How I Spent My Saturday Night: Hanging Out Naked With Dozens of Strangers

Well, I think the title says it all, really. I had a particularly wild Friday night: it was my girl friend's going away party, and I was out until all hours laughing, singing and dancing with my friends. Saturday morning (afternoon, really), we all managed to drag ourselves out of bed and met downtown for Western style breakfast (pancakes and eggs!) and gripe about our collective headaches. After that (and a little shopping at the dungeon/thrift store), we felt perfectly fine heading back to our beds.

Though understandably apprehensive about it, I have been planning to try a jjimjilbang (sauna/spa) for a while now. I want to try as many new things as I can while I'm over here, and while some people (most of my friends) are totally weirded out by these places, I decided to be brave and try it out, alone. I felt that Saturday night was the perfect time: the jjimjilbang would presumably be empty, and especially since everyone else I knew was busy nursing hangovers, and I had wasted about five hours in bed enjoying a 30 Rock marathon (no regrets there). So, around 7:30, I hopped on a bus and began the twenty minute ride to Pyeonggeodong.

I have had no experience doing this before and was more than a little nervous about it; I just knew to go to this particular building, go up to the third floor, get naked, and sit in a sauna (?). I thought I had an idea of what to expect, but, as is almost always the case here in Korea, I was very wrong. I arrived at the building and went into the elevator to go up to the third floor. When I got up there, there was a woman at the door motioning for me to go back to the first floor. I was confused, but I did it anyway. It turns out I had completely missed a step: paying at the front desk/getting towels/pajamas/a locker key.

After that, I went back up to the third floor and entered the changing room (women's only). All around me were dozens of Korean women, of all ages, in various states of undress. I found my TINY locker and shoved all of my belongings in there. Then, I got naked, and, holding my two (hand) towels, was kind of confused as to what to do next. Where do I go?! What do I do?! I spotted a weird, sweaty looking door and headed toward it.

I walked into a large, steamy room full of naked women. It's not to say that I am necessarily a prude, or uncomfortable with nudity, but it's a pretty different experience for me, and it took some getting used to. It's strange being in a place where there is no shame in getting completely naked. To my relief and surprise, no one seemed to take much notice of me, except for one kind woman who saw that I was clearly confused, and ushered me over to a shower. It was soon clear that my first objective was to take a shower, and seeing provided soaps and shampoos, I did. After that, I explored my options: on my left were four large, shallow pools: one at room temperature, two hot tubs, and one cold tub. In front of me were two saunas of varying degrees, to my right a "scrubbing station," which is essentially a corner of the room where you can pay to be scrubbed down, head to toe, with basically sandpaper. (I opted out of this after a friend told me of how a particularly rough old woman left her raw, trying to scrub off her tattoos.)

I started with the hottest hot tub available, which was a nice, simmering 104. It was cold outside, and the tub was great, even while surrounded by old ladies staring at me. I really enjoyed the saunas and even the cold tub, which was probably about 40. After an hour and a half, I decided to head upstairs to the "lounge." When I got back to my locker, though, the key wouldn't work! In a scene straight out of most people's nightmares, I could not get my things out. Standing naked and helpless in front of my jammed locker, I began to panic, imagining myself hailing a cab completely naked. After about ten minutes, the attendant came to my rescue, gave me a wonderfully large locker, and, after I put on the pajamas they gave me, even directed me upstairs to the lounge, where I immediately chugged ice water.


Upstairs (now co-ed) were a small restaurant, beds, and more specialized rooms: a freezer room, a refrigerator room, varying wood saunas, and my favorite, a hot stone room with a floor made out of quartz pebbles (hot) that you lay on (surprisingly comfortable!). I stayed up there for maybe an hour more and, feeling amazingly refreshed, went home around 10:30, just in time to make the last bus back to Chilamdong.


All in all, I would sum up the experience as a positive one. Even though most of the time I had no idea what I was doing, and almost had a heart attack when I thought my stuff was really stuck in my locker, I left feeling completely relaxed, warm, and happy. Seeing as though the whole experience cost me less than five dollars, I will definitely go back and probably enjoy it a lot more.


More soon!
<3M

Brokedown Palace

It is surely winter here- sunny, but so cold that after being outside only a short time, my face has become chapped. Last night I went to dinner with friends and enjoyed helping after helping of delicious grilled beef. After we finished eating, two of my girlfriends, Kyle and Rosie, showed me where to find a jjimjilbang. Jjimjilbang is essentially a sauna: it's a place where people go to sit in a variety of hot rooms, heated pools, etc: you can even opt to get a full body scrub (basically rubbed down with sandpaper) and come out soft and new (and raw). After the scrub or sauna or whatever you decide to do, the place gives you a set of pajamas and you sit in comfortable chairs and drink tons of water and eat fruit. I have heard endless good things about these places, and especially because it's so cold and dry, I plan to head to one this weekend. (All of this costs about five dollars.)

After they showed me the place, I hopped on the bus as usual to head back home. It was about 10:15 PM, and the buses in Jinju run until eleven. Though I was pretty far from home (apx. 20 minute ride) and had to transfer to a different bus, I had plenty of time to get back to the stop before the end. Or so I thought.

The bus began chugging along at an alarmingly slow pace: usually, buses are the fastest, most dangerous vehicles on the roads. There were strange sputtering noises coming from the back of the bus, but looking around at the sparse few others on the bus, no one seemed to take notice. Glancing at the first stop, I decided to ignore my instincts and stay on. At the first stoplight, I knew something had gone wrong. The noises had suddenly amplified to the point that they were beginning to hurt my ears, and looking around, there was only one other person still on the bus. We sat through two lights, the wheels spinning and spinning, the bus never moving. Finally, we jolted to a start and kept going. I wanted to get off then, but there were no stops, and before I knew it, we were at another stoplight. By this time, the noise was so loud, I was sure something was going to explode. I somehow knew that the bus wouldn't be moving again, but my options were increasingly limited: 10:35, bitterly cold, and still too far from the transfer bus to chance walking it.

After sitting through three traffic lights, the driver cut the engine and yelled something in Korean to the two straggling passengers: myself, and a young woman heavy with grocery bags. He turned off the bus lights and opened the doors. It was time to get off. 10:40, I had just twenty minutes to get to the other bus. I ran as fast as I could, and I was actually impressed with my speed: though I was certainly out of breath and cold, I was going to make it! After about five minutes at a steady pace, I heard a vehicle approaching me, beeping loudly. I looked to my left and saw the same bus driver, motioning toward me to get back on! Not only that, but he asked me in Korean, "where do you live?" I told him, and he TOOK ME ALL THE WAY THERE, even though it was completely off his route, even though I was the only one on the bus. Incredible! Only in Korea.

More soon,
<3M

Seollal Seo-lolz

Today is Seollal, Lunar New Year in Korea. It's one of the biggest holidays of the year here- much bigger than December 31. It is also one of the biggest travel holidays in Korea- about 35-40 million people hit the highways, busses and trains in just two days. I decided to head to Daegu, a city about two hours away, with CR, Tony and Jenna for a second chance at New Year's Eve. Eve and her boyfriend (visiting from New Zealand) were supposed to come, but because of traffic delays, he didn't arrive to Jinju in time to catch the train with us. 

walking the streets, a cold, sunny january day!

Tony and Jenna were there already and had found us a 'love motel,' which is basically a super cheap, scummy (but awesome!) place that Korean 'couples' stay at. To better describe it to you, there is a window that allows you to see into the shower, a very large, comfortable, sometimes vibrating bed, at least one 24/7 porn channel, and always a 'love kit' with all the essentials for lovers included. Perfect! The theme to our room was "Marilyn Monroe: A Tribute." Tony and Jenna got "Lichtenstein: A History."

We went to a super delicious buffet at a brewery right next door with WESTERN FOOD and microbrews! It was unbelievable- all you can eat AND all you can drink for less than $20!! To top it all off, there was a house band, husband and wife, playing 80s hair band covers, no joke. They were dressed in Axl Rose attire, and they were actually incredible. I can't wait to go back.

CR, Tony, Jenna and I loving the buffet!

After the buffet, we ventured out into the city where we met this guy, Jason Irish, who is from Lewiston, NY! He went to school with the Clark sisters, two of my dear friends from Buffalo!! It's so crazy, I really do meet people from Western New York so frequently here. We started a "LET'S GO BUFFALO/Bills make me wanna SHOUT/716!" chant, ate pizza in a cup and drank gin out of a bag (they do things differently here). I made friends with the bartender and fun times were had!

representing buffalo in the far east, two well behaved americans 

Bar Art/Bart

99+ luftballoons

In the morning, CR and I gathered up all of our strength and got ourselves home. It was a little more difficult than we had anticipated- we forgot we were competing for train seats with thousands of other people- but we managed to snag two seats on the bus and snored all the way back. I spent the rest of my vacation in various forms of disrepair, in and out of bed, and loving not doing anything. Most everything in Jinju is closed today- and it's far too cold out for me to be motivated to do much else :)

Tomorrow I hope to do more of the same! Haha. Happy New Year again!!
More soon,
<3M

Lost My Keys, Landfill

Today was my first day of desk-warming, which I will be doing for three weeks now. I have to say, it was remarkably easy to waste six hours. I have nothing to show for it, but I wasn't bored. I didn't accomplish anything. Maybe tomorrow I should begin planning some lessons?
Today I also lost my house keys. I only realized this after lunch; they had presumably fallen out of my coat pocket somewhere between my apartment, the bus, and school. I was in a rush this morning, so they could really be anywhere I guess. I'm still kind of in disbelief about it. Not cool. I tried to talk to Ellen about it, and she seemed to think it was no big deal whatsoever, thinking she had a spare set somewhere in her apartment. We went to her place, and she found the key. However, when we made a copy of it, the copy didn't work. Tomorrow I'll have to make another!

This past weekend was really wonderful!! Friday night, Eve hosted dessert night at her apartment. We all made various desserts, brought them, and ate them. A simple concept beautifully executed. We stuffed our faces with funfetti cake, blueberry cobbler, a delicious tiramisu like creation, blueberry roll, brownies, ice cream, and chocolate rice krispie treats, washing it all down with plenty of ice cold milk. Yum, it was the best!

desserts!

Saturday my friend Caroline and I headed to the coast, to a city called Tongyeong, which is about an hour away. The weather was perfect for walking along the sea, and even though at first we had no idea where we were (actually lost in a landfill on the complete outskirts of the city!) we eventually made our way into Tongyeong proper and had a lovely time.

 We spent the afternoon walking right next to the ocean, all over the city, to an outdoor sculpture park, a traditional fish market, a folk history museum, and even a grafiti exhibition. We found a  store that sold imported Asian products, and we each picked up heaps of Thai and Indonesian sauces and spices.

hanbok in the folk museum

beautiful tongyeong

traveling through time and space in the sculpture park

We came back from Tongyeong in the evening and met our friends for Vietnamese food in Jinju, and more fun times were had. Hooray for great weekends!

Odysseus Cable

Funny story of the day:
Recently my internet decided to stop working. After endless frustration, I broke down last night and investigated the cause: my ethernet cord was broken. An easy enough fix, I was actually relieved, because I was convinced I could take care of the problem by myself! Hooray!
Today I went into work and asked Ellen if she knew of any place I could buy this cord. She thought about it for honestly, maybe five solid minutes, standing next to me. The pause was beyond uncomfortable. When she finally 'came to,' she said, "Ah Mandi. The Samsung store near to your house will have the cable." Great! Off I went on my little journey. Home by five!
There are actually maybe ten Samsung stores "near my house." They all sell different things, which I didn't know. I picked one "near my house," where I was met by two young bored looking gentlemen assembling phones, and asked if they had an internet cable.
"INTERNET CABLE?!?!" They replied.
"Yes," I said. "Lan cable. Internet cable. Cord." I did a lot of pointing at cords. They looked extremely puzzled and showed me various mouse models, a printer, and some cell phones. Five minutes later and they still weren't getting it. I thanked them and walked out the door. Next!

"Do you have an internet cable?"
"INTERNET CABLE?!?!" They replied.
"Yes, LAN cable, internet cable, cord," I replied. More pointing, more printers, more cell phones. Three minutes later. I looked around and wasn't seeing anything promising.
"Lan cable," I said one more time.
"OOOOHH!!!! LAN CABLE!" Eureka! The shorter one understood me. "Sorry, no. No cable." At this, Shortie wrote a phone number down on a piece of paper. REALLY DUDE?! I DON'T WANT YOUR FREAKING PHONE NUMBER RIGHT NOW. UNLESS YOU ARE CALLING TO GIVE ME A LAN CABLE. Then he started drawing a map, and wrote a bunch of things on it in Hangeul with various arrows.
"Internet cable store," he said, and pointed at the destination, with a Hangeul name above it. Of course there's an INTERNET CABLE store. Anyway, exasperated and a little embarrassed, I thanked him and left, trying to follow his map. From what I could read, it meant for me to turn left at the Jeil Wedding Store (?). I live in a neighborhood with a lot of wedding stores, so it made sense.
After walking for about twenty minutes, I got a little closer to the wedding district and flagged down two auspicious, chubby middle school boys, showing them my map. I figured they were probably my best bet for English speaking Koreans on the street, and asked, "Jeil wedding store?" They giggled, because they were being addressed publicly by me, a white lady in a fur hat (presumably Russian, presumably a prostitute) asking where this wedding store was. Through the giggles and the extreme broken English, they told me to go straight, then turn right. I followed their directions, and looking over my shoulder, I saw that they were following me. I kept pointing at streets and saying, "turn here?" And they would giggle and shake their heads. Finally, after a seemingly endless walk, I found the right wedding store, and the right Internet Cable store (wtf, seriously Korea), and bought my LAN cable for less than two dollars. Phew!

In other news, here's the finished product of my movie with my students this week. The English is unintelligible, and the story is completely senseless (don't even try to follow the action), but they really had a lot of fun and went completely crazy when I showed them the Youtube video today in class. I'm both sad and relieved that it's over, and can't wait to do another camp in the summer.
Behold: Youngcheon Ghost Story.

More soon,
<3M

Pills, Puppies, Princesses and Plane Tickets

This weekend was really nice, super low key, and generally wonderful.

I haven't been able to breathe very well recently, I've been getting a lot of nosebleeds, and I've been told (by my friends) that my snoring is out of control, haha. I wanted to get checked out by a doctor, and so on Saturday my Korean friend, 오주헌 met me downtown and took me to an ear, nose and throat hospital. He served as my translator the whole time and helped me through the question/answer stuff. He even held my hand when the doctor inserted a camera all the way up both of my nostrils (so weird and uncomfortable)! Anyway, after ruling out any blockage from a deviated septum, they did a "smelling" test, which basically put 25 vials in front of me and made tell them what I smelled. I have a 50% olfactory loss! The doctor said I probably had nerve damage some time in the last few years and it is likely permanent. Then he gave me some pills (?) and sent me on my way. Haha, oh my life.

After that, Ju Heon and I met my three girlfriends at the "princess cafe," a perfectly pink tea house with a resident clothes-wearing fluffy white poodle. The premise behind it is that you can go there, put on wedding dresses and have your picture taken (shockingly enough, we decided not to do this, haha). I was especially happy because Ju Heon is coming to Thailand with me! We bought his ticket yesterday!! He won some kind of bet with his sister that ended with the fact that she is buying his plane ticket. He has never traveled alone before, and asked if he could come with me. I'm so excited!! We all spent the afternoon snacking, shopping and walking around, then went to an Italian place where our two friends were singing in a jazz band! They were so good, too!

Still after that was Board Game Night! What a scream! Maybe 30 people met at a bar near the University and played games. I brought Apples to Apples, Twister (a favorite with the Koreans!) and Scrabble, and others brought cards and Jenga. It was all around wonderful.

Yesterday, the girls and I went to Ju Heon's family's house in the country, because his dog just had four puppies! Just two weeks old, they just opened their eyes on Friday, and they didn't really do much besides flop around and grunt. Still, they had our hearts and we spent the afternoon holding the puppies and eating pizza. All in all, it was a splendid weekend!

And today I'm back to school, where there's not even any water for coffee. The pipes are frozen solid for 16 days now!

Camp Rocks

Happy New Year!!!!
I've been so busy planning camp that I've barely had time to do much else. I am right smack in the middle of teaching my kids the basics of movie making- and I am completely loving it.

I am teaching totally alone for the first time: my co-teacher is on vacation on a beach in Guam, probably loving every second of it. It has been intensely difficult without her- there are virtually no other teachers here (no one who speaks English anyway), and I'm dealing with a broken computer and frozen pipes (no running water at school for eleven days!). I arrive to an office that is kept around forty five degrees: I can see my breath, and the water in the toilet tanks is frozen. Every day is a total zoo- I teach eleven high level thirteen year olds and one super low level fifteen year old (I discovered yesterday that he can't read!). The kids are mostly out of control and wild, but they are actually enjoying the material I'm teaching: and I have to say, as corny as it sounds, it makes everything else a cakewalk. I don't really mind that I can't really feel my toes, that there's no lunch, no working toilets. My students make me laugh so much, and for the most part, are really understanding what I'm saying to them. It has been amazing to finally communicate with them, without the crutch of my co-teacher translating everything for them. The days are flying, and though I'm beyond excited to begin writing scripts and filmng next week, I'm kind of sad for camp to end.

My New Year's celebration was nothing short of fantastic, just as I knew it would be. (Coming Soon: Pictures) I went to Busan with my friends and had a blast. This weekend is going to be much more low-key (I hope) with a "temple food" (vegan) dinner on friday and a boardgame night on saturday.

With the beginning of a new year, I've been forced to finally think about what my future holds, in terms of returning home to Buffalo, staying in Korea another year, or going somewhere else. I feel so uncertain about everything, and extremely conflicted. I know that September is still a long ways away, but with the way the last four months flew by, it will be here before I know it. I'm determined to enjoy every minute of my time here, and so far it has been beyond amazing- am I willing to give this up?

More soon: pictures too!
<3M