Cultural Oddity Moment #1

Doctors always say that you should drink approximently 8 cups of water a day. Well, apparently the Korean doctors never jumped on that boat.

This summer especially I'd been drinking somewhere between 12 and 16 and cups of water per day, so when I got to Korea I was already used to lot's of hydrating. In this sauna-like environ, more than ever I just want to guzzle large glass after large, American, super-sized glass of fresh cold water.

Now you hold your horses, Steven. There'll be no plentiful drinking today or any day for the next year!

One fine day I was headed to the sink to get a glass of water. The only cups they have are as shown:


So I take what I can get, and start the tap to get my saucer full of water, when a hear the quick shuffle of feet then feel my arm get grabbed from behind. "No! Don't drink that water!" So after lengthy discussion and much dictionary usage, I realize that there is dangerous bacteria in the water. "What water can I drink?" "We make this water for drinking."

You may notice that this water that they "made" is in fact brown. That is because when they boil the water to remove bacteria they also infuse it with barley. That's right. Barley. This poses two problems.
1)Water tastes not like water, but like puffed wheat
2)Water has to be made, so I feel bad drinking too awfully much. Therefore I'm pretty dehydrated all day. And it's hot here. And they like to conserve AC.

This has been your cultural oddity moment of the day.