it was actually the coldest weekend yet this winter, and we were warned by a co-worker that a snowstorm had just passed through Boreong. we shrugged our shoulders and slipped the straps of our backpack on... whatever will be... we needed to get outta Seoul.
there was about zero real planning that went into this trip. we were going to get to Boreong by 1am, so a fleeting worry crossed our minds about possibly finding a cab or a place to sleep for the night. when we pulled into the Boreong bus station, the town was asleep. it seemed still compared to the hustling bustling of the neon-lit big city. the people from the bus were all scrambling for their cell phones to get into contact with their rides.
we laughed and sneered at each other inelegantly, then Praise ran out to an occupied cab to ask the driver if we could get the number to call someone to pick us up. Denise wrapped her arms around me b/c my layers of jackets didn't really defend me from the winter chill.
minutes later, a young cabbie picked us up and asked us:
where do you want to go?
we laughed uproariously and asked: "we're in Boreong, right?"
he chucked: yes!
"oh, thank God." more laughter: "we don't really have a place where we wanted to go, but we wanted to be by the beach. can you take us to a cheap, but decent place to crash for the night?"
sure sure.
snow covered countryside. open spaces and blinking street lights and haphazard electrical lines--we passed through a backwoodsy type of area and came into the beach town which was lit up prettily. our cabbie had been amiably chatting with us about the town and brought us to a small motel.
we hopefully hopped out of the cab onto the snowy street and shivered into the darkened lobby. the cabbie came with us and knocked on a little window at the front desk. an ah-jimah (40-ish matron) opened the window and blinked at us sleepily.
"can we get a room for the night?"
yes. $25 won.
"$25 won?!" we giddily handed her the money and accepted the key. when we entered the tiny room, our cold feet were warmed by the heated floors and we danced about cheerily examining everything. we laughed and jumped on the bed. happy to be alive. we all felt like such adults to have been able to travel three hours away from Seoul, arrive in the middle of the night, and get a room for next to nothing. life is grand.
we decided to trudge around town for a minute to get the lay of the land.
though i was freezing in my thin layers, i still slung my arm around a snowman with rubber glove hands for a pic. people kept propositioning us on the street to come into their restaurants for dinner. this was a little confusing for us because there were very few people walking around and it was nearly 2:30 in the morning. we just slipped into a slapdash little any-mart and picked up a few bowls of instant ramen noodles to munch on for the evening.again, the freezing snowy streets, but again, the delightful relief of heated floors and giddy laughter.
time runs strangely out here in Korea. i had only known Denise for about 2 weeks when we went on this trip, but i already feel like i've known her for months. it's amazing and wonderful to be able to find people that you can feel connected to--even moreso in my place in life where i've felt so lost and disconnected from people for a long time. i know God is being really gracious to me, and i know i'm incredibly blessed for the connections that i've made. i'm being healed. i'm becoming who i really am again. i love to laugh, to make others laugh, and to talk and to love and to share my heart. i love to give and trust and hold someone's arm while i tell them that they're beautiful.
i awoke to the late morning sun, and read Psalm 73 while Praise and Denise were still languidly dosing in and out of REM. v 28--"but as for me, how good it is to be near God! i have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and i will tell everyone about the wonderful things that you do."
after resting until we actually all felt rested, we lounged around in our pjs for a while.
Praise: i think women are so pretty. even when they're not that pretty, i usually think that they're pretty in some way.
me: true true. people can objectively be good-looking or bad-looking or whatever--but when you actually get to know them, their features seem to take on the characteristics of their personality, you know? so, a really good-looking guy who's an asshole will end up looking really stupid to me.
Denise: i'm a little weirded out about going to that mud sauna. are we going to be naked the whole time?
Praise: you gotta just shrug a shoulder and do it quick. it's like ripping off a bandaid. then it's over and it's not a big deal at all.
we eventually got up and bundled up against the cold. we asked the sleepy eyed ah-jinmah where we could find a good place to get clams. she pointed us through the sparse buildings and across the street.
it was essentially a large tent that had been erected and had grown more and more semi-permanent over time. it was barely warmer inside than it was outside. we shivered, but shed our jackets so we could eat. an 80-something hal-muhni (grandma) haggled with us about the price and what we were going to order. b/c i'm not a huge seafood fan--especially seafood of the mysterious non-fish variety, we stuck to our guns and ordered a smaller portion. i asked for an ashtray and she gave us a dirty paper cup with a quarter inch of water at the bottom.
then she went and got two flaming pieces of coal and placed them into a compartment that was right under the the tabletop. there was a grill that was embedded into the center of the table. we warmed our hands over the coals while the hal-muhni went and brought us a pile of clams that looked like they had just been pulled out of the ocean. she roasted them over the coals, turning and watching them cook with expert eyes. they sizzled and popped and steamed out billows of ocean smells. deftly, she cracked open the shells and placed the meats onto our plates.
i could not examine the clams before i popped them into my mouth because i knew i'd get finnicky. though they didn't taste bad, i had to control my gag reflex at the sinewy sea flavors. Denise and Praise kept ooohing and aaahing while they munched contentedly. oddly, the hal-muhni kept piling the most seafood onto Praise's plate, the medium portions onto mine, and the least onto Denise's:
me: "do you notice how she's doing that?"
Denise: "yeah! why do you think that is?"
Praise: "should we ask her?"
me: "i feel like it's based on how well we can speak Korean--like she's rewarding Praise for being the most proficient."
Denise: "maybe if i really make 'yummy' sounds"--which she proceeded to do so in a very exaggerated manner. to no effect. Praise and i began sharing with Denise across the table. oh well. sharing is ok, right?
the hal-muhni took a break and smoked a skinny about two feet away from our table. our bones were getting chilled so we shrugged back into our jackets and asked for directions to the ocean. it was about a block and a half away.
i've never been to the beach in the winter, so i'm not sure what i expected to see, but the clash of snow and snowy mountains and sand with the darkest blue water is not something that can fully be described with words. the brisk winter winds whipped and ceased and whipped while we carefully made our way towards the edge between the sand and the sea.
breathing in the crisp salty air, i stared into the deep blue depths and watched the troubled bursts and splashes among the tossing waves. my cheeks were flushed quickly by the winter and i wondered how deep it was out there--what kinds of roiling life was roiling beneath all of that.
we snapped a dozen shots of these freezing moments of time and then grabbed each others arms for warmth as we trudged toward the mud sauna. it was conveniently located about half a block away. Praise made us pose for a pic outside and then we quickly moved into the warmth of the building.
"how much is it to go in?"
$3 man won.
i really can't remember the last time it felt this gratifying to let money slip out of my pockets. i felt like i was passing out nickels and dimes for these unforgettable experiences.
we gingerly stepped out of our sodden boots and then entered the women's locker room. ah. heated floors. they blessed our cold toes and we paused blissfully for a moment. naked women of all sizes and proportions were casually sauntering about, drying their hair, and jabbering in Korean. the ladies at the counter handed us hand towels and Denise and i glanced at each other with sheepish trepidation as we claimed lockers and began peeling off our winter-wear.
me: "i'm going to have to pee before i do this".
Denise: "me too".
Praise: "guys! you just gotta do it like a bandaid! trust me. it's nothing after about a minute."
"we know. we know"
i crouched by my locker in mid-undress and then tried to empty my head of the foolish hang-ups i had about nudity. steeling my nerves, i quickly unrobed and then placed the tiny towel in front of my body. i walked swiftly into the steamy bathing room, completely conscious of my exposed backside and then paused again. there were about a dozen naked women talking, scrubbing each others backs, wading in the pools, and completely ignoring me. ah. Korea. oh well.
flipping the towel away from my body and onto the bench holding everyone's toiletries, i finally let go of those insecurities i have about my imperfect body. Denise followed in suit. the three of us looked at each other for a brief, diminutive moment of shock. and then it was over. we all have the same body. there are breasts, nipples, some pubes, and an ass, but that's it.
Praise: "see! it's no big deal."
me: "we all have the exact same body."
Praise: "this is what i'm saying. there's a little more here, a little more there, but in the end, it's all the same. i had to deal w/ my own shock the first time i went to a chim-jil-bahng."
Denise: "kinda liberating actually."
me: "i concur."
we sat in the sauna and soaked the heat into our bones and showed each other Pilates moves while we giggled about our nakedness. we covered our bodies in mud. a random woman actually began painting my back in mud in places i couldn't reach. i thanked her and reciprocated.
Praise: "you look like body art!"
we soaked pleasurably in the various heated jacuzzis.
life is grand. but, i'm telling you. time is moving in dog years out here.
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