Reflections on Camp and the Jimjilbang

Last Wednesday, Richy and I returned from Chamsarang (True Love) Winter camp in Daesungni. There, we stayed in a lodge-like dormitory with about 100 middle school students, and more than 20 other teachers and staff members. We knew (unhappily) before coming that we would be sharing bathroom and shower facilities with all these people, but we didn't know that we would also be sleeping Korean-style: on the floor. The experience was definitely exhausting from the get-go, and I broke my usual abstinence from daily caffeine intake. Despite these inconveniences however, I was amazed to leave the camp happy to have participated. It was great to get to know a group students, work with friendly and committed co-teachers and supervisors, and actually have fun teaching English. I find myself actually looking forward to the three week camps in the summer but I also hope that they will include western-style beds and private showers.

Throughout the camp, in the stolen moments I took to bathe and take care of myself, I thought that the upcoming weekend would be a great opportunity for Richy and I to experience a traditional Korean bathhouse, known as a jimjilbang. Korean families typically go to the jimjilbang once a week or so to refresh themselves, relax, and scrub all the skin on their body really hard with a rough cloth. Our friend Min-Hwa did some internet research and found high recommendations for a jimjilbang near Bangi station. Entry fee with coupons was 5,000 won per person. After paying our fees, we were each given a key and placed our shoes in special shoe lockers near the door. Then we were issued our offical jimjilbang uniform: pink shorts and tee for women, blue for men (and red for small children, whose parents can take them in either gender's locker room). Then we went into the locker rooms to change into our outfits and store our street clothes in the lockers. From there, we had several floors of options: in the locker room, we could enter the baths (basically hot tubs featuring a variety of temperatures and treatments), the showers, the cupping room, and the scrub-down tables (where you can have a professional scrub all your skin off if you don't want to do it yourself); on the second floor, you can meet your male friends while wearing your fancy little outfits and try out some of the saunas which range in temp from 43 C (109 F) to 72 C (160 F), afterward you can jump into the cold room -5 C (23 F and complete with snow), or buy a smoothie or lunch at one of the restaurants (and pay with your locker key so you don't have to worry about carrying your wallet around); on the third floor, you'll find more saunas, massage and steam tables, places to get facials and manicures, doctor fish (that eat all the dead skin off your feet), a computer room, an arcade, and rooms full of little cubbies where you can take a nap (most jimjilbangs are open 24hrs so if you need a place to sleep in a pinch this is an option); on the fourth floor is the pool, and above that, there were tennis courts, racquetball rooms, and other such things. Overall, it was a really good experience, but I left feeling a little exhausted and hoping for a less crowded venue for our next jimjilbang experience.

This week is Seollal, also known as Lunar New Year, and we will be celebrating our time off work by traveling south to the city of Gyeongju with our friends Tom and Lindsey. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Korea, Gyeongju is known as one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Korea as it was the capital of the Shilla dynasty from the 7th to the 9th centuries. We're really looking forward to the trip and will definitely be updating the blog when we get back.

Happy Lunar New Year! Hope you enjoy the new look of the blog and the photo cast pictures taken with Richy's new camera!

By Katie