Hello Apartment Living

Farewell to ye, Perth backyard.

Goodbye, driveway to the front door.

Hello, apartment life!

Living in South Korea means living with a lot of people and that means many apartment blocks all over the city. Sometimes it makes me feel very small. Here I am, just one person in just one family in one apartment among thousands of others. And that’s just in one apartment block. A quick google check just told me that the overall population density of Korea is around 511 people per square km, whereas in Australia it is just 2.9/km2. In Australia, you can be king of your own backyard. Here, you are part of a community of sky dwellers.

It brings challenges, but also joys. One challenge is entertaining energetic children in a small home, teaching them not to run and jump and shout in an apartment. The good thing is that someone thought of that already and provided playgrounds near the apartments. Ours is ok but there are much better ones at the neighbouring, more expensive apartment blocks! We thought that we might visit those more often. 🙂

Another joy is that you are never really alone. You get to say hello to the old lady in the lift who admires the baby in the pram and asks with sign language how many children you have. You can smile in compassion at the father with the irate toddler who has to go back upstairs to his apartment. You have the same struggles at times. You are not alone. And, even more delightfully, you sometimes have an elderly lady knock on the door with an enormous amount of kimchee and cooked sweet potatoes. Community..