When I moved here, I was warned by several veteran foreigners that the concept of “logic” has not been translated into Korean. While this is, of course, a joke, there are many reasons why foreigners see this to be true. Here are a few of my personal experiences which left me scratching my head.
1. At the first doctor, he pulled a metal tongue depressor from a container on his desk. He used it on me, then returned it to its place. So, either a)they were all sterilized before it went into my mouth (I hope) and then they got contaminated by my germs, or b)someone else’s germs were already on the one he used on me.
In the U.S., we’re so careful about using sterilized medical equipment. It was quite a shock that they don’t do the same here.
2. When I arrived, the H1N1 flu panic was reaching craziness. Everyone wore flu masks all the time, and at school the kids were told to use hand sanitizer when they arrived. However, during the Halloween party, masks were taken off and used again by the next class without any cleaning of any kind. Even musical instruments (recorders primarily) were allowed to be shared by the kids. (Huh?)
3. When kids starting dropping like flies from getting sick, my boss starting taking everyone’s temperature in their ear when they arrived and had other symptoms. But there was no sanitizing between kids then either. Once she surprised me from behind by shoving that thing into my ear. She couldn’t understand why I didn’t want that dirty thing anywhere near me.
4. Also at the Halloween party, it was decided that we would use candles to make the school “scary”. Apparently fire safety is another thing that never made it here. Open flame around kids ages 8-12…Does this strike anyone else as a bad idea?
No comments:
Post a Comment