The heat is on in Saigon, but NOT Korea... or is it?

One of the things that took getting used to when we arrived in the 'dong was the heating/electrical situation in our apartment.  

For instance, in order to have hot water ( for a shower, doing dishes, laundry, or even washing hands ), the hot water must be turned 'on' and you need to wait, for about 15 minutes while it is heated by oil.  This is an all or nothing thing, meaning that if the hot water is not 'on', the water is COLD.  It's obviously not worth turning hot water on for washing your hands, or doing 8 dishes, so we have learned to plan our heated water use and do things like  shower, dishes, and laundry within 2 hours of each other so as not to waste energy ( and money ). 


Besides the hot water for cleaning, the apartment's heating system is also linked to the hot water tank/oil tank.  Like most homes in Korea, our apartment has 'ondol' heating which is a series of pipes in the floor that radiate heat.  This means no radiators, and of course the hot water needs to be 'on' for it to work. It's another thing that takes consideration before just switching it on as you would at home.


About 3 weeks ago, our oil tank ran out.  Translation: no oil means no hot water and no heat. 
With our next pay cheque 3 weeks away, we debated putting more oil in the tank before leaving for Christmas vacation, and then kind of forgot about it and took for granted that we would just make do with cold water. 


Aside-----> getting the oil tank filled is not just a phone call away either:  Korean oil companies speak Korean, so it is up to us to ask our boss to call for us and arrange the appointment.


Showering was not a big problem.  Our apartment's bathroom is more like a giant tiled icebox with no contained shower. The room has a toilet, a washing machine, and a showerhead that is fixed to the wall. The shower and washing machine both drain into a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor (which sucks when you forget to wear flip flops after a wash has been done). 
Due to this less than stellar bathroom situation, both Tim and I usually shower at the gym where water is ' free' and hot all the time.  


As for laundry, dishes and hand washing....
Laundry and dishes were done in cold water, until last week when we really started living like campers and boiling water on the stove to wash hands and dishes.  I think at one point  Tim even boiled a pot of water to clean the floor with.  Hello, 1800's living.  


Heating, on the other hand was a different story.  Having no floor-heating, our only source of hotness was a small space heater that I feared might blow up at any second.  Busan is definitely not the coldest place in the world, by any means, but I suspect that the insulation in our apartment is made of concrete which makes for a chilly home.  
Going to bed became a process of layering 3 blankets in the warmest way possible, wearing just enough clothes - but not too many socks, and eventually incorporating sleeping bags over the clothes and under the blankets.  


I woke up every morning with a red nose and cold pillow, and for the first few seconds I was awake I fully believed I was sleeping in a tent at Fundy National Park in late May.  


Why the hour-long blog on heating and water, you ask? 


Well, dear reader, today being pay day, Tim and I made the decision to 'splurge' on 100$ of oil (a full tank costs 400$).  A year ago I never would have guessed that buying oil to have heat and hot water would bring me such joy. 


The appropriate people were called, and when I arrived home last night, we turned the thermostat to a luxurious 19 degrees, did a load of laundry with WARM water, and washed the dishes with hot water.
Also, we had a 'floor party' just to soak up the warmth of the ondol.  


The point? You ask again.  
The point is very simple:
Hot running water is a blessing. I'm glad to be happy to have it.  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On another short, heat-related note...
I can't wrap my head around the heating of public buildings in this country.  Our school for instance, has space heaters mounted to the wall in each classroom.  These heaters are turned to 30 degrees with the fans blasting hot air all day.  Must be hot eh? No!  Every single window in every hallway, and most in the classrooms are wide open, making this the most inefficient and largely ineffective system I have seen before.  


This situation isn't limited to our school.  Most stores have space heaters scattered throughout the floorspace, but keep the entrance doors wide open with cold air blowing in.  


Just another Korean question mark. 

where the magic happens.