Places I Go (part 2)

This is the place I probably go to the most, besides work.

This is Dasan Mart - the grocery store I frequent. They have 2 floors. The first is groceries, and the second is kind of like a Big Lots type store (but all one store). So if you need peppers, cereal, a frying pan, a steering wheel cover and WD-40---- they have that. 

Maybe one day I will get brave and take pictures inside the store. I just feel weird doing so. I don't really know if people do that. Granted, Koreans take pictures of all kinds of things, but I rarely see them taking pictures inside stores. 

So instead, here are 2 chocolate bars I bought there. The first is the kicker bar. Mmm. It's a dark chocolate, bigger, 1 stick version of a kitkat. It's about 1.5 cm wide by 1cm tall. It's delicious. 

The second one I haven't tried yet. I'm saving it for the weekend. It is supposed to have a chocolate filling (much like a carmello bar, i hope). It looks dangerous for a lactose intolerant person like me... but I had to buy one. I mean - it has golden lips on it, for goodness sake. It practically screams "buy me for weirdness factor." So I did. 

I buy most things at the grocery store simply because it's cheaper than a convenience store. So soda, candy bars, batteries... I probably buy at Dasan. There are only two things I definitely buy from convenience stores. One is bottled water.

Koreans don't drink tap water. Or otherwise they filter and/or boil it first (yeah, and boiled water, they put rice or something in to change the color and flavor to mark it, so they know it's been boiled). 

I buy 2 liter bottles of water. No way I'm carrying it very far. So I go to the closest convenience store. 

The other convenience store go-to --- toilet paper. There is a nearby convenience store that sells 24 packs of TP for buy one get one free. TP isn't cheap, so getting this deal means I save a bit. It also means I don't have to walk forever carrying 48 rolls of toilet paper.

Places I Go (part 1)

My sister recently asked me to take pictures of places I like to go, or places I go to often.

That led me to an idea of taking lots of pictures - glamorous and banal and not so... good smelling.

So this is the start of a series of posts. Let's start with the most basic of places - the bathroom.

Ladies and gentleman - I give you the modern squatty, with flusher!
You can thank my sister for this picture as well. I was trying to describe to her this 'marvel' and so I braved the weirdness to snap a picture.

All of the bathrooms in my school have these. They have no western toilets (ok.. there is one i know of... in building 2 on the 1st floor, middle area, teacher's bathroom - special needs/handicapped stall... but really who has time to go that far?).

Let's start with how to use one - a survival guide for the new user.
1. Before considering doing any business - check for toilet paper. It's either in a dispenser outside the stall, or somewhere inside the stall. At my school, the roll is hung from the hook where you might hang up a purse.  No paper? You're sore outta luck.(very common in public) Consider always carrying a packet of tissues with you.

2. Toilet paper in hand, you can now proceed to do your business.

3. This next part is.. awkward for Western folk. You must place one foot on either side of the basin and squat.

4. Convince yourself you are not peeing on the floor. (this is harder than you'd imagine)

5. HOLD YOUR BREATH BEFORE GOING. There is some water in the basin. Not much. The smell from one of these things is much much stronger than a Western toilet, so unless you're somehow immune to the smell of bodily excretions, be prepared. (breathing through your shirt is also a good option)

6. Ok. You're done. DO NOT throw the paper in the basin. See that pink bin? Yeah. ALL toilet paper goes here. ALL. They say Korea's sewerage systems are old, or the pipes are small, or whatever reason you might get from someone who doesn't speak English natively might tell you. It doesn't matter. What matters is not clogging the thing. I mean... I have never seen a rectangular plunger.. and I'm not ready for the kind of adventure that might come from plunging a squatty.

Steps 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12  are to be done quickly.
Stand, pull up pants, step on flusher, zip pants, open door, exit stall.

13. Wash your hands. (oh yeah. there's no such things as hand towels. well... there are.. but no place ever really has them. unless you're in some fancy place.)

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There you have it.
I find most bathrooms in Korea are smelly. Squatty or Western. Also rules 1 and 6 applie to all bathrooms Korea-wide. It's common to see signs inside stalls that tell you not to flush anything.
Don't ask if you're supposed to face away from or toward the flusher. I have no idea. I have never asked. I don't plan on asking.