A Week of Firsts: Faculty, Octopus, Snow and War

The past week brought a number of firsts: the first time I went to a faculty dinner, the first time I ate live octopus, the first snowfall of the year and the first time since the Korean War that North Korea has fired upon South Korean civilians.

As many of you have probably read online or seen on the news, last Tuesday North Korea began shelling a small island claimed by South Korea in the Yellow Sea. This caused South Korea to fire back in retaliation, no more than 100 shells were fired on each side, but it was enough. Homes were burned, people were evacuated, two marines and two civilians were killed. No one knows the casulties on the North Korean side. Since then the Korean news has delievered non-stop coverage of the shelling, the screen showing images of smoke, panic, destruction and soldiers. While no further retaliation on either side has resulted, tension on the penesula is high. While people jokingly said "we're going to war!" I actually believe most people believe, or hope for, the opposite. No one wants a war, especially with Seoul in firing distance of the North. There are all sorts of rumors as to why North Korea fired on the South... In a desperate plead for aid during a freezing winter, in an atempt to illustration the validity of Kim-Jong Il's son as successor (Kim is suspected to be sick and dying)... no one knows exactly why. Currently the South and the USA are engaging in war manuvers in the Yellow Sea, 77 miles south of the disputed border line. The North keeps issuing statements proclaiming any futher movement in the sea will provoke them. In South Korea, the Defense Minister resigned after the shelling on Tuesday, following criticism he did not respond harshly enough, the new Defense Minister warns North Korea that if they provoke the South, they will be harshly dealt with.

We will see what happens. Hopefully nothing. Its hard to imagine something like this happening so close by... its like if the North and South really had become two countries during the American Civil War, families were would be divided, and one side may have ended up poor and the other rich, as with North and South Korea. Everyone wants unification, but at the same time no one knows what really lies in the North. A horribly oppressive regime with thousands in slave labor camps... people fear the USA and South Korea can only bend to the angry will of the North for so long.

To illustrate this news isn't as prevelant in the daily lives of Koreans as one would think, last Wednesday, the day after the shelling, the faculty of Sangji Middle School traveled to Seoul and then had a teacher dinner (we watched the news on the bus.) Thus Wednesday turned out to be another half day I didn't know about. All teachers went to Seoul together on a bus at after lunch at 1:30pm to go to a teaching materials convention. The principal wanted everyone to go. While many teachers told me I should go home and "take a rest" my main co-teacher said he'd like for me to go so that I could feel like part of the group. So I agreed. Everyone fell asleep on the bus. We arrived at 3:00 and left Seoul at 4:30. The convention wasn't all that large so we were able to walk around the entire thing. I hung out with a group of women, all in the mid-30's, whom I usually eat lunch with. It was really nice walking and talking with them. Even though only one of them speaks English, the other two and I would try to talk, even if it was just through gestures, pointing and smiling. They are really sweet women and I was very glad to have been included in the trip. We snuck away for coffee at one point and they refused to let me pay, saying it was Korean custom! They always pay for me, someday I will return the favor!

At 4:30 we all piled back on the bus, fell asleep, and arrived back in Wonju by 6pm, as planned. Then it was time for the faculty dinner, my first one! All 40 teachers traveled to a sashimi resturant. The place was super fancy and contained numerous private rooms for parties. I was told by many different people to guess how much the meal cost, 25,000 won each! When we walked in long tables were set up with about fifteen different appetizers displayed around them. There were shrimp, oysters, vegetables, crab meat, kimchi, etc. It was beautiful and impressive. I decided I would be really brave and try the oysters, thinking of how Dad used to eat them. My coteacher Mrs. Kim, who had driven me over, didn't hesitate pulling the oyster out of its shell with her chopsticks and gulping it down. I, of course, had lots of trouble getting it free of its shell using only chopsticks, but I finally did and swallowed it down. It was okay, but definitely tasted fishy and like sea water.

That was only the first round. I believe there were more than 10 rounds of food throughout this dinner. What came next was the sashimi. Five different kinds of fish were sliced and beautifully displayed on clear noodles that were pilled up into balls. There were orange and yellow flowers addoring the plate. It was the most glamerous platter of food Ihave ever seen. I felt like I was at a kings feast. Afterwards followed: noodles, tempura, seeweed soup, rice, trout, shrimp, octopus, egg, kimchi, vegetables... it just never stopped coming! The waitresses were serving us for over an hour and a half! Somewhere in there the Principal made a speech and bottles of soju, beer and soda were opened. The Principal went around to everyone in the room and did a shot of soju with them, as did a few of the other teachers.

Did I also mention that the octopus was LIVE?! Yes, that's right, LIVE. I ate LIVE octopus! This was something I had read about on the interent before coming to Korea but was sure I would never try. But, after a few shots of soju, lots of good laughter and talk, and a banquet before me, I thought it a great opportunity. Out came the wiggling tenacles. They had been cut off of an octpus, so luckily there was no head and body. I guess its like when you cut the head off of a chicken and the body still flops around. There they were, twenty or more peices, moving around, wiggling, using their suction cups to stick to the plate. Mrs. Kim eagerly ate. Across from me, one of the younger teachers that I had been bonding with over the past week shook her head, indicating not her! I gulped and said I would try it. I was laughing and nervous and so had a terrible time using my chopsticks. I couldn't get the food on them if my life depended on it! Their suction cups were too strong and I couldn't get them to let go of the plate! Mrs. Kim finally helped me and I got one in my clutches. I asked her if you were supposed to chew them or just swallow. She looked at me like I was insane. "Chew them of course!" she said, "otherwise they will stick to your throat!" I was thinking, oh my god are you serious?! I remembered Dad always telling us when we were kids that the octopus he was eating was sticking to his throat and trying to get out (even thought it was dead) -- I didn't know it was a possiblity! What happens if it gets stuck, do you choke to death?! Anyway... I took this advice to heart and as soon as I popped the wiggling tenicle in my mouth, chewed vigerously. So vigerously I would have had no idea it was alive a second ago had I not seen it. It tasted okay... like meat. A shot of soju later I was ready to try another one. And then a third. The third one was a rather large peice. Thinking I didn't need to chew was quickly as I had been it sat in my mouth for a split second. And sectioned onto the roof of my mouth!!! I almost flipped out and quickly chewed it down!

The faculty dinner was a great experience! It was nice to see everyone loosening up and talking. One teacher kept making speeches that no one would listen to. Plus teachers I didn't even think new I exsisted were attempting to talk with me, sit with me, drink with me. One older man who I think is very funny looking came and sat down next to me. He didn't know how to say anything to me in English and I couldn't say much to him. I could tell me liked me and wanted to talk but after awhile of staring at each other he eventually moved on. I was touched. Then the principle plopped down next to me! He was bright red, had clearly drank a lot of soju. He said "how are you?" and then quickly jestured for an English teacher to sit next to him and translate. Mr. Park refused with a smile, and soon Mr. Byeon was grabbed. The Principal went on to tell me how much he worried about me, how he really cares for me, how I must meet his daughter when she comes home for the holidays as she is currently in CA studying English Literature. He told me his nick name is "the problem solver" and if I ever had ANY problem I should just tell him! He also said he was serious about wanting to hike Mt. Chiaksan with the teachers and said we would go, even in the snow. Lastly he proclaimed I should accompony the high school teachers on their ski trip coming up in a few weeks (Jason gets to go!)! Sadly I was informed yesterday by Mr. Byeon that "actually, he was drunk" and it was thus only the soju talking, I do not get to go skiing. That is the difficult part... I don't know what of our talk I should actually take seriously, since he was drunk and happy. In Korea that's how things go, promises do not mean anything, they are just ceremonial words, like so many things here.

Still I felt like I made some more friends that night and two of the younger women said we must go out for beers in December. I hope that is a promise that WILL follow through.

The other first for the week was SNOW! The first snowfall of the year hit Wonju on Saturday. The weather report had called for a "chance of snow" but I was skpetical. As I snoozed the morning away I asked Jason to look out the window and tell me if it was snowing. I was joking, not expecting anything. He said, "well, its not snowing but there is snow on the ground." I was like "what?!?! really?!?! are you serious?!?!?" Immediatly I jumped out of bed, looked out the window and squealed with delight!! In five minutes I was dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, jacket on. I couldn't wait to go out in it! I was kicking myself for having slept through it all morning as it was already 10am. After a quick breakfast of oatmeal we were trudding through the snow, only a few inches. It began to snow more and I couldn't stop singing "walking in a winter wonderland." I haven't seen a snowfall on a place I've lived in... at least seven years... once a year in Lancaster is not much, and in high school that kinda stopped. Last year I drove up to Big Bear to see the snow, but it wasn't falling and we had to drive to it, and then immediatly were back in the warm OC. This was much cooler! Jason and I walked to the river and continued down its bank. It was beautiful. There were ducks in the water and snow covering everything. We crossed the river using stepping stones that Wonju had installed. Then it started to get really cold and the snow was turing more to sleet so we headed inside.

The snow is mostly melted now and I did not like the freezing and slippery streets it left behind, but I am told not to worry, more will come. We'll see how long I find it wonderful and when I start to long for spring.

Only three more weeks until my family arrives for Christmas!

To the dogs

Every Friday I take the bus an hour outside of Wonju to my second middle school. It is located in a very small town and the school only has 30 students total. Every Friday I get on and off the bus at the same stop. And every time I see the same small white and black dog hanging around. She is super friendly and always comes over for pets or scraps of food. She is also very dirty and never on a leash. In Korea this is very common. There are lots of dogs (and cats) that run around the streets by themselves. While the cats are feral, I think most of the dogs I see have owners. It is very uncommon to see a dog on a leash though. In Korea pet dogs don't have to stay on leashes. I don't know if the dogs are smarter because of this, and know to stay out of the street, or if in reality more dogs get hit by cars here, but whenever I see them, they look really happy and somehow manage to stay out of traffic. They are also usually pretty scruffy.

I'm starting to become really attached to this dog I see every week. At first I thought it must have an owner, but the more I see it, I realize she is really dirty. One time I went to pet her too and she got really afraid, like she had been hit or kicked before. I started to think that maybe she was a stray. I really want to take her home with me. I don't know how I'd do it, I guess I'd have to call a taxi because I couldn't take her on the bus. I don't know how she would react either, being taken away from her home. I took a picture of her last week. Today I showed some of the students and teachers, asking them if they knew the dog and who it belonged to. Although the teachers didn't recognize her, some of the students did. They said she is the "meat store dog" -- I assume this means she is owned by people who run the meat shop, which is right next to the bus station. So that solves the dilemma for me. I can't take her home. But I still really want to! I feel so bad for her. One male student I showed the picture to said "I kicked that dog" and laughed.

Its difficult for me to accept the position of dogs and cats in Korea. It is definitely a clash of cultures, the way Westerners think of pets compared to Koreans. Here it is very strange to have a cat or dog at home. Dogs are becoming more normal, especially cute little dogs, but to have a cat is still super strange, even disgusting to people. If you do have a pet, it is usually not "apart of the family" as we think of it at home. That's why this poor little pup is left outside all day, dirty and sometimes gets kicked. I hope she has a warm place to sleep at night because it is getting cold. Maybe her owners are nice to her? Maybe she enjoys being able to run free, because with me she'd be all cooped up inside. I have to remind myself there are millions of dogs in the world that are not treated well. At home there are so many, I don't need to pick one up in Korea.

The other hard part about dogs in Korea is that they eat them. Yes, it is true, dogs are eaten as food here. Its mostly in the rural areas, definitely not in the cities, and many people are now starting to think this is not good. But the old grandmas and papas think it is fine and tasty. While I do think this is very sad, I try to hold my judgement. I am a guest in a foreign country. I am not one to comment on another's practices. I recently read online that someone was trying to start an anti-dog meat petition in Korea, many people's heated responses were similar to my own, it is not our place as foreigners to cause trouble and critize. Still it is extremely saddening when on the bus home from Wonju today I will pass by a restraunt that outside has four cages, each with a dog in them. They are not pets. Only a certain breed is raised for eating, in the same way you would raise a pig or a cow. I know it is only because of the society and culture that I grew up and live in that I think a dog is above an animal that is also intelligent, a pig, (I guess a dog is a little more cute and cuddly too), but it is still hard to see.

It's interesting to me to that today on the cover of the online NY Times there is an article about a dog mistakenly being euthanized by an animal shelter. Apparently this dog helped save some American soldiers from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. They then took her home with them to Arizona to live but she broke out of their yard, got picked up by the shelter and because she didn't have a microchip or ID, coupled with a mix up on the part of the shelter (how do you miss-identify a dog for euthination?!) she was put under. The article is super sob worthy, of course a horrible ordeal for any family. Yet I can't help thinking about how there are so many dogs in bad situations in Korea. Or in Italy. I remember when I studied there that there was a term for when a dog is left abandoned on the road at the end of spring, when families take off for summer vacation and cannot take their pets nor leave them cooped up at home. American ideas/ideals about pets are very different from the rest of the world.  

A night in the Jimjilbang: Seoul Style

After school on Friday Jason and I immediatly grabbed a cap and headed to the Express Bus Terminal. Arriving at 4:50pm were were just able to snag a spot on the 5:00pm bus to Seoul. The goal was to get there by 7pm to meet a group of people from the magazine I wrote the article for. The magazine (Work n Play) came out this week and my article is in it! It takes up two whole pages and is featured on the cover! (See "A World in Flux: Korean Avant-Garde Art") I'm now a published author! Friday night was a dinner to commemorate the launch of the magazine. I'd only been communicating with one of the editors via email so it was also a chance to meet everyone in person.

Unfortunately half way through the journey it didn't look as if we would be making it to Seoul by 7pm. We were horribly stuck in traffic and I had no idea where or how far away we were from Seoul. At about 6:45 I texted to say I probably won't make dinner. But then what do you know, we arrived in Seoul at 7pm! I had no idea we were so close. Jason and I were able to meet up with the group for dinner after all, although we were a little late.

Everyone involved with the magazine were really nice and for the most part pretty young. Everyone also lives in Seoul and were shocked that we had come all the way from Wonju! They acted as if Gangwon Province was this backwards place, as if they couldn't understand why you would live there or how you could have any fun doing so. It was pretty amusing! A two hour bus trip doesn't seem like much time to me, especially when you are staying over night. Jason and I also kept bowing and being super traditionally polite to all the Koreans we met at the dinner and they would just laugh at us, they were very modern in their traditions and spoke English fluently, most having lived abroad for some time.

After the excellent dinner the group become much smaller and only a handful of us decided to go out for the night. Jason and I had never been to Hongdae, one of the most happening college town areas of Seoul. We took the subway for about 45 minutes to get there. We emerged to a sprawling landscape of bars, shops, resturants, fast food and night clubs. The streets went on and on for over a mile it seemed. There were so many people and so much happening! There was also so much food variety! I realized at that point that I hadn't seen a Starbucks in two months, so when I saw one, then two, then three, it was very strange.

Some people were hungry so we stopped for Thai Food. The cute resturant was down a side street off of one of the main Hongdae drags. They had Dr. Pepper on the menu! Another delicacy! We ordered some. The table talk turned very philosophical and I think we all felt like we were in college again. A somewhat good feeling, and a somewhat not good feeling.

After the late night snack, it was about midnight, we headed downstairs from the resturant to a very laid back bar/club. The place was super unique! Inside it was decorated like a cave, even the walls and the ceiling were molded to look like a cave. There was a small dance floor in the middle and huge steps around it, each leading to suspended sitting areas where you could chill on matts with your friends, surrounded by candle light. There was a DJ and strobe lights but the clientel was all hippy. People in faded, loose fitting pants, beanies, slightly ungroomed. They were "dancing" and swaying on the floor to techno reggae. People were playing with hoola hoops and exercise balls. It was a little trippy. I had the sourest midori sour of my life and we relaxed with some mango hooka. A little after 1:30 we decided it was time to call it a night and head out to find the jimjilbang we would be staying at. One of the Korean girls we were with recommended one and gave us directions via her iphone. It was close by and only cost 9000 won each. Like I've said before, jimjilbangs are cheap, safe and 24 hours, much more affordable than a hotel. One of our new friends who works for the magazine walked back with us, towards the subway and helped us find the jimjilbang. On the way we met a very drunk man who kept asking us to go get more drinks with him, even offering to pay. (It seemed like everyone in Seoul spoke English!) Although by the looks of the area and the crowds it commanded the night was still very young, we declined.

We checked into the jimjimbang, changed into the sweat clothes provided and met up on the communal floor. While the jimjilbang in Wonju is still very nice, this one in Seoul was huge! There were tons of people laying around on mats, hundreds! There were rooms for men, rooms for women, and mixed use. There was also a video arcade, multiple TVs and a full blown resturant inside! Everything you need! Sleeping the night in the jimjilbang was an experience... it was very difficult for me to sleep. While laying next to a random person on the floor wasn't a big deal, it was hard to block out everyone's talking. People didn't fall asleep until almost 4am. Part of the reason why we didn't wake up until 11am and then it was dead quiet! The place was also ridiculously hot! I was sweating all night! The floors you sleep on are heated and while that is nice when it is cold out, it was too hot! Somehow I manged to get some sleep, although I did sleep with my ipod earphones in all night.

The next morning Jason and I were brave again and hit the communal baths to wash up. We weren't planning on it but the night was so hot it was necessary. Once again the changing area was crowded and before me I saw Korean girls transform from wet haired and naked to sleek and stylish.

Finally we emerged into the fresh air and headed towards... Starbucks. I wanted a Christmas latte to remind me of home. We walked around Hongdae some in the day time before taking the subway towards Itaewon and the Samsung Museum of Art. I was asked to do another review so I had to check out an exhibit on contemporary art. It was pretty small but had some really fun peices in it. The gift shop also had gorgeous jewelry and bags! I love museum gift shops.

We managed to figure out how to wander into Itaweon and ate at Kraze Burger. We got chili cheese fries. They were yummy.

Finally it was time to head to Myeongdong! The second most important reason I wanted to come to Seoul was to shop! After a quick coffee to boost my stamina we took to the insanely crowded streets of Seoul's most popular shopping, dining and entertainment area! Jason and I both managed to make it through Forever 21 and H&M but by then it was almost 7pm and we were exhasted! I found some good, warm clothes to buy though! We ended the night with some yummy Japanese ramen.

All in all a successful weekend. An exhasting 24 hours but definetly worth it! I think going to Seoul the night before and staying in a jimjimbang is a great way to see more of the city and have some fun.

Peppero Day! And other recent events.

Peppero day is a Korean "holiday" that involves giving everyone important in your life a box of the treat! (In Japan and the US we know this sweet chocolate/cracker delight as Pocky.) The day was most likely invented by the company that makes it just to sell their product. Yet, other stories surround its mythic origins... I've heard tale that in 1999 a girl ate the long thin cracker/cookie and became skinny... or that the holiday falls on 11/11 because the number again imitates the shape of the candy. (Imagine 11/11/11 -- people will go crazy!) Whatever the reason I like the day! It means that teachers get lots of candy from their students (for once its the other way around!) 

Me displaying my loot from the day. The large box is from Jason as bf/gf give each other gifts too.

How will I eat all this?!?!

In addition to the fantastic images of Peppero Day, here are a few snapshots from my recent adventures. 

Fall foliage around the Yonsei University Campus, Wonju.

Halloween in the Sangji "English Zone"

Coffee and waffles. Enough said.

The rural countryside of JiJeong, the outskirts of Wonju, where my second middle school is located.

Vibrant yellow trees in front of JiJeong Middle School.  Less than a week after I took this photo they had all fallen. I'm told autumn in Korea is stunning (its been pretty great) but one teacher said this year the trees went from "green to grey" because winter arrived too early. 

Celebrating beef at the Hanu Festival!

Beef as super heros... and uhh an bench... an educational bench? We thought this was so wrong. I guess new cows are made somehow.

Beautiful makeshift bridges.

Yonsei Uni Campus, Wonju

Free Soju, All Eyes Watching

Sunday night Jason and I headed to our favorite sam gip sal resturant for dinner. We'd been there a few times already and the place has always had a really friendly atmosphere. When we got there once again it was the same people working, a middle aged man and woman, and an older man and woman. Sam gip sal is really cool because they give you a huge pile of meat to grill by yourself, at your table. The middle of the table has a hole in it where a bucket of hot coals goes and then from the roof hangs down an aluminum chimmny that is small and easy to move around. The process is standard, the middle aged woman asks us what we want, we say sam gip sal, she tries to ask us more, we look confused and then all laugh, she goes away. Our meat suddenly appears on the table and the old man carries in the the hot coals from outside using a long pole, he lifts the grill on our table and slips them in.

Sunday we started grilling away and once again, the old lady came over and watched us eat. She laughed a little, we are apparently very amusing. This time they also gave us some fresh garlic to grill in a litle dish on the grill, the woman added some sauce to it so they fried up really sweet and juicy. I became addicted to adding garlic to my sam gip sal concoction. (And was still tasting it two days later and many many teeth brushings later... eww.) This concoction consists of: the grilled pork itself, a piece of lettuce, red bean paste, garlic sauce and salt. So yummy!

This particular night we were seated at a table next to two middle aged men. We noticed they were grilling a meat that looked slightly different than ours. About 10 minutes into our meal the man next to me puts some of the meat, already grilled, in a little dish and gives it to me! It was pork, but some kind of higher quality (we could never quite figure it out.) That first exchange turned into a more exchange. Next thing I know Jason is being  handed the man's shot glass and he takes a shot of soju. Then its my turn. Then the man makes a little lettuce wrap for me and feeds me. (I'm still put off by this, when students or adults just feed me instead of me taking the food and feeding myself...) The two men knew a little English and asked where we were from. They told the old woman standing behind them, who I believe was eager to know more about the two oddities that always come to her resturant. The place was packed on Sunday and we were again the only foreigners. Then the two men ask us if its okay to "change" the meat we have, we said yes and were brought a fresh pile of meat, this time the higher quality they were eating! They also bought us a bottle of soju! We tried to offer some to them but they said no, they had theirs and this was ours. They also told us to drink the soju "slowly" -- it was a really nice change from the other dinners out I've had where soju shots are flying!

During this time some little kids started playing soccer in the resturant. Also, this little boy, less than 2 years old, was standing next to his mom at the table across from us staring at Jason. I was watching him out of the corner of my eye every now and then. Suddenly his parents urged him to do something in Korean and then I saw it, he bowed to Jason! It was the cutest thing ever! I told Jason to look and his parents told the litle boy to do it again! Adorable! Later in the night a girl who looked about five wandered over towards us from across the room. She just stood next to me leaning on the wall and watched us.

Before the two men left one of them gave us his business card. It is custom to give people business cards when you first meet them in Korea. It tells the other person how to treat you. The Korean language has different levels of formality built into it so an exchange of this information is necessary so as not to offend and to not akwardly attempt to figure out how to address someone. His card had the Wonju city logo on it so perhaps he works for the city?

To top it all off, the man paid for the extra meet and soju he had ordered for Jason and I! I watched as he paid his tab and pointed over to us. The super kind middle aged man who works there looked over, laughed, and took his money. When we went to pay it was just our normal tab for sam gip sal even though we had tons more food plus soju!

We manged to finish our entire bottle (about four shots eat) over the course of our meal. We were definitely a little buzzed as we walked home. And we were definitely high on life. It was a moment that reminded me how fortunate I am to be living abroad and to have people treat me so nicely when I can't even speak their same language! I'm sure the soju didn't hurt my mood either.

Bath Houses: Wonju Jimjilbang Bo-saw-sauna

Saturday afternoon I told Jason I wanted to go to the jimjilbang (Korean bathhouse). We had been once before with our friend Scott but had only experienced the three sauna rooms. This time I said I wanted to be bold and go in the baths. The naked, communal baths.

After a quick dinner we paid our 5000 won and entered the jimjilbang locker room, seperated by sex of course. I was super confused because when we paid our money the attendant only gave us towels and not the pink (blue for men) sweat outfit that you wear to the sauna. While in the bath is seperated by gender as everyone is wearing nothing but their birthday suites, the sauna is coed, you just put on the provided sweatsuit. After standing around looking confused for about five minutes, and vainly trying to contact Jason via text message to see what he was doing, I finally went back and asked the attendant where I could get the pink sweats. When I saw asked I mean I gestured "down" for the sauna (its downstairs), pointed at my clothes and shrugged my shoulders to mean "what?" -- she understood what I wanted and handed me the outfit, as I handed her an extra 1000 won. Last time this mix up didn't happen! Now I know there is a different. I guess I just looked ready for a bath.

I finally met Jason in the sauna. He was in his sweats from home. Apparently he was also confused and after hearing my story ran upstairs to pay, get the blue suit and come back down. We sweated together from about half an hour before decided to part. And go... to the baths!!! GULP.

To Koreans (and I believe also in Japan) bathing in a communal bath is compleatly normal and apart of many peoples lives and routines. Many people go once to twice a week. To us Westerners it is a very foriegn concept. Why would I want to bath with a bunch of strangers? And why would I want to do this NAKED? In Korea, it has a lot to do with differing sense of community and I'm guessing, in olden days, had a lot to do with individual families just not having private access to large bodies of clean, warm water. As it is, many bathrooms in Korea do not include tubs, only showers.

As apposed to the last time I was at the jimjilbang, this time the place was packed. There were women walking around naked all over the locker room. There were old ladies with sagging boobs and waist lines, there were firm bodied girls my age, there were three year old brothers and sisters, there were 10 year old girls hanging out alone. No one was ashamed to walk around, no one that it strange to blow dry their hair at the mirror, sans clothing.

The entrance to the baths is two glass doors, steamed from within and thus impossible to see through. Every time a child would run out of the bath to grab something I would try to catch a glimpse inside. Where their just showers? Was there a place to sit? How many people could fit at one time?

Finally I just had to know. I just had to do it. So I found my locker once more, stripped off my sweatsuit, grabbed my towel and walked towards the steaming doors. In the buff. Nude. Naked. Stripped bear.

While the first few steps are extremely awkward, you're just waiting for people to stare, after a few minutes you realize that everyone around you is naked too. And we all look the same, basically. And that no one cares.

Still, I quickly opened the doors, walked inside and sat down at the first pool of water I saw that wasn't surrounded by old ladies. I have to admit, the old ladies did stare a little. Obviously I was a foriegner and obviously I was the only foreigner in the place. It made me a little self concious but it was expected. It wasn't like anything was wrong with me, I was just different.

The inside of the bath was more spacious than expected. There were three large circular pools filled with hot water, one large pool filled with really cold water, two sauna like rooms, and many showers and vanities lining the walls. I didn't know it at the time but people come to the baths to actually bathe. There were mothers scrubbing their children, people brushing their teeth, washing their hair... There were large buckets you could use to dump the water over you while you stood as well. In one corner of the room there were cots set up where you could pay extra to have your body scrubbed down. The scrubbing was preformed by three old Korean women dressed in bras and panties, not bathing suits, bras and panties. People would lay on the cots and get facials, massages and extreme scrubbing action. I really wanted one.

While I was sitting this middle age woman came up to me and asked where I was from. Her English was perfect. It eventually came out that she was an English teacher, go figure! She was super sweet and told me how her son is studying in CA. She also said she, her sister, mother and husband come to the bath one or two times a week. I asked her how I could get a scrub down so she took me over to the women. She said something to them, the only thing I understood was foreigner (waygook) so I figured it was something like "this waygook wants a scrub." The whole thing was 17,000 won but unfortunately I would have had to wait half an hour and Jason and I had planned to meet in 15 minutes. (That gave us originally half an hour plus in the bath.) So I told her I'd have to wait until next time! Gotta get those dead skin sells off ya know!

In telling my coteachers about my experience today I said "oh I was nervous" and they said bluntly, "we don't care, its normal." I just don't want to run into a student. That would be awkward.

Reflection: I don't mean to be a downer

Life in Korea has set into rhythm. Now that testing and holidays and other random interruptions have finally settled down I've actually taught two full weeks of school, IN A ROW. And it has been exhausting And challenging.

I go through moments of extreme reflection where I just can't figure out what I'm doing here in terms of teaching. As in, what am I accomplishing? I see 22 different groups of students a week, plus two special "genius" classes. Each class has between 20 to 35-40 students. Their ability levels are extremely varied. The coteachers I work with are opposites as well, some assist me throughout the entire class, some don't show up at all. While I think I have some qualities that go into making a "good" teacher (I care, I'm prepared, I'm reliable, I'm hardworking, I'm nice, I'm well versed on the subjects) I definitely lack quality in some important areas: classroom management and creativity. I feel if I was teaching my own set of students, every day, and had a curriculum or textbook to follow, things would be easier or more manageable for me. Sure there would be the days when I don't know how to teach a topic but I think I work well with clear set goals and structure. Korea is not like that, or at least my role in Korea. I have no clear goals nor structure. Every class is different. I have no textbook and have to come up with things from scratch. This is where I saw creativity is a big key. I'm slowly learning how to be adaptable to things that change literally on the spot, like as class begins. My most constructive advice on how to approach teaching in Korea came from a student who said, "usually we just listen to the teacher translate from the book, with you we want to do things we can't do with the book, like listen and speak and watch movies and music" -- I'm not really teaching a conversation class and not really a culture class and not really a class on grammar, or a review class or a camp filled with games... but a combination of all of that. I'm trying to relax more and not take lesson planning so seriously because... I'm not taken so seriously. I definitely think not being a "notice" teacher would be helpful.

The kids are cute though and curious and challenging and time goes on!