Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alyssa]

So I go to the bath house with my co-teachers, and guess who is there, 4 middle school students that I teach!!!!!!!!!!! They come up, yes, we all are in our birthday suits, and they want to RUB MY BACK AND BODY!!!!!!!!
The co-teachers laugh and tell me that they are being kind, but somehow, I feel so uncomfortable! I like the bath house, the different pools of water, and the relaxing mud bath, but to go their with so many people I work with is kind of strange..................any of you ever had that experience???

[huffdaddy]

[SeoulFinn]

From your reaction I can say that you certainly aren't Finnish! Hey, we still have some public saunas that both sexes use at the same time. And we're not wearing T-shirts and shorts there like they do in the Korean "*sauna." In Finnish sauna culture that would be the most idiotic thing to do! Besides, we were all born naked, right?

Anyway, your co-workers were right. Scrubbing someone's back is totally normal in Korea.

I hope that you're already familiar with the Italian towel. If not, ask your co-workers where to get them. After soaking in a hot tub for a while you would be amazed how much dead skin and dirt can be scraped from your body. But don't do it too often as it might irritate your skin.


(*Korean sauna is pretty BEEP far from R.E.A.L. sauna.)

[robot]

woo, finnish saunas!

my hometown, the quaint little ontario city of thunder bay, apparently boasts the largest population of finnish people outside of finland. so we have a heck of a lot of saunas (pronounced sow-nas) going on.

i'm a pretty big fan of sauna nekkidness (mandatory in tbay), but if it involved my middle schoolers, i'd be quite weirded out also, huffdaddy. i'd be the heck out of there in a flash.

as for REAL saunas, a sauna is not a sauna without a cool, refreshing lake to jump into afterward. though i really do love korea's jjimjilbang culture -- the sauna style here is so different from the finn style that you can't really judge between the two.

ROBT.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The trick is to get over your western-instilled hang-ups about your naked body and non-sexual touching. In this case, the Koreans are a couple of thousand years ahead of us. Relax and enjoy it.

[SeoulFinn]

Good to hear that Finland doesn't export only Nokias and xylitol, but also saunas and the correct way of enjoying them. And what's the big deal with being nekkid in sauna? Or being nekkid at all? At least in Finland no one thinks about sex while in sauna - maybe it's just too hot for that? We certainly don't go there to drool after someone.

Sauna's a good place to relax and forget your worries for a while. Hey, it's almost sacret to us. Not that long ago the Finns were born in sauna and after they died, their bodies were washed in sauna before burial.

Here's some more information of sauna if someone is interested. CLICK ME

[C.M.]

Ya-ta Boy's statement is spot on. Though yes, seeing students at public baths can be strange. I was quite uncomfortable when a young lad approached me during class, and wanted to talk about "size".

[inspector gadget]

robot,

I am also from tbay and you are correct about the number of finns in tbay, largest pop outside of finland. your also right about jumping in the lake after a nice finn sauna, also nice to roll around in the snow and if your brave diving under the frozen lake. I did that once and it was awesome.

Saunas here are alright but as others said nothing compares to an old traditional sauna complete with cedar all around, makes me wish I was back on the lake north of the bay

[pest2]

Please never show that photo of Michael Jackson ever again.

Sauna naked and body touching with coworkers OK with me because they're all women! (except my boss).

[seoulkitchen]