Koreans Don't Sweat

The rumors are true.  The blogs and the forums telling you to bring deodorant are correct.  The forethought of bringing 6 sticks of deodorant with me from home was pure brilliance.  The stories of the lack of antiperspirant in the entire country are mostly accurate.  It's here, but it's expensive, and not as readily available.  All because Koreans don't sweat.

I did a bit of digging so I could give you friendly folks an explanation to this mystery.  I was surprised, in my research, how many people asked the question in their blogs but didn't provide an answer.  I thought that was mean.  So here you go.  Click the link and check under "genetics", you'll find the answer.  The gist - it all has to do with the sweat glands, or lack thereof.  It's another evolutionary thing.  Turns out, not only do they not sweat, but they don't stink either.

(Side note: As a foreigner in this country, upon learning this information, you immediately become self conscious of your own stink and wonder constantly if you're just another smelly Waygook.)

The past week gave me first hand experiences in this phenomenon.

...

Similar to "field days" back home in elementary school, Korean elementary schools have "sports day" which involve students, teachers, and even parents in a variety of sports related activities from relay races to hula hoop contests.  My job during sports day was help my coteacher keep score of the games and apparently stay out of the sun as much as possible.  Throughout the day my coteacher and the very kind art teacher kept re-positioning my chair so that it remained in the shadow cast by the scoreboard, directing me to "sit now".  I realized it was probably because I was the only staff member that didn't have on a hat.

Relay Races

And pure sugar to snack on, because Korea.

Hula hoop!

Kiddos in the shade.

Tug-o-war

The flag kids are basically cheerleaders - except they take turns waving the flags

In fact, the entire staff and all  the parents were covered from head to toe with only their hands and faces exposed to the sun.  It was a pretty hot October day and I was definitely perspiring, even in my little triangle-shaped-score-board-shadow.  I couldn't understand how there weren't Koreans falling all over the field from heat stroke.  I especially couldn't understand how they weren't drenched in sweat?

Koreans don't sweat.

So many layers for a hot day.

View from my classroom.

Another fun fact for you: Koreans, especially women, value light skin rather highly on the beautification scale which is why they cover themselves diligently when they know they will be in the sun.  Which interestingly enough, if you look at the statistics of skin cancer death by country, South Korea ranks 131 out of 192, while America is number 29.

Mom relay race

Grandparent relay race

Some kind of jump rope relay race?

Sports Day was a lot of fun to experience as an outsider.  Even though I did get a little bit too much sun and was told I "look like an apple" by one of the teachers.  Everyone took this event rather seriously.  My school had spent every first period from the week prior "practicing" for sports day.  There were choreographed warm up routines, dances, and a variety of events happening simultaneously to optimize their time in the most effective way possible.

This was like a pinata game where the poor sixth graders in the
center, holding the pole, got pelted for about ten minutes.

On the weekend following Sports Day a group of us went on a hike at Songnisan National Park to see the world's largest bronze Buddha as well as getting in a little exercise.  We took a trail recommended by a friend, thinking it was a beautiful but not necessarily difficult hike (thanks Owen).  Instead we ended up doing a four mile hike practically straight up what we called "rock stairs".  It was such a difficult hike that in the last ten minutes my leg muscles had just decided they didn't want to work with me anymore.  Koreans are pretty incredible hikers.  Most ajummas and ajusshis seem to wear hiking gear just for the fun of it.  And being that this country is almost entirely mountains, hiking is a common and frequent pastime of the Korean people.  But on this particular hike, even the Koreans were pausing about every five feet on the last stretch.  So I didn't feel so bad doing the same.  Still, being the stubborn, badass that I am, I refused to quit and made it all the way to the top.  The view was more than worth it (thanks Owen).

The town at the entrance of the park.

Lots of amazingly bizarre Korean treats.

Biggest bronze Buddha in the world.

Under the big Buddha was an area full of little Buddhas.

No crack in this bell!  #phillyjokes

I was never more excited to see a blue sky.  This
was the last few steps to the top.

This gives you a small idea of what we came up...for two hours.
Like a stair master x 1,000

As I climbed and paused, climbed and paused, the Koreans coming from the top said "fighting!" to us and encouraged us to keep moving.  I noticed none of them were particularly sweaty, and the only odor coming from them was the smell of makgeoli.  Here I thought I was badass; they were hiking up and down steep rock stairs with ease on nothing but pajeon and rice liquor in their system.

Because Koreans don't sweat. (gotta love a double entendre)

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A couple more fun things that went down this week, purely for your entertainment (and my documentation):

~I went to a movie in a Korean theater for the first time.  The movie was in English with Korean subtitles because it was a western movie.  The theater was about as adorable as they come, clearly focused on couples with bright red lit up hearts on the wall and "couple seats" in the back rows.  The popcorn and soda sizes actually made sense instead of looking like they were meant to feed a baby giant like at home.

Love seats

Not only is the popcorn a reasonable size, you
have a choice of original, salty or caramel.

~We spent Hangul Day (a day celebrating the creation of the Hangul written language) back at our fortress, or as we and some locals, like to call it, The Korean Great Wall.  Afterwards we feasted at our favorite pajeon restaurant which appears to be becoming a tradition.

Happy Hangul Day!

The "Great Wall of Cheongju"

Matching mom and her adorable matching toddler.

Some good 'ol rustic Korean foot after a fortress hike.

~A few of us ventured off to the country where a couple friends live for a Ginseng Festival.  This was the town of the one girl Teresa, who got run over by the cow, if you recall.  (Update: that apparently did not actually happen.  She was too tired to come to dinner and purposely gave us an "over the top" excuse so we could enjoy a good laugh.  Little did she know she was clearly speaking to the most gullible people in Cheongju).  Anyway, the festival was really nice with tons of food on a stick, rotating pork, and plenty of fried up ginseng.

Roast pig

Shark?

Fried ginseng

Dehydrated Seaweed

Who needs personal space?

Crab

~Natalie introduced us to a hillside of amazing cafes and restaurants that overlooks the city and is a 10-15 walk from my apartment,  Not only do you get amazing food of all kinds, delicious and adorable coffee, and an incredible view of the city, it's also the perfect spot to catch the unbelievable sunsets here in SoKo.  I missed really good sunsets when I moved from FL to PA but the sunsets here can certainly hold their own.

A pitcher of adorable Americano.

Making iced lattes more fun with extra sugar.

It's Korea, of course her hot latte has a heart.

The hot chocolate dreams are made of.

No really....just literally hot chocolate that you add some cream to.
Oh and a churro.

Some pizza on the hill.
I've never been so excited to see the word Gorgonzola until I came to Korea.
It's not easy to come by.

And some weird stuff...

I can't help but love this scene.

I see a construction site/vehicle, and stop.  Then
I notice there isn't any kind of barrier.  Then
I see the Korean woman barrel past me and through
the construction area.  It's amazing to see a world
without the constant threat of lawsuits.