Pop goes the Pipe
Living in Korea has given me many new experiences. One of these new experiences is living in an apartment.
Before moving to Korea, I had never lived in an apartment. I had lived in the same house with my family since I was 9 months old. It was quite a change to move into this new living situation.
I have found living in an apartment by myself comes with its own unique quirks and challenges.
It was the night before the first day of school and all through the apartment, only Milo was stirring. It was 9 o'clock at night and in my typical grandmotherly fashion, I was already in my pajamas getting ready for bed.
I normally ignore any knocking on my door since no one I know comes to my place without a text message first and most Koreans will panic anyways at the sight of a foreigner at the door. But this banging was incessant.
I opened the door in my pajamas to a harried Korean man, who through sign language and my small understanding of Korean, explained that something was happening downstairs and he needed to see my apartment.
I recognized him from running into him in the stairway as someone who lives in my building so I reluctantly let him in.
He let out a continuous stream of Korean mixed with an English word here or there as he stalked into my bedroom. I was able to make out that the apartment below me was experiencing water coming down from the roof located under my bedroom.
As he looked around my room, he could that there was no obvious reason for the water coming down and then started to repeat "What to do?", "What to do?" in Korean.
At this point, I realized it was probably best to call the owner of my apartment to deal with this. Lucky for me, he speaks some English.
I explained the situation and handed my phone over to the Korean man and they exchanged some rapid fire Korean. Within 5 minutes, the owner was in my apartment as well. My evening was turning into a regular pajama party with my neighbors.
Unfortunately, this is where the blame game began. Mr. Hong (the owner), began to question me about my use of the ondol system in my apartment. For those that are unaware, homes in Korea are heated through hot water pipes that run underneath the floor called ondol. If during the winter, these pipes get too cold, they can freeze which leads to leaks and all around major damage and thousands of dollars in repairs.
Mr. Hong began to insinuate that I had let my pipes freeze over my winter holidays which was not possible since I had left my heating on the entire time I was gone. If it turned out to be my fault, I would be on the hook for all the damages and repairs.
They informed me that starting the next day they would have to rip up the floor in my bedroom and I would have to move out for at least 2 -3 days. All this on the night before the first day of school.
So I frantically messaged my fellow English teachers in Taebaek for somewhere to stay with my cat. Thankfully I live in a place with generous people so I was quickly given a place to stay for the next day. At this point it was late and I was too stressed and tired to do anything other than go to bed and worry about it the next day.
The next morning I woke up extra early and began to pack all of Milo's necessary things to take to my friend's house before school. Let's just say it was a frantic race around the house to get ready for school, pack and corral the cat.
Amazingly, I managed to arrive at school on time to the surprise of my co-teachers and the other staff. Word had already gone around the grapevine about what had happened at my place, as Mr. Hong had called my principal demanding that the school pay for any repairs, thus they had expected me to arrive late. It seemed at this point both the school and Mr. Hong were hoping I was at fault so neither party would have to pay.
I was informed that I, my co-teacher, the head administrator, another staff member, Mr. Hong, the plumber and the other apartment owner would all be inspecting my apartment that morning together. I was grateful I had cleaned my place a few days before.
So with a full entourage, I entered my apartment to have it inspected. Mr. Hong began to insist I start moving all of my things out of the bedroom as he was certain the ondol system had frozen. So we took down my clothing rack and moved all my clothing into the second bedroom/office.
While this was going on, the plumber had gone straight to the boiler in my laundry room. In just enough time to clear out the clothes in my room, he had discovered the problem. The pipes in my apartment are so old that the pipe connected to the boiler had burst. The plumber replaced it and ensured the school staff that it was not my fault.
However, Mr. Hong made sure to point out to me how to use my ondol system with the implication that was more my fault than the old rusting pipes before asking me if I would stay in his apartment next year. I politely answered I don't know and he replied with "You must stay.This is best apartment."
Hmm yes, best apartment with an occasional waterfall.
I was told that would have to wait a couple days in case there were more problems with the pipes before being in the clear. So the end result was Milo had a three-day vacation at my friend's house and I had to reassemble my clothing rack and rehang all of my clothing.
As a result of all of this, I am reconsidering my living arrangement for next year before more impromptu waterfalls ensue. I do love waterparks. . . just not in my apartment.
Before moving to Korea, I had never lived in an apartment. I had lived in the same house with my family since I was 9 months old. It was quite a change to move into this new living situation.
I have found living in an apartment by myself comes with its own unique quirks and challenges.
It was the night before the first day of school and all through the apartment, only Milo was stirring. It was 9 o'clock at night and in my typical grandmotherly fashion, I was already in my pajamas getting ready for bed.
I normally ignore any knocking on my door since no one I know comes to my place without a text message first and most Koreans will panic anyways at the sight of a foreigner at the door. But this banging was incessant.
I opened the door in my pajamas to a harried Korean man, who through sign language and my small understanding of Korean, explained that something was happening downstairs and he needed to see my apartment. I recognized him from running into him in the stairway as someone who lives in my building so I reluctantly let him in.
He let out a continuous stream of Korean mixed with an English word here or there as he stalked into my bedroom. I was able to make out that the apartment below me was experiencing water coming down from the roof located under my bedroom.
As he looked around my room, he could that there was no obvious reason for the water coming down and then started to repeat "What to do?", "What to do?" in Korean.
At this point, I realized it was probably best to call the owner of my apartment to deal with this. Lucky for me, he speaks some English.
I explained the situation and handed my phone over to the Korean man and they exchanged some rapid fire Korean. Within 5 minutes, the owner was in my apartment as well. My evening was turning into a regular pajama party with my neighbors.
Unfortunately, this is where the blame game began. Mr. Hong (the owner), began to question me about my use of the ondol system in my apartment. For those that are unaware, homes in Korea are heated through hot water pipes that run underneath the floor called ondol. If during the winter, these pipes get too cold, they can freeze which leads to leaks and all around major damage and thousands of dollars in repairs.
Mr. Hong began to insinuate that I had let my pipes freeze over my winter holidays which was not possible since I had left my heating on the entire time I was gone. If it turned out to be my fault, I would be on the hook for all the damages and repairs.
They informed me that starting the next day they would have to rip up the floor in my bedroom and I would have to move out for at least 2 -3 days. All this on the night before the first day of school.
The next morning I woke up extra early and began to pack all of Milo's necessary things to take to my friend's house before school. Let's just say it was a frantic race around the house to get ready for school, pack and corral the cat.
Amazingly, I managed to arrive at school on time to the surprise of my co-teachers and the other staff. Word had already gone around the grapevine about what had happened at my place, as Mr. Hong had called my principal demanding that the school pay for any repairs, thus they had expected me to arrive late. It seemed at this point both the school and Mr. Hong were hoping I was at fault so neither party would have to pay.
I was informed that I, my co-teacher, the head administrator, another staff member, Mr. Hong, the plumber and the other apartment owner would all be inspecting my apartment that morning together. I was grateful I had cleaned my place a few days before.
So with a full entourage, I entered my apartment to have it inspected. Mr. Hong began to insist I start moving all of my things out of the bedroom as he was certain the ondol system had frozen. So we took down my clothing rack and moved all my clothing into the second bedroom/office.
While this was going on, the plumber had gone straight to the boiler in my laundry room. In just enough time to clear out the clothes in my room, he had discovered the problem. The pipes in my apartment are so old that the pipe connected to the boiler had burst. The plumber replaced it and ensured the school staff that it was not my fault.
However, Mr. Hong made sure to point out to me how to use my ondol system with the implication that was more my fault than the old rusting pipes before asking me if I would stay in his apartment next year. I politely answered I don't know and he replied with "You must stay.This is best apartment."
I was told that would have to wait a couple days in case there were more problems with the pipes before being in the clear. So the end result was Milo had a three-day vacation at my friend's house and I had to reassemble my clothing rack and rehang all of my clothing.
As a result of all of this, I am reconsidering my living arrangement for next year before more impromptu waterfalls ensue. I do love waterparks. . . just not in my apartment.
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