Ondol

Ok, so here's a picture of my thermostat(deleted). Pretty interesting huh? Actually, this is provider of one of my new favorite Korean cultural experiences: Ondol heating. None of the buildings in the country really have much for centralized ventilation. Or anything for ventilation for that matter. So every room has its own A/C and its own heat. The heating method used in almost all of Korea is known as ondol. The heating comes from hot water pipes underneath the floor. The radiant heat comes from the floor and heats up the room. Its a pretty awesome system actually. Your feet are always toasty warm and it heats up the place really well. I think its pretty energy efficient also.

I was looking up information about ondol online and I read that this is why Koreans to this day still sit on the floor for meals and don't have beds (they bring out a couple of blankets and sleep on the floor).

Another side note about that thermostat. I still haven't really figured out what all the buttons and switches do. All I know is that I get hot water when I turn it on, and I'm supposed to turn it off when I'm done taking a shower or washing the dishes. It's pretty funny that I've been here almost 4 months now, but I still don't fully understand my own house!