■

Coin operated laundromat:

big washers & dryers. Printed instructions are written in english, so american?

You buy a preloaded card to pay for washer & dryer. So technically its not coin operated.

4000 won for 11kg washer, which is the smallest.

500 won for 5 min of drying.

The following day I walked back there and successfully finished a load. I went to a cafe nearby to wait for it to be done.
I walked back to the apartment and decided to do one more load. Crazy but i wanted to wash the bed sheets. This time i looked up if there was a bus i could take. and there was! Its always nerve wrecking for me to take a bus in a new city especially in a foreign country where i dont speak the language, but walking in the sun while carrying laundry just was too much.
Turned out it was very easy. I just place the T money card (prepaid ic card) over the reader just like at the subway stations. They make an announcement for each stop in English. How kind. Not that I knew at which stop i was supposed to get off. I just waited for the cafe i knew to be in sight and rang the bell. The trip was about 15 minutes. I should have looked it up before the first visit.

So im now an expert on how to use the laundromat. i even helped two young korean men who were new there. They asked me in korean and i answered in english. They understood me just fine.
In the meantime, P and the staff at his office are studying to get a washer in the apartment. Something about the space inside and size of the washer and piping. It does not look easy and that is why we were using the cleaners.
The coin operated launromat is ok for now, but in the long run it is of course much more convenient to have a washer in the apt. I mean, taking the bus to do laundry is a bit of work. But its ok because you know, i am now a housewife. Still trying to deal with this reality...