Heat

I love the heating system I have in my apartment. It's ondol heating which I think is only in Korea. The floor has no carpet but is soft. I was told the floor covering has paper in it but looking at it you can't tell. The top is shiny which I figured is some glaze put over the paper. When the heat is turned on it comes through the floor. It warms your feet since people don't wear shoes inside. And it's nice to sleep on. Many in Korea don't have a bed so they sleep on a pad or blankets on the floor. One bad point: things can melt. If a suitcase with chocolates in it for example is put on the floor the chocolates can melt.



However the situation in other types of buildings is not so nice. In schools, institutes, factories, some restaurants tor cafes there is no ondol or any central heating. The heat comes from movable gas heaters or electric ones which are plugged in. Sometimes these have wheels so they can be moved around easily. I recall a time in a cafe when I was at a table with my friend and a worker wheeled a gas heater over to us.



People working in the places I mentioned usually keep their coats on all day during the wintertime. Lately I've been thinking that it doesn't really matter what I wear since I'm going to have my coat on and buttoned up all day. No ones going to see it.



In my office I have two electric heaters. They keep me warm when I'm at my desk. But in a bigger office there is a big, metal gas heater which keeps the whole room very warm. It's about 2 1/2 feet high and about 1 1/2 feet wide. The inside gets hot and turns red making all of it hot. The workers put a teakettle on top of it each day with either tea or water inside and then drink it during the day. It's hard to describe this heater because I never saw anything like it in another country.

I have another heater which has the same shape as an electric fan used in the summertime. It's about two feet tall, plugs in, and the heat comes from the same place where the air would come out of a fan.

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