i was sharing this story with a local friend the other day, and as she laughed in knowing understanding she said, "these are the kinds of stories we need to share with people at home!"

so, you get two.

daily discovery #1

when i first came to korea, i had heard that composting is very common, but we didn't have it in my old building, probably because it was too small.  or, probably we did, but i never worked out how to do it.  anyway, when i moved in january, i asked the other foreign teacher at my school about composting in our building.  she said we didn't have it.  so, i was bummed but figured it wasn't that common after all.

but lately, it's been on my mind.  and something got me thinking.  i don't know what...maybe the choice of trash bag colors at the shop.  maybe the memories of run-ins with my trash man...

let's examine the run-ins.  i bought yellow trash bags.  seemed like a reasonable color.  i put my trash in the dumpster thingy.  i put my recycling in the recycling thingys.  but the trash man always looked at me askew and grumbled.  then one day, he lost it.  he was speaking very loudly in frustrated tones, gesturing to the dumpster, my trash bag in my hand, and this little garbage can next to it.  i looked in the dumpster. trash bags.  i looked in the garbage can.  dirty, but empty.  i held up my bag.  i gestured to the bag and to the garbage can.  he nodded.  i tried to put it in there.  he protested loudly.  he got louder and more frustrated, and took it away from me, threw it in the dumpster, but didn't seem happy about it.  i stood there getting yelled at for as long as i could, but understanding nothing, i eventually just bowed in respect and left.

after that, i just hoped the trash man wasn't there when i went to drop off my trash.  he always just grumbled at me.

so i got to thinking.  i got to thinking about that garbage can.  so i went to the trash room and looked in the dumpster.  yep.  lots of bags of trash.  then i opened the garbage can.  a few, small, yellow bags.  i stared at them for a long time.  finally i worked out that one of them had a piece of watermelon rind in it.  the others had soft things, not packaging things.  food?  viola!!!  composting!!!

so, i went to the shop and bought a little composting bucket (with a lid to deter cockroach parties) and some little yellow bags.  i'm not currently using yellow bags for my trash as i switched to white hoping to make the trash man happy.  the dumpster, of course, was filled with pink ones when i looked the other day, so he's still gonna be irate with me until i use them all up, but at least i figured out the composting.

can't wait to see the trash man again.

daily discovery #2

you cannot drink the water from the tap.  my skin and hair don't even approve of it being used on them.  so, you have to buy bottled water.  but do you have any idea how many empty plastic bottles that is?  do you have any idea how much money that is?  each bottle is a liter.  each bottle is a dollar.  each week i'm lugging these empty plastic bottles to the dungeon of doom, where the irate trash man awaits me.  (well, not anymore ;) )  but the waste!!  i mean, recycling's great, but it still takes a lot of energy to recycle. 

so i got to wondering.  not the first time, it's been on my mind the whole time i've been here.  but lately, i really got to wondering.  then one day, i had a little memory of being at jason's in thailand, and as a river guide, it bothered him also to go through so many bottles for his guests. he finally worked out that he could have big jugs delivered to his house and fill the bottles for the guests from there.  a liter bottle of water in thailand is 5 baht (less than 15 cents).  a big jug is also 5 baht.  delivered.  hmmm...

so, i went to my school and asked my boss about it.  sure enough, i can get water delivered.  for an 18-liter jug, it's $3.  delivered. 

i told my neighbor. he's so excited that he's going to do it, too.  i have to tell the rest of my friends, as everyone buys water bottles. 

yeah, only took me two years to work that one out.  but, not so bad...it took jason six.

:wink: