Fourty One

Okay. So let's start from the beginning. Tuesday (02/22/11), we officially received the paperwork saying that we can live off post. FINALLY. (As if we hadn't been trying to get that for over a month.) We spoke with housing and they said we could officially move in. So in we moved! We were ecstatic. Our own house is something we have been looking forward to since BEFORE we got married! Ha :) The first day or so, we were without internet as it hadn't been hooked up yet, but we've got some now! I tried to email out some pictures of the house, but for some reason, my yahoo doesn't like to cooperate! I don't understand...
Either way, I will post pictures and explain as there are a couple different things in these houses.

This is our front entry-way. The cabinets are so that you can put your shoes in there. They swear (I'm not sure how true it really is...) that if you wear your shoes inside the house, you will ruin the floors so we take them off in the little entry way.This is the first bedroom. It's door is right next to the entry way. It came with one bed in it. The mattress is a Korean mattress. The only word to describe it is: Hard! Their mattresses are really hard. Little less than a box spring, but still feels just as rough. It's pretty basic and we decided to put sheets on the bed just in case we have a visitor one day :)

This is our living room. It's a bit smaller than an average American living room, but it's pretty decent size for a Korean apartment. She prefurnished the house for us. The couch (burnt orange leather LOL.), the "entertainment center" and the coffee table are all hers since we couldn't bring any of our stuff over with us. The glass doors in the back are to our "porch". Since we live on the 8th floor, we don't have a real porch, but this leads out to a hallway that has a bunch of glass windows that will let the summer/spring breezes in when it gets too hot.
This is our dining room. It consists of a table and a mirror haha! The table was also furnished with the apartment. The door up against the wall in the kitchen leads to our washing machine and dryer.This is our kitchen. It's actually pretty big for a Korean kitchen. Probably one of the biggest I have seen. It has a lot of cabinet space, but no drawer space which is one of my complaints. There are only three drawers and they're all really skinny which means my silverware holder/tray is sitting out beside the sink since I have no other home for it :( I guess I'll know what to look for next time!
This is our master bedroom. The windows that you see actually open up to the hallway that is filled with the glass windows (that you saw in the living room). It's not gigantic but it is a good size. I would say it is a bit smaller than my mom's master bedroom but for a Korean apartment, the size is good. Koreans live in smaller houses and live more conservatively than Americans. They don't rent/buy places with lots of space because they know they have to pay more to heat them or cool them down. Korean houses also aren't insulated so it takes a LOT of keep them hot or cold.This is our neat little bathroom... Now this one takes some time to explain! Koreans don't use bathtubs like Americans...at least for the most part they don't. The Master bathroom (there is another bathroom in our apartment that has a bathtub but it has no shower curtain or rod in it) is lined in tile and has covers for all light sockets and toilet paper. The whole bathroom IS the shower. You just turn the sprayer on and then go to town. The whole bathroom is water proof. The sink is a seramic and the toilet lid is plastic so the water just beads up and rolls off. The toilet paper has a metal flap that shields it from water. It's amazing. It just makes drying off a big difficult since everything is wet lol. But still, very cool to say the least!This is our "office" area. This is the area that has our closet (because they don't keep a closet in any of the bedrooms) and it's the place that has all of our internet jacks. It's interesting because they don't sell this house saying "We are renting a three bedroom apartment", they say "We are renting a two bedroom that also has an office". It is a closed off room that can be turned into a bedroom, it just doesn't need to be that way for us since we have no other reason to! :) The windows in this room lead into the laundry room/hall.

This is the view from our little "hallway" that runs from the back of the living room to the back of the master. If you can see faaaar in the distance, there are two red and white checkered water towers. That's the Army base. We are probably about 1/2 to 3/4 miles from the base. Joshua walks it every day to and from work (and at lunch) and I walk it anytime we need something from Joshua's barracks that we still have or anytime I need to go shopping,etc. It's a nice little uphill walk to get to the apartment so it's definitely a good work out. I love that walk....except when I have my hands full! Haha.

Well that's all I have for now, guys. Thanks for joining me on my "tour" of our apartment. Wish you all could be here to see it in person! If you guys have any good recipes that you think I should try, please do share. Since this is the first time I'm a housewife, I need all the help I can get! Ha :)
xoxo,
Hannah and Joshua