Ahhhhhh there are certain traditions and customs that make me happy to be Korean. One big one would be the bathhouses. Korean women are generally known for aging gracefully and for having beautiful skin and hair. The secret? Bathhouses.
In Korea, it’s a place for friends or to make friends. Yeah, it sounds odd, being nude and scrubbing others’ bodies, but cleanliness is a huge deal back home and personal space is not.
My mother and I are usually at each other’s throats, but it seems we are capable of bonding when we go to the “sauna” (as we asians call it). I chatted up some uncomfortable topics (i.e. anything sex-related) and other stuff too. We mostly talked about Bert and my feelings for him. We also discussed my bipolarity, my future plans, family issues. It was nice. And all the while, we’re in and out of various steam rooms, clay rooms, salt rooms, dry saunas, soot rooms, hot tubs, warm tubs, cold tubs. I exfoliated, sweated out bad toxins, and gave my muscles some well-deserved tlc.
