The Bath House by Meredith

Here is a story by Meredith Lee Priesmeyer who is enjoying her first year teaching in Korea and will be sharing stories with us from time to time. Enjoy!

September 2, 2007

Since today was my first day off since I've been here, I slept late, still
haven't unpacked, and then, as you all know how fond I am of running, ran 15
miles through the town, the huge rice paddies decorated with gigantic
sunflowers and beautiful white cranes, through the giant squash farm, over
the river, snuck into the open high school campus olympic swimming pool and
took a swim, got a strong tan....my face is so red! Craig and I went to an
"italian" restaurant....only they like to sweeten everything! Weird. Even
the garlic bread or as they called it "Gallic" Bread. Nice.

Yesterday, I had my first authentic korean experience, well not really, but
a very important experience to korea, the public bath. I was trying to go
get a massage, a "necessary"experience for a bath house; think Greek or
Roman bath house complete with statues and marble. The first time I tried, I
failed, not speaking Korean can make things ridiculously humbling, I cried
and left the bath house (well, sometimes regular Korean speech sounds like
scolding, and it is very difficult to try to get what you want). I left the
bath house, because well, culture shock just got me, I really wasn't
expected to see, well all the ladies acting so "free", well, and really
hadn't thought how much I would be stared at!!!!! So, I left and attempted
to walk home, leaving Craig in his man's domain on a different floor, I
didn't care, I just wanted to go. Ah, well, as I was walking home, I
realized I didn't know how to get there, so I had to go back, and TRY again.
Anyway, I think after the Korean ladies saw my second attempt, yes they
laughed, but they were more trying to help me. Then some younger girls came
up to me to speak English and be cordial, which made the experience more
acceptable and nicer, though shocking, still, one girl who's name is Jenny
(though spelled different in Korean has the same sound) told me I was very
brave, I told her I know, we both laughed, she said she'd never seen a
westerner ever in a bath house. We talked a bit more and then she went away
into another bath with her mother.

Finally, I did get what they called a massage that day. This massage was far
different from any I had ever received in the States. The sight and
experience was shocking, but I just went with it and pretended to be cool,
the masseuses were naked all but some light transparent laungerie; it was
something fit for a PG-13, may be 14 or 15 movie.
First, sprayed me down, then slapped me down on the massage table, poured
the most refreshing water by the bucketfulls all over me, put huge amounts
of cold seaweed on my face, and proceeded to give me a rub down! Whoa. All
the while, the two ladies are munching on cucumber and onions, speaking to
me in Korean, laughing, and because I don't understand end up pulling me
this way and that to put me on my stomach or my back. After, about one and a
half hours the madness ended. All in all, I'd recommend it to anyone; it's
the kind of culture shock that makes you become very openminded and relaxed
about everything.

Later, I have discovered that Koreans do have a normal dry, clothed massage,
known as a "sports masagi"; which, I would recommend these to anyone as they
combine deep tissue, reflexology, and these obsurd looking suckers that are
suctioned on your back, leaving huge red spots all over. Despite their
unattractiveness, work wonders in relieving tension, and provide a bit of
comic relief as they heal; my friend's back turned from huge red polka-dots
into a giant smiley face about a half-week later.



Meredith Lee Priesmeyer