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Published: January 23rd 2007
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The Clue
This picture has a lot wrong with it... Most impoartantly, that little thing I'm about to swallow resurrected itself in my stomach and raised all holy hell for 4 days Following the Happy Sticker Market we had only to wave good-bye to the children before we could kick them out of the camp. It was a magnificent time. Interestingly enough, all my bad-ass kids gave me more hugs than anyone else. I felt a little strange, all the kids I had abused for two weeks were suddenly afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome… but I embraced the moment, its better to give the kids hugs than get fined for telling them what I really thought. BUT WE GOT A DAY OFF!!! It was magical. What to do on a day off??? Go to the spa, aka the Gingabang, aka the bathhouse, aka relaxation. The Gingabang was possibly the best idea we’ve had in a while.
We strut through the door of the complex and are greeted by the receptionist at “Burim Well-Being Land.” We pantomimed what we wanted (to go to the sauna) and after what looked like the “African Ant Eater Dance” from ‘Can’t Buy you Love’ the receptionist asks in a perfect accent “You speak English?” “YES! Oh, yeah, we’re looking to go in the sauna, we don’t want the bath, we just want the sauna” I said. “Oh”
My friend
The lady that spoke the following lines "Do you speak English?" and "I dont speak English" she responded with a blank stare. We had a short stare-down, and then I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Do you speak English?” I asked, and as serious as I asked she responded with a monotone “No.” She was merely checking the language that we spoke, which turns out to be English. Granted, I walked right into that one. So we started our Ant Eater Dance again. But we found out that we couldn’t go to the sauna only, so we bought an all day pass to the sauna and bath for $9 USD.
The sauna consisted of an ice room and 36, 56, and 80 degree rooms, both in dry heat and wet heat. The walls were brick with missing bricks so spices like sage could give a pleasant aroma. The ceilings were mosaics made of purple and white crystals that made flower and paisley patterns. The cooler rooms had TVs or relaxation fountains as the centerpiece; we laid down in the 80 degree (176 F) which had with a large brick oven. The warmth and peace washed over us. Then a Korean woman came in, stood beside where we were laying and started hitting herself in
what can only be described as “a half squat whilst beating one’s ovaries.” Emily suggested maybe she is hoping to knock an egg down.
From there we hit the baths where there were different baths of different temperatures. My favorite had to be the fire hose thing that was mounted in the ceilings. Press a button, water fires out and massages your back. The water is coming down hard enough to blind someone if they were to be hit in the face. Tim started to swim in what looked like a really fun mini-pool, turns out that that pool was the water people used to rinse themselves with before getting into adjacent sauna rooms. He was angrily motioned to get out of the rinse water.
We headed home and walked around Jeju City for a bit, but nothing of consequence, because some of the flights were canceled and the kids were on their way back! I locked myself in my room and napped until I was told they were gone.
It was Tim, Alan, and Pattis’ last night in Jeju before returning to Knoxville, so we had to go out to eat. Tim suggested
Korean POW
They gave us these POW outfits for the sauna. And to all the interested parties - the bathhouses were nakey time a great Japanese restaurant. Walking into the Japanese restaurant we had a greater language barrier than normal, because they wanted to sell us tons of food and we only wanted sushi. This is uncustomary for Koreans to try and push anything on you, so we were a bit taken aback. We argued and argued until we got the correct amount of sushi and beer that we wanted. Our plates had every newly-dead, still bleeding sea creature on them. My palate tasted tuna, squid, tuna, salmon, something, something chewy, something else, oysters, and whole sautéed miniature crabs. The crabs tasted of peanut butter and angry spirits. As the picture indicates, these crabs were not going down without a fight.
From there we went to our local bar, and finally the Karaoke bar we frequent to end the night. But the crabs would have the last laugh. The next day we wrote off our upset stomachs as too much alcohol and little sleep. But then the next day, those that had partaken in crab were feeling worse. It felt as if we swallowed zombie flesh that was crawling and scrapping its way through our stomach. To add insult to injury, one
city scape from the E-mart
View from the 4th floor of the E-mart. 300,000 people live in this city which is tiny of my students jumped on me and managed to crack my camera screen. So I filled up on Z-packs and coffee and spent all my alone time in my bed.
For the fans of the Happy Sticker Market - I paid my kids 10 happy stickers to be quiet while I was sick and just paid two kids 4 stickers each to do my laundry!
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Beth
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crabs
That picture scares me a little, not because of the little crab sitting in your mouth, but because of the close-up of your facial hair. Some things just should not be seen magnified.