Friday, June 28, 2013

[Korea Diary] JimjilBang Day

Jimjilbang!! Yay or Nay?
Jjimjilbang (찜질방) is a large, gender-segregated public bathhouse in Korea, furnished with hot tubs, showers,Korean traditional kiln saunas and massage tables.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang 

My definition: Scrubbing and naked. Hehe.. I prepared my mental strong enough to go there alone but when my friend know I were going there alone she thought a loner goes to jimjilbang alone is no fun so she asked me to go with me. To go with me. With her. And her friendSSSS. o-O 
Wow. Didn't saw that coming but didn't reject her because she was kind to go with me even though she was busy with exam that time. 



Retarded hand caused blur effect. =P


 Price differs everywhere.






First you will go to put your shoes in the locker and you will get a key from the shoes locker and you proceed to your clothes locker. Most people will put the key (rubber keychain) tied to leg or hand for convenient. 

My clothes locker

First culture shock: Many n**** ahjumma and kids everywhere and I started to shy away even though I just faced their butts only. (I can handle it, I can handle it... *self encouraging*) My friends asked me to change into their sauna attire(undergarments still attached on!) which I again need to self-talk again to change in front of my friends. I decided to run to other row (still open area, just away of my friend to change the clothes).




There are a many sauna in the jimjilbang with different healing effect and temperature. There was a cold sauna room but I think it smelled like a raw food refrigerator so I fled out after 1 minutes.
This jimjilbang was tolerable to me but my other friends can't take it so we change to other pretty fast. 



 My snack share.

See the water? It is the iced rice water! It is refreshing and nice to have after went in to the sauna for awhile. See the 1,000W? It is just a hard boiled egg. pfft. Sausage, I felt skeptical because it taste neither like any meat in it. My teeth couldn't handle the squid stick and I saw no future of me with the squid stick after long time biting and chewing it so I shared it to my other friends. The smiley is the rice biscuits that come with a big packets and it was made my friends who try to shape the originally round biscuit into other shapes (full moon, half moon, sleek moon(?)).


 This was the snack we sneaked into the jimjilbang because the interior snack bar in jimjilbang was a higher than the normal. The banana snack taste nothing like banana. Oof...

Hand shacking again. Running man Lee Kwang Soo licked by the giraffe time. XD



Sleeping place where you can take a nap more privately rather than the hall.



After the sauna, bathing part. Epic. I were shy at first and tended to hide here and there when I went it but my eyes were full of n**** ladies and sooner or later I didn't think it was a big deal so I were ok after a moment. Heh. I like the scrubbing part and a lot of nasty dirt came out. HA.


After thoughts:
I think the experience is valuable and I become braver(?) after that.


Jimjilbang in Seoul:
ItaewonLand
Take Subway to Itaewon Station (# 630) on line 6. Go out of Exit 3. Walk straight for less than 5 minutes. On your right you will see long stairs right next to the sidewalk. 






Monday, June 10, 2013

What To Do When Korean Speaks Korean To You



Being in Korea for exchange program make me to have the opportunity to talk to Korean and sometimes even they know you do not really understand their Korean but they still speak in anyway without their realise. Kinda same theory for someone (minority?) to speak foul language when they are under extreme stress. (Not me!)

I have been feeling guilty for not updating my blog for awhile during my exam and travel period so I am thinking that I should at least draw it on paper instead of using my beloved wacom. :)



 Full view:




1. Laugh/ Smile




2. (Has many different meanings depends on the context)



3. Run Away




My Korean level is still at a very blur stage. Not really skillful but still manage to guess the meaning if I use my mental power (in 100%) to listen what a Korean said. Sometimes, my mind will wander to another place if I listen to too long Korean sentences. I am talented in tuning out Korean when I am alone or I am not require to. Heh.



Going back to Malaysia soon. I want to write a post about the cafes I went during my stay in Korea. Stay tuned!