Snow / Staff Meeting / Shilom Jjimjilbang / Santacon

So the temperature in Daegu dropped the last couple weeks.  According to the long term forecast it should get back to normal winter temperatures in a week or so.  Hopefully.  The ski season has already gotten off to a good start here this year (as of Monday the 10th 13 of the 23 slopes at the YongPyeong ski resort).  We had our first snow here in Daegu on Friday, see the photos of my students going mad.  It was cold enough that it froze and settled really quickly, after about an hour and I got a message saying other schools had cancelled classes (sadly not mine though).  Even the snow did not stop the korean election demonstrations in the street (I imagine they're saying something like "dancing for democracy" or "Candidate 3 Style Freestyle").

WE LOVE ( CANDIDATE ) 69!

Later on was the staff Christmas party at the Daegu Grand - so ancient and historic it can trace its history all the way back to 1989.  The company had hired out a room with a buffet for the 50 or so staff, the teachers were split into 6 teams (5 korean, 1 with all the foreigners).  There was also a table for school principles and local 'celebrities' - the big name this year was the Mayor of Suseong-gu.  Me and the other waygooks practiced quickly outside then settled in to an alcoholic beverage (or dozen).  One of the coteachers had made a delicious plum/soju mix, and we when we ran out of booze we ordered some more.  As you can see we certainly managed to make a dent.   



There was a korean MC (who spoke no English).  Each team performed and I got a few videos - they ranged from 'sexy' singing/dancing, a Pink Ladies comedy sketch, a blacklight glove show and our 아줌마 파워 dance to "Sexy and I Know It".  There was Gangnam Style, and 'sexy' kpop, then white people dressed as old korean ladies.  My Thursday coteacher definitely took a video, so I will try and hunt one down.  In the mean time enjoy the videos I got of the other groups (and the awful pictures of our performance).  After that there were a bunch of weird korean games (lots of rock, paper, scissors, back massages, shouting 야! and the occasional bum pinching from my boss..) and a few other things lie a triathlon (with skipping, kicking up a ball, blowing up a balloon and popping it between two people) and an word guessing game where Chris acted out stuff for us to guess.  We won that one easily (but probably only because we luckily picked the group of cards without anything that was just Korean written out in english).  Finally we ended with a raffle.  I won a shampoo set!  By this time me and Paul were shouting Fisting instead of Fighting so it was probably time to leave!  Grabbed an unopened bottle of soju and butter from New Zealand and headed downtown to spend our 50k for winning Charades.

Had a few hours in bed then caught the train up to Seoul (had to get up just after 6am to make the 7am KTX).  First stop was the American Diner at the east end of 이태원.  If you're ever there I wholeheartedly recommend the spicy bacon omelette.  Had a nap/made up for lost time with Matt and let the omelette digest - (Richard Copycat's American Diner is along near the junction near Noksapyeong station and the Welcome to Itaewon arch).


After a little hunting online I came across this wonderful blog and a second here about Siloam Spa (실러암 찜질방).  It's halfway between 서울역 and 충정로 (map) - if you're at the AREX entrance, go out the nearest entrance and immediately turn right.  It's less than 5 minutes walking north, at a big junction you can see it across the road.  The mixed part was really good - hot jade, hot and warm salt, ice room and a superhotigloo style.  


The men's part had : 

• soil/mud bath (will look closer to find out what that was)
• massage pools (a bank of 4)
• hot salt sauna (there was a big wooden bowl with salt in it for you to cover yourself in.  It's meant to be good for respiratory illnesses and the skin due to the 82 trace elements found in your average spoon of sodium chloride.  I was a little bit too close to it when an old man decided to salt his front with his crotch right near my face.  sexy).
• jade hot tub (apart from the famous use in China, it was also used in burials and weddings in Korea.  During the 신라 period it was also used for crowns)
• mugwort tub (Chinese Mugwort or 쑥 (ssuk) as it's called in Korean has long been used in traditional medicine.  It is burnt during acupuncture to warm up the surrounding region to stimulate Qi flow in a process called Moxibustion)
• waterfall bath (really good, you could just move around while the hot water pounds down)
• backbone massage jet (you lie on a massage table with your head through the hole to breath and hit the button on your right.  heaven).

Lastly there was Santacon, ended up at the sauna too late to make it for the actual walk - had dinner at a galbi restaurant that Matt introduced me to in Hongdae (it was written up in the New York Times) which is right next to the square where we took the photo last year.  Sadly we didn't see them (they must've decided on another place for the photo).  We still saw smaller groups later on.  

수성 Christmas Tree

Kinda gutted I'm going to be missing the Daegu Santa walk this weekend but I'm looking forward to Jonas' Birthday Bash as well as the Tim Burton Exhibition in Seoul.  Honestly the bit with the group is really the only fun bit - once it gets messy (and everyone is in Hobar) it's not really my thing.  After stumbling home at 2am and getting up at 6 to leave for Seoul Matt and I were pretty much both done by 1am which is kinda a poor showing.  It got me into the Chritmas spirit, and I got to hang out with a bunch of friends, Matt and I even got chatted up by 2 girls from Canada and Middlesborough which was certainly amusing.  Matt asked me which one I'd "go home with if [I] didn't have a choice).  Turned out he would've picked the Brit and I would've chosen the Canadian.  Guess that's how it worked out anyway.  :-P

Next weekend is the lovely Deva's and Jona's birthdays, and the Tim Burton Exhibit.  Can't wait!