Jimjilbangs and Naked People

Gail basically thinks travel is all about being slapped across the face with the new and strange. With this perspective in mind, she again failed to fully prep Michelle on what was coming, specifically what a "jimjilbang," was. The first word that comes to Michelle's mind in retrospect is "naked" and if you know Michelle at all, you know she really doesn't like that word. A jimjilbang is basically a huge bathhouse reminiscent of Roman days where everyone lounges in saunas and hot tubs of different temperatures, or takes advantage of the showers. All of this, of course, is done without clothes. We're talking 50 naked women milling around everywhere. One look at Michelle's face told Gail she had achieved "traveling" in Korea -- the getting slapped with the new part. As Skippy is not that kind of blog, we can't post photos to prove that Michelle dove right in, so you'll have to take our word for it.

It was after 2 a.m. by the time we arrived back from the club and wrestled our backpacks out of the lockers to, yes, add to them. A heroic surge of courage (and the fact that it was so late almost no one was around) strengthened Michelle to strip down and march past the nearby "ajumas," older Korean women into the bathhouse. She didn't stop there, either. Foregoing paying for a personal scrub down from a nearby attendant at a washing station, we indulged in the showers, sauna and jetted hot tub before we turned in for the night at 3:00.

This was easier said that done, however, as we had to scavenge around for floor space in the co-ed sleeping room. Dressed in our complementary pink jimjilbang uniforms, we rented towel-like blankets and settled on either side of a couple that unfortunately decided to stay up a little later. There, amidst about 200 other sleeping post-party young people, we managed about 4.3 hours of sleep before setting out for the palaces in the morning.

Michelle and Gail dominate Asia!

After numerous video Skype sessions and spontaneous Oh-my-gosh,-guess-what-happened chats, Michelle decided she couldn’t stay away any longer. She’s coming to visit me in South Korea! And I couldn’t be happier!! I’m so, so, so blessed! One thing’s for sure: We’re going to have a blast. Here’s a sampling of what we’ll do in the five days she’s here:

-Indulge in CRAZY food!
-Visit hostels, temples and palaces, oh my.
-Go salsa dancing, now a tradition.
-Take a tour of the Blue House — South Korea’s version of the White House
-Attend the largest church in the WORLD, Yeouido Full Gospel
-Night cruise on the Hangang River, which runs through Seoul
-Teach at my school

Pretty sure the post-visit list of what we did will be much more entertaining, but there it is.

A Night at the Ford

I'm writing this in retrospect and trying hard to remember just how weird the dance troupe at the Ford Amphitheatre actually was. Enjoying art and music is one of our favorite things to do --especially when we're joined by great friends like Christie and Amanda, pictured here.

Investing in cool experiences is always a great idea and our college-sized pocketbooks have taught us well to take advantage of our status as students.

Target graciously sponsors a dance series at the beautiful Ford Amphitheatre, built into the Hollywood hills. Perfect. Michelle did ballet for seven years (I think) and was effusively excited to see a modern interpretation of it. They did pretty well, but at times it was on the weird side. We were thankful for the program, which listed the themes they were trying to get across to the audience.



This wasn't our first time at the Ford Amphitheatre and it won't be our last. One of the nice things about the stately theatre is that it is right by Mulholland Drive, which weaves through the Hollywood hills and gives teasing glimpses of the L.A. skyline and beautiful multimillion-dollar homes. After the concert, we drove around for a bit, trespassed for kicks and tried to avoid couples making out.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We wanted to end our semester together with a bang -- perhaps a trip to the Disney Concert Hall or some other downtown L.A. venue. Unfortunately, life got in the way -- in the form of a 5-page paper for my Marine Mammals class and some extensive packing.

So we went on a whirlwind trip of La Mirada instead, finding as many inflatable Santas and/or polar bear wannabe Santas) as possible. And good news -- we successfully completed the mission without provoking any responses from local chapters of the Neighborhood Watch.

Muy Sabrosa: Dia de Independencia Mexicana

The multicultural escapade continued this week as we ventured to Olvera St., one of the oldest neighborhoods in L.A. (est. 1825). It was Mexican Independence Day today, and we thought it only fitting to celebrate with a mariachi band and enchiladas.

We decided that this afternoon, we would speak solamente espanol. Claire, who just studied abroad in Costa Rica, is pretty much our resident Spanish expert and latinophile. She took care of prayer time and helped us order at El Paseo when we were having trouble conjugating on the fly.

Other highlights included shopping, checking out the latest fashions and looking like bona fide tourists.

Boba with Mood Lighting, Please.

In any other city, "multicultural rampage" would do fairly well in describing our weekend, but in L.A, the center of multicultural-ness, our rampage wasn't as crazy as we'd like to think it is.


So we tried the Greek gyros and baklava, but I've never heard of famous Greek tea--we left that to another ethnicity--Asian! I know this involves quite a few countries, but I'm pretty sure they all make good tea, so excuse me for lumping them all together.


Twenty minutes down Beach Blvd., past the Buddhist temple, there is an artsy tea and boba cafe where James Browning, Marcelo Crivella and Michelle and I retreated to study.

I refer to this cafe with a vauge name like, "Asian Tea Bar" because I'm not sure what kind of Asian it is and I can't read the language of the sign. I just know that everyone in there is Asian and they serve really, really good tea. Hence--Asian Tea Bar.


Marcelo and I whipped out our psychology books while Michelle started plowing through editing and design reading. I'm not sure what James was doing, but he probably didn't get as much of it done once they started projecting the movie "300" on the wall above our table.
Ironically, it seemed like the longer we stayed, the more romantic the lighting got. Every half hour, the lights would go down a little more, making the table candles more obvious. Correct me if I'm wrong, but "300" isn't very romantic.



Still, I sipped my strawberry-pineapple boba and got through a good 25 pages of psych with my little votive candle before we headed back home.

If you're looking for a place to get reading done, I recommend the Asian Tea Bar. The hours are long, the menus are in English, and you can pretty much mix whatever drink you want. I've never had a bad drink from this place, but I'll let you know if I do because I'm going back soon.

Opa!

Latin Lovers and Other Things You Might Not Expect to Find at Greek Fest 2007

When you go to an event dubbed Greek Fest 07, you expect gyros, blue-and-white, a fair share of Catsopouloses and Stephanopoulouses.

What we didn't really expect was salsa dancing. But considering this is smack-dab in the middle of an area of LA known as the Byzantine-Latino Quarter, I guess it wasn't too much of a stretch.

Anyway, it is a commonly known fact that Gail loves to dance. Combine that with her dashing good looks and some spirited Latin men, and you're in for quite the evening...

Gail and I staked a claim on the very edge of the dance floor, the only nook from which we could get a good view of the band. We settled down in the corner of the linoleum, ready to hear some good music.

But no sooner had the band played a few bars than I turn around to find that Gail is GONE!! I scan the dance floor anxiously until I see her curly hair bouncing up and down. There she is, in the arms of slight, middle aged man with faint body odor who is wearing -- suspiciously -- all black.

He's intent on her. She's intent on the moves. The whole scene is just downright intense.

I quickly grab the camera to get some shots, but it's difficult. There's a whole lot of twirling, pretzel-twisting and hip-swinging. The "AUTO" mode on my camera is having serious issues trying to catch the dancing without major blurring. I'm clicking away like the paparazzi, when all of a sudden, I see a flash of movement --

Gail is on the floor!

Apparently her partner got a little too into the dance and attempted a dip. But he didn't really know what he was doing. He dropped her. Yikes.

Fortunately, a guy from the crowd noticed Gail's skillful moves and swooped in to the rescue for the second dance. He was portly, in his 20s, and indubitably the best dancer in the house. He even had white patent-leather loafers. He didn't mess around.

The result was some definite heat on the dance floor. The clip above is a sampling of that. Warning -- definitely some PG dance moves going on, so exercise discretion when viewing with small children and/or the elderly.

So, it was a spectacular evening -- at least for Gail. The belle of the ball, I think she danced every song. In fact, I practically had to pull her away from one partner, who, after the last dance, was desperately trying to convince her to participate in the Greek dancing competition that was about to take place.

As for me -- for all my trying, it was a tough evening. Here I am, obviously befuddled at what my partner is doing. I think I'll keep these moves in storage a little longer and focus on videography for the time being...

Wow-level Architecture

This weekend Gail and I helped out with the AV crew at an evangelistic crusade in LA. We were designated to do on-camera interviews with the bands performing: Group 1 Crew, Vicky Beeching and The Katinas. The crusade was held in the gorgeous Orpheum Theater in downtown L.A... see the wonder...

Clifton's

Broadway St. in downtown LA had a surprisingly perky ambience yesterday.


Maybe that's because Michelle and I were feeling perky, or maybe it was the gentleman who stopped to politely compliment our smiles. Other than that, I'm sure the sunshine, palm trees and crocodile cowboy boot-filled shops had absolutely nothing to do with the sheer alegria-ness of the afternoon.

We were in the part of town that has a predominantly Hispanic population. You know, the area where walking past all the garage-shaped vender stalls is an education in Spanish music: one blares Spanish hip-hop, another salsa, and, of course, the ubiquitous reggaeton. Good news for all you students trying to learn Spanish! You don't have to go abroad after all!


Michelle and I were walking back from the historic Biltmore Hotel (where we stalked in authoritatively to use the pretty bathrooms) and we were hungry. Muy, muy hambre.

So like I said before, Broadway St. was feeling perky, especially after we found Cliftons. We stepped seamlessly from our bright skylined world to a haven with a Disneyland themed twist(edness). The indoor landscaping was what got us.

Yes, sir.

I almost expected John Henry to walk out of the dense plastic trees and ivy with his big axe. He didn't, but Michelle and I took precautionary measures and retreated to the upstairs loft. This restaurant was many things, but there are also some things it most definitely was not.


It was: a cafeteria, a place to practice Spanish, floral decorator hell, team man heaven, freakin' hilarious.

It was not: a place to feed the bears (per the sign), and, most importantly, not a place to get enchiladas.

While I proudly label myself as a "Beef, it's what's for Dinner" kind-of-girl, I couldn't appreciate....whatever was in those enchiladas. For all you Pennsylvanians out there, it tasted like someone took scrapple (leftover pieces of animal con hair), put it in a blender and added corn and tortillas.


However, Michelle and I did not let the food dampen our perky mood and enjoyment of Ella Fitzgerald's soft crooning in the great mood lighting. If you're looking for a historic (circa 1930's), woodsy place to test out some award winning cheesecake near the Fashion District, then Clifton's is your place.