It's no secret I have my objections to my place of residence while working in Hongcheon, South Korea. It's never easy learning to live in a 15' x 15' box, especially having been raised in America (the land of big yards and broad spaces)! Yet, I've learned to cope with my situation. I've come to accept that I live in a space that forces me to chose between sleeping, cooking, or doing my laundry (as I lack the floor space to do more than one of these things at a time). I've even come to enjoy the cozy climate as the winter season has settled in swiftly here in my mountain town. The small space is much easier (and cheaper) to heat in the face of -15C weather.
But what I cannot abide by is mold.
Mold is disgusting, debilitating, and discretely makes its way into the corners and crevices of your home. Mold happens to have been festering in the considerable space behind my headboard for the past three months! I was shocked to find the bottom foot of my exterior wall, covered in fuzzy black mold. This quiet, and uninvited companion has been spreading more and more as the winter season has set in. Though I managed to peel the fuzz off the wall with a sponge and a copious application of distilled vinegar, I am still unsettled about the cause of this infestation in my walls.
For whatever reason, many Korean apartments are constructed very simply. Mine has one central room, plus two small closets that make up my kitchen and bathroom. My walls are covered with wallpaper, that has been laid over the bare concrete of the building in which I reside. For this reason, my room lacks considerable insulation and retains heat through the combined effort of the heaters in the tenants rooms surrounding mine. In a way it is good for me, because I benefit from their heat. But it is bad because my exterior wall is ice cold. This draws all the moisture in the room to condense on that wall, drip towards the floor, and create a stomping ground for mold.
Because of the building's construction, there is no way to prevent this. My only solution is to buy disposable dehumidifiers and periodically spray the wall with vinegar. This is likely my best hope to control the mold problem in my home. Because of the construction, the lack of ventilation, and the nature of Korea's climate, mold is another inevitability when it comes to living in Korea. I hate to imagine this (who really accepts black fuzz growing behind their bed?) but it is not another fact of my apartment experience overseas. Of all the issues I have encountered in my experience living alone in a closet of a living space, this is the most irritable.
Well, this and coupled with the fact that I cannot move without breaking the lease on my closet. Due to the way Korean rentals work, I have been informed that I would have to pay through the nose to change apartments at this point in time. Though I am unwilling to do this quite yet, I am considering the expense given my difficulty maintaining good health during my time abroad. I can never seem to shake this perpetual cough and cold that surges up every few weeks! I suspect my living conditions may have something to do with it. Should my health remain in hiatus, I will pursue the proper course to break this lease and find a more suitable place of residence.
In the mean time though, I've stocked up on vinegar and become much more diligent when it comes to vacuuming my apartment....
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