24 June 2008

Tips for dealing with the Korean humidity

Having grown up in Hawaii, I thought I understood what humidity is, but after living in Asia, I realize that I had so much to learn. Hawaii may be humid, but we have the privilege of trade winds.

I know that summer's just getting started in Korea, but it's already quite humid. Recently, I've been introduced to two products for the home to combat humidity, so I thought I'd share.












My cousin Nani gave me a few of these cannisters filled with mysterious foam beads that are meant to suck up some of the moisture in the air and help with the damp odor. This particular product is called "Power-Up 습기 제거제."

습기
means "moisture."















We have a washer/dryer (all-in-one) in the officetel, but the few times we've tried to use the drying function, the machine put up a great fit and flooded the floor. We quickly learned to hang dry all of our laundry, which most Koreans seem to do anyway. Air drying your clothes is not so bad during the winter, but with all the moisture in the air, thicker articles of clothing, like denim jeans, take a bit longer to dry, and in effect, may smell a little funky. Heng recommended that I use this detergent because it's 실내건조, meant for indoor drying.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

growing up in louisiana, i thought i was used to humidity too, but korea is something else. Last time i was there, i was showering 3-4 times/day.

Anonymous said...

there's a laundromat near my place ut it costs like 4000won. crazy. i only use it for my sheets and blankets.

i hate the *crisp* feeling of air-dried clothes. haha, i heard that's why koreans dont use driers. they don't like the "warm, soft" dryer feel or so my marketing professor says. :]

annalog said...

I certainly won't miss the humidity when I eventually head back.

Koreans don't like the warm dryer feel? I almost forgot about warm fluffy towels... :(

Anonymous said...

...according to my marketing professor. it's interesting 'cuz our class actually had a discussion on that and many of the korean students said they didn't like the driers in the US. weird. . . .

how could they NOT? they're missing out. ㅠㅠ

Anonymous said...

Yup - I thought I knew about humidity too (Atlanta). I knew nothing!

I had no idea that's what those things are for. I kind of assumed they were air fresheners or something.

I didn't know about the special air-drying detergent either. Thanks! :)