I started this blog because when I found out I was moving to Korea I scoured the internet looking for information on Yongsan Garrison from the family point of view. I never found what I was looking for, so Six In Seoul was born in my mind. I want to give my readers a broad idea of what it is like living here, I hope I am doing Korea justice. I recently realized I need to put more information in about moving here. I am adding a new category, 'moving to Yongsan' on the right hand side of this page. Feel free to pass this on to anyone you know that might be moving here.
Over the past few months I have talked to a few people moving here, and one of the questions they have about moving to Yongsan is about the furniture the Army issues you. Let me tell you, I was worried about that too. You see, if you are Army and you move here, you are only allowed to bring 5,000 pounds (I think that changes with the size of family you have). 5,000 pounds!?!? Are you freaking kidding me you ask...no, I am not. That means about 3/4 of my household goods are in storage. The good thing is the army does issue furniture to you; the bad news it the army issues furniture to you. Let me start by telling you the army issue furniture is not pretty, but we are all in the same boat, and almost everyone has the same 'style', or 'nonstyle' (I know, that is a made up word) here on post, so after your initial shock, you settle into the though and realized it is going to be okay after all.
II am going to start with the living room. I feel very lucky because in my opinion I got the best pattern available for the living room set.
The pillows do not come with the furniture; you will need to buy your own. Yes, the couch and chairs (you get 2 chairs) are as firm as they look. Notice the carpet? BRING YOUR OWN! You can buy carpets here, but the selection is not great and you might have to wait a while especially if you arrive during peak season. With that being said, if you arrive during peak season, just as many people are moving out as moving in. People moving out are anxious to get rid of things so, many people give away and or sell TONS of stuff. Any given day in April - August you can find tons of great stuff sitting out by the dumpsters. AND they put it there, beside the dump and not in it so people will take it. (And remember most tours here are only 2 years.) OK, back to the floors, they are hard linoleum big tiles, if you have ever lived in military housing before, you know what I am talking about. Here, I will show you.....
That looks like a school cafeteria floor doesn't it? Well, that is my dining room, so basically the same thing! :)
Next up is the one bookshelf they give you. This is something I wish we would have brought - another bookshelf or two. The furniture comes in 3 colors, the cherry wood I have here, an oak color and a very light color. You do not get to pick your color, you can request, but I'm not sure it will do any good.
Next up is the desk. They give you one desk, chair and bookshelf that is supposed to go on top of the desk. We didn't think it worked to well together, so we separated the desk from the shelf (bookshelves are the short ones on the left side of this photo). Also, we wanted more desks - a desk for each child's room. We put in a special request explaining why we wanted more than the allotted amount. Our request was approved and we received 3 desk.
Let's move to the dining room. (again...colors can vary)
Picture #1 - Notice how the chairs in the dining room match the living room furniture? Again, we got lucky. Not all dining room chairs match the living room furniture.
Picture #2 - china cabinet
Picture #'s 3 & 4 - the buffet
OK, let's head upstairs. For the master bedroom you will get 1 queen size bed, 2 night tables, 2 lamps, 1 chest of drawers and 1 dresser. Here is a sample of the bed & night table.
For the kid’s rooms, you can get a dresser and a chest of drawers, although I would not suggest it because there is not enough room. You also get a twin size bed for each child.
Notice how the chest of drawers and the beds do not match? Nice.
I think that about does it for this edition of 'Moving to Yongsan'. Stay tuned for more to come.
OH, I almost forgot you also get 2 end tables and a lamp for the living room. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!