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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Kimchi or Garlic?

One of my absolute least favorite smells in Korea is the scent of most of the 65+ population--kimchi and garlic. It's so... pungent. Sometimes I think the smell is actually burning off my nose hairs. It's the worst when I'm on the subway--one morning I was surrounded by old people who just STANK (stunk?) and I definitely thought I was going to barf all over them. It's even better when the old men have been drinking and the smell of old alcohol is on them too. 
Ugh.
Another least favorite smell is the sewers. You can't smell them all the time, but when you can, you CAN. Sometimes I think everyone wears face masks here to block out the smell; maybe they actually have built-in gas masks. Here are some nice pictures of face masks in Korea: 
They are quite fashionable, some of them. Oh, notice the guy holding the "Free Hugs" sign? Yeah, students actually stand downtown with signs like that and people walk up to them and give them hugs. It's interesting. I think if people tried that in Downtown Birmingham, they'd get arrested. 
So I've been trying to find a video online of this commercial for Soju that's been playing recently--after you watch it, you'll no longer wonder why Korean women have so many body image problems.
Alright, time for me eat some blueberries and watch Lost with the husband. 

1 comments:

Auntie L said...

hello again Christina: I do not think you are missing too much here in US. Economy still stinks but at least I cannot think of any big scandal to wince over. I liked your least favorite smell story... especially since I'm trying to battle Will's teenage scent that tends to linger in his room. Elena is dreading senior prom. She has a date but not Mr. Right. I tried to explain the concept of "just go and have a good time" but I know nothing. xoxo

 

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