Okay, unbeknownst to me, Koreans are obsessed with brushing their teeth. I'm not joking. Everyone here brushes after coffee, after snacks, after lunch, after whatever. There is even a big 20 faucet sink outside for the children to brush at. There must be no gingivitis in this country. I wonder if this is a relatively new phenomenon or an old tradition. Maybe Colgate's marketing campaign here is just really fierce. Who knows. I feel pressured to brush after lunch, they all stare at me. I'm not in the habit of brushing at work.
The ironic thing here though is that although they're all about oral hygiene, the sink that the teachers brush at is disgustingly filthy, with flies around it and coffe cups stacked several feet high. And they also don't just spit out the toothpaste, they REALLY get into it, pulling up every last bit of phlegm when they spit. It's pretty disgusting.
Just another quirk of culture from me, your sarcastic anthropologist to the intricacies of the finer points of Korean culture.
1 comment:
Sounds like "no cavities" liz. She brushes her teeth first thing in the morning, and then again before she goes to school, and after she eats, and before she plays her oboe, and has toothpaste in her car and purse, etc. Maybe she was korean in a previous life?
Maybe they brush all the time so the hot sauce doesn't corrode their enamel? ;)
i would like to see 20 kids crowded around a big sink brushing thier teeth!
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