Today I went to a jimjilbang with my friend Kate. In case you don't remember, a jimjilbang is a giant spa that has sauna rooms, hot tubs and pools, cafes, sleeping areas, massage parlors, game rooms, etc. Many Korean people go there with their friends and family for a day of relaxation, sweating and nudity. I'd gone to the jimjilbang once before to sleep after a night of drinking (can't really come rolling into my host family's apartment at 3am) but only took part in the hot sauna rooms. The other part of the jimjilbang experience is the hot tubs/pools separated by gender. This part of the experience involves getting completely naked and parading around the changing room with everything hanging out for all of Korea to see. Anyway, one of my goals during my stay in Korea was to go partake in the naked part of the jimjilbang since it's something I would never in a million years picture myself doing. Today I decided to suck it up, strip down, and join the old naked Korean women in the hot tubs. Surprisingly, it wasn't as traumatizing of an experience as I would have thought. Of course Kate and I got stared at, but there wasn't any pointing or anything for once (who would've thought I'd get pointed at less when I'm naked?). I wish I could have taken a (censored) picture of what the hot tub room looked like. One part of the room held all of the different hot tubs/pools where kids were playing and older women were relaxing. The second part of the room was a bunch of mirrors with stools in front of them and buckets where a bunch of women were just scrubbing themselves down. Quite the sight to see. The most interesting part about the naked jimjilbang experience is that anywhere else you go in Korea, women are very conservative and covered up. Its hard to reconcile the two different extremes.
Anyway, I can now check off "spend an afternoon with a bunch of naked Koreans" off of my to do list...
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