주석 Chuseok Vacation

Last Monday, Koreans celebrated Chuseok (their Thanksgiving equivalent.) Most Korean families travel to their hometowns during this time, so all of the big cities eerily empty out. For foreigners however, it means a five-day weekend and taking over those cities or neighboring countries, like Japan or Taiwan.

I had left school early the previous Friday to pick up Kate from the airport. Talk about Chuseok traffic. It was hell. It reminded me of the traffic on the GW in New York, which made made me homesick/slightly pissed off. Though I had no other way of getting there, so I kind of just had to put in my music and deal with it. We spent our time in Seoul for the next two days doing touristy things. We went on a Seoul City bus Tour, which I absolutely recommend. You can choose from three different routes. The one we chose was two hours long in duration, but you can get off wherever you want and buses come through in 30-minute intervals to pick you up. It's really nice because it's up to you which sites you get off at and how long you stay at each one. It no doubt kept us on a schedule. We saw Deoksugung Palace, The National Museum of Korea, and stopped in Insadong- a must for any tourist traveling through Seoul who is looking to buy traditional gifts and souveniers. There, we tried some green tea made fresh in front of us from ingredients grown in Jeju. Delicious. We also witnessed a man making traditional Korean rice cakes. These things are at almost every teacher's meeting and given out at special events as part favors, so I've had my fair share. It was cool to finally see how they come together. The sticky rice mixture was in a large wooden stand, and he was literally wacking the thing from over his head as hard as he could with a wooden hammer. This was now my third time in Insadong; I can't get enough. Strolling down the streets, window shopping and people-watching with coffee or tea in hand, is probably one of my favorite past-times.  I showed Kate the night life of Hongdae and Itaewon, which is always a good time. We stayed at an awesome hostel called Jin's Paradise. Jin is now one of my coolest Korean friends. His hostel is about a 7-minute walk from exit 1 and 2 of Itaewon Station. Perfect location. Great rooms, safe, clean, affordable, and really popular with young travelers. It has a real homey, hippy kind of vibe. To top it off, the roof has a breathtaking view of Seoul and Namsan Tower. 

Kate experiencing Hongdae

Jin's view from the roof

Amazing

Awesome lounging room in the palace. This kid was loving it.

Cutie in her hanbok (traditional Korean dresses)

Outside of the museum

Always find Buddhas so interesting and serene

Gorgeous paintings

Making green tea from Jeju 

Making rice cakes

Guards in front of the Palace

Showing different Asian Buddhas.

We took a subway ride to Myeongdong to visit the four-story Forever 21. Yes, I said four-story. We didn't even make it to H&M. Foreigners love this place, because if you're anything like me, I'm not into the huge frills and lace that is Korean fashion. Of course they still have simple clothes, but you need to search, especially for your size. So going to Myeongdong is an exciting, thrilling adventure, that doesn't happen so often. I actually spent a good amount of money (way to go me.) While walking back from Myeongdong, we came across a beautiful Catholic Church. Myeongdong Cathedral. It was the very first parish built in South Korea. Let's not forget to bring up The Flying Pan- my favorite breakfast joint in Seoul thus far. I don't think I've made a Seoul trip yet without getting there. Below is their avocado chicken sandwich, along with a seasonal pumpkin cheesecake. We could NOT pass that up, especially being disappointed after finding that even the Seoul Starbucks' weren't selling their pumpkin lattes. We headed back to Andong on Sunday, avoiding all the traffic of the holiday since most families had started their travels at the start of the weekend. Thank goodness.

Chicken avocado

Pumpkin cheesecake 

Out in Itaewon 

We left early the next morning for Busan. We met up with my friends from Andong, who had been there on vacation since Saturday. That afternoon we took a beyond crowded bus to  Haedong Yongung Temple. Since it was the actual day of Chuseok, we didn't think it would be crazy busy, but we quickly found the opposite to be true. I guess visiting temples is a popular thing to do on this holiday. We stood on line for about 15 minutes before we hit the cliffs overlooking the water and the temple, then got back on line to walk over to the actual temple. The sight was absolutely breathtaking. I can say it's the most beautiful temple site I've seen thus far, and my temple count is getting up there. I'll let the pictures try and explain, but we all know they can only do some much justice. We hung out on Haeundae beach for a while after that until we figured we should go eat something. We were all still ridiculously full from lunch, so we ventured into the market for some small street food before the bars.  For lunch, we all had burgers at Wolfhound. I got a delicious veggie burger, but the size of the thing was enormous. I'm sure I wouldn't think that if I got it back in the States, but the fact that we're not used to eating greasy, huge helpings of food anymore affects you. My stomach actually felt a little upset afterwards. It's amazing the difference in portion size between the States and Korea. Kate got her street food experience, but opted out of the spicy tteokbokki, which I gladly ordered. Mmm soo good. I'm sure I've explained it before, but tteokbokki is Korean's most famous street food and you can find it at almost every vendor. It's consists of rice cakes, scallions, imitation fish cakes, and a really spicy red pepper sauce. It's so creamy and kind of perfect. It fills you up, and is usually only around 3,000 won.

On line for the temple 

Rubbing Buddha's belly supposedly brings wealth and good luck, and some think pregnancy. (When we were walking back, an ahjumma was rubbing this guy like crazy, and all her friends were hysterical with laughter. Their laughs are always contagious.)

LOVE this shot. This boy was very much in his own world. 

ahhhhh I can't get over these Korean children.

Busan was absolutely beautiful the next day. It's always a treat to sit on that beach with no worries, not even that you just paid an obnoxious amount for a tall Starbucks coffee. If I close my eyes, and ignore all the Korean being spoken, I can feel like I'm back home on our beaches. Very comforting.

Busan Market

This went on for 20 minutes. Down to the water, up the sand. Down to the water, up the sand. OH how life was so simple as a child.

 We traveled back the next day being that I had to go back to work on Thursday. I introduced Kate to all that is Andong and she finally got a sense of what the real Korea is all about. She saw a clear difference between Seoul and Busan and my city. I'm overly grateful that she was able to make this trip, and that she got back safe and sound. I love my visitors and am thankful I have such wonderful people in my life that make a huge trips to come see me (Yes, mom, you and Dennis.)

So our tiny vacation finally came to an end, and I was back off to work.. but only for two days, and then I finally made it to our city's International Maskdance Festival.. I'll get on that post in the next few days..

Naked Women Everywhere. Oh The 짐질방 Experience..

If that title didn't peek your interest, you must be crazy.

It just occurred to me today that I have yet to write about this, for it happened more than a month ago.

짐질방. Pronouned "jimjilbang," or public bath and sauna.
Jimjilbangs are a large part of Korean culture, so after many stories from friends and a big deep breath, I decided that it was time I needed to experience it. So one weekend in August after my return from Japan, a few friends and I decided to stay at one while in Busan, instead of booking a hostel or love motel. We chose Haeundae Spa Center, for it was a short 10-minute walk from the beach.
http://www.haeundaespa.com/

First thing we do: Walk in
Second: Freak out.

Okay, no matter how comfortable you are with your body in front of friends and family, it's a whole other ball game when you are a naked foreigner (most times... the only foreigner) amongst 100+ naked Korean women.

A few facts:
1.Men and women are separated by floor. You can't even press the women's floor from the men's floor and the communal floor on the elevator, and vice-versa. They mean business.
2. You can stay overnight or just do a spa day.
3. It cost us a whopping 9,000won, which is not even $8. AMAZING.

So as I said before, I was told countless stories, both involving good and bad experiences. The one major piece of advice I received  was to get over and accept the fact that these ahjumma's WILL stare at you. We're westerners. We have hips. They don't. Get over it. And in this place, there is NO where to hide. So as we paid for our stay, we said goodbye to the boys and walked in to the women's floor. We were met by a woman at a desk who gave us our robes (baggy linen capri type sweat pants and a button up shirt. Really fashionable.) She also gave us a locker key and two towels. We thought, oh well at least we have towels to cover ourselves up with. No. They were legit hand towels, more for drying your hair/face. That idea was shot down quickly. We quickly realized we were really going to do this. As we walked to our lockers we had our first sighting of the nakedness. Women, girls, everywhere. Fully comfortable and fully naked. Bizarre is the word that came to mind. We have nothing like this in the States, and I think that's why it was so very interesting more than anything. We actually didn't use the baths until later, but we did decide to do a little bit of exploring before getting ready to go out. This way when we came back that night, we would know exactly what it was all about. Now keep in mind we were fully clothed at this point amongst all the nakedness, so that was a bit uncomfortable. Beyond the lockers were bathrooms, a huge vanity room, with mirrors on three walls, equipped with hairdryers, q-tips, and combs, A t.v. area with benches, and women outstretched, completely carefree in their nakedness watching the Olympics. Then you hit the main attraction- the sauna and bath room. Of course we couldn't go in yet, because we were still clothed, so hold on just a tic...

As we took all this in, I had a feeling of, oh my god I don't think I can walk around like this in front of all these strangers and be okay with it. It's a definite test on how comfortable you really are. It's not like I'm not comfortable with my body. This is was deeper than that. In our case- the stares. And boy did we get them, but surprisingly unlike walking on the streets, in here you're a celebrity for a mere 3 1/2 seconds and then you're just like everyone else. I didn't really experience many lingering looks. Good thing.

So as we came back from our night, we made the great leap. I was a nerd, counted to three and stripped down. I took my 2 towels with me and headed into the spa area. It really was a beautiful sight. Think of an enormous room, with dimmed lights, and water reflecting off each corner. To your right there were about 10 showers and bath areas to your far right (personal stations holding their own shower head, sink, stool to sit on, and a vanity with a large bowl on top.) You bring your shampoo and body wash etc. to these stations or the showers (whatever your preference.) It's a cardinal rule to shower/bathe before stepping into the pools. In the center and all along the left and back walls are pools of differing temperatures. One of them even had 2 waterfall type shower heads above them. You can stand underneath it and a flood of water falls on you for like 3 minute intervals. I actually didn't do that, but it looked intriguing. In the center there are stations where ahjummas who are employed by the jimjilbang will scrub you down. I believe it's an extra expense, and after seeing it done, I plan on doing it the next time I'm at one. I've been told they're pretty rough, but that it feels amazing once you're done. Definitely a twist on what we think of as pampering. I spent a good amount of time in a cold pool and an extremely hot one. As I turned on the jets and sat back, I looked around just taking it all in. First of all, not even believing I was actually doing this, second of all, admiring the stares turned into smiles from ahjummas, third of all lauging at the children who were splashing and playing with their friends/sisters in the pools, and fourth of all, intrigued by the relaxation on everyone's faces. They all seemed like they had not a worry in the world.

After an hour or so, we made our way back out to the lockers to change into our beautiful bed time attire and headed upstairs to the communal sleeping floor. This floor is basically a huge open space where people are relaxing, talking quietly amongst themselves, watching tv in the corner, but mostly sleeping. It literally looks like a hospital ward that had no beds for their patients. You don't know who anyone is because they are all lying down with the same attire. It took us forever to find our friends the next night because the place was so packed. It was like walking on broken glass, stepping in between people's heads and feet. Along the sides of the floor and down short hallways are about 15-20 tiny rooms. They include massage rooms where you can pay for full-body massages; sauna rooms that vary from ice-cold rooms to such intense heat, that I opened the door to one and had to shut it right away because the air was so thick I couldn't breathe. Down the short hallways are private, quiet, sleeping rooms, some unisex, and some seprated. There are no English signs, so we really needed to pay attention as to who were in the rooms. The first night we slept in one of the unisex private rooms and the second night we made our way out to the patio.  I have to tell you, waking up to sun shining on you, on a balcony overlooking Haeundae, was pretty amazing.

Yes. I would do it again. This experience is one westerners really can't get bak home. I'm not sure if they exist at all in the States. If they do, I'm sure you really have to go searching. By the end of it, the nakedness was no longer a problem and I became quite accustomed to the whole ordeal. This is a MUST for anyone visiting Korea for an extended period of time. Even if you don't stay... 5,000won or $4 for a day at a spa is pretty damn good. You really can't pass that up.