To begin, I think it's kind of weird that I (we) have absolutely no clue who reads our posts. But that also makes it kind of fun. Anyways. Over these past two weeks as I've had a bit more free time than usual I decided to work out in the fitness center at the LG Learning Center (where I usually teach most of my classes) during my 2 hour break in the afternoons. But I'm not going to write about my amazing fitness feats but about an incident that transpired this last Monday in the (very) small women's locker/shower room.

Preface. In Korea "public baths" are very common. No, not public swimming pool, but public bath, public nakedness (men and women are separate), public asking the stranger next to you to scrub your back. I've never been to one, but that's what I've heard from others. End of preface.

Usually, I try to finish showering after my workout before the cleaning ladies come in to take their showers. Lately, it's been the case that they've came in right when I'm toweling off so I've had the opportunity to enjoy some conversations with some women in their 40's while I'm completely naked. It's not strange for them, but still a little strange for me. I need to brush up on my "locker room Korean." On Monday, the cleaning ladies came in to shower and I was just drying off. One woman, in her 40's came in first. We chatted a bit and she decided to help me to dry off. Yes, that's right. She grabbed a towel (towels are about the size of American kitchen towels here) and helped to dry off my back, arms, and front. Yes, I'm still naked. I felt like I was 4 years old when my mom would help dry me off. She said I spoke Korean very well, I said I don't but my husband does. She said my husband must like me a lot. Helped me to put on my bra. Major culture shock.
In the meantime another woman, an adjumma (Korean world for old married woman) who was probably in her 60's came into the locker room, saw that the room was much too crowded for her likes and left, and also left the door open. Important- since the door was left open, any man walking by could see me standing completely naked. Ummm. So the lady who was drying me off saw that the door was open, shut the door, and said something to me about (rough translation) the adjumma not shutting the door. Apparently, if you're an old Korean woman you don't have to care about anyone else. Yep, still, don't get it, at a loss. I understand about respecting your elders but I don't understand about lacking the decency to close an open door if there's naked females standing around. Maybe she didn't even realize it, probably not, I think she's probably a very sweet lady.

Conclusion: The whole situation was VERY uncomfortable and VERY comical. I'm glad it didn't happen after I'd only been here for one month. At least it happened after I'd spent 10 months in Korea. All in a day's work , right. Moving on...
Seth and I are preparing for our trip to China at the end of this week. We've arranged to volunteer at an orphanage in Beijing for a week. We're really excited. We've been taking Chinese classes at Global (they're free for us b/c we teach with Global) at night. Granted they're taught in Korean, which makes it pretty difficult. But actually the Chinese pronunciation is easier for English speakers than the Korean pronunciation. Nice. But it's still really really hard. Our teacher is wonderful and incredibly patient. Other than that we're preparing for Kids Camp next month (woof) and making plans for our future (yikes) and for life after Korea (whoa).