One of the strangest things about Korea is that most of the normal toilets don't have any toilet paper in them. To start off with, you have to find one that has a normal sit down toilet, which is actually quite common now than earlier years, rather than a squatter and also find one that has paper.
What I mean by normal is not a 'squatter.' To those of you that have never experienced one of them, they are a cultural phenomenon. It is just a hole in the ground made out of a ceramic china base of course and you literally have to squat either side of it and do your business. The flush valve is level with the floor, so once you finish, you hit the flush valve with your foot.
The other quite disgusting thing is that Koreans put the toilet paper in a garbage can and not down the toilet. I am serious!!!! They even have signs in a lot of the toilets that say don't flush the paper down the toilet. Why? I have no idea! They have not realized that the new paper goes to mush when it gets wet.
Sometimes there is a smell and sometimes people put the paper in the big can beside the toilet 'shit side up!!!!' It was a bit un-nerving when I first came here, but now I have taught myself to look nowhere near the garbage can beside the toilet or the squatter!
Usually people that have lived here for a while or are 'smart,' always carry some tissue paper in their bags in case of emergencies. Most of the nice places have paper in the toilets, but loads of the restaurants and other places, don't have any. I always dump my paper in the toilet...... screw that nonesense of throwing it in a waste paper basket or garbage can.....uhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Again, another cultural difference that takes a bit of getting used to. Most of the businesses here do not have on premise toilets. You have to go out into the hallways, where there are toilets. There are usually toilets on every floor of every building due to the lack of toilets inside the establishment itself. I think that is kind of cool as you don't get people not buying something from the place using the toilet there. It is however very frustating when you have no tissue paper, although all the variety stores sell them dead cheap all the time.
Not much else going on at the moment. I am getting myself into a regulary rhythm now. Going to the gym religiously and starting to read a little more. I actually read a 298 page book tonight in 3 hours! I had to read it for one of my classes during the Summer intensive. It is a children's book, so it was an easy read and it was actually quite entertaining. It is called "Hoot" by Carl Hiassen.
I found out today that I will be teaching the highest level at my school. I will be having a 10am class Monday to Friday for the whole month. Ouch!!!! I haven't got up that early to teach a regular class for a long time. I have been told that I will get some overtime too, as I may be doing 5 classes a day sometimes. I don't mind to tell you the truth. I much prefer to be busy than idle. Too much time on my hands drives me nuts. I will find out my full schedule tomorrow for the intensive period starting Monday, July 24th until August 24th.
The nice thing is that after next week, we have a holiday on July 31st and August 1st and 2nd. It is a complete school shutdown. I have no plans other than go to the gym more and read a little more. Some of the teachers are organizing a trip somewhere for the weekend starting before and they will have 5 days including the 3 days off that we have.
Dave and I have decided that we are going to Thaipei in October for 4 days. There is a 5 day holiday here in Korea then called "Chusok." It is the Korean version of Thanksgiving Day. I am quite looking forward to it and it is one of the cheaper places to go for a quick visit. Everyone that I have talked to said that it was a good place, but very hot. Dave has been there before and he saw it during the 'SARS' period, so it was dirt cheap. He said it is a cool place though.
This will be the first holiday since April 2000 that we will be both travelling together and we are SINGLE! Look out Taipei!!!!!!!!! Maybe we need some tips on how to make a woman happy?
It has rained a little the last 2 days, but has cooled off significantly. However most of the building are retaining the heat, which is a little uncomfortable. The a/c units here are never central units, but free standing ones. They usually only cool one area of a room or one room. If you want the rooms to be really cool, you need to have a couple of them in the room. Most of them are stand up units or wall mounted units.
Time to get some sleep now. It is 3.22am as I am doing this blog. Time to get some beauty sleep and get ready for the gym in the morning. I am enjoying sleeping in my big bed and not having anyone in the apartment except me. It is awesome!!!!!!!!!
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