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Stories: Pyonso Stories - R.K. Nielsen

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Pyonso Stories - R.K. Nielsen 13 Jun 2003

PYONSO STORIES 
by Ronald K. Nielsen

All Korean missionaries have their not so fond memories of the "pyonso", the Korean TOILET! 

In the days before flushing toilets, the "pyonso" was an outhouse with just an oblong shaped hole in the floor that you squatted over to do your business. The term "pyonso " literally means 'excrement place' something close to the earthy English equivalent of 'sh_t house'. 

It is no wonder that the Koreans emerging into the modern world coined the new term "hwajang shil", 'makeup room', as a more respectable euphemism for the bathroom. 

The "pyonso" was usually located outside the main house or had several doors leading to it from the house to keep the smell from drifting back into the house. Therefore in the cold of winter you had to quickly do your business to literally keep your tail from freezing. 

In the heat of summer your stay in the "pyonso" was also quick because the stench and ammonia that arose from the pit below made your breathing shallow and your eyes swell with tears. 

You could almost hear the maggots below cheering for more as you quickly left. 

There was usually no light in the "pyonso" which made it interesting at night. There was also no toilet paper in those days, so we made do by using newspaper, magazines and the most common substitute was out dated missionary tracts. You first had to soften these a little by wadding them up a few times before using them. 

From time to time the "pyonso" needed to be emptied. This was done by the 'honey bucket brigade'. 

They would dip the fragrant stuff out of the "pyonso" pit into large buckets, balance two of these buckets on the ends of a six foot pole over the shoulder, carry and dump them into a large tank on a truck. 

Everyone would give these workers wide birth when they came down the streets with their 'honey buckets'. The stuff had such a stink you could smell them working for miles. 

If you ever dropped anything into the "pyonso" you usually just left it there because you could never get the stink out. However, I remember Elder Saunders running back into the house yelling for a coat hanger to fish out his wallet that had dropped in. He very carefully retrieved the picture of his girl friend and then dropped the wallet back in. 

You paid to have the night soil carried away and it would then be sold to farmers for fertilizer. Night soil was stored in pits on the farms until it was time to spread it on the fields.

The most famous of all the "pyonso" stories happened on a Branch picnic outing to the countryside when Elder Michael E. Nicholes fell into a night soil pit up to his chest. 

Even with repeated baths, he stunk for many days! Elder Nicholes was later President of Seoul Korea Mission in 1991-94.

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