the amazing bacteria killing man

a couple of weeks ago as i was walking home i saw a man. no, that's not the interesting part... he was carrying what looked like a leaf blower that was spewing smoke and fumes into the street. he was walking up and down all the streets with this 'smoke blower'. i thought it odd, but hey, this IS korea, and i've encountered stranger things, though i'm at a loss to think of any at the moment.

the 'smoke blower' made an awful lot of noise as well, so a couple of days later when i heard it outside my house i leaned out the window to take some photos of him:

from a little far away

and closer up...

what is that thing? if you look closely you can see the smoke coming out the front of it. well, being the curious cat that i am, i had to find out, so i went to the venerable source that is my co-teacher. she said he was spraying to kill the bacteria in the air. "bacteria?" i asked her. "there is bacteria in the air at this time of year," she said... she couldn't tell me more than that... i guess she isn't so wise as i paint her to be... but at least she gave me that much.

i suppose it makes sense that there would be more bacteria in the air and water during rainy season, but this is the first i've heard of spraying the streets... just a little more korean strangeness...

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in other news... i will be in thailand in 25 days. i got a typhoid shot the other day... no adverse reactions... thankfully.

i have now had over 6000 visitors to this blog since november 2006 - woot!