So after joining a hot-yoga class this past week, my muscles have pretty much gone on strike. My whole body hurts from head to toe, and nothing sounds better than taking a hot bath... but alas... my itty-bitty-studio bathroom doesn't quite allow room for a bathtub. So, as I was wallowing in self pity and lactic-acid buildup, I realized I could just go to the sauna! In my new found excitement, I called up a few friends and we made our way to the Jimjilbang (Korean for bathhouse). When we first got there, there's always the initial awkwardness of having to change in front of strangers, but we put on our little scrub-like suits and wandered around until we found a room of suitable temperature. We sat around the different rooms, from the salt room at 61C to the ice room at -10C, and took our time psyching ourselves up for the main event: the public baths... This idea sounded great... up until we remembered the whole "get naked and sit around with a bunch of naked strangers" part. But, we put on our big girl pants (well, took them off rather), sucked it up, and went on ahead into the baths. There were about 6 different pools, all different temperatures with different ingredients, which helped relax us a bit. Then we got the bright idea to get a full body scrub... which is probably the most awkward thing I've ever gotten myself into. As you lay on a plastic table completely nude, with a person to either side of you, a little old lady (wearing nothing but a bra and underwear, or like mine, just underwear...) gives you a little face massage and a cucumber face mask, which is nice and relaxing. Then the scrub starts... and let me tell you, these ladies aren't shy! As they fling your limbs around the table, they go to work removing the dead skin from every inch of your body. It's kinda like getting a full body massage with sandpaper. After it's all said and done, taking a look at the table gives you a good idea of why people do this every so often - it's completely covered in nasty little grey pieces of flesh... blech! After finishing, I thanked my little old lady, did a quick nervous bow, then scampered over to the showers to get the rest of the gross off of me. All in all it was a really nice trip, and definitely an odd cultural experience. Can't say that I'd love to go back every week, but it sure was nice to sit in the hot tubs...
'till next time :)
