Up for Anything? Down for Dae Jeon...

Up for anything? You kind of have to be when you don't speak the language and you're at the whims of your host. In fact this concept is available to anyone not only in theory but in practice because we're all in our own little worlds with our meaning making machine lexicon... but I won't go down that road right now because it's nearly 3am on a Tuesday, or now, Wednesday.

Met with my Korean Kim family down in Dae Jeon for another fun filled adventure. With a nine-year-old full of spunk and little conversational English skills in charge of communication, there's bound to be a lot of room for error. I never know if I'm spending the night, in what room/bed/floor, where we're going, when I'm returning, and what's on my plate to eat.

As for food....They know I'm a vegetarian but at this point I partake in fish because it just has to be done. They can never explain in English what's for dinner or what's on the menu so it's always a surprise. And most vegetables don't translate anyway, most things don't (especially when you're nine or in my case, when you're starving). It can be a little overwhelming to never really know what you're ingesting and if it's going to get along with your taste buds. But that's just how I roll most of the time these days. A tad stressful but most of the time I just find my self laughing.

Every time I'm in a cab, every time I buy something, it's a lot of thank you's and goodbyes and hellos and not much more. Same goes for anywhere I find myself, everyday. It can be comedic or tragic depending on quite literally, what lands on your plate.

This weekend I got to experience a full fledged up close and personal moment at jjimjilbang (the big ol' spa dealio here in Korea). That was also a very up for anything shrug that led to a night of sleeping on a floor with 30 other people. But I digress...
The evening began with the typical very naked squatting on plastic stools, bathing with a mass of about 30 women of all shapes, ages, and sizes. But this time I got to be scrubbed by someone else, a very typical custom here. Sang-Eun got the middle of my back with the scrubby towel which was awesome! Putting the kids to work, I'm always a fan! Being utterly and unmistakably naked amidst strangers is one thing though and it is another to be squatting next to people you know, and have not seen quite like this...
Mind you at the jjbang (my nickname for it) in Seoul that I frequent, I'm one of four foreigners that are baring it all and we don't get so close in proximity (i.e. the Korea customary centimeter... space is a luxury here). Dae Jeon, I'm the only peachy lady and this jjbang was triple the size. I got in the cold pool with the kids and let them say the phrases they knew in English which was fun. And truthfully, I have to say that Korea has shocked me into not being shocked. I didn't really bat an eye at the experience for longer than a minute. When you're up for anything, there's no arguing with where you're at. It's nice to have your back scrubbed anyhow, even by my Oma while I helped my mini-sister wash her hair.

Sleeping on the floor with a wood brick as a pillow was something else entirely, add to it that there was no communication about it. Sang Eun dragged me into a room of people chilling in a darker setting (nothing strange about that, as it's just what's done at jjbang) but after an hour of "napping" I began to wonder when we were leaving. We didn't. And I kept having this strange notion that we were all breathing the same breath although there was idle chatter and snoring. Kids played and wrapped themselves around the bended knees of the mothers and fathers. It was odd but magical. I didn't sleep well but it was certainly something to write home about... and here I am doing so.

Woke up, totally disoriented and was fed seaweed soup at the restaurant four feet away (restaurants, arcades, gyms and tv sitting rooms, dvdbang private movie rooms are all in the jjbang across from the bathing rooms and saunas). Showered and scrubbed and bathed again. And then we got in the car, for a drive that like our "nap" never ended. Two hours of driving and I had no idea what was next. Trust is a word I think I'm becoming quite acquainted with. It didn't matter, right?
I was just riding the ride, literally and figuratively it's what I signed on for.
Korean folk village site seeing, ice cream licking, random noodle lunch that was delish, rice ponding, water wading in side road creeks.... good day all in all. Careful what you wish for...because every time you smile and point and say yes, the car will stop and you will be let out to enjoy. We stopped, a lot before I figured this out. ;-)




Ended up at train station in the middle of nowhere and did get home (which I do call Seoul now, awesomely strange and not strange at all, it is what it is). The cool thing about roads is they lead somewhere, you just don't know most of the time and you never know what you'll come to pass by.

Luckily, all train tracks lead back to Seoul and I can atleast figure my way from there. Now, if I could just find myself asleep instead of writing this blog amidst the monsoon lightning out my window. I'm just too excited to lay down, I've regressed to my toddler self who didn't want to miss anything and banned the word sleep.