My first Jjimjilbang: Traditional Korean Bath House

Jjimjilbang bath houses: female bonding or couples date spot? The answer after much consideration is both. Today my friend Tasha and I spent our Saturday at my first public bath house, and I can say without a doubt that we have discovered a spot of serenity. Particularly after a long week with the little monsters.

It's a good thing I grew up for years as a lifeguard, getting to see my fair share of naked women. And getting to witness my fair share of nakedness from my cottage family in the summer months, because the jjimjilbang is a whole lot of naked. It begins with women going into the ladies area of locker rooms and undressing. The public area is for eating some boiled eggs or snacks, sitting around and doing your hair. Usually naked. Next is the pool room. Rows upon rows of ladies, of all different ages, scrub each other down at little shower and bucket stalls to remove the dead skin. After that you get to relax in the different stone pools. The one we went to had four different pools of varying temperatures to jump between, with stone frogs spewing out the water. I was bracing myself for the stares we foreigners get everywhere, but after the initial stares we were pretty much left on our own. Some ladies come alone, some socialize in groups, and one was even with her children. In between we went into a hot, and I'm telling you HOT sauna room. One entire wall looked like a giant wall of flames ready to squish us into flames. Also, the Korean ladies were using little pink suction cups on their body, we think to relieve pressure points, but couldn't find the source. Next time.

Almost two hours later we made our way into the comfy, oversized pink jump suit we were given upon entering the bath house and made our way upstairs to the unisex floor. There's a snack bar as well as a little Korean restaurant where we got some great lunch stews for about $5. All around this floor Koreans lie around on mats, sleeping, relaxing, or just chatting on the smooth wood floors. There are a few TVs on the walls, a PC room, a video game room, and a little Korean library for entertainment. Then there are the heating rooms - four in this bath house. One room we enjoyed was mint scented with gorgeous white stone walls and little snowflakes and other rock designs. The next room we tried was warm and cozy, with a giant furnace and a floor lined with soft Indian blankets. The last one was hoooot and wonderful, with a dark mood light going on. People go in to lie down or sit quietly, and if you are a newbie like Tasha or I, you stare at the gorgeous mosaic walls and ceilings made of colourful stones. The windows are circular, and the walls circle into the ceiling as well, giving the idea of being in a cave-man submarine. One large room holds all the sleeping pods: little cave-like, circular holes in the walls where people can sleep (during the day or overnight). Goodbye hostels, hello bath houses! The only issue is that with all the people sleeping in the same room it can apparently get quite loud. But seeing as the two of us were falling asleep in our heat rooms during the day, I don't think we'd have a problem sleeping at night.

Come on Canada, join in on the bath house craze! Hours of relaxation for $6-11 :)

Opening up and letting all your gooey out

One thing I'm still growing accustomed to is how open Koreans are with their emotions and feelings. Maybe with other things they may be conservative (still no short sleeves?) but in terms of their feelings, they're quite happy to express and share them. Even more so on soju nights.

The first I noticed was little girls showing their love for the boys and vice versa. I have a class of eight six year olds, and three of the girls are in love with one boy named Lloyd. Who (like all of them) is adorable, but apparently there is some allure about Lloyd that makes him very desirable with the ladies. One class, the girls wrote his name on little slips of paper with hearts and threw them at him during class. Or they draw him pictures. I’ve had two of the girls come up to me and whisper they like Lloyd, with a knowing look into my eyes that conveys it is not the I-like-him-like-a-girl-friend way. In recent events, Lloyd has reciprocated interest in Lena by way of his beach picture of “What I like to do at the Beach.” Because in his picture two people are embracing in a fury of limbs and Picasso-style body parts. So I asked Lloyd what was going on, and he said it was him and Lena. Next beach picture of him and a girl he erased his eyes after a bit of thought and replaced them with giant, red hearts. Apparently it ‘s just American children that go through an “ew cooties” stage, because I teach all ages of children in Korea and they all act the exact same around each other. They will choose boys or girls as partners, but often like the Battle of the Sexes when it comes to high competition games. 

 Lloyd's beach drawing. He erased his eyes and replaced them with bright red hearts.

"What do you like to do at the beach?" Look closely at the two figures entwined (young Picasso). I asked Lloyd what it was and he said him and Lena.

This opening up about love and affection doesn’t get outgrown in adulthood. My coworkers love complaining with us about men and 'where are all the men', and 'oh I want a boyfriend, I'm lonely.' They're very interested in commenting on people's relationships we know about, but they don't criticize in public. When I went with Callum to another big city last weekend we were asked five times in barely 24hrs there if we were boyfriend- girlfriend. When we sort of shrugged our shoulders and smiled, they pressed the issue: are we boyfriend-girlfriend? 'Beautiful and handsommme' (eyebrow raising). 'Banging' (cue drunk Korean man and hand gestures)? Thank you all for your concern on our status, you’ve given us much to ponder.

Even in daily conversation it differs. When you ask a Canadian how they’re doing, they’ll almost always say good or not bad. When you ask a Korean you open a floodgate of how you're  really feeling today, and I actually find it refreshing. It’s such a simple question and answer in Canada, but here Koreans find it a great time to unload and personally answer. They can be very direct communicators at times, and will often follow up their question of 'how are you' with more questions about why you feel that way. Koreans find it polite to show interest in each others opinions and important to talk about feelings. However they are also known to use white lies or heavy sugar coating whenever they have to say something offensive or they know what they have to say will be bad news. 

They also aren’t afraid to let you know how you look that day. My co-teachers and I were taken out to a fancy thank you dinner one night, and from across the table of ten the director asked my friend if he bit his nails. Uh, no? She giggled and said they were very short and very dirty. The other ladies just nodded and agreed, as everyone waited for Kasey’s response. He chose to laugh too, because how else do you end that? Very openly I've been asked if I was on a diet depending on my portion choice (they ruled that out), if I'm still single (depending on my stories from my previous night), how I honestly like each of my classes and job, but was also told some of the kindergarten parents thought I was beautiful (to which I modestly protest). Compliments and questions come at you every day, but you have to remember to be modest and not to criticize someone in public.

One Month Anniversary in Korea

Whoo hoo! It is officially my one month anniversary in Korea. And I have celebrated with four nights of Halloween and costumes. BALI! This sums up my first month in Korea perfectly. It means hurry. Hurry to enter school the first day and teach kids, hurry to get your groceries, hurry your walking, hurried driving, hurry and drink more you’re too slow, hurry and plan a million things into every day (which I fit into very well since I do that in Canada). Hurried eating however, that is a no-no as eating is often a two hour, leisurely and social experience that I always look forward to. These are a few of the more interesting things I've learnt about here.

My Apartment
My apartment is alright, especially since it’s being paid for by boss Steve, but there are a few things I would like to change if I had the power. First, there is no oven. In the past year at home I had become more interested in cooking, and was actually becoming an alright cook (put away those shocked expressions family and friends). Now I’ve got no oven, which means no cookies or cakes, no spinach healthy mixed pancake things, no stuffed mushrooms, or anything else that should be cooked with minimal effort. Secondly, I have a monster washer that sometimes cages my clothes in and refuses to open. But I have no dryer, so to the dryer rack the clothes sit, and often means I am drying off with a wet towel due to poor planning. Lastly I miss the simplicity of hot water that stays hot. I have to push a red button to turn on the hot water, wait, and eventually shower. In the mornings and evenings when I wash my face I’ve given up on hot and settle for cold.

Expat Community Closeness

The expat community is extremely close with one another, and very connected. I never thought I would experience the kind of social opportunity university provided again, but living in Korea as an expat has given that to me again. Most days a week I message our huge group of friends to go to a bar, coffee, or to a restaurant. Weekends we usually visit another city on an adventure. The best part is that everybody values making more friends, so each night out we find ourselves expanding our friend group and getting invited to even more different events.

Bars Closing Time

Several bars in the downtown areas don’t really have a closing time, they just shut the doors when the last people decide to leave. Often on the weekends this means they’ll stay open until 3 or 4am. The best part of the nightlife may be how completely safe I feel. Getting robbed or attacked is something that nobody ever thinks about. Even leaving a purse or phone at a bar or restaurant isn’t really a cause for concern I’m told by the Koreans because most Koreans are very honest people.

Traffic Lights = Guidelines

By a certain time of night, most of the lights just blink yellow or red (with the exception of the very busy roads) and cars just use their discretion. Ie. they career through the lights narrowly dodging each other. If someone is in a hurry and are stopped at a red light you'll see them sorta turn right and then dodge back into the direction they were  going.  

What's Cheap?

 Not as much as I had imagined. Clothing can be quite cheap in some areas. Restaurants can be very cheap! The most I think I've ever spent on a dinner was 10$, but usually it's about 6 or 7 even with some soju or beer. The generous portions of samples you can get whilst wandering around E-mart to do your grocery shopping may just fill you up for your next meal (like a Wal Mart). At restaurants, multiple different side dishes accompany every meal. Better yet, most restaurants allow unlimited refills for these side dishes! Rarely will I go out for supper and not be well fed or even stuffed by the end. Busses move pretty quickly here, but if you’re a group of 3 or 4 people you may as well just get a cab because they’re very cheap. There is also no tipping or tax added onto prices in Korea, so what you see on the tag is what you pay. Smokes are much cheaper here, apparently lower than half the prices in America, so nearly everybody I know smokes. Gotta stay strong and hold my ground!

Google's Inefficiency

Bad: google maps has not reached Korea. Some locations can be found on google maps, but the vast majority can’t. A lot of businesses aren’t even online, which shocked me, and made me realize how much I relied on google to find locations, opening & closing times, and prices of businesses. My boss finally helped me get my phone this week, and google actually works a bit better on that, but I'm working on using the Korean version, naver.

Interesting Manners

Little boys whip out their junk to pee in the back streets. And not so little boys do sometimes. Koreans also don’t say excuse me or sorry (which coming from Canada let me tell you is something you get used to). People ram into you on every street and through doorways with nay a second glance or sorry murmur.

I've loved the whirlwind of a first month, but it’s a bit sad to have the opposite schedule of family and friends. It means waking up even earlier on school days (or worse, post-drinking days) to skype in and keep in touch. Sometimes I convince people to wake up earlier on their morning for me. Skyping home will be even easier now that I've got a real person phone. Loved my first month, and I can happily say I am falling in love with Korea.