One think I like about the US is Q-Tips (Post 5 of 30)
In Japan the cotton of q-tips are really tightly wrapped. So it's like the little cardboard (or whatever) wand has just this tiny tiny bit of cotton on the end. For some reason it made cleaning my ears really difficult - as if that tight wrap just couldn't get *in* there and pick up like American q-tips can. Sam actually pointed it out to me, otherwise I would have just thought my ears were producing more wax in the humid climes or something. It was a relief to know it wasn't just me.
But then I get back to the u.s. and find that q-tips' wand part (the part in the middle) have been replaced by plastic?? What is this new horror?? At my Dad's house I was so excited to finally have fully clean ears, and the first time I used one it bent in half before I could even finish getting around the outer shell of my ear! I was terrified that somehow there was a conspiracy to replace those nice little *stiff* cardboard wands with these bendy plastic straws that couldn't even hold up to me holding them between my fingers. I mean, I know I have freakishly strong tiny hands, but WTF? Luckily I still had a box of like 1000 q-tips in my bathroom stuff in LA. And I have since seen in the drugstore some regular (non plastic) types on sale. Crisis averted.
Class was so great yesterday! Kind of hilarious since Korea Prof had 50 students all stand up and introduce themselves. But it's going to be a great class, and I will learn so so so much from it.
so here's some exciting Korea factoids for you:
also posted to katekat on dreamwidth | you can reply here or there
But then I get back to the u.s. and find that q-tips' wand part (the part in the middle) have been replaced by plastic?? What is this new horror?? At my Dad's house I was so excited to finally have fully clean ears, and the first time I used one it bent in half before I could even finish getting around the outer shell of my ear! I was terrified that somehow there was a conspiracy to replace those nice little *stiff* cardboard wands with these bendy plastic straws that couldn't even hold up to me holding them between my fingers. I mean, I know I have freakishly strong tiny hands, but WTF? Luckily I still had a box of like 1000 q-tips in my bathroom stuff in LA. And I have since seen in the drugstore some regular (non plastic) types on sale. Crisis averted.
Class was so great yesterday! Kind of hilarious since Korea Prof had 50 students all stand up and introduce themselves. But it's going to be a great class, and I will learn so so so much from it.
so here's some exciting Korea factoids for you:
- Korea had a metal moveable type printing system before anyone else in the 13th century. It's just no one knows about it because they didn't export it anywhere. And it was Chinese kanji. (still, that's a century before Gutenberg, and better than the Chinese clay moveable type systems)
- Korea's first treaty with a western power was in the 1800s with the United States. It not only recognized Korea as a sovereign nation, but also agreed to help militarily if Korea got into wars.
- Part of the differences between Korean and Chinese government (even though many of the pre-modern Korean kingdoms modeled their administration on the Chinese hierarchy) was that Korean government was a little more consensus based. This may be a holdover from ancient Korean social practices that were based on collective consensus.
also posted to katekat on dreamwidth | you can reply here or there