Centuries-old national traditions leave an imprint on all spheres of human activity, including housekeeping. Every nation adheres to the basic rules even in the most ordinary things and actions that can cause only genuine surprise among other inhabitants of the planet. We have collected 7 of the most unusual habits and rules in the everyday life of Korean ladies, from which the Russian representatives of the fair sex will get dizzy, moreover, because they themselves have not thought of some of the rules.
1. On weekends - everyone is on his own
Russian women are always looking forward to the weekend to spend with the whole family. And it doesn't matter if it is a trip to the park, a trip to visit relatives or a trip to nature. As a rule, women somehow manage to do all their business (shopping, beauty salon, meeting with friends, etc.) on weekdays, after work.
Korean women do exactly the opposite. After a hard day, mostly with overwork, they try to go straight home in order to have a good rest and gain strength before the next day, but on weekends they go shopping, sleep off, make time for sports or their hobbies. And the most incomprehensible thing is that on weekends they do not deal with children at all - they do it … the fathers of the family, even if young mothers are on maternity leave, and on weekdays they stood at the machine and with overtime.
2. Cleaning the bathroom and balconies using a hose
None of the Russian people would dream of arranging a general cleaning in the bathroom, and even more so on the balcony, using a bush hose or even a watering hose. In our bathrooms, when taking water procedures, even children, very few people allow actively splashing water, and even more so personally pouring it from a hose. In Korea, there are completely different ideas about cleanliness and maintaining order. They live there according to the principle - the more water during cleaning, the cleaner the room.
Interesting fact: In Korea, bathrooms and balconies are arranged according to the principle of the European "wet" zone: the room is faced with tiles, and a drain is made on the floor in the center. For this reason, hygienic water procedures can be arranged on a grand scale and not only for yourself, but also for the room itself. It is worth noting that sinks and washing machines can be easily installed on balconies according to Korean housing standards.
3. Complete absence of carpets
Our people cannot even imagine comfort in an apartment without carpets. If the majority has already abandoned their presence on all walls, then as a floor covering, they remain the main attribute of any home. Undoubtedly, carpets are malicious dust collectors, but at the same time they perfectly absorb noise and warm feet.
In Korean apartments, due to the lack of central heating, everyone is heated as much as they can, most often a "warm" floor system is introduced. For this reason, Koreans cannot tolerate heat loss in any way and do not like carpets at all. Also, their absence saves the housewives' time and money, because dry cleaning services for such products are very expensive there.
4. Sorting garbage on pain of huge fines
In Russia, most multi-storey buildings have garbage chutes, and if not, you can always see garbage cans in every courtyard. Fortunately, in recent years, no one wanders around the yard with trash cans, because packages have appeared, but this is where civilization ended. Although in most countries of the world all households are required to sort waste, and large cities in South Korea are no exception. The situation is especially tough in Seoul, where special bags of different colors are issued, in which food waste, glass, paper and plastic are separately packed.
According to the Novate.ru authors, if inconsistencies are noticed, the owner will be fined at least $ 1 thousand. At the same time, it is not worth hoping that no one will find out, because no one takes out bags with sorted garbage into a bin or a garbage chute, but simply put it near the door of the house, from where it is taken by utilities. Unscrupulous tenants are very quickly calculated thanks to CCTV cameras installed almost at every step, so no one can escape a fine.
5. Lack of beds and bedding (in our understanding)
Traditionally, Koreans sleep on the floor, and for this reason, beds can only be seen in homes whose owners have long lived in Europe or other countries. The rest are quite satisfied with sleeping on thin mattresses in the form of our quilts and pillows of the same plan. At the same time, sheets are not provided, however, like warm blankets, they are more like blankets, although there is no central heating in the apartments (however, there are warm floors). Another feature is that bed linen is used very rarely, because Koreans wash mattresses, pillows and blankets the way we do with sheets and duvet covers.
No matter how strange it may sound, similar traditions began to be adopted in other countries, especially the owners of small-sized housing, because this way significantly saves space and money for the purchase of the necessary furniture.
Remarkable: In some hotels and hostels, guests can easily be offered thin mattresses instead of beds.
6. Toothbrushes in every corner
When cleaning a house, any Russian housewife uses a lot of sponges and rags, which, in tandem with detergents, help to keep the house clean. Korean women take a simpler view of this process, they mainly use toothbrushes, which are an ideal tool for cleaning dirt, especially in hard-to-reach places and not only. At the same time, Korean housewives try to hide toothbrushes in several places in the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and on the balcony so that they are always at hand.
7. Strange cleaning sequence and total wastefulness
Housewives of Russia begin cleaning by wiping the dust on the upper shelves and only then move on to washing the floors. At the same time, they use different rags or napkins, but no more than 2-3. But the Korean women first wash the floors, and for this they will need at least 10 rags, but without a bucket or basin of water. How it happens: a Korean woman takes a wet rag and starts wiping the floor from the far corner, as it gets dirty, she does not wash it, but takes another one and so on until the end of cleaning. As the floors are cleaned, with the same rag (if it turns out to be not very dirty), the hostess, without any prejudice, can wipe the furniture and window sills.
But that's not all. In Korea, the main thing is to keep the floors clean, but to achieve perfect order in the intervals between wet cleaning, not a vacuum cleaner, like ours, will always help … but Velcro for clothes.
These are not the only strange rules for South Koreans. There are still many strange and even incomprehensible problems that you can find out about from the following overview.