The first time I saw Korean people in the rain, it was from the shelter of the bus stop while I was waiting for the school drop off. A tour group of Koreans were leaving a bus and having to make it about 3 metres across the pavement to the safety of McDonalds. They were running as if the sky was raining white hot iron filings on their heads, shrieking and grabbing at any form of plastic bag or umbrella device they could lay their hands on.
It turns out that they believe that the rain makes you sick, and so they are afraid of precipitation. And since it doesnt rain here much except during the summer monsoon, they are perhaps not as used to it as people who come from soggy countries like England!
On the way back from Taekwondo tonight there was a miniscule amount of wetness in the air - we wouldn't even describe it as spitting in the UK. But everyone was walking along under their umbrellas, terrified of getting sick. A lady helpfully told us to put our hoods up and hats on or we could get rained on (gasp in horror).
Surely if rain really made you ill, approximately 60% of the UK population would be permanently off sick?
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2 comments:
isnt there a bit of acid rain dropping there?
That's what I was thinking. Given the air pollution in Seoul, maybe they know something we don't?
I've had people tell me that lots of rain water on your hair will hurt it because of all the chemicals that end up getting washed back down on us.
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