Highly Inappropriate

And I mean that...if you have delicate nature or are easily offended you may want to stop reading, but this is just too good not to share.

Long story short, our boss took us to a strip club tonight. It's not as bad as it sounds, but that is the gist of the situation.

We had our big going away dinner for the 4 English staff members that are leaving at the end of next week. Dinners almost always lead to a noraebong (private karaoke rooms), except this time our principle took us to more of a club with one stage in a large room. I felt like I was walking into a strip club in Vegas in the 60's with the weird lighting and big chairs around many different mini-bars. I thought I was about to sit down and play black jack while watching a show. There was rumors of the possibility of nude dancing going down as we entered the place, but most of the night's entertainment was just the patrons getting up to sing their selected songs. Then there was one break from the amateur hour in which a young woman came out in traditional handbok and a drum and did a traditional dance (as far as I could tell). One thing that should be made clear is that I was there with all my co-workers: 11 English teachers (only 2 males) and 7 Korean staff, all women, half of which don't really speak English. So as this girl comes out there is a lot of whispering around the table, and the Korean woman are nudging us and pretending to take of their coats as a sign of what's to come. We were all just kind of sitting around waiting to see if this was really going to happen or not. It did. Not too big of a deal really. Our table was in the back of the room, so we didn't really see much of "the show". Some of the people in our group left without ever knowing there was a girl dancing topless for a brief moment. But it was especially entertaining watching the Korean staff, because they were just as uncomfortable and confused by the situation as we were. I don't get my boss (a Korean woman in her 60). Is she just trying to seem cool? I'm not even going to pretend to be able to figure out the logic here, I'm just happy I can now say "I've had my boss take me to a strip club", because that's priceless.

Squatters Responce: A little perspective

I have to share the email I received from my great uncle:

Your blog

Your greatgrandmother Mary Gorman Rossillon taught in a one room school when she was 16 years old!! She shared a 2 hole outdoor toilet with 20 boys and girls!! In the winter with snow on the ground no-one went!! In the summer there was no supervision if she left the room!! She said she waited until the weekend!! She was constipated her whole life!!

Uncle John

That is completely unedited....

Thanks for the reality check Uncle John! =)

Squatters

It is high time I explained the bathroom situation around here.

1. I've mentioned this before, but just in case you have forgotten, in my apartment my shower takes up my whole bathroom. This is an asian thing apparently.

2. Our current work bathroom situation is that we share with all the students that have newly moved upstairs. Currently this means only 24 5-6 year olds, but as of March 2 it will be 60 4-6 year olds. The only time we will have to use our bathroom is the same time the kids are in there washing their hands. Not looking forward to that. I feel worse for the boys though. Sharing urinals with those little guys will most certainly be awkward...especially with the female Korean helper teachers in and out of there all the time.

3. Free public bathrooms are relatively plentiful, but you often have to provide your own TP. Accordingly, small travel sized TP packets are easy to buy, like travel size Kleenex at home.

4. If a restaurant is just part of a much larger building they won't have their own bathroom. You'll have to leave the restaurant and walk down a hallway. Again, this bathroom won't have TP, but the restaurant will have a roll sitting by the door before you leave.

5. You aren't supposed to flush the TP. It has to do with trying to be easy on the septic system. Instead there is just a trash can overflowing with used TP next to the toilet. Not my favorite aspect of the whole situation.

6. The classier restrooms have a button in the stall labeled "etiquette button" in english. Depending on where you are, when pushed it will emit a loud and long flushing sound or birds singing in order to "politely" cover any unpleasant digestive distress you may be having. Amazing.

*warning: this one gets ever so slightly graphic
7. Many public bathrooms have what we lovingly call "squatters", also an asian thing. It looks like a urinal laying flat on the ground. I'm sad to admit that it took my a couple of months to truly master these little guys. I was trying to do more of a hovering wall sit, when really you just want to get right in there and get down like a baseball catcher. This little tutorial (and it was a tutorial) changed my view of this phenomenon totally. It's quite nice to be comfortably not be touching anything and flush with your foot. I highly recommend it.
This sign is from our China trip. If I had seen this picture earlier I may have caught on a little bit faster....

The Locals

My favorite parts of the whole trip all happened by total random circumstances.

1. Jump rope: On Sunday morning we walked through Jingshan Park before heading into the Forbidden City. It was meant to be a quick walk through, but we ended up spending quite of bit of time bonding with the locals playing in the park. A hacky sack type game is widely played with a birdie made of feathers and coins. There was also a group jumping rope. Mostly adults, one woman managed to tell us she is 70.

2. After we got back from the wall we were looking for something to kill time in the afternoon. We had plans to get a quick coffee and then head to Olympic park, but ended up sliding around on an old desk chair on rails along with 1,000 other people for a couple of hours.

3. One different turn in our hood and we ended up on in an alleyway full of kitschy souvenir shops. We stopped in one and ended up with a full out tea tasting in the back. Tried some amazing tea traditionally brewed right in front of our eyes. Great times!

I would say that these are really the things I will remember most about this trip. I overheard so many people in our hostel and on our flight that talked about how they ventured out to certain tourist sights only to find that they were closed at odd hours due to the holiday. I think our experience was far superior.

Also, almost 1,500 pictures were taken in 4 days amongst 3 cameras. I was able to get it down to just under 1,000 still on my computer. I posted only 210 of my favorites for you to look through. Good luck.