jimjibangs. my new love.

i'm a horrible person. 

 you know that nightmare that people have about going to school, or work or wherever naked? they're walking around wondering why everyone else is acting so weird and staring straight at them? and then, BAM. they realize they're naked. and freak out? well, I'm not immune to this cultural mores. i've had that dream before and wasn't particularly interested in getting naked in front of other people.

but korea has changed me. it's a mental game you have to play with yourself. forcing yourself to realize, okay, this is a real life reenactment of that nightmare, but everyone else is naked too! it's not so terrifying!
now, I'm not self conscious about my body, only that i am a shameless people watcher. ahhhh, i am constantly keeping that little habit of mine in check at the jimjibangs. :)

i love how comfortable the women in the bathhouses are. they are usually with friends or family, and it's just a relaxing experience for them. I've tried to take their examples to heart and holy moly, one ajuma even asked if i was korean. she said i looked so comfortable there that it must be true.
badass point +1.

(this photo is not typical of the jimjibang experience exactly. sure, you see people sleeping in the community sleeping rooms, but these lil ladies were dozing off in the lobby. so weird i didn't even feel bad about taking a photo. )

i have way too much fun. :)

got a little crazy at the "trick eye museum" in seoul. and thanks to miss haley, it was well documented. 

                                                         

he's very cutie guy!

hey hey!! hey hey hey!!!

screw katy perry, this is the REAL teenage girl's dream. AKA: korean heart throbs

so i was taking a walk yesterday in sokcho and in the distance could hear what sounded like some sort of a sports game. a crowd of at least 300 people were cheering. i guessed soccer. so i started walking in that direction. and to my surprise, i didn't find a stadium packed with sports fans, but a boys only high school. the place was crawling with them. NOTE: please look at the boys hanging out of the windows? what is this? some sort of ghetto high school musical? i vote yes.

I'm just going to point out that this boy has a zac efron haircut. just sayin.

Andong Mask Festival

when traveling alone you have a special kind of adventure. it's a lot of thinking and observing and experiencing. it's the most liberating kind of exploring i can think of.

traveling in groups is a whole different story. it's louder, has more laughs and risk-taking. 

andong was definitely a group trip. my cronies and i started off at the andong mask festival. korean festival officials noticed our giant blob of whiteys and asked us to be in the parade/dance performance. i 

like to think that they could sense my dancing skills and wanted me to introduce gilly dancing to the dance depraved korean audiences. regardless of their motives, we agreed. when one is offered a captive audience of 600 people, it's best to accept and just start dancing. 

we danced our booties off and our dance mob evolved from a bunch of foreigners gilly dancing to include korean business men, army guys carrying automatic weapons and old lady ajumas. no lie. 

the koreans loved our dancing so much they offered us a free dinner. it was delicious. 

the night then developed into korea's better version of rock paper scissors where we wagered silk worm larvae shots. also no lie. 

ajumas!!!! i love em!

susan's henna tattoo

another ajuma. :)

during the dance party.

my hell, another ajuma picture? I'm sorry.

pimp gangstah!!

yeah, monkey here is rocking the bling. :)

what is this Compton in the 90s? or maybe just goseong, south korea? 

sports day!!!!!

so sports day at dong gwang elementary schools goes a little something like this:

1. fish relay (this is a link, click to watch my video)
2. dance performance
3. no classes, sports all day long.
4. yellow vs. blue
5. parents come and they play games with the kids and then watch their kids compete.
6. shameless opportunity for me to take the photos i have been dying to take.

oh, jin-ho. side note: right in the middle of the sports day, this lil gem, sneaks away from the group, unzips his pants and pees. not sure if this is normal or not. 

this girl has got the kimchi squat-mean mug-peace sign look DOWN.

jin-he has a soft spot in my heart. she is so sweet. 

could not resist.

aba killed it every single race.

so sneaky. she had these on before i even realized they were gone.

yuna, ET, and bada.

this girl is going to grow up to be a kpop superstar. she loved the camera and was constantly photo bombing. 

i have a serious problem.

                           me and my ladies ji-eun and emma.