The 'Dick' Soap

Ok, I have been holding off for far too long. This is one of those things that has been bothering me somewhat almost from day 1. It's something that I saw, felt akward about, but kind of ignored. But it has been happening more and more and more. And now I've had enough.

We've gone on before about the weird etiquettes, and funny bathrooms with musical bells and holes in the floors as toilets, and used loo paper being put in a bucket rather than being flushed. They are all really different to the way we do things and they each have their reasoning. I am about to add another oddity to the 'things that make you feel weird but make a whole bunch of sense but I'd rather do without it anyway' list.

I have appropriately named it 'Dick Soap'. I have heard of soap on a rope. Which makes sense. It's a piece of soap that has a length of rope running through it, and you can hang if from your shower, and it won't slip out of your hands, forcing you to do the whole, awkward bend over in the shower thing. Yes, I know, that only applies in prison, but you still feel weird bending over in your shower, admit it!

So to get to my point. Dick Soap is something very similar in concept but ohhh sooo different in execution. It is a piece of soap, usually quite round and quite oblong fastened to a metal bar which is fastened to the bathroom wall. The idea is quite clever, in that the soap automatically dries after being used because it is 'hanging' in mid air. Also it never sits in a dirty, mucky pool of water, so you will never again be forced to use a squishy, mushy piece of soap. Very clever.

The only problem is the way in which you have to use it. Look at the picture and take a guess at how one gets a good lathering of soap in ones hand...
A person wrists only have so much rotational movement to them so you could try turn your wrist left and right and left and right a few dozen times, or you could, yes, slide your hand up and down the wet, slippery soap a few times and be good to go. The only problem is the whole sliding up and down bit. It really is a little weird. And if you don't believe me, come here and try it for yourself. Then we'll speak again.















It still leaves me to wonder, why not simply fit liquid soap dispensers...?

Post by Oliver

Rub a dub dub....

Normally talking about bathrooms is not the most pleasant of discussions but it can make for a laugh. Interestingly, it can also show you a whole bunch about a different culture as well.

When we were in Seoul we managed to get rooms at a pension (motel) for a decent price. We got a room for myself and Oli and one for Chrissie and Rob. The rooms were pretty much identical. We both had massive televisions, a small table, a double bed, a hairdryer, an air conditioner, a water machine, and a bathroom.

Our bathrooms, however, did have one unique difference. Mine and Oliver's bath was small, really small, but it was big enough for me to bath with my legs just a little above the taps. Chrissie and Rob's bath on the other hand was more like a basin in the floor. Chrissie thought the best way to demonstrate the size of the bath would be to give us a demonstration.

Oliver could not refuse the opportunity to test it for himself...

Rub a dub dub.......

Oh and our soap totally smelt like Sugus...Mmmmm (soap I might consider eating after saying a swear word or two)

While on the topic of bathrooms I thought I would discuss a few more of Korea's bathroom quirks.

I don't have the strongest bladder around so I tend to utilize public bathrooms quite regularly. However, I always feel a little apprehensive when I need to use a public loo. There are several reasons for this.

1. You never know if you are going to get a western style loo or a squat loo (a whole in the floor).
2. You never know if there will be toilet paper.
3. They don't seem to flush their loo paper here. So often you come across bathrooms with dustbins full of used toilet paper.
   

But it's not all doom and gloom, something which is quite cool about their bathrooms is that some female toilets come kitted with etiquette bells. These are bells which play music or the sound of water so that the other bathroom users don't have to hear you pee. Phew, one less thing to worry about!

So there is a glimpse of the toilet culture in Korea! And if ever you find yourself in Korea needing desperately to use the loo don't forget these words, 'Hwa-jang-shil' because as apprehensive as you may be about using the loo, when you need to go you need to go!

Post by Claudia

A few more recent happenings...

While cleaning up our new apartment yesterday, we heard a Korean man speaking inside our apartment. Weird. Turns out it wasn't a man, it was the PA system in our kitchen. We got told something in Korean. What did the guy say? No idea.

Here are two pictures of our new bathroom, complete with blue sky effect ceiling and air freshening toilet seat, and of our new apartment's study / work area, complete with satellite TV!

If you ever go to Korea, and being 1.9m tall and western doesn't make you stand out from the crowd enough, pop over to Ghana quickly, buy yourself a very bright red, yellow and green Ghana flag t-shirt and put that on. Trust me, it gets you noticed!

By: Oliver

Arrival in Korea

Our super small temporary apartment

After 21 hours of flying I was not a pretty sight (only 3 more hours of bus travel to go)

On our way to the airport we sat in the car surprisingly quite. I'm not too sure what was on Oliver's mind. But I for one was stressed about our luggage. When flying with Emirates you are given 30Kg (Thank heavens, if it was only 20 I may have resorted to bring only underwear). After going through the stressful process of getting everything checked in, getting a customs slip for all of Oliver's photography equipment it was time to walk through the gates. Phew ... this is it .... a whole new world on our door step.

Well not quite, we had one hell of a journey ahead of us! We flew for seven and a half hours to get to Dubai, but all we did was watch movies. Emirates is amazing ... Then it was a three hour stop over in Dubai. We were all set for the next leg of our journey before we discovered that there was an hour delay. Bummer. Eventually we were back in the air. After eight hours we were in Korea. Yeah!

If I were to explain Korea to any of my friends back home it would be DIFFERENT, very very DIFFERENT. At this point in the game, when our Korean is some what sketchy (or should I say non-existent), sign language, very primitive sign language is all we can resort to.

After a three hour bus ride, we arrived at our apartment, but it is small! Very very small. This is no joke, in South Africa were space is so abundant, this apartment comes as somewhat of a shock. It is 35sm at most! I'm just happy that it is aa temporary place, we move on Saturday!!! Hopefully our next spot has a cupboard and an individual shower! Our bathroom is our shower. You close the door and there it is a shower head ... no separate compartment, the drain is under the sink. How bizarre.

We walked around a bit today! It is cold (10 degrees) and rainy but we have been told that the weather will improve later in the week. The sights and sounds of "rural" Korea are very Urban by South African standards.

We meet our school directors tomorrow, this will be an experience!

More photos and blogs to follow!

By: Claudia