Fan Death

This probably comes as no surprise to anyone, but sometimes this country makes no freaking sense.

This is a country that believes in "fan death." I'm not sure if I mentioned fan death in the past, but let me break it down for you. Believers say that an electric fan running directly on your body can kill you while you sleep.

I don't think we need to go into the whys or anything (suffocation, hypothermia, hyperthermia...) but this is a very well accepted belief in Korea. Every summer, the media reports cases of "fan death." And for those of you thinking that just a minor section of the population believes in this, I'd like to point out that even doctors and the Korea Consumer Protection Board (KCPB) warn against fans.

Actually, fans in Korea come equipped with timers to protect the public. So I'm guessing the Korean government supports this? If you're curious about it, the Wikipedia page on fan death is kind of interesting.

This danger extends beyond just fans. I've been warned against running my air conditioner at night as well. In fact, I had a little cough in the summer and everyone told me I shouldn't run my AC at night. Some of the mothers at our school complained because we ran the AC too much, and they thought we'd make their children sick.

I just found out about one of the girls in our school who is "allergic to cold water."


Okay, so apparently Koreans aren't wild about the cold. Americans can be the same way ("Don't go outside with your head wet or you'll catch cold!"), so I guess we can't judge too much.

But if they're so afraid of letting anyone get chilled, I just have one freaking question:

Why won't they stop opening the freaking windows at my school?!

I'M FREEZING!!

*ahem

I apologize for the long build up before finally getting to my pointless reason for writing, but it's driving me crazy*. Oops, I mean nuts.


*(Crazy is a very bad word in Korea.)