cost: $16). Koreans normally eat on these while sitting. Ours serves mainly as a coffee table.


A small, orange couch. We found it discarded and proudly carried it home a few weeks ago. This couch is very typical of those found in Korean high-rise apartment homes.


A ridiculously complicated thermostat. Our apartment, like most other homes in Korea, is heated beneath the floor. On the one hand, this method of heating is efficient and cozy (especially if you are on the floor most of the time, as are most Koreans). However, it takes a long time to heat a room this way. And when the room finally becomes comfortable, the heating continues even after you've turned it off so that you soon find yourself in a sauna. Note: the button bearing the universal "power" symbol not only turns off the heat, but also the hot water.


An electric fan (cost: $25). Actually, this fan is pretty nifty. It oscillates by means of the front grill slowly rotating. Unlike Katie, I am a painfully light sleeper. The white noise generated by this little fan has been my ticket to a good night's sleep.


A remote control for our air conditioner. What the heck, America? In the U.S. we now have remotes to control our car stereos. The car stereo is, like, twelve inches away. A remote for my air conditioner, however -now this I can use. No more getting up in the middle of the night to adjust the temperature!


A Jetsons phone. When people ring our doorbell, we see an image of them on our phone. It's the phone of tomorrow: today!


A brand-new Daewoo television. The school provided this for us a couple of weeks ago. We appear to have basic cable, and while the majority of channels are in Korean, a few show American movies and sitcoms with Korean subtitles.


A copper tea kettle (cost: $5). Cheap, copper pots and pans of this style can be found everywhere here.


Metal chopsticks and round, Korean-style spoons. To my understanding, Korea is the only Asian country that uses metal chopsticks. They're a bit more tricky than wooden or plastic ones, but you get used to them quickly. The round spoons are used for rice and soup.


A Korean spaceship console. Oh wait, it's the control panel of our washing machine/dryer. Kudos to Katie for figuring this one out. I really don't know how she did it, but she actually manages to wash our clothes with this thing, and has even figured out how to add liquid fabric softener.