Sauna and Church

This afternoon I went to the local Sauna/Jimjilbang with Connie and Robert (2 teachers at my school). Going to a sauna is such a fun experience in Korea. In America, we think of the floors being dirty places to sit, but Koreans think it's fine and clean to sit there. So on the main floor, there are people everywhere sprawled out on the floor with kids running around and people laying down reading books. It's an interesting sight. And refreshing to see families spending time together. This sauna had 4 rooms (3 hot ones, and 1 cool one). They also have a massage place, but there were no workers there...Oh well. I'll have to try it next time :) At least I know that there's one there!

It was nice to talk with Robert and Connie without the pressure of time. It was good to just stop thinking and enjoy eachothers company. This weekend felt like my first real weekend. We had Friday off work, and then Saturday we hung out together, and then tomorrow I work/go to church. 2 real days off in a row!! Also, a little Christmas present, we weren't supposed to get paid in December (until January they'd pay us double) for some reason, and Christmas morning, the paychecks were deposited into our accounts! I don't know why we got paid, but I won't ask any questions. I was just relieved to see it.

After the sauna, I came home, changed, and met Jamie. We walked to her church together (remind me that I need to wear my scarf at all times--it's freezing outside!!!), and they had a message with singing, and then 6-7 skits/singing numbers. It was really fun to see, and Jamie was really nice to translate most of it for me. Her young adults group in church splits everyone up by age 21-25, 26-31, 32+ or something like that. So the 25 year olds were moving on to the next level. That's why they were having the party. I was happy to be a part of it, and going to her church always makes me feel comfortable. Even though I'm usually nervous to be in a church that's all Korean, I feel like they're very warm and inviting.

Well, that's that. I'm starting a new resolution/tradition. I'll tell you about it on New Year's...A hint is that it's something that some Korean Christians apparently do, but I've never known an American who's done it :) Do you have any guesses???