House size
Monday, March 10th, 2008We recently had a discussion about house size with our homestay guest. He indicated that he lives in a 32 평 apartment but his best friend lives in a 100 평 주택 (house). One 평 equals about 3.3 square meters or 35.5 square feet. Therefore, his apartment is about 1,100 square feet and his friends house is 3,550 square feet! He says his friend’s house is three stories and that his friends family is rich. I would think that having a house of that size in Korea would qualify as being rich.
A 32 평 apartment in Korea is above average in size, even though by American standards it is small. We just moved out of a 1400 sq. ft. house and it felt very small. Perhaps that is because there were six of us living there (we have four children). While Korean families typically don’t have that many children, usually several generations live under one roof.
The conversation about house size came up because our house guest’s family is considering moving out of their apartment and into a regular house (주택). He said that he likes our house but that it is scary because it is bigger than what he is used to. He also was a little worried about moving away from the community atmosphere of the apartment complex. In Korea there is not much privacy in life in a typical apartment but moving into a house can be very expensive and one would have to give up many of the convenieces of group/pubilc life in a the apartment. Many apartments are gated communities, they have people who maitain the grounds as well as the apartment itself, they also have common area facilities not unlike apartment complexes everywhere. Despite the appeal of apartment living, however, the desire for ones own land exists in Korea too.
We live in the country and that has been a concern of several children that have stayed here. There seems to be this idea that bandits live out in the country and since we do too then we are liable to get attacked by these bandits. Even here in the United States there are concerns and preconceived ideas about what life in the country is like. The Korean children that stay with us are certainly getting a unique and hopefully good impression of life in America. It is definitely different than life in an apartment complex.
Posted by steved in Steve's House |
March 10th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I think my first apartment in Seoul was about 3 평! The one I have now isn’t a whole lot bigger. I’d say your guest’s friend must be pretty wealthy. 3,550 sq. ft is pretty big even by American standards. The average American house is around 2400 sq ft. 50 years ago it was half that size!
March 11th, 2008 at 9:49 am
I was playing around on Google Earth about a week ago, looking at the place where I currently live in Korea, as well as in the post-WWII suburb my family’s house is located in. Even though my Korean city is definitely not Seoul, where in some areas you can go for days without seeing a tree, I was blown away when I was reminded of the North American obsession with having your own suburban house, “country living with urban comforts.” Such a green aerial view (all those lawns!), with all those driveways.
I’ve always thought (and still sort of think) that the wallpapering of apartment complexes in Korea is kind of crazy. But then, when I look at those Google Earth views of the suburbs… that’s pretty crazy, too!
March 12th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Land in Korea is extremely expensive. It’s quite ridiculous if you look at some of the prices. I don’t think I could ever afford land in Korea. But my family owns land in North Korea. They had to abandon it when the Korean war broke out. It’s just a piece of paper that claims to some land in North Korea. But if there’s ever 통일 (reunification), we’ll be RICH!