First of all, the heating system, called ondol, heats the house by running hot water through pipes in the floor.  It's very nice to walk around barefoot on a cold January day.  Ondol heating originally did it's work by running hot air from a charcoal fire through ducts under the floor, but modern ondol heats hot water with a fuel oil-fired furnace.  Fuel oil costs us about  $1.35/gallon and we've had to fill our 100-gallon tank three times in the year that we've been here.

Hot water for cleaning and bathing comes from the same furnace that provides the heat.  You have to push a button on the thermostat control to turn on the hot water before you use it, and then you push another button to shut it back off after you're done using it.

We have a gas range for cooking, which is supplied by two 75-lb propane tanks on the roof.  When you run out, you (actually, your landlord) make a phone call and a couple hours later someone shows up delivering a fresh tank.  This costs about $20 and a tank will last three or four months.  The Army has blessed us with a gas clothes dryer, so our consumption rate varies with how much laundry we have.

We've got a window-mount air conditioner, which does the trick for us during the hot summer months.  We run it sparingly because electricity can get pretty expensive out here.

Trash is separated here.  The locals separate plastic from cardboard and leave it next to a lamp post on the street where it's picked up daily.  Any food waste is burned in a bonfire once a week in the rice paddy.  Of course, soldiers can throw their trash away in a dumpster on post the same way we do back in the States.

The walls in our apartment are covered with rice-paper wallpaper and our floor is finished with a linoleum-like plastic roll.  These are very inexpensive and can be changed out every time a new tenant moves in.  There is no carpet (that would negate the ondol heating in the winter).