Club Naked

Finally time to blog! I think I will start this blog with some of the most embarrassing (I am sure there are more embarrassing, but I don't get to see myself on video all the time) dance moves ever. I just watched this video even though it is from Noreabang over a week ago. 

                                                           

Anyway, I feel like I have been so busy this week. Saturday was a blast. I met Elena at her subway stop in Hongdae and then we got back on the subway and went to the soccer stadium. There isn't an open container law here, so we drank some soju and pineapple juice in the subway. When we got to the stadium, it was packed with foreigners. There was a line to ride the escalator, so Elena and I took the stairs. She told me to turn around and look down. We were the only foreigners taking the stairs... Interesting, but not surprising. We found a GS (convenient store) and bought some beers. We met up with her friends and tailgated outside ofthe GS. There was no soju at the GS. I don't think they ran out. I think they didn't sell it that day because they didn't want a bunch of sloppy foreigners in one place. However a jerk of a business man was selling them outside for 4,000 won a piece. They are normally 900 won. I bought one anyway. Here is a cute picture of two boys on a 2 seater bike:

Where we got our tickets.

We ended up only going to the game for about 15 minutes. It was good timing though. We walked in right behind Daejeon's net as Seoul scored. Fireworks went off and the crowd was pretty cool. Also, our foreigner ticket came with a free hot dog!

After the game we went back to Elena's and met Jessa there. Elena lives in Hongdae which is a really cool area full of live music and bars. It is a college town as well. We went to Itaewon for a drink and then came back and partied all night in Hongdae. We went to a bunch of different bars and also drank in the street. One of the bars we went to was called Club Naked. It reminded me of a crappy college club from Tallahassee. There were poles in there as well which was interesting... Elena and Jessa are total dance feens. They danced alllll night and they are really good dancers. I tried to keep up. At one point, we walked by this drum circle and Elena went out in the middle and started dancing. She is Colombian and can do the craziest, fast movements with her feet and hips. Definitely a fun night. At about 3am I was getting tired, but I couldn't go home because the subway closes between (I think) 12 to 5:30. So if you go out somewhere, you are stuck there until the wee hours of the morning. I suppose I could have gotten a cab, but I didn't want to waste the money. Elena said I could go back to her place, but I decided to just stay out and then go home. I was basically falling asleep on the 40 min subway ride at 6 am. By the time I got off the subway it was light out. I slept till 2 though, so that was nice.

This place in Hongdae called the park.

Trying to capture the break dancing in the park.

Jessa

When I woke up, Adrienne had texted me about pick up soccer. I decided to go even though I was tired, and I am glad that I did. The field is only 2 subway stops away. It was a small field which is awesome ;-). You have to pay 5,000 won to play. It goes towards reserving the field. The people seemed really nice. There were 2 girls. It is right next to the baseball stadium, so you can hear all the cheering which was cool. There is also an incredible view of the skyline. They play from 6 to 8, but I only played til around 7:10. After my long night of dancing in Hongdae I didn't want to be bed ridden from the soreness. One of the girls told me that they normally go out for drinks and food when they are done playing. What is really convenient is that the place they go is at my subway stop. I am looking forward to going again and staying the whole time this Sunday. 


Every Monday Lex Kim gets new flowers delivered for the waiting room in front of the elevator. They are so gorgeous and I am going to make it a goal of mine to get a picture of them every Monday.

Adrienne and I decided to check out the Sauna in the basement of our building Monday night after work. It is open 24 hours. It was 10,000 won to get in. EVERYONE is naked inside (there is a girls and a guys section). I knew it was going to be weird but I decided to just suck it up and go with it. First there is a locker room for your shoes. Then you go inside and there is a locker room for your clothes and purse. Inside the locker room area, you will find women naked blow drying their hair and getting ready to go out for the night. There are glass doors and you walk into the spa/bathing area. First you have to wash yourself before you can enter the baths. There is a section of open showers with soaps and stools and mirrors. There were 7 different pools. Each was a different temperature. There was a sauna and a steam room. Then on a different side of the spa was another set of showers and you could see beyond them women lying on tables (there are 5 different tables in one area) while an older lady in her bra and underwear exfoliated them. This is what Adrienne and I came for. We first went into a warm pool then the steam room. We soaked for maybe 45 minutes before a table opened up. I went in and laid on this table... naked. The first thing the woman did was poor a warm bucket of water all over my body. Then she started scrubbing away. She had these scrub gloves on. It was a little painful, but I tried to relax. (As relaxed as you can get when you are naked on a table with some old lady who doesn't speak English scrubbing your body.) At first I thought there were pieces of her glove coming off on me... then I realized it was my skin. :-X You know when you get a sunburn and then you start to peel? Imagine that but is mass amounts. I was prepared for this because Adrienne warned me that because I was foreign and never had this done before I would have a lot of skin coming off. The old lady pointed at it and showed me as if I wanted to see it. This lasted for about 30 minutes. She scrubbed my ENTIRE body. All that for 23,000 won (about $20). Beat a $25 pedicure any day. Now my skin is a lot softer. They say to do it once a month. I think I might. :) The other Korean girls next to me paid more and were getting facials and massages. The older Korean women stop on top of them and massaged them with their feet as well. They held onto this pool hanging from the ceiling as they did it. So interesting. Maybe after I get a pay check I will splurge on this. 

The next night Adrienne and I decided to drink at my place. I got some drinking food too.

Hahaha. It was awesome! Last night I came home and watched Breaking Bad and Modern Family, and today I taught two grammar classes and a speech class. Tomorrow is Friday and I only have to teach two classes! That is pretty nice! Oh yea, I almost forgot. Shoomee put a sign up list in the office for a day trip on Saturday. I signed up and we are going to see a bunch of different Temples and a live performance. It is going to be from 9am to 9pm. I am sure it will be super nice and I am happy I will be able to see some Korean history. 


One last note: I haven't blogged about this yet, but it is definitely blog worthy. In my apartment there is this thing that looks like something you would turn the air on with in America, but it is for the hot water! I hit the button before getting into the shower. It takes about 20 seconds (less time than it takes me to get to the shower) for the water to get hot. There are 3 options on this device. One is to turn the hot water for your running water on, one is to turn the heat on and one is for both. The heat here runs through the floor. Hot water is pumped through the floor and makes your apt warm. I haven't tried it yet, but it is supposed to start getting cold Saturday. I heard it is amazing. The annoying part now is that I always forget to turn it off when I am done!