(no subject)
So, one of the things I do at work is buy materials (which are reimbursed later) to do fairly simple science experiments (called "investigates" because a lot of them are basically just model-making). I am constantly struck by the weirdness of the availability of the materials I need.
For example: yesterday the fourth graders were learning about sound waves. We needed a styrofoam cup, ruler, tape, thin and thick elastic bands, two paperclips, and a pencil.
Well. Apparently, elastic bands only come in one thickness in Korea. You can get smaller ones or bigger ones, but they are still one thickness. At Dream Depot, they were able to sell me a piece of thick elastic, similar to the kind nurses tie around your arm when they want to draw your blood. So, that was weird but we made it work.
But there was no way I could find a styrofoam cup. I went to three stores. Evidently, if you want a disposable cup in Korea, you use paper. Period. Fortunately my coworker had a fairly sturdy paper cup from the coffee he'd finished earlier, so we used that. Not sure if it affected the sound quality or not.
However, I DID manage to find the thing I expected to be impossible, namely styrofoam balls. Yeah, piece of cake.
For example: yesterday the fourth graders were learning about sound waves. We needed a styrofoam cup, ruler, tape, thin and thick elastic bands, two paperclips, and a pencil.
Well. Apparently, elastic bands only come in one thickness in Korea. You can get smaller ones or bigger ones, but they are still one thickness. At Dream Depot, they were able to sell me a piece of thick elastic, similar to the kind nurses tie around your arm when they want to draw your blood. So, that was weird but we made it work.
But there was no way I could find a styrofoam cup. I went to three stores. Evidently, if you want a disposable cup in Korea, you use paper. Period. Fortunately my coworker had a fairly sturdy paper cup from the coffee he'd finished earlier, so we used that. Not sure if it affected the sound quality or not.
However, I DID manage to find the thing I expected to be impossible, namely styrofoam balls. Yeah, piece of cake.