This post is going to a little different. Last week
I was teaching the five senses to some of my students. For those who do
forget they are: sight, hear, taste, touch, and smell. During those
lessons I started thinking that whoever does read this gets to experience some
sights that I do see, but what about the other senses. So this post I
will walk you through the smells that I experience on a typical day.
Waking up the other day I did smell rain. A side note on the smell of
rain. The smell of rain here isn’t as strong as back in Arizona. I
think this is because the fact that it is always humid here and not dry, and so
the smell of moisture isn’t that strange. Just an educated guess, but of
course I do smell it more when I start walking to the bus stop. When it
isn’t raining and I walk outside to go to the bus stop I smell the trees and
wild flora. Right around my apartment it almost is like a pine smell, but
not exactly the same. Since it is Spring I also smell the flowers and other
shrubbery as I am heading to the bus stop. Of course each different type
has a different smell. At the bus stop if you stand behind the bus it
will smell like exhaust. Once getting on the bus you can smell the
leather and it typically has a wet smell. This is true even when it isn’t
raining because I think they wash the busses in the morning. Heading to
school there is a very strong smell of fish. This is in town and not even
by the beach yet. This smell originates from the three streets (all parallel
with each other) where the fish market is located. One day I will have to
take pictures and then post them for your sense of sight (I will have to put a
disclaimer because some look nasty). For now though the thought of a fish
market and that smell just multiplied is what I smell while riding in the
bus. Once we get out on the main road the smell changes to the trees and
wild flora. Of course on the bus it does fill up and so if somebody
didn’t take a shower then you could potentially smell them. Another smell
I experience on the ride to school is the smell of fields. Now keep in
mind these fields are different then back in Arizona. These fields have
rice, bean sprouts, and different things that require the fields to be
flooded. With the fields being flooded it does produce a rich not always
pleasant smell. You do get used to the smell because on the way to school
it is all fields along the way.
Walking up to school there are some more flowers and different trees that do
produce some distinct smells. Inside the office area (all the teachers,
including me, are here) it smells like coffee and tea. This is because
there is some tea and coffee everyone is making in the morning. The tea
is stronger and it is a wheat tea, so it has a wheat kind of smell.
Besides the drinks it is a typical office smell with all the computers and
people busy working. In the classroom there is the smell of chalk and
chalkboard in the classrooms that have them. If not chalkboards then it
is a whiteboard with the marker smell. Now onto the special smells found
at my marine science school. In a building behind the office there is an
aquarium. It does have real life fish with tanks and everything. So
walking in there, especially where they hold the bigger fish, it smells a
little like fish but these ones are at least alive. It does smell more
like the sea water because they are always cleaning the tanks, rocks, and
anything else that needs to be cleaned. Then over in one corner of the
main school building walking in that direction a distinct smell makes it way to
my nose. The smell of metal being grinded, cut, welded, and machine
worked. Each of these there is a slightly different smell, but it seems
like one day they will do something and then the next it will be something
else. It does remind me of working on the cars back home in the
garage. Down another area of school is a strong smell of oil and of
engine smells. They do have a couple different engines here that the
third year students seem to always be working on. So some days that
doesn’t smell good because I don’t think burnt oil is the best smell.
For lunch the cafeteria does have the smell of the food wafting through to
everyone’s nose. In general Korean food doesn’t have a strong smell and
of course each day it does smell a little bit different depending on the
food. For the most part the “spicier” (Korean spice is different than say
Mexican food spice) food does have a stronger smell. Sometimes on my
lunch break a co-worker and I go on a walk towards the beach. The beach
does of course have the sea smell. On the way down there it is a smell of
more construction. They are constructing some more hotels and so it is a
lot of metal smell and not a lot of wood smell. It is very humid and
“wet” here so building with wood isn’t the smartest so of course they have
adapted.
After school I head towards the
bus stop. At my bus stop I could throw a rock into the sea, so that area
smells like the sea. Once on the bus I head back through all the fields
again. Maybe when they start picking or at least however they get the
product there might be a different smell. For now though it still smells
the same as described earlier. I get off at my stop and since it is later
in the afternoon some people have already put out some trash along the
road. For trash pick-up it just goes on a corner and by morning it is
gone, but on the way home there is a smell of trash from these various
piles. Once home I walk into my apartment and it smells like wet
clothes. My clothes are drying. I do this by hanging them up since
I don’t have a dryer.
Those are
pretty much the smells that I experience on any given day. I hope this post was somewhat interesting and
a little bit unique. I will write later
when I am not busy out relaxing on the beach or enjoying the nice spring
weather.
Waking up the other day I did smell rain. A side note on the smell of rain. The smell of rain here isn’t as strong as back in Arizona. I think this is because the fact that it is always humid here and not dry, and so the smell of moisture isn’t that strange. Just an educated guess, but of course I do smell it more when I start walking to the bus stop. When it isn’t raining and I walk outside to go to the bus stop I smell the trees and wild flora. Right around my apartment it almost is like a pine smell, but not exactly the same. Since it is Spring I also smell the flowers and other shrubbery as I am heading to the bus stop. Of course each different type has a different smell. At the bus stop if you stand behind the bus it will smell like exhaust. Once getting on the bus you can smell the leather and it typically has a wet smell. This is true even when it isn’t raining because I think they wash the busses in the morning. Heading to school there is a very strong smell of fish. This is in town and not even by the beach yet. This smell originates from the three streets (all parallel with each other) where the fish market is located. One day I will have to take pictures and then post them for your sense of sight (I will have to put a disclaimer because some look nasty). For now though the thought of a fish market and that smell just multiplied is what I smell while riding in the bus. Once we get out on the main road the smell changes to the trees and wild flora. Of course on the bus it does fill up and so if somebody didn’t take a shower then you could potentially smell them. Another smell I experience on the ride to school is the smell of fields. Now keep in mind these fields are different then back in Arizona. These fields have rice, bean sprouts, and different things that require the fields to be flooded. With the fields being flooded it does produce a rich not always pleasant smell. You do get used to the smell because on the way to school it is all fields along the way.
Walking up to school there are some more flowers and different trees that do produce some distinct smells. Inside the office area (all the teachers, including me, are here) it smells like coffee and tea. This is because there is some tea and coffee everyone is making in the morning. The tea is stronger and it is a wheat tea, so it has a wheat kind of smell. Besides the drinks it is a typical office smell with all the computers and people busy working. In the classroom there is the smell of chalk and chalkboard in the classrooms that have them. If not chalkboards then it is a whiteboard with the marker smell. Now onto the special smells found at my marine science school. In a building behind the office there is an aquarium. It does have real life fish with tanks and everything. So walking in there, especially where they hold the bigger fish, it smells a little like fish but these ones are at least alive. It does smell more like the sea water because they are always cleaning the tanks, rocks, and anything else that needs to be cleaned. Then over in one corner of the main school building walking in that direction a distinct smell makes it way to my nose. The smell of metal being grinded, cut, welded, and machine worked. Each of these there is a slightly different smell, but it seems like one day they will do something and then the next it will be something else. It does remind me of working on the cars back home in the garage. Down another area of school is a strong smell of oil and of engine smells. They do have a couple different engines here that the third year students seem to always be working on. So some days that doesn’t smell good because I don’t think burnt oil is the best smell.
For lunch the cafeteria does have the smell of the food wafting through to everyone’s nose. In general Korean food doesn’t have a strong smell and of course each day it does smell a little bit different depending on the food. For the most part the “spicier” (Korean spice is different than say Mexican food spice) food does have a stronger smell. Sometimes on my lunch break a co-worker and I go on a walk towards the beach. The beach does of course have the sea smell. On the way down there it is a smell of more construction. They are constructing some more hotels and so it is a lot of metal smell and not a lot of wood smell. It is very humid and “wet” here so building with wood isn’t the smartest so of course they have adapted.
After school I head towards the bus stop. At my bus stop I could throw a rock into the sea, so that area smells like the sea. Once on the bus I head back through all the fields again. Maybe when they start picking or at least however they get the product there might be a different smell. For now though it still smells the same as described earlier. I get off at my stop and since it is later in the afternoon some people have already put out some trash along the road. For trash pick-up it just goes on a corner and by morning it is gone, but on the way home there is a smell of trash from these various piles. Once home I walk into my apartment and it smells like wet clothes. My clothes are drying. I do this by hanging them up since I don’t have a dryer.
