Even for a cosmopolitan who has lived in New York and cities throughout Europe, life in Seoul is in fact another experience entirely.  Like many Asian megacities, Seoul is full of raw energy-from construction and commerce to automobile traffic, students and shoppers-the streets draw us in as much as they drains us. 

If you have ever been hip-check and elbowed at a choke point in the subway by an 80-something grandmother, you know your daydream of a peaceful and urbane life is over.  That’s why the refuge of a good home is so important.

The “officetel” is perhaps the quirkiest way of defining a studio apartment.  Part cubicle living space mixed with commercial fixtures such as a Family Mart, gym, small offices, it’s as though the real estate development market determined, you’re not a family with a two-bedroom apartment, then you must be single and be some sort of home-office entrepreneur.

The cubicle studios range in size from 10-29-pyeong (350-1000 sq .feet).  They can also range in height, as some are lofted spaces with a sleeping platform above.

Most of the units I know can be leased by way of a refundable key deposit.  Depending on where you are in Seoul or the countryside, they can range from as little as W500,000-W5,000,000 on the low end and above W30,000,000 on the high end.  Monthly rent and utilities can range from W400,000 to W1,500,000. 

Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of living in an airtight officetel, especially for teachers who reside there for only a year, is perhaps the most common.  Many young twentysomethings treat their places as though they are crashing in the dorms!  The environment I’m describing is an unhealthy one: full of airborne dust (or ashes), litter, laundry, loose change, and crumpled novels.  Look around your place.  Is there a sleeping bag instead of a bed with a mattress?  Do you have a week’s worth of trash living under your sink? 

It’s no wonder why so many of my friends never seemed to want to go home, instead begging for another noraebang until sunrise.  Could the corner loveseat belting out Rhianna be that much more comfortable? 

I call this the “Officetel blues.”  It’s a condition full of lethargy related to dis-satisfaction with one’s home.  It’s as if the excitement of coming to Korea to work as a teacher suddenly became a year at camp sleeping in moldy bunks. 

What to do about it:

I think, it begins with choosing the right Officetel to begin with.  For one thing, my first rule is don’t pick a place near work as a rule.  That’s what your boss wants, and personally, I think it’s a lazy attitude to think that you’ll get five more minutes to sleep at home prior to work. 

Instead, pick a neighborhood you have visited and like.  In general, I think twentysomethings will tend to choose a neighborhood based on how fun it is at night, but this is a somewhat flawed method.  Add to this the factors of what the neighborhood is like during the day. Proximity to banks, supermarkets, a fruit stand,  parks, veterinarians, and transportation are all equally important matters to consider.  My advice is to ask around, take a walk around the neighborhood and “get lost” for a day trying to discover what your prospective neighborhood is actually about. 

Here’s a use-as-you-wish tip on how to pick a good real estate agent.  In general I have found that if you go into a dark, dirty building and go to their real estate office their service is awful.  The reverse is true as well.  Enter a real estate office that’s attached to say, an extremely nice apartment complex, you can expect nothing less than professional service in addition to a W600,000 commission fee.  Real estate agents that are provided as part of employment (hagwons) are generally hurry-and-sign types who don’t care where you live.  Likewise for mom-and-pop places on main strips.

Once you find an Officetel, all units inside are alike, right?  Wrong.  When viewing your units there are several specifics to consider: 

1. Where is the sun? Go between 9am-11am and you should find the sun shining into or near one of the windows of your prospective unit. This is an indicator that that particular side of the building is oriented on the east-west line, which ultimately gives you sunrises to wake up to and glorious late afternoon/evening sunsets. I can’t tell you how much this changes the very nature of your place, and your attitude as well.

2. See how the outgoing tenant lives when the realtor shows you the unit. This is key to determining the state of repairs and cleaning you may need to do when moving in. Generally smokers’ units are the worst to take over-if you even want to move in. Tip: If there is a desk in the unit, check it out. Examining how clean and tidy that desk is often determines how conscientious a tenant that person has been. Seriously.

3. Corner units. Why settle for one bay of windows when you can have up to a 270-degree view of: the skyline, riverside, countryside, avenue, cityscape at the same price?

4. There is an old rule I heard somewhere that said never to live above the 7^th floor for fire safety. I would add to that never live below the 5^th floor for ear safety. So many Officetels are extremely tall, ranging near and above 20 stories. Do you really want to wait that long for you elevator?

Once you move in, every renter should take immediate steps to liven up the place.  No, this doesn’t mean it’s time to hang posters of your favorite 90s bands or to hang Maxim layouts on the bathroom door.  It’s not a dorm, remember? 

Here are 6 Ways to a Healthy, Live-able Apartment:

1. Keep it clean. Steam clean your floor every so often; bleach and wipe down the mildew in your bathroom walls, and clear out the trash daily. Vacuum. Small spaces share everything, fast. Imagine a steamy shower stall smelling like yesterday’s dishes and last week’s laundry and you’ll quickly recall some of the Officetels of some friends you know.

2. Hang up some paintings. If you’re in Seoul, there are numerous places to get lithographs (that’s a fancy way of saying poster board replicas) of Picasso, Monet, and Gauguin. One such place is in Kyobo Book in Gwanghwamun or Gangnam, Seoul. One day I managed to buy a painting from a true, starving artist who was selling his wares in front of the Sejong Arts Center. Who knows, one day in the future he just may become our next Van Gogh.

3. Photos of you, friends, family. Just as important as artwork on your walls are people you know, including yourself. Frames can be found at any HomePlus, e-Mart, and even Costco if you’re near one. It takes some work to get the pictures developed and then to frame them, but that’s part of the charm. You will be very pleased to see these memories each time as you enter your home, and so will your visitors. A must for everyone’s walls.

4. Get a Pet. No teacher’s life is so busy that he or she doesn’t have the time to raise and nurture a living creature. The one easy pet I’ll first recommend doesn’t even make any noise or cause sneezing fits. I’m recommending a pet fish called a Betta, or “Siamese Fighting Fish”. These beautiful creatures are not filthy pooping machines like goldfish, and thus, do not require massive tanks with filtration systems. Instead, purchase a large glass vase or bowl for one Betta, and you will have a wonderful conversation piece and interactive pet which can live up to 2 years. The trick about these fish is that they breath air as well as the oxygen in the air, so they do not require anything beyond clean, treated water and food. Purchase them online at GreenFish, or go to their location at Sillim Station. I do not recommend getting fish from large box stores as they tend to be too stressed to live long.

5. Get a Pet – part II. Now for even more lovable creatures a puppy can’t be beat. Without rolling your eyes with skepticism, a small dog can in fact be responsibly and lovingly raised in a small Officetel-not as an accessory but as a great addition to your family in Seoul! Unlike villa-style or duplex apartments, most officetels do little to enforce their no-pet policies. Small dogs like Maltese, Yorkshires, and ShiTzus are well adapted to being apartment dwellers. High quality pet care can be found in most neighborhoods, and pet sitters can be found on this site’s forums.

6. Plants, plants, plants. I can’t emphasize this enough. Everyone must have plants. Studies have proven the psychological and environmental benefits of houseplants. One study has shown that anxiety levels drop when in the presence of plants, and another, completed by NASA, reveals that indoor pollutants such as Carbon Monoxide, Benzene, and Ammonia are reduced by plants and their bacteria. I recommend one tree-sized floor plant like an Alocasia and at least one large potted houseplant such as a Peace Lilly per person or per apartment.

All in all, life outside the home is a busy place no matter if it is in a city or in the country.  Home has always been the sanctuary for us to recharge and build.  I think that with many officetels being as new as they are (in Seoul), young professionals have the chance to live a comfortable, modern life.  With that modernity, however, one does not have to accept its modern pitfalls of poor air quality, boring, featureless cube-life, with the TV droning and the microwave humming.  All of my advice is what I am currently doing, and it’s the synergy of those steps that gives me a high quality of life.  Try them out, good luck, and get living (at home)!

-Angela is the resident of a rocking officetel in Gangnam, Seoul

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