Here in South Korea, with us being at roughly the same global longitude as the United States, the roaches are the smaller variety that you can also find back home in Missouri. HOWEVER... there are a CRAP LOAD more stinky humans over here to pollute the hell out of the place. Which means that there are a crap load of roaches, too.
Even worse, there is this curious custom in South Korea, whereby they gobble down restaurant food that has been delivered, served on regular dishware, with metal utensils and all, and then DO NOT CLEAN those dishes or silverware after they're finished eating. Unfortunately, the goofy understanding with the restaurant service industry over here, is that the motorcycle riding dude who originally delivered your food is supposed to come back soon after you've finished chowing down, and clean up after your sloppy, belching ass.
Seriously.
These dudes actually have a big, smelly food waste collection container on the back of their motorcycle, into which they drop your nasty-ass human droppings. Okay! Great, right? Absolutely NO disposable McDonald's style paper waste, right? How green! How laudably Earth friendly!
EXCEPT... that Koreans just stack the filthy aftermath of their meal up and then set it down on the floor outside of their door, where it waits until that "happy" (but seriously overworked) motorcycle delivery dude comes to virtually wipe your way too busy Asian buttocks for you. Ah! The wonders of modern living! NO FUSS, NO MUSS!
Au contraire! "In theory" does not always "in practice" make, you know. So, sometimes, those nasty, unwashed dishes stay outside your door for days or even WEEKS! Months, even. I kid you not.
Therefore, despite the fact that I have always been a meticulously clean fellow (and actually WASH these restaurant dishes before leaving them outside for the delivery dude to come fetch -- and how FOREIGN is THAT silly little idea, right?), when all the neighbors eat delivery food, they leave their sloppy leavings out in the halls, and in front of buildings all the time.
And hey, "when in Rome," don't use your brain or anything! Don't think! Don't question the grand order of things. Just keep following right along, and try not to wonder why the hell all the cockroaches seem to love your apartment so very much!
Hmm. All the grand mysteries of the universe! Might we EVER solve them all? Hmm.
So... in addition to my wife being a very lucky woman (at least that's what I'm always telling her), having an ultra clean and tidy foreign, whitey house hubby like yours very truly, she has also recruited me to become the SUPER DUPER COCKROACH KILLER that I have unfortunately had to become. Yep. Problem is... one of those nasty little buggers just now got away. And if you think that means that there will be peace in this household until that offensive little beastie is found and TERMINATED, you are sorely mistaken. Oh, yes, there WILL be cockroach blood.
P.S. - Sorry, no pictures of cockroaches. I kill those nasty buggers as fast as I can find 'em, of course.
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| Korean droppings. Yummy? Well, I'm pretty sure it's a veritable feast for cockroaches anyway! Note - You can always tell authentic Korean food by how SPICY RED it tends to be. |
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| Not food that the motorcycle guys are supposed to come back and pick up, mind you, but surely this kind of filthy littering inside a high-rise apartment building is a DIRECT RESULT of food service industry practices in South Korea. But then... they do this in Taiwan and China too. So, just exactly WHERE are all the PUBLIC TRASH CANS in Asia? The world may never know! |
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| Trees basically double as waste baskets in South Korea. There are almost NO rubbish bins for public use in Asia, after all. |
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| Walking by and have no place to toss your used drink cup? Just set it down anywhere convenient and HOPEFULLY, somebody will clean up after you! |
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