- People back home aren't going to believe I did this
- I can't believe I'm doing this
- I'm so glad I did this
I had no real plans for Saturday but on Friday night I asked a fellow English teacher, Elaine, about going to a jimjillbang and she said she'd come with me on Saturday afternoon. I'll tell you about that after I tell you about my morning.
They don't do breakfast here. Not like back home. And I loovvvee going out for breakfast! So I woke up and Googled "Best breakfast in Seoul." As it turns out, most places are in hotels because foreigners know how to eat breakfast! I did some research, and headed out. Yes . . . I rode a one hour subway ride there and one hour back just to eat breakfast. And I am so glad I did. Was it expensive? Yes. I was eating at a hotel breakfast buffet at a verrrrryy nice hotel. I may only do this 3 times while I'm here, but it will be enough.
give me all the brown/beige things
As I left the hotel I heard some chanting. I looked up and saw that I was across from a Buddhist temple, so I went across to check it out. One of the things I love about Seoul is the juxtaposition with modern buildings and old architecture. Across from this nice modern hotel is a Buddhist temple and then there's plastic surgery places all around.
That pink/blue building in the background is for plastic surgery.
This area of Seoul is very popular for plastic surgery.
In the afternoon I went to a jimjillbang for the first time. A jimjillbang is a Korean bathhouse where you sit naked in pools and soak. You can get scrubbed down by another woman (who is only wearing a bra and undies because it's so hot in there you couldn't possibly wear more clothing. In fact one was only wearing undies). You can get massaged or you can go into a sauna. It's a Korean tradition which I was both excited and terrified to take part in. I was hesitant to go with a coworker because that's just weird. But it's also not. It's just bodies. We've all seen naked women before. I went in with that mindset and I was fine. (Only a few pics because obvs you can't take pics in there.)
Elaine at the front desk!
When you go in they give you a tiny towel and shorts and a tshirt. You can go into a middle room where you can lounge, eat snacks, and men and women can mingle. You can literally spend all day there. It is open 24 hours and most people spend hours there. I think we were there or about 4. At first I told Elaine I would be bored. Can I bring a book? She said maybe but I should just try it. And it was very relaxing. I didn't need a book at all. If I was by myself maybe I would bring one, but we just and talked. It was nice. I did think about what would happen if I saw a parent of one of my student's in there. But Elaine said she things they go to fancier ones. Plus, they probably go during the week when their kids are at school. And at the end of the day, again . . . they do this all the time. It's very normal for them. Lots of women were in there with friends scrubbing each other.
You start off scrubbing yourself down in little showers. This one had about 6 rows of showers where you sit down and scrub yourself. I mean scrub yourself. Most people spend 30 mins there. We did a facemask too, which was nice. Then there are 5 different pools to soak in. They are all different temperatures, with one being very cold. Then there's one that has jets. You just move in and out of the pools as you wish. As mentioned above, you can lay on a table and get a woman to scrub you down. She literally scrubs ALL of you. Elaine did it, I didn't. I will at some point, but wanted to start out slow.
After soaking for a while we went into the middle room to get snacks, but nothing looked amazing so we just sat in massage chairs. Then we laid in a sauna. This sauna wasn't too hot - you just lay on a bed of tiny rocks. We talked about boys.
The middle room where you can lounge and eat snacks.
ceiling of the sauna we laid in
Laying on a bed of tiny rocks in the sauna
Because they are open for 24 hours, sometimes weary travelers will stay there overnight instead of getting a hotel. It's $8 to get in and the middle room has mats to nap on. It's honestly an amazing place.I felt so confident in there after a while. I will make it a regular practice!
On Sunday I had a tour booked to Nami Island and the Garden of Morningcalm. It was a looonnnngg day. I left the house at 7am and got home at 10pm. But, it was also a wonderfully beautiful day! I went with Marilyn, a friend I met on the temple stay.
Nami Island is an island surrounded by a river. It's so cute! We were only able to spend a few hours there, but I want to go back there for a whole day.
Taking he ferry to the island
Marilyn and I on the ferry!
Ostrich selfie
New digs
Oh yeah, it's nice enough here to go water skiing. I was wearing capri pants.
Cherry blossom snow
Marilyn's cherry blossom jump shot
My cherry blossom jump shot
A mural made out of books
I heart books
We went to the Garden of Morningcalm which is a beautiful botanical garden. We took so many pictures, but like most things, the beauty is hard to capture on camera.
This shot makes me thing of one of my favorite movies, A Walk to Remember. Right?
Easter gift I bought myself with the Easter money Mom and Dad gave me.
Yes, I am 34 and my parents still give me Easter money.
Churros are super popular in Korea. They are everywhere. Not sure why, but I love them!
Those colored things are ice cream cones.
They fill it with self serve and it turns into kind of a U shape.
It was a fun day! And guess how it stated? By me doing ANOTHER thing outside of my comfort zone. I got on the subway to the tour stop. As I sat down I noticed a very handsome man across and down from me a bit. We locked eyes and smiled. We both looked away, then looked back at each other. He smiled and mouthed "hi." I said hi back. I didn't know what to do. He would look at his phone and then look up at me. I pulled out my book and sometimes look at him. I thought to myself - you have to do something. I took out a gum wrapper and tried to write my contact info on it but the paper was too shiny. I frantically looked for something else to write on. I found a stamp card from a smoothie place and wrote my contact info on the back. I thought, as I get off at my stop, I will just hand it to him and walk out. Then I thought - what if he gets off before me? I will have to jump up and hand it to him before he leaves. Then, he closed his eyes to fall asleep. Oh God! Do I just slip it into his hand as he sleeps like a real creep? Shove it into his sleeve so it doesn't fall out? Panic. Then he opened his eyes, I stood up, he said hi to me again, I gave him the card and I literally ran off the train in fear. 2 minutes later he texted me and we haven't stopped. He keeps thanking me for being brave because he wanted to do something but was too shy.
I did a brave thing and it worked. Who knows what will happen? But we are meeting tonight for dinner. He is so handsome! His name is Kenneth, he's 36, and the fact that he was on the train as I got on means he lives close to me because there's only about 8 stops before mine. Win! He's one of those deeply spiritual people. He kept saying it was an Easter blessing that we met. I think if I didn't do the brave thing on Saturday I may not have done the brave thing on Sunday.
Video chat this morning
WHO AM I, EVEN? I am someone who is finding herself. Doing brave things. Taking chances. Making friends. Finding beauty. Eating all the beige things.
Happy Monday!
Love,
Alli
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