Please stop smoking in my hallway and my elevator!

A letter to my neighbors to stop smoking in my hallway!

    Exiting the city streets engulfed by the polluted air of Seoul into an apartment or office building can sometimes be relieving. This is simply because the air quality is usually much better due to average heating and air conditioning systems. But lately, getting off the elevator in my apartment building is a source of enormous frustration. I enter into a hallway completely filled of smoke, and hold my breathe as a run all the way to the end of the hall and open my door as quickly as possible. But then once inside my apartment, I have relized that the smoke seeped in through the cracks around the door and I still haven't escaped!
    Why do I put up with this on a daily basis? The smoke is clearly from the two young girls that smoke at the end of my hallway next to the window. I have complained to them before saying "smoking anyeo!" no smoking in Korean, and all they do is laugh at me like I'm some stupid foreigner. Well I have news for you Korea. I'm not some stupid Waygooken. I have asthma for Christ sakes, and the pollution in Seoul is enough to deal with!
    So two days ago after returning from the gym to a smoke filled hallway, I finally had enough. I walked over to the window and left it wide open so the girls would have a freezing cold draft of air seeping into their apartment which is right next to the window. Secondly, I stole the hidden lighters by the window! The next day I did the same exact thing, and carried one of the lighters with me to work so that I would remember to ask a Korean co-worker to help write me a letter.
    The letter reads: Hello, please do not smoke in the hallway. The smoke comes into my apartment. Please use the rooftop or go outside. Thank you. I taped the letter to the window and returned all 4 of the lighters that I had stolen from the days before. It has only been 2 days, but no other lighters have appeared yet, and there hasn't been any smoke. But the sign was ripped down.

    I hope that this problem will be resolved, and that Koreans will have more respect about where they smoke. Most people would think that smoking inside an enclosed hallway is completely rude, and all of my students and Korean co-workers agree. The girls are simply lazy, and don't want to go outside into the cold, or take the effort to board the elevator all the way to the rooftop or downstairs. This story seems strange enough, until I consider the time that I was going to work and a man started smoking inside the elevator! He simply couldn't wait a lousy 30 seconds to light up, and so I had to suffer the consequences.
    Everyone knows that smoking is a huge epidemic in Asia, and Korea is no exception. I went to my class the next day, and to my irony had to teach an article about product warnings. The article was about cigarette warnings. We were brainstorming positive and negative things about smoking, and all the male students could come up with were positive reasons. Some of them included: relief from stress, a good feeling, looking cool, a cheap price in Korea, and more tax money for the government. All I can say is, "Lord help them!" and "Please stop smoking in my hallway and my elevator!"

If you have any questions or comments about "Please stop smoking in my hallway and my elevator!" please leave them in the comment box below or email goneseoulsearching@gmail.com

  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.

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Experiencing Dragon Hill Spa, Korea's most famous jjimjilbang

The entrance to Dragon Hill spa has a charming and inviting atmosphere.

Wearing funny sheep head towels and spa outfits is a must.

    Recommended by CNN Go, The New York Times, and numerous international media, Dragon Hill Spa is the best place to get the full Korean jjimjilbang (Korean bath house) experience. The spa is open 24 hours a day seven days a week and features seven massive floors of facilities. This family-friendly place is a fascinating combination of relaxation and fun which includes sex-segregated spa areas, co-ed saunas, outdoor pools, hot tubs, nail salons, arcades, internet rooms, restaurants, a cinema, and a putting green. Among the most popular and lavish spas for foreigners in Korea, what more could you ask for?

Two of the pyramid dry sauna rooms, one is made of bijou.

Going to a jjimjilbang is definitely not for those who are uncomfortable being naked. Be prepared to bare it all for about half of the time you are in the spa. Upon entering Dragon Hill you will most likely be greeted by the manager who loves to speak English with foreigners. Then you will pay the 10,000 to 12,000 won fee depending on the day and you will receive a wristband with a key attached. Do not lose this wristband because it controls everything that you do in the jjimjijbang and even acts as a credit card.

Where you leave your shoes.

    Next, you enter the giant room full of lockers and leave your shoes behind. This is where men and women can say their goodbyes as they enter the private men and womans saunas. When in the jimjibang do as the Koreans do. Go to your designated locker and strip down. Take one towel (barely enough to cover your thigh) and head down to the sauna. First you should take a shower, (yes everyone will be watching you) before entering any of the hot tubs or steam rooms.

    The separated sauna sections are by far my favorite part of the spa. There are over eight different hot tubs inside, and there are even more located outside. There is also a steam room that has so much detail it makes you feel like Queen Min. When your finished with the wet portion of the sauna head back downstairs to floor 1. Wear your cool gym outfit provided by the spa, and make sure to ask someone how to twist your towel into the famous sheep head (양머리, yeong mori) or just click on the you tube video here.

Where men and women separate from each other.

    The co-ed portion of the sauna is known as the healing zone. The heated rooms are all unique and have different temperatures and purposes. There is a traditional hardwood charcoal kiln which heats several chambers.This is my favorite of all of the rooms because they are so dark and peaceful. The coal smells delicious and the old fashioned wood floors make you appreciate Korean history. There is also a crystal shining salt room, a meditative exercise room of yellow soil pyramid, a pyramid spirit experience room of natural bijou, a fire sweating bathroom with pine-tree firewood, an ice room, a Finland sauna, and outdoor hot spring pool, a cottage for drinking rice wine, a tanning zone, and many more spa activities.

The common area at Dragon Hill Spa.

    The spa culture is unlike anything you have experienced in western culture. In the co-ed sections you will see many couples relaxing together, and families sitting on the floor just hanging out and playing games in the sitting area. There are places to get food, massage chairs to rent, and there is even the King's chair of Guenjeong-jeon where you can take a picture. The spa is somewhere you can go to hang out for hours, and there are even sleeping rooms for those that want to spend the night.

Hanging out in the ice room is nice after the dry saunas.

 In the private sauna areas, it is not uncommon to see young boys and girls stark naked with their mothers enjoying the hot tubs and steam rooms. If you see old women (more specifically adjumas) they may be very friendly to you, and might even ask you to scrub their backs. Just be nice and say that you don't need any help and they will leave you alone to enjoy your peaceful day.

  Make sure to eat before going to the spa unless you want to spend money on expensive and mediocre food. Many people spend hours at the spa, so they can charge a high price for food because you cannot leave the spa and return once you have entered. Although the food isn't that good, I recommend trying two traditional Korean drinks while venturing through the spa to stay hydrated. Sikhye is a traditional sweet rice drink that is made fresh at the spa and is not from a can. Also try out the gamsikcho which is literally a drink made of vinegar and persimmons. Both drinks are refreshing and delicious to sip on while in the piping hot dry sauna rooms.

A peak inside of one of the dry saunas.

To get to the Dragon Hill Spa from anywhere in Seoul take Line No. 1 to Yongsan Station. Exit the subway and turn right upon leaving the escalators at I-park mall. Simply walk across the street and The Spa is directly on the corner.

If you have any questions or comments about "Experiencing Dragon Hill Spa, Korea's most famous jjimjijbang"    please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com

  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.

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Opinion: Understanding Korea's drinking culture

A standard hite ad located in the Korean subway.

    "Teacher my religion is alcohol!" Yes, a  mature male adult from my school blurted this statement out in perfect English while in class one day! Of course I am so used to the culture here now, that a statement like this would not boggle my mind. Neither would witnessing 2 drunk girls fall asleep on a sidewalk at 3 am and watching no one do anything to help them. Nor would watching men stumbling and hiccuping on the sidewalk at 10am in the morning.  So what is the Korean drinking culture like, and why is it so different from Western culture?
    In short, drinking in Korea is not a shameful act. And you can pretty much picture all of Korea like a giant Las Vegas; you can even drink on the streets. In fact there is no such thing as alcoholism here. Many of my students and Korean friends have never heard of such a thing. After explaining the definition of alcoholism to my friends, some of them replied "This must be a made up story."
    I agree that alcoholism is a proven psychological and sometimes physical addiction to a substance. But I can also understand why Koreans don't believe this is a true disease. Why you may ask? Because drinking is such a useful skill in Korea.

Korean drinking games are a staple when hanging out with good friends.

Drinking can be useful for many things in Korea, including some of the following:

1. getting a job/making a business deal- Going out to get pissed drunk with a potential boss or business client will definitely help your chances at getting hired or making a deal in Korea. In fact, you should never reject another drink from your boss. Many of the older generations in Korea see drinking with colleagues or partners as a time to bond and form true relationships. If you end up puking on the sidewalk and passing out, this will be no problem the next morning at work. You will probably just get a funny nick name and a raise!

2. apologizing- One day in class my students were talking about how they prefer to go out drinking when they have to make an apology. They apologize and move on immediately to make new memories. Apparently the middle aged generation of 25-30 years old is having trouble using this technique with younger generations. The younger generations roughly from ages 18-25 prefer having a public apology with many of their friends act as a witness to the persons testimony of faith.

3. networking- Koreans don't talk to strangers; not even when they are sitting on the bus or the subway bored out of their minds. But if Koreans are drunk, they can talk to anybody they want! Not many Koreans try to talk to me during the day, but at night time around 10pm many of them are drunk already and always approach me to practice their English. I like to call this the the Waygookin Drunken Affect. Waygookin
(외국인) means foreigner in Korean, and almost all Koreans use bad English and say "I am very drunken" when they start speaking to foreigners late at night.

     Yes, I understand that these skills are not universally accepted in Korea. Many companies are starting to crack down on peer pressure related to drinking. And many more are starting to enact strict policies in favor of Koreans who do not accept drinking as a part of their lifestyle.
    But I see this change happening very slowly in Korea, and having very little affect on most of the population's drinking. I even teach two entire classes of Tell a Story at my school, which use vocabulary and stories strictly pertaining to drinking. Yes, I teach my students words such as hangover, wasted, and buzzed and it is a requirement! Check back soon for another article about this class. Till then, happy soju time!


If you have any questions or comments about "Opinion: Understanding Korea's drinking culture"  please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com
  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.


  

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Koreans believe in fan death

    Yesterday  I was teaching students a lesson on how to talk about urban legends and conspiracies. The course was going great, until I opened up the book and saw the picture to the left. Really? Why on earth would there be a picture with a skull and a fan? Little did I know, that my students actually believe in the urban legend of fan death.
     I could not wrap my mind around this idea so I intently listened to their conversations. Most of the students said that they should be very careful during the summer. They should not leave their fans on at night while sleeping because their body temperature will get so low that they will die! I didn't want to interrupt their great conversations, so I let the fan death topic slide until the end of class.
     Meanwhile I was dying of laughter in-side! During the summer I sleep with my ceiling fan on and I have never died! I explained this to my students and they said "Well maybe it is because the fan is on the ceiling, and not pointing directly at your face."   Finally the last five minutes of class came and I asked them why they all believed in this urban legend. All of my students except for two believe that fans will kill you while you sleep! They explained to me that during the summer they see warnings on the news and read articles about how dangerous fans are.One of them even warned me to be careful!

Reasons for electric fan death

1. Your body temperature gets too low: This is the answer that most Koreans will give foreigners. They have been told this from such a young age, that they have a deep fear of fans instilled in them. This is why most fans in Korea have a timer.

2.  Asphyxiation: Asphyxia simply means suffocation. Many Koreans believe that the fan actually makes CO2 build up in a room which causes people to suffocate to do a lack of oxygen.

3. Splits oxygen particles: Of course this rumor can't be true! There is no way that a fan has the power to chop up oxygen particles, which is then said to create a fatal amount of CO2 in a room! 

4. Bernoulli's principle: Some people trust the Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernouli who published a book titled "Hydrodynamica" in 1738. This theory states that when the speed of a fluid increases, there is a simultaneous decrease in pressure. When this is applied to fan death, it means that the fan will actually suck away all of the air that a person is breathing!


After reading these explanations from numerous websites and hearing about them from students I couldn't believe my eyes and ears! Who in their right mind would believe in this urban legend? This entire topic sound totally crazy! After hearing about this from so many people in Korea, I am looking forward to coming across some type of warning on TV or the Internet. As soon as I find one, I will make sure to share it with everyone!

If you have any questions or comments about fan death in Korea please leave them in the comment box below, or email goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.

  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.

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Did that lady just slap someone?

   I am aware that in Korea there are different cultural norms about touching people. For instance when people greet one another they bow instead of shaking hands. However, in the midst of such a conservative society I have discovered that there is more physical contact between Koreans than you would think.

    Many tourists and expats in Korea may feel strange the first few days of their visit. Yes, that's because everyone is staring right at you! They are obsessed with your every move and may even chase after you to find out your nationality. Trust me, after a while you simply have to learn to get used to the attention. Otherwise you will have a pack of hungry cubs following you around Seoul.

    During my first week in Korea I was shocked when several older men literally grabbed or touched my arm while I was walking down the street. Since when did I become a local celebrity? In order to fight off the daily encounters with awkward touches, I quickly learned how to ignore these people. Yelling the word "A-nee-yo" or "no" at the top of my lungs helps too!

     To my surprise, expats and foreigners in Korea are not the only ones being harassed on a daily basis. I was warned by one of my co-workers to stay away from a homeless woman who sits in the middle of the sidewalk close to my office in Jongno. This woman has been dubbed "the slapping lady" by the general public. You can usually spot her every day of the week somewhere between the Jongno 3 sam-ga subway stop and Jongno tower.

     This woman sits in a small, tight ball and looks like she is keeping to herself. But this is just her cover, because before you know it she has reached out and slapped you across the legs! Luckily this women does not slap foreigners, probably because she is too afraid to test their limits. But she knows that if she slaps another Korean they will just give her a strange look and keep walking! By watching her closely I discovered that her average slapping rate is 2.5 Koreans every five minutes.

     There are not many homeless people in Korea in comparison to America, due to the much lower rates of violence and drug use. So this woman really stands out because she sits in the middle of the sidewalk. Right after she smacks someone, she gets this weird little smile across her face. You might be wondering why police don't put her in jail, and this is because her harassment is considered of little importance here in Korea. The police men have much better things to worry about like catching men that spit on the street, and people who drop their cigarette butts. 

 

If you have encountered "The slapping lady" in Jongno, or have any other questions or comments for me feel free to state your thoughts by clicking on the link below. 

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