My apartment building is called the 'Andong University Guesthouse'. The address on half my bills says that, the other half of my bills are addressed to 위국인교수아파트, waygookin gyosu aparteu, which literally translates to foreign professors apartment building. Much to the amusement of my friends when I give them directions.
There's a plaque in front of the building that declares the building was established in 2001. For quite awhile I wondered about Korean construction, until I was informed by a Korean teacher at ANU that 2001 was when ANU bought the building- not when it was built. Maintenance is touch and go, a lick and a promise, I learned early on to pick my battles. I've lived in 3 apartments in this building, in my current apartment I've had a broken toilet (fixed it myself- just the tank chain and stopper), broken toilet seat (hope the next tenant likes Hello Kitty), broken stove fan (still broken), and a leaky sink (still leaking- I'm going to leave the 'sink' towels). I've done my duty and informed the administration. Twice. But haven't really pushed it 'cause it's not that big of a deal.
When I lived on the ground floor I had to leave the heat on for the entire months of January and February, even when I was travelling, in order to prevent frozen pipes. My bill was 350,000w in January of 2011- it's usually about 80,000w. My current apt is on the second floor, my heat bill usually runs about 60-80,000w, but my water pipes froze on Friday. Luckily- I was here so I blasted the heat, plugged in the other, electric, extremely expensive, tiny boiler and kept the patio doors open to thaw out the pipes. It worked. Luckily. Though my bill is going to be insane.
The drain pipes are frozen in my neighbors apt, pipes are burst in an upstairs apt, and today half of the drain pipes in the hallways have broken. There is water and ice everywhere! It's kind of exciting. Like a slip n slide outside my door. My neighbor and I built a dam of towels and plastic bags to keep it from reaching our other neighbors boxes in the hall. She has a moving company coming tomorrow. To move a piano. Over a sheet of ice. Ice and water that smells really awful. I'm kinda looking forward to it. I'm going to go buy some rock salt but I'm not going to use it until the morning because, for the moment, ice is better than a flood.
There's a plaque in front of the building that declares the building was established in 2001. For quite awhile I wondered about Korean construction, until I was informed by a Korean teacher at ANU that 2001 was when ANU bought the building- not when it was built. Maintenance is touch and go, a lick and a promise, I learned early on to pick my battles. I've lived in 3 apartments in this building, in my current apartment I've had a broken toilet (fixed it myself- just the tank chain and stopper), broken toilet seat (hope the next tenant likes Hello Kitty), broken stove fan (still broken), and a leaky sink (still leaking- I'm going to leave the 'sink' towels). I've done my duty and informed the administration. Twice. But haven't really pushed it 'cause it's not that big of a deal.
When I lived on the ground floor I had to leave the heat on for the entire months of January and February, even when I was travelling, in order to prevent frozen pipes. My bill was 350,000w in January of 2011- it's usually about 80,000w. My current apt is on the second floor, my heat bill usually runs about 60-80,000w, but my water pipes froze on Friday. Luckily- I was here so I blasted the heat, plugged in the other, electric, extremely expensive, tiny boiler and kept the patio doors open to thaw out the pipes. It worked. Luckily. Though my bill is going to be insane.
The drain pipes are frozen in my neighbors apt, pipes are burst in an upstairs apt, and today half of the drain pipes in the hallways have broken. There is water and ice everywhere! It's kind of exciting. Like a slip n slide outside my door. My neighbor and I built a dam of towels and plastic bags to keep it from reaching our other neighbors boxes in the hall. She has a moving company coming tomorrow. To move a piano. Over a sheet of ice. Ice and water that smells really awful. I'm kinda looking forward to it. I'm going to go buy some rock salt but I'm not going to use it until the morning because, for the moment, ice is better than a flood.
I'm glad I'm moving. I hope it's soon.
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