So I realized I have not blogged in a while so I'm kicking this one off with a bang! Sort of ...
Just a funny story really ...
After a long week of work and long days it is usually beneficial to unwind in someway to relax and get geared up for the weekend to recoup. You can understand this I'm sure.
So this Friday specifically I decided to go to the local public bath as it seems to help relax and make you exceedingly tired by sweating and sitting in absurdly hot rooms. At this point I've worked all day and had a decent workout at taekwondo so I'm ready to get my sweat on and kick back in desert like heat. As I'm purchasing my pass to go into the bath house I notice my schools assistant director at the counter making the same transaction as I had only minutes before. Not wanting to be noticed I act like I didn't see him and head straight for the elevator up to the sweat boxes and relative peace and obscurity. I hop in the elevator wishing these damn doors would close faster when low and behold in walks in Mr. Lee, the school Assistant Director, maybe the equivalent of a Vice Principle back in the States. Although I'm not 100% sure of what he does to be honest, I don't see him too much and it seems like he's never around the school. He was the guy who picked me up from the bus on my arrival into Korea smelling a bit like beer. But I digress ...
We meet in the elevator of inevitability and I give the standard respectful greeting, "Annyong-haseo." We exchange a few short phrases both in English and Korean. In the back of my mind I'm hoping tonight won't be the night I'm hanging out with my school's vice principle naked in a public bath house. But alas the universe has a way of putting me in strange and awkward places in my life. I head into the bath house to unwind and of course our paths cross again. He strolls over to where I am slowly unwinding from my week and strikes up a conversation with me. Great! Just GREAT! Could this be any more awkward?! Yes it probably could and it does. The fully extent of the situation is rather removed from me at this point considering it's been some time since this happened but nonetheless the memory of it all is burned into my mind. There we are the two of us, employer and employee having a normal conversation in public bath house, except we are completely naked. Nothing great in the topics of various conversations we had except he called me stupid for not having a Korean girlfriend yet. Then the funniest part of the night ensues. He exits the pool we are in and signals me to follow, perhaps to another pool or area of the bath house to continue our conversations. But no ... he challenges me to a push-up contest in the middle of the place. He probably pushed out about 10 reps, looking back I should have showed him up and sent him to the abyss of failure but I respectfully declined and told him he was stronger than me, all in Korean no less! Perhaps it was the heat or just being completely naked chatting with my employer but I walked away from that laughing at myself and just the randomness of the situation.
Only in Korea can this seem to happen. So ... the next time you are naked just be thankful you aren't sitting next to your boss chatting about the mundane of life in a pool of hot water.
Also, the pic is of me, clearly, in a biggest port in Korea called Busan. Lots of fish. Yummy.
