Jimjalbong and More Snow

*** WARNING: THIS POST IT NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY DESCRIPTIONS OF NUDITY OR ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH SCRUBBING, LEAVE THIS PAGE NOW!!!! *** :) :) :)

Tuesday marked our second snow day in a row..an identical repeat of our first snow two snow days back in January. There was even more snow this time. Monday was spent going to the gym, watching movies and pretty much shootin the breeze. Tuesday on the other hand, was a snow day I shall never forget. I went to the gym just like Monday, but following that I did not watch a movie, I got scrubbed down by a topless lady. It's not what it seems! ...now let me just explain.

Jimjalbongs are very common in the Korean culture. Men and women alike enjoy saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs, cold tubs (?), showers..and who doesn't love exfoliation accompanied with rough massage and spanking? Oh, and who doesn't love partaking in the above mentioned completely naked? I know I do. 

I ventured to my first Jimjalbong with my co-teacher Jenn, who had been to one in Korea before. I knew about three things before I entered: 1. I would see a lot of naked Korean women and children and I would be naked  2. I would submerge myself in some sort of water 3. I would see Koreans scrubbing and exfoliating each other beyond belief. 

I was thinking about painting a delicate picture for you, but then you wouldn't really understand my FULL experience, now would you? I certainly do not want to rob you of the nitty gritty details. So, here goes. We walked in and received an outfit we had no idea what to do with, along with a very small towel. We arrived the same time another young woman did, so we just followed what she did, as we do not speak Korean and no one knows what we are saying when we ask questions. She proceeded to get naked and so we followed. (This is not like America where the only naked ladies you see in the locker room are the old ones. Nooo sirrreeeyyy...over here we let it all hang out, it's quite freeing actually.) Then she walked into the biggest "shower" I've ever seen in my life. Now I say "shower" because there were a billion showers lined up, a sauna, a steam room, one giant long tub in the middle, and about 6 surrounding pools on the outskirts of the room. 

We showered first, then went to the pools where a couple were veryyy hot, a couple were a comfy bath temperature, and a couple were ice cold. The cold ones actually came in handy when we started getting very hot. Let's see if I can accurately describe what I saw..naked women everywhere: young, old, children, even a pregnant one, all were showering, sitting in hot water, or being scrubbed. Hard.  Mom's scrub daughters, daughters scrub moms, you get the drift. Now I walked in with a sort of intention of getting scrubbed, but I wanted to feel it out first. Behind a partition were two massage tables and two ladies being exfoliated professionally. This looked better than what I could do for myself, plus I don't have a loofa. So, Jen and I payed $20...yep thats it..for, uhhh..quite an experience.

One massage lady was ready for one of us before the other and Jenn told me to go first. Thanks a lot! I ended up getting the topless angry lady letting out all of her aggression on me. Ha. Jenn's massage lady was wearing a bathing suit. Now I get why she wanted me to be first. What followed was a somewhat painful scrub down accompanied with a type of facial. The lady put exfoliating gloves on both her hands and proceeded to scrub away at me and boy was she a diligent worker. She scrubbed me in places only my momma has scrubbed. Like 23 years ago. I got a nice cucumber facial bonus and some other stuff on my face, so that made up for it. I suppose. Towards the end of the massage something very funny happened. The lady starting smacking me. I know what you are thinking, come on Lia was she really smacking you? And yes, yes she was. She smacked my shoulders, my legs, my butt..you get it. I really don;t know what they think the hitting does but I wanted to laugh sooo hard!! I actually had to hold back my giggles. I'm laying there thinking, "This Korean lady is really smacking the shit out of me right now!" It was hilarious. Finally, I got some soft oil stuff all over me and my whole body and face feel baby smooth. 

Was the jinjabong worth my time and very little money? Hell yes. I will go back again, Soon. I felt so nice afterwards. Will I get a scrub down again? Yes. I know it sounds a little crazy but I'm sure I can get used to the scrubbing, and maybe even the smacking for some baby smooth skin. HA!  And for all of you skeptics and dear friends and family thinking I'm a looney for this..don't knock it till you try it!!!  Oh Korea. 

:) 

BUSAN

Before telling you all about Busan, we'd like to start by congratulating Jessica and Phil on their marriage!!! We can't wait to see pictures and hope you had the best night ever!! We love you and miss you.

Busan was awesome, we really made the most of our time there and saw everything we wanted to and more. The trip turned out to be a lot more tiring and physically demanding than expected but we are now much more advanced at climbing large rocks and mountains while carrying rather heavy backpacks. :)

We went to so many places, and they are better described with photos accompanied by words, which are uploaded to Shutterfly.http://lbkorea.shutterfly.com/ 

Click the link for photos..there were too many to post to the blog. We traveled throughout Busan which is a pretty large city for 4 days and 3 nights with one backpack each. We stayed in a different hotel each night in different parts of this city. We went with only one plan for sure..to see the Temple By The Sea.. everything else we did spur of the moment.

This is what our trip looked like:

Wednesday: Haeundae Beach

Thursday: Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (Temple By The Sea), Taejondae boat cruise, hike through Taejondae mountain and visit temple

This day was physically demanding but gorgeous. After we visited the Temple By The Sea, we moved to another part of the city and took a boat cruise around Taejondae mountains to see the cliffs. We then decided to explore inside the mountain which was quite a hike but we saw an awesome temple and there were great views.

Friday: Beomeosa Temple, Guemjeongsanseong Fortress

This day was the hardest ever...but also worth the pain. When we hiked in the Taejondae mountains, the park we were in was paved, it was a bitch of a climb, but it was paved. Beomeosa Temple was a different story..We had really heavy backpacks on and were not prepared for the climb awaiting us. Beomeosa sat on top of giant rocks. The biggest, most steep unpaved climbing treacherousness we've ever experienced, so much so that I fell down on our decent...twice. I was seriously scared almost the whole way down. It was nuts!! BUT it was quite the experience and totally worth it. The place was amazing.

Saturday: Bokcheon Museum

I will get into more details on the Shurtterfly photos. It's a lot easier to describe things when you can see! http://lbkorea.shutterfly.com/

New Year

So many exciting things to write about!!!

I'd like to start by congratulating my cousin Jaclyn and her husband Michael on the birth of their beautiful daughter, Olivia. Olivia makes Grandma Jackie and Papa Norb first time great grandparents, Aunt Lynne and Uncle Rick first time grandparents and Brent a first time uncle. Congratulations to everyone and enjoy each minute! 

It is the Lunar New Year aka Chinese New Year this week and we only worked Monday and Tuesday! That means Wednesday through Friday off! WHOO HOO!!! For our first huge adventure and trip, we are heading to Busan with friends Wednesday morning and staying as long as our little hearts desire. Well, as long as we're back by Sunday night-uh. Some of our planned stops in Busan include the Temple By The Sea, Busan Aquarium, a possible boat tour and a special New Years performance. All of this in 50-52 degree weather with plentiful sunshine!!!! This year is the year of the Rabbit. Brendan and I are Rabbits. Coincidence..?? We plan to not plan anything else:) 

This 2 day week was great. Because of the holiday, we got to do some celebrating with our little ones. Festivities included: making kites, attempting to fly them, pancake making, chocolate surprise making, some Korean soup making and arts and crafts. Just my style. 

Monday night we were also asked to dinner by one of the students (Christina's)  parents. It is common to get invited by kids parents for dinner and other special occasions like piano recitals, etc. When we went to dinner, we brought a giant bunch of oranges and a cake. We arrived on the 19th floor of the high rise apartment and the the girls, Christina and her little sister Alice greeted us in traditional Korean dress. Christina is about 5 in American years and Alice is 2 1/2. They looked so precious. We walked in to the family room and kitchen and their table was covered in food and I mean covered. There was everything from veggies to fruit, meat, salads, wraps, soup, desert and pastries out. It was quite a spread. We ate almost immediately, on the floor with a table similar to a coffee table. Christina's parents were really nice and her father spoke English pretty well. He talked to us about the many countries he has visited and asked us about ourselves. The visit was relaxed and fun, we hope to be fed like that more often!!!

Below are a bunch of pictures from the day we made kites and also some really cute video onVimeo. We will be sure to take lots of photos in Busan and tell you all about it!

P.S. We have heard about the huge storm coming your way. Be safe and stay warm! 

Lots of little slippers. This is where we walk in every morning. 

Kite flying. Trying at least.

Smile- He looks so precious here but it such a little shit 95% of the time.

Yuna.

Yuna and Smile.

My favorite Sally on the left, Christina on the right - we went to her house for dinner.

Goo!!!

 So cute. She was trying to show him for the longest time.

s

Prince. Smile's older brother. See it? See it?

HAAA a kite tail in Smile's hair. He did not not not like it, HILARIOUS.

Brendan teacher is always playing video games.

Shiny, glittery, bedazzled, blinged out clothes are not only popular for women in Korea. Daniel wore this outfit at least 3 times within the past two weeks. I must mention, these glittery shirts are not only worn by children...