Daegu has a great MMA club with good fighters and coaches. They train M-F in 2 classes. One class goes from 1900-2030, the second class goes from 2100-2200. Its located just outside of Dooryu station which is 4 stops west of Banwuldong (the only transfer station in Daegu) on the green line.
I'll provide more information on how to get their and what the club is like later, but if you want to know how to get there, just e-mail me aquilank@gmail.com
Another place to get good info is Brent's link:
http://mmatlas.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=13
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Apartment Hunting in Daegu
The biggest question you have before the military ships you off to Fort (fillintheblank) is: "Where am I going to live?" Everything else is secondary. In the US just type in the name of the place you're going to and the word "apartment" and you'll find yourself swimming in more information than you could read in a lifetime. However, type in Daegu and apartment and you'll find is Jack, shit and this blog (yes, and Jack has already left).
Preview of the topics:
How much will the military give me to live there?
What will I get for that amount?
What is OHA?
Who do you talk to get a place?
How do you find and see a place using the internet?
Where to stay off base while you get a place?
How much will the military give me to live there?
As an Officer, I get 1250000.00 SOUTH KOREAN WON or about $ 1121.01 USD. An E-1 gets 1,200,000. You get less if you're unaccompanied.
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/ohaform.html
Whatever reasoning existed for an officer or senior NCO to receive more than a private in BAH back home, it doesn't seem to exist here. If you find that confusing its because it doesn't make sense. If you like for things to always make sense Korea is going to be a hard pill to swallow - things not making sense aren't the exception, they're pretty much the rule.
What will I get for that amount? When I arrived here, there were over 300 families that had come at about the same time, so apartment hunting was pretty rough. Every place I looked at was at least 32 pyung, over 1100 ft (a pyung is about a square meter, see conversion link below). Some places were as much as 44 pyung (1500 sq ft). I saw about 8 places ranging from dark dingy cave like apartments to the utterly amazing high rises like the one I was finally able to get after 4 weeks of apartment hunting. I ended up settling for a place in the "CENTROPALACE" apartments downtown. It's a pretty nice setup and I highly recommend living here if you can swing it. The OHA (name for BAH in Korea) would have to be about 1500 in Daegu to have good availability for apartments as a lot of places I saw were around $1500.
http://www.convertunits.com/from/pyong/to/square+foot
What is OHA? OHA is essentially BAH, but for Korea. Instead of them giving you an amount every month and putting the onus on you on finding a place, they only give you what your rent costs. IE if you rent is $900, you don't get to keep the extra money. They are worried about fraud in case someone takes a roommate. Apparently fraud only happens in Korea.
I probably could have found an apartment in less than a week, but my predecessor left the day after I arrived so I basically had to do all of my house hunting on the weekends and at night. Also, when you schedule with Housing, you have to wait 1-2 weeks for them to be able to meet with you and the landlord. There is no way around this, you just have to wait. I actually had to do the housing visit twice, but I'll tell that story in another post, it's too long to get into here. Bottom line, it's basically a giant CF with 4-6 people present trying to secure a housing contract. What used to take only 2 people back home (you and the landlord) take three times more here in Korea.
Who do you talk to get a place?
You have to go through a realtor to get a place. They go by Realtor or "foreign relocation service". Honestly, the latter sounds like some sort of pre-genocide program to get rid of the foreigners, but it is what it is. The housing office on Camp Henry gives you a list of preferred "foreign realtors". It's highly recommended that you use them.
I tried to on my own to a Korean Realtor, but I don't recommend this even if you speak good Korean (I'm about 20-30%). The rental system in Korea is amazingly complicated. They use the "key money" system where you put 50% the value of the house down as a deposit and then you don't pay rent. The landlord simply invests the money you gave them and collects interest off of it. "Renting" is a foreign concept used only by the foreigners residing in Korea. I did have to pay a deposit, but it was only 1 months rent and the military gives you a big pile of Korean money for that. I had to hand carry $2,4000,000 won (about 2200 USD) from the base to the realtor's office to pay the rent. I also had to carry it in the equivalent of $10 bills.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeonse
They used to use the key money system for soldiers, but out of fear of fraud, they decided to take it away from us and narrow our available list of places we can live as not every landlord is willing to accept monthly rent payments. I heard that contractors and government employees still get a big pile of money for rent, so you see lots of them in all the nice high rises you can't afford to live in.
How do you find and see a place using the internet?
If you go to Seoul, you can browse the Seoul craigslist and see dozens of apartments all within the allotted $3000 for living in Seoul. However, the internet still hasn't really caught on in Daegu, yet. There is no way to view what's available on line. I did dozens of searches in Korean and in English looking for pics of a place all to no avail. I mentioned it to my landlord, but he started making some excuses on why this couldn't be done in Korea. I've coined an expression for this: "krimpossible". It's when Koreans say something is impossible or can't be done, but they're just too lazy, don't know how or just too stupid to do it or to find out how to do it. I'd say I encounter 2-3 "krimpossible" situations every day. Coming from a society that put men on the moon and from the 1st Infantry Division, who's motto is "Can do", I find these situations very frustrating, but it's just another aspect of life you have to deal with.
Where to stay off base while you get a place?
As far as hotels in Daegu are concerned, most people stay at the Walker Lodge. It's located on Camp Walker and is covered by TLA. It was full when I went there, so I went to the "Novotel" downtown. I highly recommend this hotel if you have to be off post as most korean hotels are complete dives; worse than the worst Motel 6 back home. On the other hand, the Novotel was probably the best hotel I've ever stayed in. The only problem with it is that it's a $5 cab ride from the hotel to the base. Also, they offer a military rate that is the same as the TLA "105,000" won, but you have to ask to get it. If you give them a copy of your orders or passport, they'll waive the taxes also. WARNING: If you're unaccompanied, you get %15 less money for housing. I was unaccompanied, but I felt it was worth it 10 times over to stay in a nice place. Just realize that you'll be paying about $15/day plus cab rides to stay there. Which can add up after several weeks. I took my credit card to the limit on that bill.
Preview of the topics:
How much will the military give me to live there?
What will I get for that amount?
What is OHA?
Who do you talk to get a place?
How do you find and see a place using the internet?
Where to stay off base while you get a place?
How much will the military give me to live there?
As an Officer, I get 1250000.00 SOUTH KOREAN WON or about $ 1121.01 USD. An E-1 gets 1,200,000. You get less if you're unaccompanied.
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/ohaform.html
Whatever reasoning existed for an officer or senior NCO to receive more than a private in BAH back home, it doesn't seem to exist here. If you find that confusing its because it doesn't make sense. If you like for things to always make sense Korea is going to be a hard pill to swallow - things not making sense aren't the exception, they're pretty much the rule.
What will I get for that amount? When I arrived here, there were over 300 families that had come at about the same time, so apartment hunting was pretty rough. Every place I looked at was at least 32 pyung, over 1100 ft (a pyung is about a square meter, see conversion link below). Some places were as much as 44 pyung (1500 sq ft). I saw about 8 places ranging from dark dingy cave like apartments to the utterly amazing high rises like the one I was finally able to get after 4 weeks of apartment hunting. I ended up settling for a place in the "CENTROPALACE" apartments downtown. It's a pretty nice setup and I highly recommend living here if you can swing it. The OHA (name for BAH in Korea) would have to be about 1500 in Daegu to have good availability for apartments as a lot of places I saw were around $1500.
http://www.convertunits.com/from/pyong/to/square+foot
What is OHA? OHA is essentially BAH, but for Korea. Instead of them giving you an amount every month and putting the onus on you on finding a place, they only give you what your rent costs. IE if you rent is $900, you don't get to keep the extra money. They are worried about fraud in case someone takes a roommate. Apparently fraud only happens in Korea.
I probably could have found an apartment in less than a week, but my predecessor left the day after I arrived so I basically had to do all of my house hunting on the weekends and at night. Also, when you schedule with Housing, you have to wait 1-2 weeks for them to be able to meet with you and the landlord. There is no way around this, you just have to wait. I actually had to do the housing visit twice, but I'll tell that story in another post, it's too long to get into here. Bottom line, it's basically a giant CF with 4-6 people present trying to secure a housing contract. What used to take only 2 people back home (you and the landlord) take three times more here in Korea.
Who do you talk to get a place?
You have to go through a realtor to get a place. They go by Realtor or "foreign relocation service". Honestly, the latter sounds like some sort of pre-genocide program to get rid of the foreigners, but it is what it is. The housing office on Camp Henry gives you a list of preferred "foreign realtors". It's highly recommended that you use them.
I tried to on my own to a Korean Realtor, but I don't recommend this even if you speak good Korean (I'm about 20-30%). The rental system in Korea is amazingly complicated. They use the "key money" system where you put 50% the value of the house down as a deposit and then you don't pay rent. The landlord simply invests the money you gave them and collects interest off of it. "Renting" is a foreign concept used only by the foreigners residing in Korea. I did have to pay a deposit, but it was only 1 months rent and the military gives you a big pile of Korean money for that. I had to hand carry $2,4000,000 won (about 2200 USD) from the base to the realtor's office to pay the rent. I also had to carry it in the equivalent of $10 bills.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeonse
They used to use the key money system for soldiers, but out of fear of fraud, they decided to take it away from us and narrow our available list of places we can live as not every landlord is willing to accept monthly rent payments. I heard that contractors and government employees still get a big pile of money for rent, so you see lots of them in all the nice high rises you can't afford to live in.
How do you find and see a place using the internet?
If you go to Seoul, you can browse the Seoul craigslist and see dozens of apartments all within the allotted $3000 for living in Seoul. However, the internet still hasn't really caught on in Daegu, yet. There is no way to view what's available on line. I did dozens of searches in Korean and in English looking for pics of a place all to no avail. I mentioned it to my landlord, but he started making some excuses on why this couldn't be done in Korea. I've coined an expression for this: "krimpossible". It's when Koreans say something is impossible or can't be done, but they're just too lazy, don't know how or just too stupid to do it or to find out how to do it. I'd say I encounter 2-3 "krimpossible" situations every day. Coming from a society that put men on the moon and from the 1st Infantry Division, who's motto is "Can do", I find these situations very frustrating, but it's just another aspect of life you have to deal with.
Where to stay off base while you get a place?
As far as hotels in Daegu are concerned, most people stay at the Walker Lodge. It's located on Camp Walker and is covered by TLA. It was full when I went there, so I went to the "Novotel" downtown. I highly recommend this hotel if you have to be off post as most korean hotels are complete dives; worse than the worst Motel 6 back home. On the other hand, the Novotel was probably the best hotel I've ever stayed in. The only problem with it is that it's a $5 cab ride from the hotel to the base. Also, they offer a military rate that is the same as the TLA "105,000" won, but you have to ask to get it. If you give them a copy of your orders or passport, they'll waive the taxes also. WARNING: If you're unaccompanied, you get %15 less money for housing. I was unaccompanied, but I felt it was worth it 10 times over to stay in a nice place. Just realize that you'll be paying about $15/day plus cab rides to stay there. Which can add up after several weeks. I took my credit card to the limit on that bill.
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