Adventures of a Late-Night Dinner

Last night after work, a fellow co-worker and I was going to grab a quick bite. What a night it turned out to be. All the other instructors were in a meeting, so it was just us two and so we called the 3rd floor instructors. Didn’t pick up. So we wandered around the place and thought, heck..we should really try some place else, rather than always going to the same kimbab place around the corner! So we walked and tried calling again, and oh my, the barbeque smelt so good it lured us in. Tommy says, we should really wait for the others to call us back because we both don’t know Korean and we won’t be able to order. I reply, Hey, it’s a barbeque, we can’t go wrong!

Or so I thought……

So we sit down and order some beef….and the ajuma starts speaking korean, and we think she said they don’t have beef and she kept saying ”pork chops, pork chops”….ok, pork sounds good too, we were hungry. The ajuma brings us a bottle of soju and we relax in our chairs, waiting for our dinner….mmm…..

Next thing we know, she brings out our barbeque pan and that thing looks like a sausage? We figured it was intestines…..ok…what happened to our pork chops?! Then Ethan calls us back and he joins us at the table. Sitting down, he starts laughing at us, because ajuma wasn’t saying “pork chops”, she was saying “gob chan” which means, pig intestines. Ok, I thought, I’ll give it a try, it can’t be that bad!

I pick up a piece, and put it into my mouth…..doesn’t have too much taste to it, just a bit salty…then something squished out of the inside and all I could taste was pig. It takes a about a minute to chew that tiny piece, and it was making me hungrier by the second….So there, I had a piece. It wasn’t to the point of repulsion, but I don’t think I’ll try it again. Tommy didn’t like it one bit…ok, bill please! We look at it…13 bucks, that’s alrite~ but wait…..there were TWO SERVES….so it was 26 bucks total! For something we didn’t eat?? But at least I took away the bottle of soju…hey, we paid for that shit.

Ethan tells us that he’s been roaming the streets trying to find a place that’s actually still open….outback was closed, kalbi place was closed, even pizza place was closed. How many instructors does it take to find dinner on a Monday night at 10 pm??

After a whole lot of walking and roaming, we decide to stick with the usual. Why be adventurous? Why try find new places (they aren’t even open!!)….good old kimbab around the corner. In we go, we sit down and order our food and think, finally….we can have a decent meal in our stomachs!! Then……….

Oh, what now?!

The man who took our orders looked drunk. His face was all red and he starts giving us shit! He says we’re causing him inconvenience by ordering 3 separate dishes…hell, he was drunk. So Ethan (our Korean instructor) has a bit of an argument with him……………………………….and then we get up to leave.

Oh….dinner. How hard can that be??

Finally, finally…..after all that locomotion, we still ended up at some other kimbab place. What’s the saying about sticking with what you know??

Ahh…the adventures of a late-night dinner…..

Nakedness

On saturday night, after a few soju cocktails, beers, tequila, singing and dancing…I went to a jimjilbang with a friend…for those of you who don’t know what that is…it’s a public bath house/sauna. Very very popular in Korea and you can pretty much find them everywhere. From a foreigner’s perspective, it was quite a daunting experience as it’s extremely rare to find someone who speaks English, so it’s easy to feel abit lost…but at the same time, it was also extremely liberating!

The ajuma at the counter gives us some uniform in an ugly off-brown colour, and off we go. In the locker-room, we see girls/women wearing the uniform with towels wrapped around their heads, and then a couple naked ones walking around like its oh-so-normal (which it is in korea).

Looking at the towel given to us, I wonder what it’s for. It’s too small to wrap around your body, and it definitely doesn’t cover anything. So we decided maybe it was for a fire-run?

Anyways, as there were no English signs whatsoever, we stumble our way into the maze. We randomly opened doors and entered rooms….and most of them had women snoring as they slept on bamboo mats. So, we finally find the sauna room, and we go in. It is infernally hot and it looks like a cave/dungeon. There are bamboo mats and wooden things that are supposedly pillows (and they hurt my head). After a good 10 minutes, we decided to move on. My face was red and my hair was matt from the humidity and heat.

Next, we found the hot baths. Ahh…its empty. Which means its less awkward. There are many plastic stools where you can sit and take a shower/scrub. I’m not used to taking a shower sitting down, so I stand up instead. Then into the hot bath we go. It’s definitely not called hot for nothing. But it feels so good. The increased circulation is meant to increase your metabolism which helps you lose weight. There was even a scale so you could weigh yourself before and after (or as often as you wished…).

I can`t help but notice all the strange body types walking around (even though it was fairly empty…). Some women have saggy breasts or flat butts. Some are really rotund, bony or rectangular. Some people have wayyyy too much hair in places where the sun don’t shine. But I certainly do admire the bravery of these women. And then again, there is no time to be shy at the sauna. Koreans have been bathing in public for ages and being naked together…who cares? I totally agree….who cares what your body looks like. We’re all women and that’s all that matters.

After a few moments of pure relaxation…a naked ajuma walk in and starts cleaning….naked. How interesting a job to have…you get to work naked. Oh the liberation! And then whilst my friend and I were still sitting in the bath, naked ajuma cleaner unplugs it. I suppose its a sign that we should leave?

So we shower and towel off and get dressed and left. What an interesting experience. I definitely wouldn’t mind going again! Its a great place to unwind, condition your hair, and gossip..I meant bond with your fellow friends =)