Namildae with Krista

I am in the process of writing a post about details from last week, but for now, I'll tell you about yesterday (Saturday). I asked Krista if she wanted to go to the beach with me. Neither of us had been to this beach - it's called Namildae and is in Samchempo which is about a 45 minute bus ride away. I got directions from my friend Todd and we hopped on the bus at just after 10 in the morning. We took a quick cab ride to the beach and immediately were asked by a guy if we wanted an umbrella. Krista did and it was $10 for an umbrella and a mat. Then we sat and talked for a long time. A family from church showed up and we talked to them for a little while, then we decided to get in the water and test it out.

View of the beach from the left side - the zipline is above

My feet on our mat and the lighthouse behind them. When we first got there, hardly anyone was at the beach and only 2 people were in the water. Perfect for picture taking!

This was about as crowded as it got that day. This was around 1-1:30 in the afternoon.

The weather and water temperature were perfect for me. The water wasn't as clear as the water in Namhae, but it had less seaweed and trash. We swam out a little ways, then decided to come back in an rent tubes. The tubes were $5 for the day and were a smart purchase because we floated in the water for over an hour. We also swam out to some buoys. There was a zipline set up over the beach, but it didn't seem worth the money to do it. After floating for a long time, we got out and ate ramen - because what else would you eat at the beach? After lunch, we walked down both sides of the beach. First we walked down this path that had rocks and tide pools. Then we climbed some stone steps and saw a harbor on the other side of the bay.

Some rocks near some tide pools. We walked out to them, but some of the rocks were covered with bugs, so we didn't take too many pictures and left quickly.

We tried to walk out to this little cave looking thing, but this is where the path ended. It also ended in a giant spiderweb so we didn't go out onto the rocks.

Harbor on top of the stone steps

Giant pile of muscle shells near a garden. Maybe compost?

Random garden

Then we walked to the other side to see the lighthouse. There was a path there, but we couldn't walk on it because people were doing construction on it to fix part of it. Hopefully it will be fixed by the next time I go (because I will!).

Shaky bridge. I was actually ok crossing this one. Probably because it wasn't that high and there was water under it that I could see into.

Tiny lighthouse

After our walk, we went back in the water for another 30-45 minutes. Krista had stubbed her toe really bad and wanted to wash it out in the salt water. While we were out there, we saw some jumping fish. I sort of wanted one to jump out and hit one of us so we'd have a fun story to tell, but I also kind of didn't want that to happen. It didn't. The closest one was about 2 yards away. Then we went back to our mat and read for awhile. Krista went to the shower and changed, but I decided to just wait until I got home to take a shower in my own bathroom (plus I hadn't brought clothes to change into). We got lucky and a cab was right there when we finished washing our feet off. He wasn't going to let us in originally because he thought we were wet, but neither of us were because I had totally dried off in the sun.

Me and the beach.

Nemo drawing on the sidewalk

Krista on a pile-on near a sort of dock thing. There were some guys learning how to scuba dive near there. It looked like an awful place to dive, but I guess they were having fun.

We caught a bus home and were back around 7:30. It was great day and I enjoyed spending some time with her outside of dance class. I also really liked the beach and am glad that it's fairly close and easy to get to. I will definitely go again.

Seoul USA

Last Saturday a group of nine people from IEC went to Seoul. We went to visit an organization our church helps support called Seoul USA. You can read about it here, but in short, it's a ministry that helps North Korean defectors with their Christianity. There are a variety of programs that teach about Christianity, teach basic living skills and teach discipleship for those who are Christian. We intended to go and help out with some basic things, like cleaning or folding papers etc. but the weekend that we went ended up being a special weekend. The founder and his wife were there, but they wanted us to join for fellowship and a potluck. So we decided to go and see what it was about.

I woke up just after 5am because we were leaving the church at 6 to make the drive to Seoul. Dallas fell asleep for most of the car ride, and so did some others, but I couldn't so I talked to the people who were awake about a bunch of stuff - mainly school and little projects they could do for camps in the summer. When we got there, we were introduced to some of the regular staff members, then listened to Pastor Folley give part of a lecture. He stopped the talk after another group of people (his professor who is from Finland) arrived and it turned more into a discussion/q&a session. Most of the North Koreans who were there had never really seen or hung out with Americans, so we went back and forth asking questions. There were about 15-20 North Koreans there, but we weren't allowed to take pictures because if they have any family members or friends still in North Korea, the pictures could be used as leverage or against them somehow.

First, we heard the story of one older woman and how she escaped. She tried to cross into China, but was stopped and arrested and put into jail. Another inmate was being released and somehow (I'm not really sure how this part happened) the inmate was able to get some saws or knives of some sort to the woman. She was in a cell with 4 other women and together they took turns sawing one of the metal bars on the jail cell window. The guards didn't hear the noise because of some running water nearby in pipes. They also made pillow people at night when the guards checked on them so that someone could constantly be sawing. They were able to get one bar off and squeeze through the window. At that point, our woman broke off from the other 4 and she doesn't know what happened to them. Then she went through a broker to get to South Korea. She traveled through 5 different countries and ended up in Thailand. She took a boat, but the boat broke, luckily another one came by shortly afterward. When they got to Thailand, they kept asking to be arrested because if you go to jail, it's faster to be deported to South Korea. Finally a young girl helped them and brought them some food. Refugees are taken to a detention center of sorts, which is apparently in pretty bad condition. Plus they have to pay to stay. We learned that brokers and detention centers and police are paid off and usually a lot of that money comes from a stipend that they get once they enter South Korea. The brokers often are sort of like thugs and will keep harassing the defectors or their families until they get the money. In the last 10 years, crossing fees have gone from around $300 to thousands of dollars.

Then we talked about some other things like the fact that the majority of the people there are women because a lot of them are sold to husbands or houses of ill repute in China. This causes other problems because they often get pregnant and then abandon the kids because they don't want them, but then the kids can't get adopted because you need consent of both parents and the moms can't give consent because they don't know who the moms are. We also talked about how they are taught to hate Americans and how they basically thought we were monsters until they actually met some. For having been through everything, they are such happy people. They danced for us (and made me and Cara and Ashley dance too) and use dancing and singing as a way to express themselves a lot.

One thing we did was to share food. They made North Korean food, there was some South Korean food and we brought some "American food" (I made pasta salad, there was egg salad and pb&j sandwiches). One man brought a watermelon and was so cute about it. It was actually special because we asked a question and he answered it and the pastor said that was the first time he has talked since he joined the program. He sat next to me at lunch and a girl from our church named Eugene, who's Korean, translated for us and he told us a bunch about the camps there and that his wife is still in North Korea but that his son and daughter-in-law are in South Korea now.

I talked to some of the staff and they were really nice. One girl named Pearl has been working there for 6 months now. She introduced me to one man who was a chemistry professor at a university in the north. She said his English was actually quite good, but he was shy. She also introduced me to two other younger women, one of whom has a 16 year old daughter in China still. I met another staff member named Clara who talked to me a lot.

After lunch, we went in a huge group to the Korean War Memorial museum. We took the subway all together and walked some of the way. The people are old so they were sort of tired. It was crazy hot that day and the air conditioning inside wasn't working, so some of the ladies just stayed at the front while we toured the museum and talked in a group about some other adjustment things from the Koreans.

The entrance to the museum area. The inside was covered in mosaics and information about countries who helped in the war.

Mosaic inside the dome

Turtle boat inside

Airplanes hanging

Steps into the museum: freedom and peace are not free.

Then we headed back to the main center with the staff members while most of the students went home. Then we got in our van and drove to Itaewom and had dinner at Subway. We don't have a sandwich place or anything like that in Jinju (or frankly, in many other cities), so it was a treat. Then we drove home for about 4 hours. I slept for a bit then listened to music and talked with other people. We got home around 10:30 or so and I walked home with Michelle. I was pretty tired and set my alarm for church in the morning. Then I passed out and fell asleep for 10 hours straight.

I am really glad that I made the trip and got to meet these inspirational people. It has been culturally one of the most interesting things I've ever done. Hopefully we'll get another chance to go and help them out.

On Sunday I went to church and we had discussion group. Then we went to lunch at Sommertisch. I changed my usual pattern of brunch and got a BLT. It was pretty good, but for some reason took forever to make. After lunch we went in a large group (maybe 8-10) to get coffee. On the way to the coffee shop, I saw this dog. It partially reminded me of my dog and also of a lion. My friend Charlie told me this dog was about to die because he was in front of a dog soup restaurant. So that was fun. I stayed with people at the coffee shop until about 8. Towards the end I was with two girls and we all talked about boys and life etc. It was really nice.

Eatin' dog

After coffee I met Jayden and Dallas and we went on our Sunday night walk. They got ice creams on the way home and I just had a bite of each of theirs. Then I went home and did some dishes and went to bed. It was a really good weekend.

Last week

Last week was fairly standard. I went to dance class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Monday we did squats and my thighs hurt for 2 days, but it was worth it. On Wednesday I was kind of annoyed because we had a bigger crowd than usual and I was stuck in a back corner and couldn't see what was happening.

On Wednesday I had lunch with my friend Cody at Dal Oasis. It was nice spending some time with him because I haven't seen him in a long time. And usually when I do, it's always with a group of people. He's going to Hawaii (aka home) next week for his summer vacation, so we wanted to chat before he left.

On Thursday I met Kyeong He for lunch and we went to Papiati. The waitress who studied in the states remembered me and asked where Dallas was. I then found out her name is Eun Bi and that her mom owns the restaurant. We ordered a pizza with acorn squash and sweet potato on it. It was good, but not the best I've had there. I do like trying new things though, so I'm glad we did. After pizza, we went to Cafe Bene and used my coupons to get a free cafe latte and a walnut waffle. We talked for about another hour and then she had to leave for school and I caught up on some reading.

I have an adult class on Thursdays and we had a really fun class, talking about dating and doctors and nurses and random relationships and about the husband and boyfriend of my students. I enjoy talking with these two women and I like when we have a class where we can talk the whole time without me having to direct it. I think that really helps their English ability.

On Thursday night I met up with Dallas and we went bowling. My friend Nick was supposed to join us, but he canceled because he was really tired. The very first ball I threw got me a strike, followed by a 9 and a spare. Unfortunately, the game messed up and we had to reset it. Then I threw 4 straight 7s.  So I was pissed. We played 5 games overall and the next day my thumb hurt. I used to throw an 11 pound ball, but I could only throw a 9 or 10 that night, so I need to start lifting weights!

On Friday I went to dance, then met Dallas and we went to e-mart to get salad dressing for a pasta salad that I needed to make for a potluck. Then we went downtown and ate at Hans Deli. He didn't have classes that day because his school was holding a conference of sorts. I had an extra class at school because Woods needed to talk to some parents, but only one student showed up, so I was able to go over some things he had missed earlier in the month. After school, Dallas came over and we watched a little bit of TV. We went to bed early because we needed to get up at 5ish to go on a trip the next day - that is another post that I will try to write tomorrow :)

Life in the ROK - Part 3

I have a post from last week and the weekend in the works, but until then, enjoy. If you want to read parts 1 and 2, go here.

31 -  Loud construction workers are Korea's answer to the alarm clock.
This has happened to me multiple times, usually while I'm in a motel. Luckily there isn't too much construction around my current house. I do however, live right near a school, so I hear kids and college students around 8-8:30 most mornings.

32 - Any decent men's tie should sparkle.
I'm sort of a fan of this one. They do love some sparkly ties here and some are just insane. Pink and purple are also not just acceptable colors, but common.

33 - Animals love to advertise their own consumption.
Another thing I am a fan of. Lots of restaurant signs have whatever animal you're about to eat, in cartoon form, outside eating themselves in food form. Like a chicken eating a drumstick. It's great. The best are ones that have multiple types of meat, so a cow will be eating a pig.

34 - Everyone, including 7 year olds, has a nicer cell phone than you.
This is not always true, because now many foreigners have decent phones. But everyone has phones here. Including 7 year olds.

35 - Even if you are fast asleep on the subway or city bus, you won't miss your stop.
This is not true for me, but it is for Koreans. They can fall asleep anywhere and know instantly when they should wake up. And most of the time, they aren't groggy or anything. They just pop up out of their seats and walk off the bus.

36 - At least once a week you crawl across your apartment floor to get something you forgot after putting your shoes on.
I don't do this because I don't really care about the shoe rule. I take them off most of the time, but I don't mind when people walk across my floor with shoes. I think this is because I don't eat on the floor - I eat on my bed most of the time.

37 - People think that it is really nice to meet you once again for the 300th time.
Korean kids are taught certain phrases and "nice to meet you" is one of them. It's very difficult to break them of this habit and most English teaches I know attempt it for awhile. Some give up, some actually get it across.

38 - Most laws are merely suggestions.
Often true to us. But then there are others that should be more suggestions that are strictly enforced. Like not turning left without an arrow, even if you have a green light and no cars are coming in the opposite direction. But you can run a red light without blinking an eye.

39 - All food is "delicious" with no exceptions.
Another phrase kids are taught. When you ask why they like pizza or kimchi or whatever, the answer is always delicious. Describing things is one of the tasks I'm working on now with some of my students. I've told them they are not allowed to use delicious or fun or comfortable.

40 - You never shut your bathroom door for fear of drowning.
I don't understand this one. I usually have my door shut at all times.

So there you go. Hopefully that answered some culture questions!

Namhae Beach Day

Last weekend was another pretty decent weekend. On Friday Dallas and I hung out for awhile and played rummy while we were waiting for our friend Eve to get in from Seoul. We met her near my apartment and she stayed at Dallas's. The next morning, Dallas and I decided the weather was nice enough to go to Namhae. So we met at 11 and caught a bus to the main city terminal in Namhae, then a second bus from there to the beach. I made pb&j sandwiches for the beach, but we were hungry so we ate one on the bus. We also split a cucumber. The second bus went all over little towns and we weren't exactly sure where to get off, but luckily we saw the sign for where we wanted to go. Dallas wore ridiculous pants but changed when we got to the beach itself. First, we stopped at a convenience store and got some oranges and snacks and sandcastle building supplies.

The beach was decent, but no Outer Banks. It was fairly small but didn't have too many people, so that was nice. We sun-screened (70 for me and 6 for Dallas) and sat on a blanket for a little while, then decided to go in the water. We swam for maybe 20 minutes the first time, then got out and walked down the beach a bit.

This is the sign for the beach - SangJu

Here's the view from where we sat. Notice the naked kid to the left. He stayed like that all day. Next time I will have to remember to bring the waterproof pouch and take pictures from the water because the view from there was nicer.

Korean poses with hats. Dallas said I look like a boy in this picture.

I think I look pissed but I don't think I was. Maybe I was because he kept taking picture of us when my hair looked insane.

Then we made a sort of castle. There was a pool left by some other kids and Dallas leveled it out and wanted to put the castle in the center of the pool. This is when I found out he'd never built a sandcastle before - I was like dude, you don't put the castle in the moat. So we build a wall basically, then, like a child, he threw sand at me. He got bored pretty quickly so I worked on it by myself for a few minutes then I told him he could knock it down. He smashed it all before I could get a picture.

Demolishing the previous kid's work.

We never played with the boat. But the starfish mold worked well.

Then we went swimming again and played around in the water. It got cold once we went farther out. We also were getting randomly stung by these tiny baby jellyfish. We walked down the beach then swam one more time before getting ready to go home. We laid out on the blanket for a little while so my butt could dry. While we were sitting there, we tried to come up with a plan to get back to the bus terminal. We asked another couple who was sitting near us if they knew where to go. They didn't because they had a car, but offered to give us a ride partly back to Geoje (where they lived). We decided not to do that because we could have potentially gotten really lost. It was nice of the to offer though. We decided to walk back to the area where the bus dropped us off to see if we could find a ticket office. On our way there, we saw another foreign couple and asked them for directions. They had no idea either because they had taken a cab from the bus terminal. We decided to share a cab with them and Dallas finally found one. They were pretty nice people and live in Busan. She's from the States and he's from Canada. They're mid-way through their second years here. They were interesting people and it's one of those times where I love being here - randomly meeting people and having no qualms about sharing a cab when you have no idea where you are.

70 & 6

It's hard to see, but a group of guys was playing what looked like kickball. After the game, two men picked up a third one and are tossing him in the water here.

Who bring tuna as a beach snack? His hands smelled most of the day.

View of the beach from the bus.

We got back to the bus terminal and got an ice cream for the bus. Dallas fell asleep quickly and I slept for a little bit too. Then we went to dinner and went back to my house to change because I was still in a bathing suit. After changing, we went down to the river where a bunch of foreigners met up to do the beer Olympics. I didn't really want to participate because I figured people would have had much more to drink then it looked like they actually drank. The group wasn't out of control or anything! I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in awhile and played charades (I guessed Xena Warrior Princess) and helped build a human pyramid (although I was not part of one) and spotted some people while they built another one. The two teams I helped out on won first and second place and I choose to think I had some part in that! We didn't stay too much longer because Eve wasn't feeling well and I had church the next day.

Kylie and her patriotic bottle of wine in lieu of beer.

Ryan and Ryan

Dallas's pants while they are getting ready to have a dance contest.

On Sunday I met Dallas for brunch and we got coffee on the way there. We split an orange chicken salad and usual brunch. Then we walked part of the way back towards my house and stopped off at a little grocery store. Dallas decided he wasn't going to church, so I left at that point and took a cab to church. I stayed for the discussion group, which was good for me, because they are helping me directly ask for what I need instead of generally asking for other people. After church, a huge group went to lunch together for a volunteering dinner. We went to a cold buckwheat noodle restaurant. It's actually better than it sounds. While we were eating, I helped my friend Jungwha edit a speech/paper she's writing for a model UN contest of sorts. It was actually much more difficult than I thought it'd be. Four people had written different sections, so I had to try and make it sound like one voice. Plus some of the issues I didn't know, so I had to ask her to explain them and what the other people were actually trying to say.

Cucumbers, spicy sauce and an egg. I got the version that didn't have ice water broth.

After lunch, a handful of us when to Cafe Bene to get coffee. Dallas met us there and he and Cara helped me continue to edit. Then we had to leave because we had tickets to see Superman at 6:30. Cara agreed to finish the last paragraphs. But I told Jungwha to email me the paper for a final revision because I felt bad for leaving. Luckily most of the big issues had been fixed already when I did the edit. The movie was really good although it was kind of long. The most annoying part was that a group of women came in and one of them had a kid about a year old who made noise throughout the entire movie. I was honestly surprised that nobody said anything. The theater was also really cold. Then we went to dinner and ate soup. I went home and put on sneakers and met Dallas back at Cafe Bene where we got coffees and then we started our Sunday night walk. It was a little shorter than usual because his ankle hurt and he needed to go home to call his dad for Father's Day. I really wish we had 3 day weekends :)

Sunday Funday

So this is still from 2 weeks ago. I woke up lateish and got ready for church. Dallas skips singing, so he comes a little bit late if he decides to go. The message was really good and I felt it applied to me in a lot of ways. He talked about letting down walls and to love one another and that you don't have to let negative people in your life, but you also don't have to be bitter about stuff. After service, we left and went to meet my friend Nick for coffee. I hadn't seen him in awhile and decided that I didn't need to see him only when Liezle was in town. We had some coffee and chatted for awhile about random subjects. Nick lost his wallet, but then found his credit card on the floor board of his car.

After coffee, he wanted to take Dallas and me to a pizza place in Sacheon, which is a town just outside of Jinju. We didn't really have other plans, so we decided to go. We drove for probably 20 minutes to this random little place near his school. We sat outside in a garden of sorts. Nick also knows one of the waitresses, so we got free stuff. I like free stuff. We split all our food Korean style, which I like because you get to try out different things. We had a salad with balsamic and some bread, then we actually ordered a pesto pizza, a calzone (with ham, mushrooms and cheese) and carbonara pasta. Told you we ate a lot. Then we got free papbingsu (traditional Korean dessert of shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk and red beans). It was really good. I also like the bathrooms because they were cutesy.

Pesto pizza with radicchio. I liked this a lot.

Calzone - they brought each thing out after we had finished the previous thing. This was the last item and I was full!

Smorkig is bad for you!

Free desserts taste better - fact.

The box says TP holder. That made me laugh.

This was the restaurant - we sat at that long table and the garden is towards the right.

After dinner we decided to go to the river and walk (me) or workout (the boys) before we went to a movie. Nick dropped me off to change and drove over to Dallas's so he could get some clothes too. Nick just changed in the car, but borrowed Dallas's tank top. The boys used the pull-up bars to do back an shoulder exercises while I walked for 40ish minutes. I went much faster without talking to Dallas, but it wasn't as much fun. Then I held their legs as they did some finishing up things. It was funny because old people kept looking at us.

After the river, we were all sweaty, so we got some waters before we headed to the movie theater. We watched the Will Smith movie "After Earth". The premise was a little dumb, but the movie turned out to be much better than I thought it'd be. Plus we sat in a cool theater with reclining chairs and tables. Nick actually fell asleep for a little bit, but he had already seen the movie, so it didn't matter. We had gotten smoothies before hand and it was nice being able to set them down on the tables.

Big chairs and tables in the theater.

After the movie, Nick dropped us off at Dallas's because I had stuff at his house. Then I walked home. I can't remember if I skyped my sister, but I think I talked to her later in the week. So I probably just uploaded pictures and fell asleep. It was a nice weekend. One of those times when I like not having a plan and am open to random adventures.

Busy Saturday

This past weekend was really busy, but a lot of fun. On Friday night after work, I met Dallas and we walked and talked for not quite 2 hours. We went really far and talked about a lot of things - he had a mental list.

Then I went to bed because I had to get up early on Saturday morning to have lunch with my dance teacher's daughter. She met me at the academy a few weeks ago and asked if I would "play" with her one weekend. It's one of those times where it's hard to say no because they've been so nice to me there. Her name is Min Kyeung and she's third grade middle school students, which is basically a freshman in high school to us, so she's around 14-15. Her English is pretty decent and we talked for an hour while we ate pizza and salad. She said she had to pay (although I'm sure it was her parents) and made me take the pizza home. I wanted to get a picture of the box, which they wrapped with a bow, and the pizza, which was rib meat with acorn squash and sweet potato crust, but I made the mistake of telling Dallas it was there and he ate it all. Min Kyeung and I are meeting up again at some point in the future - after her final tests, so mid-July. She might also join our dance class during the summer, which will be weird, but fun.

After lunch, I went to the church where my friend Lance was getting married. Korean weddings are different from American ones. I've already talked about my boss's, but this one was slightly different from that, possible because it was in a church. First we saw Lance in the front room and took pictures with him. We gave our envelopes with money instead of gifts, but declined the buffet tickets because I had already eaten and Ilani was going out later. So they gave us $10 cash instead! Then we saw Grace, who was sitting on a stool in the church. We talked to Brandon and some other people for awhile and the service was supposed to last 20 minutes max. Brandon was the pastor and he spoke in English, which was then translated by another church member. Then we sang a song and it was sung simultaneously in Korean and English, so that was fun. Next, Grace's uncle, who is a pastor, got up was supposed to give a congratulatory messaged and instead started talking...and talking...and talking. Both of her parents and the wedding coordinator fell asleep at some point. Then her mom threw a note at the coordinator, who then had to bring it up to the uncle at the pulpit! Everyone was kind of giggling at that point. He finally finished after probably 30 minutes. Then Lance sang the Jason Mraz song "I'm Yours" because he had to do a performance of some kind. He did well, even though he was nervous about it. Then we took pictures and she tossed the bouquet. The one Korean single girl who braved the circle, caught it. We found out later that the other single girls didn't want to catch it because if you don't get engaged within 6 months, you won't ever get married. So only girls with serious boyfriends try to get it.

The get-away car

Parents walking in, followed by the wedding coordinator

Saying "I do"

Bowing to the parents at the end of the ceremony

Me and Lance. Check out his gloves. He was also wearing make-up to go full Korean.

All the single ladies after the service.

Us and Grace. All the pictures are awkward because either you're standing and your head is miles above hers, or you're hunched over. You can see both Ilani and I chose the hunch.

After the wedding, we went downstairs to the IEC room to play some board games to celebrate Ilani's birthday. We played 30 Seconds and kept switching up the teams as more people came, so my final team ended up coming in second. My friend Kylie joined us for the last half of the game and did pretty well. It's a hard game for non-native English speakers, so I felt a little bad for some of the players. A lot of people went to Samsung buffet after, but I didn't want to go because I don't really like it that much, but always end up eating too much. So Kylie and I went to a meat place and cooked, ate and talked for an hour or so. Then I went home and changed and on our way back to her house, we ran into my friend Caleb and talked to him for about 30 minutes. Then we went to Kylie's so she could change and walked to wine bar, where we met some other people. I stayed for about an hour and drank 2 glasses of red, so I was in a happy place.

I decided to leave at that point, because I knew if I stayed, it would be a long night. So I went to Dallas's and we organized some of his music and started making a playlist for me. Then we watched a bunch of youtube videos of K-pop songs and went to bed. Sunday was eventful enough for its own post (hopefully coming soon)!

The time I was naked for 3 hours, or, my first trip to the sauna

I am not generally a naked kind of person. If I don't have to change in a locker room, I won't. I've always had body image issues and being naked around other people doesn't really help them. Korea hasn't helped that particular problem in that everyone here is obsessed with beauty and being thin and girls in elementary school go on diets and it's encouraged. So you can probably understand why going to a Korean sauna was not on the top of my list of things I wanted to do. However, it is a huge part of Korean culture, so I decided I would do it at some point during my second year.

My friend Kyeong He has been wanting me to go for a long time and I finally told her I was mentally prepared. We put it in our calendars for June 11th before work. We messaged the few days before and she sent me all the details of what I would need to bring etc. She brought most of the supplies, but I was supposed to bring lotion, my razor (and deodorant, which she didn't mention because most Koreans don't wear it) and some shorts in case the uniform didn't fit (this was more my concern than hers).

I met her just after 10 a.m. and we went inside. The building is divided into 5 separate floors. There is a family sauna, a female sauna, a male sauna, a co-ed jimjilbang and a floor for employees. We decided to do both the sauna and the jimjilbang. The price for both of them was $8. They gave us locker keys, 2 small towels and a uniform consisting of a T-shirt and shorts. First we went to the sauna. In the outer room, you have a small shoe locker. Then, using the same key inside the bigger locker room, you have a clothes locker. You strip down to naked and walk into the sauna itself. This is my first sauna, but I think most have the same general feel - just bigger or smaller with maybe some extra stuff. The room is quite warm. Because we went early on a weekday, there weren't many people and they were mostly older ladies. This was strategic on my part. The first thing you do is go over to a bank of showers. There were probably 3 aisles of showers. They're different because they are waist high and you sit on little stools. They have push button on/off switches so the water stops after awhile. You also use two bowls - one looks like a dog food bowl and the other is like a big salad bowl. The smaller one is for all your stuff - soaps, shampoo etc. The larger one you fill with water to rinse off washcloths and occasionally, yourself.

This is the one we went to. Saunas/spas are all over Korea.

You sit down on the stool and wash your face and hair. Then you scrub yourself fairly well with a loofah or sponge. I think I shaved my legs at that point too, but I can't remember. Then you go to the tubs. Because it was my first time, Kyeong He gave me a tour before we went in. Remember, this whole time, we're nakey. First she showed me the saunas - there was a steam room and a dry sauna. A group of women were playing cards in the dry one. As soon as she opened the door to the steam room, I had two thoughts: nope! and my mom would love this. Then, there were 3 tub/pools. They were each a different temperature, including a cold pool. Last, on a sort of partially inclosed porch, was another tub. We started in a mid-temp pool, while I waited to get a scrub. Scrubs and massages are optional services that cost extra. But, I wanted the whole experience, plus I needed it. We sat in the tub for probably 15 minutes before the lady was ready for me.

The scrub lasts 40 minutes. The lady is "dressed" in underwear. She was probably in her 60s and wore leopard grannie panties and a black bra and head wrap. Kyeong He told her that I didn't speak Korean and asked her a couple of other questions. There is a rubber massage table and I started face up on the table and Kyeong He told me to relax and fall asleep. I laughed. First, she washed my face with 2 different creams and used a warm towel to wipe it off. She wrapped my hair and then she put this stuff like looked like pulp left over in a juicer and that I think (based on smell) was cucumber on my face. That's when the real scrub started. She used what felt like a brillo pad or steal wool and scrubbed the crap out of me. It hurt, but I got used to it pretty quickly and my skin felt tingly after. This lady went everywhere. She would hold down my boob while she scrubbed the other one. She flung my arms and legs (and head) around like a ragdoll. When she wanted me to turn, she'd smack me twice on the leg. You turn to each side, then lie face up again. She scrubbed everywhere - I told my friend that she saw more than my ob/gyn and I don't think I'm exaggerating that much. Before each turn, she'd throw a bucket full of warm water over my entire body. This felt much better than I thought it would. Then she wiped the gunk off my face and sprayed off the bed a bit and I turned onto my stomach so she could scrub my back. This also included a partial "massage" meaning she dug her elbow/forearm in my back. She also hit me a couple of times. Then I sat up and she hit me again. Last, I was on my back again and she spread this oil-like stuff, which I later found out was seaweed, all over me. Then I was done.

I met back up with Kyeong He at this point. She had sat in the tub a little longer, then scrubbed herself. Most people don't get scrubbed every time. Lots of married ladies go everyday after their husbands go to work. If they got scrubbed daily, they probably wouldn't have skin left. We sat back down at our showers, and drank ice coffees while we scrubbed again. This time, I used her pumice stone and mainly worked on my feet.

After a rinse, we went back to the locker rooms and put on our uniforms. We walked downstairs to the jimjilbang. I got a tour here too. First there is a large open room, where if you want to sleep, you just grab a blanket and take a nap on the floor. They also had some massage chairs (like from Brookstone) and you can pay $1 to use one. In that room, there is what looks like a huge kiln that you can go inside and sit in. I had contacts in, so we didn't go in there because it's bad for your eyes if you've got lenses in. On the far side is a restaurant and bathrooms. There were 4 other rooms to relax in - an air conditioned room, a crystal room, a salt room and a stone room.

Close up of the crystal room wall

Wall and ceiling of the crystal room

First we went into the crystal room. Nobody was in there and we sat in there for a bit while Kyeong He remember how to turn our towels into "lamb ears". Then we took pictures. After that, she ran our phones back upstairs while I waited. Then we went into the salt room. It's full of pinkish salt rocks and you just lie in the middle of them. We had brought cheap face masks beforehand and put those on while we laid down. There was nobody in there either so we chatted and relaxed for about 30-40 minutes. Then we went to the stone room and stayed in there for another 5-10 minutes so I could test it out.

Me with my lamb ears aka Princess Leia look. I'm in front of the oven/kiln thing.

Me and Kyeong He. If you couldn't figure it out, we're in the uniforms. Girls wear maroon and boys wear green.

After the jimjilbang, we went back upstairs to the sauna and went into another room, that was like a mini sauna. Kyeong He said she didn't know why they had that room, but no one was in there, so we might as well go in. We showered again - shampoo, conditioner, loofah, brushed our teeth and used little hand scrubbers to rescrub. This room also had a pool with bathtub-like luke-warm water. It was big enough to swim in (well 3 strokes) so I played in there for a bit. After the last scrubbing, we got our lotions and went to a big bench and lotioned, brushed our hair and put on make-up. Then we dressed, dumped our uniforms and towels into big laundry bins and went to the outer locker room to get shoes.

It had started raining while we were inside and neither of us had umbrellas. So we ran across the street to a kimbap place for a quick lunch before we both headed to work. I'm so glad that I went. I will most likely go again, although I don't love it the way some people do. I also think I will still time it carefully and go with older ladies/no people. Going during busier times would make me more self-conscious where today, while I wasn't proud of my body, I also didn't feel ashamed. And for me, that's a step in the right direction.