Semi Public Nudity and Pottery..A Nice Little Saturday

This past weekend my super fantastic friend Vanessa invited Carol, Mary and I to a "Ladies Day" in Boseong which started as most of our meetings do, preceeding night of emptying wine bottles...a favourite hobby of ours. Early saturday morning we travelled out to the Green Tea Spa (I use "Spa" loosely) in Yulpo near Boseong where we engaged in a morning of semi public nudity. This was mine and Carol's first experience with this but we were with two old pros so we were in good hands. Korean spas are like a bath house..many locals frequent these establishments regularly to bath. If their showers are anything like mine, i can completely understand why. In North America group bathing is SOOOO not common, but in Korea..it is. There were many women and girls at the spa bright and early in the morning...and despite my fears of being stared at as we are on the street...the women took a glance at us as we were obviously the only foreigners there but that was the extent of it. I was also concerned that my tattoos might also cause a stir as they are NOT really acceptable in Korean culture. They didn't seem to cause much concern and if they did, i was not aware. (benefits of ignorance) The spa consisted of 4 large tubs/pools. A bloody cold tub, a luke warm, a 40 degree (green tea) tub and a 42 degree tub. We chose to circulate from the green tea tub (a lovely dark brown color, literally like a big cup of tea) to the bloody cold tub. After about almost two hours of soaking we each had a "scrub." Not what i expected!!! You climb onto a massage table in the main room and a lady in underwear and a bra scrubs your skin off with a pair of exfoliating mittens...(imagine 40 grit sandpaper). She is very thorough...she doesn't miss an inch....i mean it. All the while you are wearing some kind of cloth facial mask so when you do flip on your side and can see yourself in the mirror while she has your arms and legs strewn this way and that...you also get to see that your face looks like you're late for a creepy masquerade. For the finalle she lathers you up in something that smells like lemon meringue pie then she has douces you in hot water..When all is said and done you break out in a rash from the rough scrubbing...fortuneately this is only temporary but then your skin feels fantastic. I'm hooked.

Our day continued with a great lunch of Bulgogi and Brews at the nearby green tea plantation which we were going to tour but the rain changed our plans and we literally took a rain check and made our way to a traditional pottery store where we met up with Nole, another foreign teacher and two of Vanessa's Korean friends (one of which is a 75 year old man named Mr. Sun...he is hilarious and has great english). After we were set up with some sticks of clay and a work area, Vanessa (the professional...she had been there once before) gave us a quick demo of what we were supposed to do, then we got down to business.


We all made a few pieces...plates, bowls, candle dishes, wind chime ornaments...and Nole accidentally created something which resembled a piece of the male anatomy, after a few Korean customers in the store came by and giggled at it...he blushed and managed to finish with something quite nice. Thanks Vanessa for a great day.

Everyone needs a hug!

You may have heard of the "Free Hugs" campaign which began in Australia on September 21 of this year. Well if you haven't please check out the following link.
http://www.freehugscampaign.org/


IT was so fantastic...we hugged the little kids, middle and highschool students, adults and grandparents..and they all left our grip with a huge smile on their face. It was wonderful. Many of our patrons didn't just come in for the hug and run...they gave a good squeeze and maybe a photo op with the waygook. No matter their motive..they were well received.






Many people looked at us as if we were off our rockers but after a hug...i think they got the idea and could appreciate the significance of bringing people closer together and putting a smile on their face. If you can make the time...have a hug day in your town. I'm sure North Bay could use some hugs. :)

Halloween In Korea

I know that this posting is very late...but as most of you know...i hate sitting in front of a computer unless i'm chatting with long lost friends and family back home. Well here it is. Halloween in Korea proved to be quite entertaining considering the fact that Koreans don't celebrate this goulish holiday. They do however get quite a kick out of seeing a hourd of drunken waygooks roaming the streets dressed in the most rediculous attire and yes I mean you Matt, Carol, Vanessa, Mary and Crystal. I of course had a completely respectable and educational costume. Our evening consisted of a trip to the near by Yeosu about 40 min from my new digs. We shacked up in a love motel almost across the street from the bar where our shindig would take place. One of the veteran english teachers once again organized this get together for the fifth consecutive year, complete with door prizes and a best costume bottle of whiskey. Some of the costumes were bloody hilarious, there was everything from a laundry basket, holy shit, a milk carton, mermaids, a wind up doll and an umplumpa. Check out the pictures. There is nothing funnier than watching a giant milk carton waddle across the street with a group of confused and bewildered korean onlookers...i'm still giggling about that image.

The night was a riot and didn't end when we left the bar, it continued into the next morning at a near by noraebong..(Karaoke room). These joints are so much fun. You rent your own private karaoke room for an hour or two, some have comfortable couches and you can drink and sing your heart out. If you hit up the right place you might even get a plate of dried squid bits and chips...yummy. After a long night of fun and trashed costumes we all stumbled back to our love motel to crash. Good times.