My First Korean Spa

Time for a long overdue update. Today I went to a Korean spa for the first time. It was cool, this place was like a spa/waterpark. So, the only problem was that there were like a billion children. For some reason after teaching all week the last thing I want to do on the weekend is be surrounded by screaming children lol.

But I actually met this really cool little girl who had the most amazing English of anyone I’ve met since I’ve been here. She picked me out like the minute I arrived and then kind of followed me around until eventually she started talking to me, it’s funny how kids do that here. You can totally sense it when a kid keeps looking at you and you know they’re just working up the nerve to talk to you.

Back to the spa though, so after the water park part we went to the mixed jimjilbang (Korean spa) part, where everyone had to wear these funny brown shorts and t-shirt outfits. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Everyone walking around in the same nondescript outfits.

So the coolest/creepiest part of the jimjilbang was that the “Dr. Fish.” The dr. fish are these weird fish that are all in a pool and you put your feet in and they eat all the dead skin off your feet. At first it felt really weird but then it was kind neat. And now my feet are way smoother.

Finally I went to the girls’ part of the jimjilbang, which is the naked part. Which I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do, but I figured when in Rome… So I went and it was great, there was one huge room that had all sorts of different baths and showers and stuff, and then there was this other outdoor section that was really relaxing and had all sorts of different stone baths. So yeah, I survived my first excursion to a jimjilbang, and I loved it. There’s one right by my school but I think it might be kind of weird because what if I run into my students there? So we’ll see, I might just stick to going to out of town jimjilbangs instead.