What you've all been waiting for.... *drum roll please*

I finally feel settled enough and comfortable enough to post pictures of my apartment. I wanted to wait until it looked decent enough and was set up the way that I wanted it before I posted any pictures. It's very humble and comparable to a dorm room but I have my own bathroom, a kitchen area, and I'm in a great/expensive part of Seoul so I really don't have a lot to complain about. So here it is. Here's a window into my home life in Korea.

I'm giving you a panoramic view starting with what you see when you first walk in. 

Before you tell me that my bed looks like it belongs on Toddlers in Tiaras, let me explain. Do you see that mural? Do you see that god awful lilypad/frog/terribly executed mural that's ruining my life? The first time I saw it was when Mark was still living here when there was no color scheme at all. I decided that in order to make the mural less of an eye-sore, I had to match my bedding to it so that it would all look intentional. How do you think I did? I kind of love how my apartment looks when I first walk in now.

When I first got to Korea I was staying in a temporary apartment for about 2 weeks and was laying on top of the comforter and using this tiny leopard blanket that I bought at the airport in San Juan as my covers. Not comfortable, but I made it work lol. Then I moved into this apartment and for my first 2 nights, I laid the pink blanket all over the bed (I love my queen sized pink blanket) and continued to sleep under the tiny leopard blanket. I finally made it to a small Mom & Pop bedding store around the corner from my apartment and bought the pink comforter along with 4 pillowcases, 1 pillow, and a weird sheet thing. I've had a hard time finding fitted sheets here because there are these stiff blankets that Koreans use as a mattress topper instead of fitted sheets like we have at home. I hate them because I'm super anal about my sheets being flat beneath me and the blanket things move every time you move. I think I'm used to them now. Slowly I was able to get the rest of my pillows and found some sheets (not fitted) and so my bed is super comfy now. Those first 3 weeks were brutal lol.

Every piece of furniture in the apartment has been moved around from where it was originally when Mark moved out. I love rearranging furniture to make some place feel new but I also really didn't think the way he had it set up before. The corner that my bed is in used to be the TV corner.

I was really worried about having a wardrobe instead of a closet because I was scared I wouldn't be able to fit all my clothes in it but this thing is HUGE!

The corner that the wardrobe is in is where the bed was originally and then the wardrobe was to the left of the bed, which really cut the room in half. You can't tell because it's in the corner, but this thing is really deep so when it was next to the bed, the already very very small room seemed even smaller. By putting it in the corner and leaving the doors open at all time, it 1) looks like it's part of the wall, I think 2) opens the room up a whole lot and 3) I have 2 doors that I can hide things behind, like suitcases, trashcans, etc.

To the right of the wardrobe.

The greenish cabinets were right next to the door (bottom left corner where you can see my boots) but I moved them here so that I could have a more practical area to do my make up in the morning. Please notice that my mural casually ends right here because this marks where the wardrobe used to cover the rest of the wall. The bookshelf was also in the corner where my bed is now. I like it here much better since I'm using it to store all of my hair products and perfume and things.

I got a lot of really great storage stuff from Katy & Andrea before they left when their contracts ended. The purple boxes holding my make up are from Andrea and Katy gave me that pink can thats holding my white board markers. The owl is my little tart warmer that I brought from home that I burn candles on to make my room smell home-y :)

First shelf, hair products stock pile, make up wipes, lighters from Mark for all of my candles. Second shelf, candles + my pharmacy. Third shelf, candles. Fourth & Fifth shelf, tampons. I figured we all know what tampons look like and don't need to see the ridiculous amount that I brought from home. Don't judge me. I didn't know what the tampon situation was here and I'm glad I brought mine because I heard that some tampons in Korea are scented and I want nothing to do with that.

I bought that little pink digital clock in Salisbury when I moved into the Greens and used it in my room at home when I moved back to Bowie. I read online that some people think it's comforting when you live abroad to bring small things that you've had with you in several different places to always make you feel at home and this clock is definitely one of those little things, just like the blankets on the foot of my bed. It sounds so cheesy but it's totally true.

This is the view opposite from my bed. The grungy blue door mat is actually Katy's old yoga mat that she gave me before she left. I cut it and I'm using to trap some of the dirt that I don't want to track inside. I always take my shoes off right at the door because, like dorm rooms, this floor gets so dirty so quickly.

My whiteboard with my dated To-Do list on it. I keep my keys on this hook so I never have to struggle to find them. The picture was given to me on the second day of school when one of my Kindy kids went home after the first day and told her mom she wanted to draw me a picture <3

Light-switch and thermostat/water heater. The bottom switch on my light switch is the only one that ever gets turned on. I have no idea what the top 2 control because nothing happens when I turn them on. As for my thermostat, from top to bottom: I have no idea, floor heating, I have no idea. I keep my floor heating all the way down because my room has been super comfortable since I got here even with the brutal cold days we've had. I think I get the heat from all of my coworkers' apartments so there's no need for me to ever turn mine up. There are plenty of days its still too warm in here and I have to open the balcony door just to cool things down. One of the switches on the thermostat controls the hot water but I don't know which one it is and I don't care because its apparently on because my hot water works so I don't feel the need to investigate and accidentally mess something up.

My kitchen area with my little gas stove and sink. I keep my trash on the counter but once I organize that cupboard below the sink I'm going to stick my trash can down there. I'm not worried about it being unsanitary on the counter right now because all I'm using the stove for is boiling water right now so nothing gets contaminated. The thermos in front of the stove is the one I bring to school and drink from all day to keep me going.

Another view from the door. I bought the carpet in an attempt to make the apartment feel a little more home-y and a little less dorm-y.

My microwave that's currently holding my tea empire used to be on top of the fridge that is behind it. The table that its sitting on was in the corner that my bed is on now and had the TV on it. I moved the (extremely heavy) TV on top of the refrigerator with the intention of buying a dvd player and watching movies in bed sometimes as an alternative to watching them at eye level on my computer all the time. However, this would include running cables under my bed, stepping over cords every day, effort in general, so I haven't bothered with it since I moved it. Even though the TV isn't really being used at all, I don't want to put it on the balcony because I don't want space on top of my fridge since I'm scared I'll have another surface to put clothes on when my room is in its messy phases. Right now the TV is my towel drying stand. since I don't like it to dry in the wet bathroom after I shower.

The huge, beautiful mirror I got from Andrea when she was moving out of her place. Before getting this in February, I hadn't seen myself in a full body mirror in a month. I had to get dressed in the morning and hope for the best. You can see the sliding doors to the balcony. You can see that its just a storage area. The balcony is completely enclosed on all sides so its perfect for just shoving stuff out there that you don't want to deal with. I have a large suitcase out there that's filled with all of my summer clothes.

I really am in love with this mirror and have totally thought about shipping it home when I move back to America.

And now for the part of the tour that will make you all say "Kristen... who are you?". The bathroom situation in this apartment is one that I was prepared for, but still tested my comfort zone when I first arrived.

What I see from my bed. I keep the bathroom door open to store toilet paper and a drying rack. The shower hooks up to the sink and there's a knob on the faucet that switches the water from going to the faucet or shower head. Very important to always switch the knob back into sink mode after showing so as to not spray yourself when you are brushing your teeth in the morning. I have definitely never done that. I bought a shower curtain for the door because if you will also notice, the shower/bathroom door is just a regular wooden door that is not waterproof and water leaked onto the floor before I put the curtain in place. Now I just close the shower curtain and shower with the wooden door open.

Drain on the floor of the bathroom that the shower water goes into.

I have a busted toilet paper holder so I just keep it on this caddy thing that Katy gave me when she moved out. There's an enclosure above the toilet that I put the toilet paper into when I shower so that it doesn't get all wet.

I have scrubbed and scrubbed this bathroom and cannot for the life of me get the mildew off of the tiles or get the stains off of the walls. I've learned that this is just what my bathroom is to look like and as long as I know I'm keeping it clean, it doesn't bother me anymore.



So there it is. It's not glamorous but it's home and it will do for 10 more months. I'm making it work.

So now you know how I'm living and can picture me laying in my bed as I write these posts. It's 11:15 PM here so I'm off to bed. Hope you enjoyed it :)