Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Harpeau]

It drives me nuts that some see a need for heating up the outdoors. Today, I made a sign (both English and Korean) asking people to please leave the door closed. I put the sign on the glass doors leading into the building~ both sides. Hopefully this will help. Hoping this might keep the halways warm.

[adamginzinger]

LOL!! I find it funny that the doors and windows to my public school have been open all week. Is it a fresh air thing?

[seoul101]

It's probably the unsavory smell of kimchi, they just don't want to admit it

[Hyeon Een]

[Hanson]

Seems they value "fresh air" more than warmth.

I've started my annual "Battle of the Windows" in the stairwell of my villa. People/Someone keeps opening them and I keep closing them.

[sojourner1]

I have too since my classroom sink emits sewer gas into the room making it smell like one big fart or turd. My bathroom drain did this too during the summer which was very unpleasant, but I would close the bathroom door at all times.

[mehmeh]

Do you honestly think you school heats the hallways? In most buildings I've been in (such as my school or apartment), the rooms are the only places that have vents/floor heating. I don't know about the layout of your building and if the same applies. However, it seems like a pretty efficient way to conserve energy...heat the places you spend the most time, don't worry about the rest. Also, in my officetell, the hot water heaters are in the hallway. If people were to close the windows, where would the Carbon Monoxide go?

I'll concede, the smell can be a problem though...

[Atavistic]

I read somewhere that Koreans think opening the windows gets rid of dust. Dust, apparently goes out, not in. Pretty sure I read it in Culture Shock! Korea.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[dogshed]

My guess is that the fresh air thing continued because those
people who weren't into fresh air died from CO poisoning.

It doesn't matter what the Korean is thinking when he ventilates,
as long as it keeps him alive.

I don't ventilate my apartment because I have a modern furnace
in a little room off the entryway and therefore little chance of
CO poisoning, but at my school the Kerosene fumes make me
cough and I'm sure some of our old heaters give off lots of CO.

[kat2]

Yeah, its one of the few things left here that
A) I don't understand
B) Still feel like needs change

Most things just fall into category A. Maybe Koreans are the real problem behind global warming. Not by energy use, but just b/c they are heating hte whole outdoors with the heat on high and the windows open.

[nobbyken]

My wife says that her sister and her both blacked out from coal fumes when they were little.
That cylindrical coal with the holes in it that they use in restaurants was common heating in homes, but broken venttilation pipes led to many deaths. So I think they liked to have plenty plenty air in buildings.

[Scotticus]

I make it my personal crusade to close every door/window I see open. Absolutely nonsensical to have these doors and windows WIDE OPEN. I'll leave them open a crack (fresh air IS a nice thing), but you don't need a wide open window to get some fresh air... that's just wasting heat.

[buster brown]

This week I announced in all of my elementary classes (with the help of the Korean secretary) that I expect the classroom door to be closed every time someone comes in or goes out. If anyone leaves the door open, I'll assume that they like to study in a cold room, so I'll turn off the heater and open the windows. I only had to make an example out of one kid, and I don't think he'll forget again after the criticism he got from the rest of the class.

[Netz]