Jimjibang, Kimbop, and Fan Death

Between teaching, developing lesson plans, socializing with co-workers, meeting scores of foreigners, finding time to run up Mount Chilbo, and planning weekend excursions I have become extraordinarily busy. With so much going on I have been afraid that this little pet project of mine would suffer, but fortunately I seem to have fallen into a rhythm of getting my writing done on Thursdays and Sundays. A lot of cool stuff has happened this week so I'll just start at the beginning.

On Monday, as usual, I started a new lesson plan that I am happy to report has been going great all week and receives much praise from my co-teachers. I thought teaching occupations might be fun so I came up with 20 vocab words, threw together a Power Point, and made everyone repeat the given occupation in the form of "What I Am and What I Do." For example: I am a police officer and I enforce the law, I am a doctor and I treat patients, or I am a carpenter and I make things out of wood. After we went over the vocabulary I played a game called Monkeys and Bananas. First I made a large die out of cardboard, packaging tape, and crayons. On the six sides I drew one monkey, two monkeys, six monkeys and one banana, two bananas, six bananas. Each team starts with three bananas and the goal is to get as many bananas as possible. I show the team a slide with a word missing, "I am a ______ and I clean teeth." If they can correctly say the entire sentence they get to roll the die. If bananas come up they score points but if monkeys come up they lose that many points because monkeys eat bananas. Additionally, the team that just answered the question is allowed to roll the die for their team or any other team of their choosing. Every time six monkeys comes up there is a ton of laughter at the expense of the losing team and it is totally fun watching them try to cheat each other out of bananas.

After work on Monday I met up with a foreigner friend of mine, who lives nearby in Topdong, to go running up the mountain. Having a partner provides a much more effective workout and that night I ran twice as fast and twice as far as I had been going by myself. My heart was pounding and I was soaked with sweat by the time we reached the summit but I was alive and full of energy gazing out at the magnificent expanse. We continued to hike the ridge as far as it would go before descending near a temple and cemetery I had not yet come across. The natural mineral spring and scattered work-out equipment made this entrance to the mountain very accommodating yet surreal as it was set against a backdrop of rolling hills, wooden fences, and dissimilar tombstones. At this point we were miles from our starting point so we trekked back towards the east through flat, wet, rice patties and rural countryside. It was an invigorating three hour hike but I was hungry, beat, and in need of a shower.

It was suggested that we go freshen up at the local Korean sauna, or jinjibang. I hadn't been to one yet but I've heard good things so of course I was more than willing to give it a shot. I'll admit that I was skeptical. I mean, when I hear the word sauna I think of a bland wooden shack where you sit and sweat for a while. Big deal right? Well, it's actually far better than that. Most of the facility is located underground and as you descend the staircase you walk past a large, brick, dome shaped structure which is the exterior of one of the hot rooms. Inside you fork over a measly 8,000 won and are handed a set of pajamas in exchange. After removing your shoes you make your way to the men's side of the sauna, find a locker, and get naked. It felt a little weird to be exposed in the company of twenty or so strangers but after a few minutes it's quite liberating. In the locker room you can watch TV, get some snacks, or just hang out (get it?). Pass through some glass doors and you come to this spectacular tiled room with about 100 shower heads and five large, water-filled granite basins. The decor is immaculate. Every wall is covered with beautiful stones and crystals. Purple quartz, jade, onyx, and calcite form intricate antediluvian murals. You step under a shower and lather up with this little pink dish cloth they give you. After rinsing you can go soak in one of the granite hot tubs. Each one is about ten feet by ten feet, varies in temperature, and features an opulent jade frog spewing steaming hot water by the gallon. If you want to wake your self up really quick you can leave the hot tub and immediately throw yourself into this large pool of freezing cold water. It really shocks your system. There are several hot, dungeon like rooms that vary by temperature and humidity where you can sit on a wooden barrel, sweating profusely and struggling to breathe. It's supposed to be relaxing but I'd just as sooner stay in the soothing confines of the hot tub. Massages and a skin scraping procedure are also available for a price. The whole place really reminds me of how Roman baths were described. In the co-ed section of the sauna there is a fully equipped gym with free weights, treadmills, and other such contraptions. There are co-ed hot rooms and places to take a nap as well. One of the best things about the jinjibangs are that they are positioned all across the country and offer sleeping rooms. Many expats who are doing some travelling for the weekend prefer to stay at a jinjibang because it is a fully equipped facility with food, pajamas, bedding, and a shower for less than $8, or about 1/4 what you might pay for a hotel. Naturally I could not take my camera into a room full of naked Korean guys (nor would I really want to) so I'll have to use generic pictures of jinjibangs copied from the Internet to provide you with a visual representation. All these pictures are kinda lame and let me assure you that the sauna we went to was way cooler, but you get the idea.

I've really been wanting to learn how to make Kimbap because it's similar to what they serve in American sushi restaurants, minus the raw fish, and it is a sure fire way to impress Rachael when she comes to visit. I called up Charlie and struck a deal that I would buy dinner if he taught me how to make it. As a bonus, Charlie instructed me on how to use the cryptic red rice cooker that has been sitting behind my washing machine, unplugged and in disuse. It's a really easy meal to make. You lay out this thin sheet of processed seaweed, add a layer of rice, then radish, chicken, beef, fish, mayonnaise, skittles, or whatever else have you, roll that fatty up tight and cut it into little bite size segments. We enjoyed our culinary masterpieces with soju and zombie movies. Charlie's only ever seen those low-budget lethargic zombies so I introduced him to the most terrifying of all the undead flicks, the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake.

One final anecdote worth mentioning is Fan Death. Korean's believe that if you fall asleep in a room with the door and windows closed while an electric fan is running it will kill you. I'm not joking. Even the most intelligent individuals put the utmost faith in this urban legend. I've asked all of my co-teachers if they believed this and they said absolutely. I've talked to Korean's with doctorates and they still advocate for Fan Death. When one of my classes was arriving the other day I said, "Student turn on fans please....okay now shut door please...okay now shut windows please." They started to laugh but would not for the life of them shut that window. I've also closed the door and the windows while a fan is running and as soon as someone comes into my classroom they will immediately open the window. It's so absurd. Explanations for why a fan would kill you are numerous, but include such gems as 1)it creates a vacuum, 2) it splits the oxygen molecules, 3) the electric motor uses all the oxygen creating fatal levels of carbon dioxide, and 4) it causes hypothermia. Due to Fan Death it is impossible to find an electric fan in Korea that does not have timer on it. If you confront a Korean about this subject and tell them no one has ever died from Fan Death outside their country they will reply that it is because Koreans "run hot." Truthfully, the reason that this myth has been propagated and so deeply entrenched is largely due to a lack of journalistic integrity, but if you want to know more click here.

Cool Thing About Korea #10: This $8 bottle of 50 Proof Soju.