Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Stitching and Bitching (and Some Studying)

Seoul SnB @ Namu Keuneul in Gangnam
Fishy says,"Om nom nom nom. Dead skin is delicious!"

I went to Gangnam on Thursday night for SnB. The Thursday night meetings are currently being held at Namu Keuneul, a coffee shop that has a Dr. Fish spa for 2,000 won ($1.60). The doctor fish (also called reddish log sucker and doctorfishen) is a type of tropical fish that eats dead skin. They were originally used to treat skin diseases, but in Korea and Japan, they're used in spas. Full body spas exist (and seriously creep me out), but the Dr. Fish at Namu Keuneul was just a foot spa.

Seoul SnB @ Namu Keuneul in Gangnam
Seoul SnB @ Namu Keuneul in Gangnam Seoul SnB @ Namu Keuneul in Gangnam
Seoul SnB @ Namu Keuneul in Gangnam

First you wash your feet to prevent contaminating the pool. Then you soak your feet in the tubs for twenty minutes while the fish nibble on your toes. The dark clouds surround our feet are actually fish, which flocked to us as soon as we stuck our feet in.   It doesn't hurt at all, but it does tickle. A lot! Turns out, my feet are really ticklish. I believe the phrase "Pillsbury Doughboy" was used to describe my reaction. (Sarah, on my reaction: was not even remotely surprised.) I couldn't stop laughing! Marie, Siobhain and I took our knitting with us and knit while the fish nibbled.

Then on Sunday I went to Sinchon for the new Sunday meeting. It's very new - this is only the second meeting - and I was the only person for the first two hours. It's in a nice coffee shop, though, and I used the opportunity to make myself study Korean. Since I'm going to be staying in Korea for a second year, I figure it's time to get off my butt and start learning the language. 나는 한굴말를 공부해요. In Roman letters, that's Nanun Hangulmallul gongbuhaeyo, which means (I think) I study Korean. I can't form the past tense yet, but that's okay because this is more of an on-going (never ending?) project.

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