TilT...Hyun Bin, 7th Grade Pajamas, and more...

Time for "Things I Love Thursday". I've felt a bit funky all week, so it's a good chance to recognize all the blessings and happy things of late.

• This compliment: "Julie, I think you are more beautiful and cool than Angelina Jolie." (said randomly by one of my female English Corner participants). Well, thank you...but she scares me so I don't want to compete. ha
• Teaching a lesson on Shakespeare to my ESL students at English Corner this week. I made them read some of the scenes (challenging for sure, because it's hard for native English speakers!). During a masquerade scene a friend and I ended up putting napkins over our faces/heads. Unfortunately, it was right at that moment that my Barista Love walked into the room. His eyes got really big, then he cracked up. Ah well, making a guy laugh is one way to his heart I guess...
• Speaking of Barista Boy...he keeps doing super endearing things. Such as 1) playing Hyun Bin's song "That Man" over the stereo system just for me. 2) drawing hearts on my latte again 3) just being really cute and smiley. Dang him and his cute smiley ways.
• My friend lending me 2 books on Chinese politics. He asked me to teach a lesson on Chinese politics to some foreigners so we can better understand how the system works, so I have been preparing for that (and learning a lot of course!)

Other loves this week:

• wearing my fave pajamas. I'm glad I brought them back to China with me this year. They are super old, worn, and weird....I have had them since literally 7th grade when my grandmother bought them for me from V.S....and I have been wearing them since then (kinda sad that they still fit?)
• leg warmers. I finally bought some, and they allow me to wear dresses in the cooler weather, so I think I'm a fan.
• New cheesy pop music faves. Britney Spears "Criminal", Brown Eyed Girls "Sixth Sense", 2PM "Hands Up", and Sugababes "Denial". When you go to KTV as often as I do, you gotta keep on top of discovering and rediscovering pop songs!

Oh, and if you want to hear the Hyun Bin song that was played, here it is..it's the theme song from the Kdrama "Secret Garden" (one of my local friends and I are obsessed with that show...and him): http://youtu.be/zubnPehzKyo

Korea Must-Do: Jjimjilbang

Korea is famous for its spas (called jjimjilbangs), and for good reason! If I lived in Seoul I'd probably be spending a lot of time there...the nice thing is that they are pretty affordable!

I decided to visit the famous Dragon Hill Spa. Basically, the way it works is that you pay an entry fee (depending on the time of day it is typically about $8-$10). You are given towels, your pajama-esque spa attire, and a wristband that has the key to your lockers (one for shoes at the entrance and one in the spa area for your clothes/purse). The wristband also acts as your payment system should you choose to purchase any extra services/meals/snacks/etc.

Included in your entrance fee is access to the saunas, swimming pools, and soaks in the hot pools. You start by showering and then enter the womens (or mens) only area where you can soak in the hot pools (they also have an ice cold bath that is supposed to be good for after your hot-water soak..I only lasted about 30 seconds in that one) and enjoy some small sauna rooms.

After you finish in there, you can shower again, don your spa attire, and enjoy the rest of the jjimjilbang with its dining area, mixed-sex saunas, and recreation rooms. You can get your nails done, and in the womens area, there are lots of extra treatments to choose from (facials, massages, etc.).

Now for the uncomfortable part (well, I didn't care, but some people might): in the single-sex areas you do not wear clothing...not even bathing suits. Yep, you will be naked in front of Korean strangers. But, from my perspective, it was not uncomfortable because typically Korean adults don't stare as much as people do in the city I live in China.

To step the awkwardness up a notch, you can get one of the most popular spa treatments, which is a good scrub-down from a Korean ajumma. Yep, within the hot-soak area there is a space with tables where you can lay down (still completely naked) while an older Korean woman scrubs the dead skin from all (and I do mean ALL) areas of your body. Included in this was also a very nice hair shampoo massage. It was a little gross to see how much dead skin actually peeled off of me...afterwards I felt AMAZING though.

If you visit Korea, suck it up and DO it!

Korea

I just got back from a few days in Korea...I loved it and definitely hope to return there someday!

Overview of my trip (I will continue posting about specific places I visited):

Favorite Thing/Highlight:

Touring the DMZ/JSA. It was, I believe, the most interesting place I have ever been. The last active remnant of the Cold War. I booked my tour through the USO, and I highly recommend them. You get a lot of history/backstory that you might not get with another group. Everyone I talked to said that was the best way to go, and I think they were right! Honestly, for some reason the whole experience was really moving, because you see how war has ripped families apart. Our Korean guide escort even talked about how they haven't been able to even have a letter from their relatives in North Korea since the war. She had tears in her eyes as she shared that. It truly is a bizarre, sad situation.

Fave Areas of Seoul:

Insadong was really fun for shopping (as it a lot of Seoul!), but for walking/sitting at night, I highly recommend Cheonggye. It's the riverwalk of Seoul (and according to my friend, was designed based on it), and I think, speaking as a San Antonian, that it is even an improvement on it.

Fave Things to Buy:

When it comes to travel souveniers, coffee mugs and magnets are my items of choice. In this instance, I was also delighted to find that you can buy ANYTHING emblazened with the face of your favorite Korean star. Awesomeness. Also, Korean teas are wonderful, as is the kimchi-flavored laver! You can also pick up some metal chopsticks (I recommend getting them outside of the tourist areas...try a local grocery store).

Favorite Eats:

-no suprise, bibimbap

-rice cakes. Especially glutinous rice cakes. Yum yum yum!

-Ginseng smoothies at Insadong. Try one, Korean ginseng is famous for a reason!

Recommendations for travelers to Seoul:

-Don't bother with taxis. Get a t-money card and do the subway system...it's easy to navigate.

-Try to learn to read before you go. It will help even if you don't speak Korean. It saved me when I was lost on an excursion outside of Seoul (the further you get from havey tourist areas, the less likely it is that people speak English).

-Try the jjimjilbang (Korean spa). Yes, you will be naked in front of strangers. But if you suck it up and get over it, it will be an enjoyable experience! You can even stay there overnight if you so desire, and thus save money on hotel/hostel (accomodation is not very cheap in Seoul).

-Get some helpful itouch apps (itour Seoul, and a metro map were very useful to me!)

There is so much to see, do, and try in Seoul...I definitely didn't get to see everything I wanted to, but I saw a lot and will have to return someday (definitely a place I wouldn't mind living...).

Outdoor Excursion #2

Being in the city, I forget sometimes that we are surrounded by mountains, just asking to be climbed. I am always vocalizing how much I want to go biking or climbing, but many of my friends aren't quite as into the physical activities as I am.

At last, however, my dear friend and 姐姐 (I call her my older sister) wanted to go, so, along with a friend of hers, we took advantage of the holiday week to go. Also, her friend is part of a road bicycling club, and he let me ride his expensive racing bike. It was terrifying at first (because he is really tall and the seat is high), but man you can fly on that thing! He also told me that I had sport bicycling potential (which I suspected I did, but alas, have not the time/money for that hobby at the moment....perhaps someday!).

It was a bit of a hazy day, but still worth it. The beauty of creation, and the opportunity for some (relative) quiet (a rarity in China) provided a great day! I love a good active day!

Outdoors

I love being outside. Well, I love being outside when the weather allows. Any day now it will be unbearably cold up here in Northern China, so for now I'm enjoying the chance I have to be outside.

First, I got to spend a lovely day at the park last week with my friend of 3+ years who came into town to visit...I hadn't seen him since 2008, even though I've been in China for the last year, I kept being out of town when he would come back to the city to visit...so it was good to see him at last. During the summer of 08 when I was on a teaching exchange program here, he and 2 of of our other friends (who I sometimes referred to as the 3 musketeers) were my best friends in the city....I have some really good memories with them, so I was so happy to get to reunite.

An interesting aspect of our visit, besides the fact that we are now older (if not wiser), is that our roles have been reversed conversationally. When I came a few years ago, I only knew basic Chinese, not enough to carry on a conversation (a fact which he gleefully recounted with laughter, marveling at how I could now converse with him in Mandarin). A few years ago we conversed in English (his third language, and one he was not particularly comfortable in). So, it was my turn to be inferior in language ability... :-)

Anyways, we had a nice time in the park and it was good to be outside.

Popular park activities in China include:

-tai chi (which I have only tried once)

-feeding pigeons (which I did...those with bird phobias steer clear)

-boating (usually an animal shaped paddle boat on some dirty green or brown water)

-fishing for goldfish (kids do this, but I always want to jump in!)

(view from our duck paddle boat)