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.

Memorable Memorial Day

Thursday was Memorial Day here in Korea, so all the teachers (and most other people) had the day off. Ilani organized a trip to Namhae so that we could kayak. She had used this guy before last year, and another group used him for a festival earlier in May. The company is Famous Julio's Kayaking, although Julio is a Korean guy. We left Jinju at 10 am in 2 vans and drove about an hour to Namhae. The drive is really nice for half of it because you're on the coastline. Then we got into a little town that had garlic everywhere because there was a garlic festival over the weekend. When we got there, we decided to go to lunch first. We went to this little cafe that made hamburgers. They were good, but it took a long time to make them for the whole group (which was about 15 people or so). They also had an egg and spicy sauce on them.

Garlic drying on a mat on the street

After lunch we walked back, I sunscreened again, and we walked down to the shore to get some instructions and suit up. He only had 1 single person kayak and Brandon requested that. Then he asked if anyone wanted to paddle board and Dallas and Amanda decided to do that instead of kayak. We had 2 groups of people - 2 hour and 3 hour kayakers. I was in the 3 hour group, so I got paired in a tandem kayak with a guy name Mohammad. He's a researcher in mechanical engineering at the university. He was really nice and pretty laid back, so he was a decent kayak partner. I also used Dallas's waterproof camera bag for my phone, so I was the picture taker for the group once we got out in the water.

Koreans are experts when it comes to picnics etc. So while the 3 hour group finished up, they ate fried chicken.

The kayakers - thanks for the pictures Mina!

The 2 hour group struggled a bit and ended up staying in the bay. Our group went out of the harbor and into the ocean. We had the option of getting out on a pebble beach, but everyone in our group thought it was a better idea to stay in the boats and go a bit further. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was lovely, although you can't really tell from the pictures since they were taken through plastic :)

Mohammad after he cut his finger while we were getting out of the harbor (see the lighthouse).

Me and Mohammad are in the yellow kayak and Brandon is in the orange one. This is right after we got in and we're sitting in the harbor.

All the kayakers heading out

Me! I wore one of Dallas's hats to avoid head sunburn. It worked!

Dallas tried standing in the ocean part and fell in and at some point lost his sunglasses, and I got a bruise on my shin because I couldn't find out how to adjust the foot platforms until after an hour and a half. Mohammad also cut his finger somehow. Other than that there were no casualties. The hardest part was coming back into the harbor. For the last 100 meters or so, it was choppy and it felt like we were paddling and moving nowhere. But we made it in. Once everyone got back, we got some ice cream, some people got changed, and we hopped in the vans to go home.

Amanda taking a rest and throwing up the peace sign after we made it out of the harbor and waited for our guide, who ended up leaving us to help the 2 hour group.

Amanda resting again once we got to our destination (of sorts).

Brandon in the ocean

Dallas took a nap on his board and Brandon dribbled water on him to wake him up. I would have pushed him in.

Knee boarding

Standing up in the harbor. See the other boat? Some random Koreans joined our group.

The view from the front of my boat.

Dallas fell asleep on the van ride home. So did a bunch of other people, but I didn't take their pictures because I was sitting in the back seat so it was just the backs of their heads.

Once we got back to Jinju, I wanted to go home and change pants. Amanda wanted to change too and we decided to meet up after to get some dinner. While I was changing, she called, saying she had to go meet another friend and give her some stuff (she's leaving next week and sold some of her stuff), but that she would meet me later. So Dallas and I decided to go to a raw beef bibimbap place. It's a Jinju specialty and I hadn't tried it yet, but it was on my list. It was actually pretty good.

Here's our dinner. The soup is also made from beef blood - it was pretty good.

The stuff that sort of looks like tomato paste is the raw beef. Not sure what that jelly stuff is, but I tried a bite. Didn't really like it that much, but I tried it!

After dinner, we walked home through some back roads and got Popsicles. Then Dallas went home and I met up with Amanda. We got some beers at the grocery store and sat on a hill in the park and talked for awhile. It was really nice to get to talk to her for awhile before she left. After sitting for a little over an hour, we decided to go home because we were both exhausted and I had to work the next day. I went home and basically passed out. I wasn't ever sore from the kayaking, but it definitely made me tired

June - wait, what?

How is it June? More than half of my year is up already and that's just nuts. This weekend (and by this weekend I of course mean last weekend - the first weekend in June :)) was kind of uneventful. On Friday I went to Dallas's after work. I don't even remember what we did, so it couldn't have been too amazing.

On Saturday we went to a concert at his school. It started at 10 and lasted until just after noon. I saw a bunch of my students play. The school is separated into classes for ech grade. Meaning, for example, third grade has 8 classes - 3-1, 3-2 etc. Two to three classes were grouped for each performance, then they had a "good" orchestra at the end. The costumes and some of the songs were pretty cute. Some were awful. One interesting thing was that, in general, as soon as their kid was done, the parents would leave instead of staying for everyone. I thought that was kind of nice. I recorded quite a few and uploaded a selection. so for your viewing pleasure: Sound of Music, Titanic (check out the movie playing in the background - they are also wearing sailor hats and the conductor (who is one of the teachers from each class) is in full dress uniform), a dancing teacher, I wanna hold your hand, and one of my 3rd graders classes (she's playing the xylophone).

Kids dressed up as devils in little red capes and horns

This kid with a mullet sat in front of us for most of the concert

After the concert, we met one of my old students from W and her mom bought us coffee. Then we took a bus and tried to go get soup, but it was closed. We didn't end up eating anything at that point, except Dallas got an ice cream from a convenience store. Then we went to Home Plus and did some grocery shopping. I got some tortillas and was very happy about it. Then we decided to get some lunch at Yummy House, which is across the street. I ordered ramen. At some point during the day, I don't really remember when or why at this point, I got sort of pissed at Dallas. After lunch he went home to take a nap and I got a lot of stuff done at my house - laundry, dishes, cleaned some, read, showered and got dressed. Then, before I left to go to his house, I made the mistake of looking at loan stuff. My loan payment date had been switched and because of that, it looked like I had to pay and extra $400 a month. That might not sound like much, but to me it's huge. So by the time I got to his house I was really upset. He hugged me and we talked about it and everything ended up being ok. He was making dinner when I got there and we carried it up to his roof and ate during sunset. It was really nice because the temperature was about perfect and there weren't any bugs or people.

Me on his roof over looking a driving range and the sunset

Dinner - salad, veggies, tofu and kimchi

Us at dinner - with mimosas :)

 After dinner we went to GNU and went to Urban Drink. We had one drink then our friend Tae Seung and some of his friends joined us. We stayed for awhile then tried to go to a club but it was full. On our way to another place, we ran into my friend Mikan and some other people. So we all decided to go to a bar called Miller Time where we split 2 beer towers. It was fun because I like Mikan and hadn't seen her in awhile. We went home around 2 I think. When I got home I called my brother for some reason and he just annoyed me because he would tell me parts of things, but not whole situations. For example, he'd tell me he's studying, but not for what.

On Sunday morning my sister called me. She just got engaged a  few weeks ago and was looking for wedding venues and stressing out about it and needed to vent. I love talking to my sister, but sometimes wish we could just have normal conversations and not only call for super good or bad news. Then again I love knowing that I can call her, or she me, for either of those reasons.

After the phone call, I got ready for church. Then I went to our discussion group meeting. After that I met Dallas and we went shopping for him for a little bit (he bought an ugly shirt) and then we had lunch at Pasta Buono because I wanted their chicken salad. We also split a pizza but it was really greasy. After lunch we went to Jun (a hair salon downtown) and Dallas got his haircut. I like going with him to places like this sometimes because if I'm with him, they also ask my opinion instead of his and it makes me laugh. The lady was really nice and they gave us juice.

They clip the top part of his hair up while they shave the sides and back. I think it's funny.

That evening we brought Catan down to the musical fountain to play until it came on. It never came on, so we decided to just walk after the game ended. It was funny because at one point a man came directly next to us and watched us play, trying to figure out what we were doing. He didn't say anything, but stood there for about 5 minutes or so. As we were walking, we heard meowing and Dallas spent close to 30 minutes locating Hugo (read that story here). When I got home from that, I skyped with my family, who was at my aunt's house for an engagement party for my cousin. My cousin got on and watched me open a box she had sent. It had a little box asking me to be a bridesmaid and a bottle of champagne - which she sent through the mail! We talked for a little while longer, then she had to go back to the party and I had to go to sleep!

Me and Wawa and champagne!

All in all, it was another nice weekend in the 'Ju.

Hi!

Sorry - posts are coming! I needed some pictures and I've been really tired and/or busy this week so I haven't been online in awhile. I've got 3 in the works!

Here's a picture of a kid inside the hamster wheel being turned by his friend. I still have no idea how he got in there.

Hugo: how I almost became a mom

On our Sunday night walk, as we were passing a large chunk of bushes, Dallas and I heard meowing. It was kind of loud and we thought maybe a cat got stuck and needed help. Dallas climbed up in the bushes and searched for the cat. We finally found him, but he kept running back and forth, so I knew he wasn't stuck, so I told Dallas to leave him. He didn't and crawled after it for over 30 minutes. He finally came out with this tiny little thing. He snuggled right into me and started purring when I scratched his ears.

We debated for a long time about what to do. Neither of us can afford a cat right now - shots and all that stuff are expensive. Not to mention what happens in 6-8 months when we go home and can't bring him with us. We decided to feed him and let him go. It was really hard just leaving him, but we knew that if we brought him home, we wouldn't want to give him up again.

The next morning, on my way to dance class, I messaged Dallas and we both still felt really bad. So I decided to go back to the spot where we left him last night to check on him. If he was still there we decided it would be a sign to keep him. Dallas called him Zuko, and I called him Franklin and we came to the happy medium of Hugo. Well, he was there. I crawled though an azalea bush for 10 minutes and got covered in dirt, but I got him.

This is the text conversation I had when I got to my apartment:
Me - Do you have class right now?
D - No, I have a ten minute break.
D - Why?
Me - Someone wants to say hi.
D - You're kidding! Omg.

Hugo sat like this for a long time. He liked being on my neck.

So then I walked to the school and met Dallas outside for a few minutes. As soon as I walked back into the apartment, Hugo hid behind the TV and started meowing like nobody's business. I had some canned chicken and put that out on a Tupperware lid because my bowls are all too big for him. Then I took a shower. When I got out he was still meowing and would not shut up. I had to hold him or he'd meow. Then he got behind the refrigerator and I had to use an umbrella to poke him out. I made a makeshift cage but he really hated that. Dallas came over during his lunch break and watched him while I finished getting dressed and getting ready for work. Right before Dallas left to go back to school, we put Hugo on my bed, where he promptly peed all over my comforter. I threw it in the washing machine while Dallas gave Hugo a rinse in the sink.

I stuck him in a sweatshirt for awhile to see if that calmed him down...it didn't.

Then he became super sweet and snuggly. He crawled on my shoulders and licked my chin. He left me hold him like a baby and tipped his head back while I scratched his chin. He purred like a mad man and fell asleep on my chest. Then I had to leave to go to work and decided to put him in the kitchen because there were less places to hide and if/when he peed again at least I could find it. He didn't like being left alone and meowed again. I could hear him from the window as I walked to school and that's the last memory I'll have of him, which makes me sad.

Kisses

Sleeping on my shoulder

Dallas came to pick him up around 3 and brought him back to school. Hugo hissed at him when he first came in. He acted about the same as he did at my house - super nuts or super sweet. Then he brought him to GNU to meet a friend who's in vet school. That's when we found out that Hugo is actually a girl and that she's about a month old. There is a shelter at the school and a friend of the student's is actually watching her now. I'm glad that she's being taken care of, but I still miss having her around, even though she was annoying with all the meowing.