Catching Up

The month of June is already half over and already the summer is off to a bang! I've experienced one of the mildest Junes ever (in my life) and really love having four distinct seasons. Life in Seoul is good...I've been enjoying the nite life and making new friends. The one thing I'm not enjoying is the fact that there are only a couple of pools open, in the Seoul area, and the others have yet to open (maybe in the next week or two..?). A couple of weeks ago I ventured back to Itaewon (even though I insist that I'm never going back there) to lay out at the pool at the Hamilton Hotel. I had been told by many foreigners that the public was allowed use of pool and so on the the first sunny Saturday, I had available, I made my way to the pool. I arrived at the pool, mid-afternoon, not quite sure what to expect, but when I arrived at the pool it was nothing I ever expected. It was packed with foreigners and Koreans alike, all in pursuit of the perfect tan and socialization with other foreigners and English speakers (and lets not forget the rum...no pool or beach experience would be complete without it). I arrived too late in the day to find a chair to lay out on, but was lucky enough to run into an acquaintance that I had met a few weeks previously. He was nice enough to offer me a seat with his group and I enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon with him and his friends. I had a great time but in true "Jenn's Life" fashion, the craziest thing occurred a few feet away from us... All throughout the day, as the Korean swimmers finished their day at the pool, they would come and shower off in the outdoor shower, located near us, in the bar area. It wasn't so weird that they were lathering up, in their bathing suits, after being at the pool, all day, what was weird was the last guy who showered that afternoon that decided he was going to shower completely naked, in public, in the bar area, with not a care in the world. At first, I was the only one of my group that noticed this man, just feet from us, showering naked, and then I looked at my friend and he looked at me and he and I just looked at each other with very perplexed looks on our faces. The dude showering was completely unaware of how inappropriate his actions were and if he was, he didn't care-very ballsy. As his shower ends and he's drying off (and not in a hurry at all) one of the bartenders approaches him and tells him that it's inappropriate for him to naked in public, in the bar, at the pool and both then ensue in a banter over whose "package" is bigger and better. This conversation between both men continued with the Korean bartender telling the man, who by the way was an American, that if he compared his package to the American's, the American would be upset and cry; meanwhile the American is calling out the Korean bartender and telling him he needs to just whip it out. It was hilarious! As if that wasn't enough, the American decided to come over and ask one of the members of the group I was with for a cigarette. He was denied on the sheer fact that he wasn't wearing any pants-it was the principle of the matter. Several minutes later, he approached us again and we finally obliged him with one, but only because he was wearing pants this time. This kind of stuff only happens around me. My life is entertaining to say the least. Since then I have not been back to the Hamilton Hotel pool; not because of the naked guy but unfortunately, the weather on the weekends hasn't been ideal pool weather.

My two close friends Amanda and Tammy and I have been spending a lot of time in Hongdae, enjoying the nite life and dancing-gotta love the summer time! School is going well, the children are speaking more and more English everyday and we're having a great time outside, enjoying the nice weather before it's too rainy to be outside.