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. 

:)