To Korea

the bathhouse. sweet, sweet bathhouse. i miss you. our only means for personal hygiene, 4,000 won, hot pool, cold pool, sauna. and a serious body rub down for next to nothing. (which i never experienced because it looked a tad rough for my taste.) complete with little pink plastic stools, to sit on while you showered with one hand on the spout, one hand to do the rest. tricky. in the sauna, packed like sardines in a tin can with a bunch of korean woman. wishing i knew what they were saying; ignoring how it made me feel that i didn't!

the people in korea were kind, generous, and open. there were a handful of men who strongly disliked our presence and made it known a number of times and through various means (threats.) which was to be expected. i mean, who were we to set up camp on their turf, spreading knowledge of this whale business? one thing i learned, korean men REALLY, love their drink. like many around the world i suppose. i had always heard about how koreans looked down upon korean americans--and it is true; some do. but for the most part everyone was exceptionally kind to me and curious about my story. (which by the time i left, i had perfectly honed into a few movements of the hands and arms, since i did not have the words.) i also made the local news, so i reached minor celebrity status. hehe. people would come up to me and say in hangul (or english if they could) "i saw you on tv"...and want to shake my hand. one woman we were working with invited me into her home for a weekend; of course i could not go because there was too much that needed doing :( But, in my six weeks, i got three away from the camp--and i was lucky! our one of a kind experience in korea ties those of us lucky enough to experience it together for life. it was also the culmination of some truly bizarre and surreal events. towards the end of our stay, a large fair/bizarre set up camp next door, and proceeded to blare terrible techno day and night. This, the backdrop to our already strange set of circumstances, that i really, cannot do justice with words. you kinda had to be there. and i am so glad that i was!