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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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 Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:27 pm Post subject: WASH YOUR HANDS! |
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| Do you ever just get the urge to yell that at people as they walk out of the bathroom? Why does no one wash their hands after using the bathroom here? Why will they spend five minutes primping themselves in themirror but never turn on the tap? Do they not learn about germs and contagious disease in school? |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:34 pm Post subject: Re: WASH YOUR HANDS! |
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| ksonnen wrote: |
| Do you ever just get the urge to yell that at people as they walk out of the bathroom? Why does no one wash their hands after using the bathroom here? Why will they spend five minutes primping themselves in themirror but never turn on the tap? Do they not learn about germs and contagious disease in school? |
Not all countries are as nuts about hygiene as western countries are.
It's one of the things I like about living here. The west is over-sanitized. That's why we are getting super-bugs and stuff like that nowadays.
Live a little. Not washing hands after a pee isn't really that terrible. Is it? |
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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Um, yes it is. Because everyone eats out of the same bowl. They wash the dishes at restaurants with cold water. They sneeze and spit and do other kinds of gross things with no regard for whether they ar doing it at someone. I actually had a kid tell me that you shouldn't cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze because then your hands get dirty and you will get the snot in your mouth when you eat. It's totally disgusting. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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It's disgusting to look at but it's not really that dirty. Your body should be able to easily handle the low-levels of germs floating around in everyday Korea.
Perhaps you should be glad your immune system is going to get such a boost living here!!! Nothing will trouble you back in USA/Canada now!! |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree. Its not that bad. Life back home is not only over sanitized its over regulated over controlled, over everything. I love Seoul for the chaos it offers. back home cities are boring. Everything is zoned, and pretty much every neighborhood turns out to be a boring, bland crapfest. Seoul is big, dirty and fascinating to me, back home is boring and plastic. So I agree with others, get over your anal renetive germophobia and LIVE a little. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:06 pm Post subject: Re: WASH YOUR HANDS! |
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| eamo wrote: |
It's one of the things I like about living here. The west is over-sanitized. That's why we are getting super-bugs and stuff like that nowadays.
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Umm... didn't Ebola and AIDS start in Africa? Didn't Avian and SARS originate in Southeast Asia?
What other superbugs are out there?
The problem in Korea is not that people don't wash their hands, because plenty of people in Western countries don't either. The problem is the lack of opportunities to wash your hands.
You'll go into a feces covered, green walled bathroom with some kind of residue on the wall where some pipe must be or must have been leaking, do your business, then find out that there's no toilet paper.
After that, you'll go to the "sink," if it's actually not a washbasin with a hose coming from the faucet with mildew that you can see built up inside the translucent manila/yellowish/brown colored rubber, and either have a bar of crusted, cracked, and definitely overused soap that doesn't even have any strength left, an empty soap dispenser, or absolutely nothing to wash your hands with.
THEN, you'll have a choice between a rotting towel or an empty paper towel dispenser.
You're basically looking at one step up from an outhouse when you use a typical Korean public restroom.
I agree that your immunity does get a bit of a boost, though. That's why I wipe my hands in inconspicuous places on my clothing when I sneeze without tissues. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| dont get your panties all in a bunch djmsnscsctis. A bathroom is a bathroom. What do you ant? gold plated faucets, marble floors and walls and silk towels handd out by a guy in a tux speaking with a British accent? |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| What other superbugs are out there? |
I was specifically thinking about this badboy....
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
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| Staphylococcus bacteria is extremely common in the environment, and is usually not a problem to healthy individuals. Historically, staph infections begin only after the individual has suffered a skin break or open wound. Recently, due to institutional overuse of antibiotics, strains of staphylococcus aureus have developed drug resistance. If an individual has a weak immune response to the bacteria, a MRSA infection can result even with no apparent open wound. The symptoms can range from skin boils to necrotizing fasciitis, popularly known as flesh-eating disease. MRSA infections are typically combatted with vancomycin, however, vancomycin-resistant staphyloccocus has recently appeared |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRSA
Whats the lesson the medical profession learned from this?
A very, or totally sterile environment is very harmful in the long-term for humans. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:18 pm Post subject: Re: WASH YOUR HANDS! |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
It's one of the things I like about living here. The west is over-sanitized. That's why we are getting super-bugs and stuff like that nowadays.
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Umm... didn't Ebola and AIDS start in Africa? Didn't Avian and SARS originate in Southeast Asia?
What other superbugs are out there?
The problem in Korea is not that people don't wash their hands, because plenty of people in Western countries don't either. The problem is the lack of opportunities to wash your hands.
You'll go into a feces covered, green walled bathroom with some kind of residue on the wall where some pipe must be or must have been leaking, do your business, then find out that there's no toilet paper.
After that, you'll go to the "sink," if it's actually not a washbasin with a hose coming from the faucet with mildew that you can see built up inside the translucent manila/yellowish/brown colored rubber, and either have a bar of crusted, cracked, and definitely overused soap that doesn't even have any strength left, an empty soap dispenser, or absolutely nothing to wash your hands with.
THEN, you'll have a choice between a rotting towel or an empty paper towel dispenser.
You're basically looking at one step up from an outhouse when you use a typical Korean public restroom.
I agree that your immunity does get a bit of a boost, though. That's why I wipe my hands in inconspicuous places on my clothing when I sneeze without tissues. |
The really fun part for me is trying to get OUT of said washroom without touching the door with my hands, or avoiding the spots that have been touched hundreds of times with unwashed hands.
I'm not a sanitation freak, but bathroom doors are scary to me. |
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heydelores
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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I had a roommate who never washed her hands after using the bathroom. Then she'd sit down and use my computer! Yuck. Thank goodness for alcohol wipes.
Kermo, I agree with your aversion to touching bathroom doors. That's why I keep some waterless soap in my purse!
Maybe I am a germ-phobe, but I agree with the OP, bathroom germs really gross me out! |
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Novernae
Joined: 02 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject: Re: WASH YOUR HANDS! |
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| eamo wrote: |
| The west is over-sanitized. |
Yet Korea is the home of dish sanitizers and toothbrush sanitizers...
On the other hand, they use matress covers and blankets as sheets that are really difficult to wash... |
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kat2
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: Busan, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Where do you get the waterless soap in Korea? I've noticed dunking donuts carrying it recently, but I don't konw where they buy it. I'm only iterested in the alcohol based kind. The other stuff is just a gimmick. |
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heydelores
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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| ksonnen, I'm really not sure. I stocked up when I went home in June. I've seen a bottle of it floating around my school, but it doesn't have any Korean writing on it. I'll see if anyone knows where it came from. |
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Col.Brandon
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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I saw on Discovery Channel that washing your hands under running water without soap is effective if you do it for long enough. They recommended singing the "Happy Birthday" song in your head twice.
I must admit I get a bit hacked off in restaurant bathrooms when I see some young waiter or chef using the bathroom then walking out without washing their hands. I'm glad I had my hep shots!
Just last week I was enjoying lunch at a place when my serviettes were blown off the table by the air-con onto the floor. The young waiter kindly picked them up for me and put them on my plate! I just about tore him a new one. In one ear and out the other, I bet... |
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Roch
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| jinju wrote: |
| dont get your panties all in a bunch djmsnscsctis. A bathroom is a bathroom. What do you ant? gold plated faucets, marble floors and walls and silk towels handd out by a guy in a tux speaking with a British accent? |
I'd bet that you like to read the Toronto Star and go bowling when you frig off to Canada, eh. |
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