Well, I have to apologize for having been so long in posting. Once my work officially began at my hogwan, I've found there isn't a whole lot of time for other things, especially now that Summer Intensive schedule has begun, which is just about as "intensive" as a schedule can get, I think, but it really is great. I actually love the fact that I am teaching ALL the time with no down time, because it makes the day go much more quickly, however tomorrow will be my first day of 8 teaching hours. That is a very long time, particularly on the vocal chords and the feet since it's 8 different classes, and I have to be very "on" for the kids. But I'm sure I will survive. If the Korean teachers can do it, this American teacher can, too!
I thought I might start with telling you about my bathhouse experience. Now, I realize that the term "bathhouse" has some seriously lewd connotations in the United States, and maybe everywhere else in the world for all I know, so let's refer to it as a jimjibang from now on. As far as I can tell, the jimjibang is a very Korean institution, and in every neighborhood everywhere in Korea, you will find them. For about $10 or less, you can spend the day or the evening at one of these places, usually open 24 hours (they even have sleeping rooms), and go in and out of therapeutic pools and sauna rooms, and pay a little extra for a massage or a body scrub. I went for the first time with Gina, my Korean friend, and will tell you about my experience. I will preface by saying that as always with Gina, I feel so fortunate to experience everything the Korean way, rather than the foreigner way. It's always so much more interesting to experience things like a local, and I'm so grateful that she's always excited to see things through my eyes.
So, we went when she got off of work, which was around 11pm, and only had to walk about two blocks to get to the nearest and biggest jimjibang in our neighborhood - I had never even known it was there! It was on the 7th and top floor of one of the buildings here, and when we entered we paid entry, took some towels and t-shirts and shorts from the front room, then went into the women's area. There we got our lockers, and disrobed. They don't do bathing suits at the jimjibang. It's "all natural". We took a towel and some one-use soap things you can pay for in the locker area, and we entered the pool/sauna area. These are women-only and men-only - intermingling between the sexes is only done in the communal areas and all wear t-shirts and shorts. We showered, then we sampled the pools. One was made entirely of wood, one was filled with Chinese herbs, all were of varying temperatures, some hot and some very cold. There were three different saunas, three different temperatures and styles. One was I guess a European sauna, with wood paneling, charcoal steam. Another had minerals completely covering the walls, and they were formed into beautiful murals. Gina said it was meant to be reminiscent of the inside of a cave. This one was by far the most sweat-inducing because it was very humid. The steam wasn't coming from a natural source, but was pumped in every few minutes and was very, very hot. The third was mud and wood, old school Korean. Gina said it reminded her of her grandmother's. I loved the pools, I loved the sauna.
I also loved our snack in the communal area of traditional jimjibang food - we had smoked eggs and this health drink that is thick and blended and tasted like the leftover milk in your bowl after you've eaten cereal. The smoked eggs were brown on the inside, but tasted quite good. The drink was delicious.
The plan then was to go to sleep, get the body scrub in the morning, and then go to work. With our t-shirts and shorts on, we went to the communal sleeping room, and laid down on the hardwood floor with very thin mats and little blocks to use as pillows. I was thinking, "I can do this... I can do this." We laid down, and after about 10 minutes, I thought, "I can't do this. I am not Korean enough for this." It was very hot. It was super loud - we had laid down near the only window and it was right by a freeway overpass. My hair was wet and I wanted a shower. I do not know how to sleep on a block. I tried for 2 more hours, and then at 3am I told Gina I had to go home. We had work the next morning, and I knew if I got no sleep, I would be miserable. So, I went home and slept, and all was well. Jimjibang's are lovely things, and I will definitely go back (I want that body scrub!) but I can't imagine that I will ever sleep in one.
Here is my newest toy! My guitar, handmade in Korea... well, maybe not "hand"made, but made nonetheless! Just got it today in Nagwon Arcade in Seoul, which you will see pictures of below. It is nearly impossible to find without some very good guidance because there's no signage anywhere. I found another blogger's site this morning VERY helpful as he gave step-by-step directions. This place has every musical instrument and accessory you can imagine, and it was really fun just to walk around. I couldn't help thinking how much my dad would love it, so I wanted to try and take enough pictures for him to experience it. Sadly, the pictures don't really do it justice, but I did try. And I am thrilled to have my guitar, and am thrilled at the approximately $120 price tag. (Thanks also to the bloggers who said to haggle! The gentleman at the story gave me an asking price of $200.)
Little bit of Konglish in the sign - "Close" until 11am. I was a super early riser this morning, and it's safe to say I beat the rush! I was there by 10:45am. You'll notice there are very few people in these pictures.
Little bit of Konglish in the sign - "Close" until 11am. I was a super early riser this morning, and it's safe to say I beat the rush! I was there by 10:45am. You'll notice there are very few people in these pictures.
This is the little alleyway the web directions said to look for, then to go up the stairs. Thanks again for those step-by-step directions, mystery blog dude!
Yay for new friends! This is Pamela and Adam, and they're posing with me on the bridge crossing over to Suwon Station, which has a big mall. That night we ate dinner at Outback Steakhouse which is a large chain over here, though the menu is very different. And very expensive! I ordered a $25 ribeye that night that was probably 1/2 the size of an American Outback steak. But I still enjoyed every bite of it!
Pamela playing what appears to be a wicked game of Tetris at Suwon Station's arcade. It was massive, and this was one of the cheapy machines in the "old and ancient games" section.
Yay for new friends! This is Pamela and Adam, and they're posing with me on the bridge crossing over to Suwon Station, which has a big mall. That night we ate dinner at Outback Steakhouse which is a large chain over here, though the menu is very different. And very expensive! I ordered a $25 ribeye that night that was probably 1/2 the size of an American Outback steak. But I still enjoyed every bite of it!
Pamela playing what appears to be a wicked game of Tetris at Suwon Station's arcade. It was massive, and this was one of the cheapy machines in the "old and ancient games" section.
These are some images from a night out with Gina in Seoul a few weeks back. Seoul is a magical mix of flashing lights that is just dense with people, particularly on a Friday night. Since Gina wanted to take me to see the nightlife, I noticed that every American I saw in this environment was loud and rude and drunk. I'm sure that can't be true of every American, but I just wish there would be some rowdy and obnoxious Swede, or something. I suppose that's less likely since there aren't a whole lot of Swedish army bases nearby. There's an area there called Itaewon where all the foreigners hang out, and without getting too deeply into it, it was pretty depressing. I have an even greater appreciation now for my city, which is not a small town by any means, but is small enough and far enough away from Seoul to be unsullied, yet close enough to be modern. Anyway, I digress...
Tarot card reader on the sidewalk. There are quite a few of them, and Gina tried to convince me to get a reading, but I have no interest in it. They can be had for about $3 to $5.
Both of these pictures are of a beautiful creek that runs for at least 2 miles right through Seoul. You can see that it's sort of "sunken", and is like a reprieve from the hustle and bustle. Gina told me the whole story of it's history, but since I can't remember every detail I don't want to embarrass myself. But, look! Pretty pictures! Anyway, we walked along this creek and talked for probably an hour and a half, and it was wonderful.
I wanted a picture of myself along one of these streets. I don't remember what section of Seoul we were in, but the streets were so narrow that they're now just for foot traffic and street vendors, and something about it seemed both majestic and quaint to me. You can see in this picture how bright everything is all the time from the signs - I think it was about midnight when we took this picture.
This is Gina ordering a couple of chicken skewers for us which are very popular street food here. You can usually order them in degrees of spiciness, and I've discovered that I like them at maximum spice. This particular vendor was very, very popular, and after having a skewer I could see why. Quite good.