What was that crash from the bathroom? Peter goes to see and I hear “Aaaaaaaargh!” He’s down on his knees swabbing when I go to see what’s up. The deodorant, in a glass tube, has rolled off the slight curve of the toilet back and shattered on the tile floor …
What is it about deodorant on this trip? The one important thing we managed to leave behind when we left Toronto was Peter’s kit. Luckily, he hadn’t packed his eye drops and ear meds in it! And I had toothpaste in my kit. But we were without my glasses cleaner (is that why so many of the photos I take are blurred?) and deodorant. But I wasn't worried—deodorant couldn’t be that hard to find.
Well, maybe not … When I looked in the Family Mart on Hyochangwon-gil the day after we arrived nothing resembled it. And the woman who asked in broken English if she could help clearly didn’t know the word “deodorant”. When I pantomimed rubbing something in my armpits she recoiled slightly and shook her head firmly. Hmmm—had I just presented myself as uncouth foreigner?
The racks of cosmetics and toiletries at Lotte Mart were dizzying, and everything labeled in Korean characters without English. I couldn’t sort shampoo from skin cream and shower gel and nothing looked like deodorant. We gave up on the first trip and came home to shower. Back at Lotte the next day we passed a young woman demonstrating Nivea products who spoke some English. She also didn’t recognize the word, but the pantomime worked.
It’s that bottle of Nivea deodorant that lies in shards on the bathroom floor. The monsoon is here (though so far only one day of pelting rain) with temperatures around 30 degrees and humidity to match. Even a slow walk glues a shirt to you with great patches of perspiration. We have to head out into that heat later for the Sookmyung Farewell Party …
Later the same day: Thankfully the deodorant proved easy to find this time. We scanned the shelves in the small grocery store where we buy yoghurt, coffee, spoons, laundry soap (or is that fabric softener I’ve been using?), toilet paper, cookies, cream cheese, tuna, beer … and though my eyes glazed Peter found deodorant. Nivea again, even labeled deodorant in English. It’s also labeled men, so I now remind myself of the young men in the Toronto subway. But perhaps the scent will evaporate before we arrive at Centennial Hall for the party.
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