A couple nights ago found me reluctantly gathering the trash for a nightly trash run down to the apartment dumpster on level B2. I gathered the goods and walked down quickly hoping to get it over with so I could jump into bed. After I separated the trash into plastic and paper, and after dumping the food, I spotted something quite amazing…..
Now, before I go on with the story, let me just tell you that I don’t normally take things from the trash. However, here in Korea (especially in the big apartment buildings) there is always someone getting rid of their furniture or other “nice” things. A lot of times you can find some pretty nice stuff. Also, I would like to note that it is quite common for people to take the aforementioned “nice” stuff as their own. Oh, can I mention something else? Furniture can be a bit expensive here.
Anyway, where was I?…oh yes…so, I spotted something quite amazing. After looking over my shoulder to make sure no one saw me, I cautiously inspected the item in question. I quickly took the elevator back to our place and told Daniel that he had to go down to the trash and see what I saw. I informed him that there was a sign taped to it that mentioned something about 4,000 won (approx. 4 dollars).
note: after translating the sign later, we found that it was a notice to the owner of the aforementioned good to pay the 4,000 won dumping fee.
Daniel went down and found the good to be very nice and worth the trouble of asking the security/maintenance guy (관리서) whether we could take it (since we weren’t sure what the sign actually said). To our luck he said sure and we found ourselves with quite a nice new addition to our living room.
Here is a picture of our “new” really nice entertainment center. It was a lot heavier than we thought and it is a really nice piece of furniture. The two cupboards on the side are rather large and you can see that it is rather long—great for some future plants, and, of course, our tv. Another good thing is that I guess we saved the former owner the 4,000 won dumping fee…as we later found out after translating the sign.
Just to note, I did find some other things down there in the trash before.
1. A bag full of pretty nice hangars
2. A cabinet-like piece of furniture that has housed some of our books (I plan on dumping this now since we found this nice little entertainment center.
3. Our “new” entertainment center
Some new words we learned:
장식장=cabinet
주인=owner
경비실=guard office
신고하다=to notify, report
폐가물비용=waste fee
6 comments
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February 17, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Nancy
What a nice way to get new (to you) furniture. It’s too bad people just throw things away though–it sounds like Korea could use a good secondhand store or perhaps a “Craigslist” so that these things don’t end up in the dump. Is there any option like that over there?
Probably–most places have them…but who knows?
February 18, 2008 at 3:59 am
marquita chiquita
Seoul has a craigslist as well as a whole bunch of online classifieds for foreigners. However, I don’t think the older generation of Koreans use it as much as the younger generations do.
February 18, 2008 at 4:01 am
marquita chiquita
also, a lot of times Korean people just sell their furniture or appliances to a used furniture place too. I am not sure, but they had to pay a fee for the delivery, so it might be taken to a used place or something….if any knows…I am really curious.
February 22, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Lindsay Wells
Sounds like something I’d do for sure. I always get so excited when I find great deals or find cool stuff at the thrift store and run home to tell Scott who usually just smiles and says unenthusiastically “thats great”. But finding something sweet for free–I can’t beat that!–what an awesome find.
March 3, 2008 at 7:04 am
엄마 가
엄마는 니가 자랑스러워 장식장 을 줏어와서가 아니고, 생각나니 너 어렸을때 엄마 가 D .I 에 데려갔을떼 니가 냄새 난다고 아무겄도 안사도 된니까 그냥 나가자고 했던일… 그때 하고 지금 얼마만큼 달라졌는지 하늘 하고 땅 차이야, 환경 에 따라서 배우면서 깨닮고 그것을 실천 에 옮길수있다는게 힘드는일인데 말기타 는 벌써하고 있다는게 자랑스럽다는거야 (나이 에 비해서) 그것뿐만이 아니야 사실은 엄마 가 너한테 니가 자랑스럽다고 예기한적 이 별로 없었던거 같아 엄마 가 이제서 고백하는데 엄마 한테 마기타 같은 딸 을 주신 하느님 너무 너무 감사드려 엄마 가 말기타 를 갖게되므로 얼마나 많은겄을 배우고 깨닮게 되었는지몰라! 엄마 는 말기타 를 항상 지켜보았지만 모든면에 엄마 가 자랑스러워서 남 한테는 자랑 을 많이 하면서도 너한테 만큼은 예기 를 안했던거갔아 미안해! 엄마 는 말기타 가 너무 너무 자랑스럽고 많이 많이 하늘만큼 사랑해 ㅃㅃㅃㅃ진짜야! 사실이야! It’s the Truth!!
March 5, 2008 at 6:38 am
Mom
I’m glad you’ve found the treasures of trash! It’s pretty–sounds like it’s nice enough you’ll be able to pass it on when you leave–I hope someone will spare you the disposal fee!