Vanity

One of the students gave me a face mask yesterday. One that I can wear to keep the sun's rays from my face. Koreans are so focused on beauty that they have some strange rituals. Many women who go outside wear these full face masks, and sunvisors with a long peak, as well as long sleeves and long pants to keep the sun off of their bodies. They like being pale.

I've written before about these strange women that walk along the river and the streets. Weird.

When the women drive they wear two long sleeves to ward off the rays too.

As well, I've never seen so many people focused on looking at themselves. They judge everybody by their "beauty" and set out to keep themselves beautiful. Most have mirrors in the mobile (cell) phones and can spend all day checking up on the direction their eye lashes are pointing. Really it is weird. Men and women do it.

Koreans and their cell phones are seldom parted. They are constantly talking or texting, or checking on their current state of beauty.

Dinkum Dunnies

I must say that toilets are an issue for me while travelling in Asia. I like a decent toilet - just like the one at home - where one can sit to "go". I don't like the squat ones that are common in these parts.

In my apartment my loo looks just like the one at home, and for this I am grateful. Actually they are becoming more common in China as well as here in Korea. In the university here there are two cubicles in the WC on the floor on which I work and one is a squat and the other is (near) normal. I'll explain in a second.

When shopping in E-mart yesterday I noticed that they sell a wide variety of things - probably more than an Aussie K-Mart and Coles in combination. I was up on the third floor where the clothes were and a bizarre selection of other items. The dog food for example was not in the supermarket but up with the clothes. The range of fancy items for the pet dog was impressive. I don't recall seeing a cat or a dog since I have been here, but the dog accessories aisle is full of fancy items so perhaps the little moggies and doggies are sitting up in the high rise apartments with all their stunning accessories.

But back to the loo story. Not far from the clothes, and the pet accessories was a row of plumbing items. Including toilet seats. The most fancy toilet seats you can imagine in a wide variety of colours and designs. And in amongst it was a seat that was similar to the one in the university WC.

I stared at it - it has a panel to the right of the seat which you obviously need knowledge of Korean language to comprehend. Buttons to turn on one feature or another. Now that is the dilemma. I have no idea what they do. I have no idea what button to push. When do I push it? What will it do?

One day I am sure to find out - I will ask one of my students - but for the moment it is a puzzle.