Korea has a population of around 50 million people and a land mass of around 100,000 square meters. therefore Koreans are the king and queens of stacking stuff. They stack their houses, their dishes, everything. Everywhere in Korea you’ll see tall apartment buildings. Even in smaller cities, 4 story apartment buildings are very common. In addition these apartments are around 25 square meters. Huge upmarket apartments are more in the range of 60-80 square meters. So how do we survive living in an apartment the size of a “shoe box”

Most Koreans don’t spend a lot of time in their apartments. They don’t invite people to their homes either. Korea has an amazing night culture and whenever you walk around you will see families, couples or friends in coffee shops and restaurants. There are always people on the streets during warmer months. Social gatherings happen outside the home, therefore you do not need a huge apartment or house to entertain your friends like you do in western countries.

In conclusion living in a shoe box is not as bad as I thought, at first I thought I might get annoyed with my husband because its just the two of us in this small apartment but I enjoyed the closeness we shared. In the Winter months we stayed in bed together and watched movies until late. When it became warmer, we started playing PC games against each other. When Spring came along we spent increasingly more time outside. Walking around our city and exploring areas we didn’t know. By the time winter came along again it was fun spending time with my husband indoors.