[Part 1] 019. 20 August 2010 Friday

Jeannie and I woke up to a Western breakfast this morning. And I finally asked Youngjin for help in translating the list of precautionary measures I'm supposed to take after going for the IPL treatments. I should have asked him to do so on Wednesday and not today :( Out of the list of measures, these are the more important ones:
1. No drinking within 3-4 days of the treatment (I'm dead meat...I drank the day after I had the treatment done...because I didn't read the list)
2. Bathe in cold/lukewarm water (gone case...I bathed with warm water)
3. Use sunscreen of at least SPF30 (ok, I passed this with my Chanel SPF50 sunblock)
4. No plucking or waxing before my next treatment
5. Advisable not to go to the jjimjilbang(sauna) and onsen. No swimming as well for a few days.

In the afternoon, Sujeong, Donghyun and Youngjin's aunt came over and we had lunch together. The noodles was so spicy for me that I didn't eat much and ate more of the dumplings instead. Even so, I only managed to eat 2 or 3 dumplings before they were all snapped up by the others :( Thankfully, my rather empty stomach was saved by a patbingsu Youngjin's mother gave me because she saw that I didn't eat much. I wonder how I'm going to survive here in Korea for the next few months when I can't take spicy food and alcohol.

We left for a fish market in Incheon later in the afternoon as Youngjin's mother wanted to buy sashimi. It's similar to the Jagalchi Fish Market in Busan but prices are more expensive here in Incheon. It was quite an interesting experience and most stores were selling the live octupus 산낙지 that I'm terrified of. I wonder if I'll ever muster the courage to eat it before I leave Korea :(

the toy shop we stopped at before leaving for Incheon

Taehun's new Power Ranger toy

an octopus' tentacles are coiled around the stall owner's yellow glove

getting a drink to beat the heat

dinner part 1

dinner part 2

huge ones

dinner part 3

hot, tired and flustered Taehun

It's so cool that Youngjin's aunt and uncle own 3 supermarkets. We got the chance to visit 2. At the first one, we had free ice cream and at the second one, we had our dinner.

at the 1st supermarket

talking to Sujeong's mother

Youngjin's father walking towards the 2nd supermarket

Youngjoo's father at the counter

Youngjoo's mother with Sujeong's mother

eating what we got from the fish market earlier

We were finally back at the apartment at nearly 9pm due to the very heavy traffic on our way back to Bucheon from Incheon. Hence, we didn't have time to take our shampoo and body foam before Sujeong's mother came over to pick us up. She drove the 5 of us (Jeannie, Youngjin, Sujeong, Donghyun and I) to a jjimjilbang nearby.
We went to Wellbeing Town which has a very nice interior design BUT unfortunately, as Sujeong, Donghyun and Youngjin are underaged, they were denied entry so we left for another jjimjilbang which wasn't as nice :( That jjimjilbang didn't have the same age restrictions as Wellbeing Town but the counter staff insisted on speaking with one of our parents to confirm that we were there with their knowledge. Also, the 3 of them lied that Jeannie and I are their cousins but we didn't hear them say that so when we started speaking in English, Sujeong and Youngjin quickly whispered into our ears and asked us to speak and act like Koreans. I was also asked for my name and even had to sign in Korean as I was the oldest amongst the 5 of us -_- It was my first time signing my name in Korean.
Anyway, the entry fee was 8,000KRW and we were given keys to our lockers to store our shoes as well as our clothes. We went to the ice room (9 degree Celsius), the saunas (37 degree Celsius and 57 degree Celsius), had eggs for supper, lifted weights at the gym, ran barefooted on the treadmill for awhile before heading back to the ice room and eventually went for the onsen. It was my 2nd time at an onsen; the first was in Minamata, Japan with my school band in secondary school. Thank goodness Sujeong accompanied Jeannie and I because we didn't know what to do when we entered the onsen. After getting over the initial embarrassment of seeing each other in our birthday suits, we tried the different onsen pools and the tea pool was cool. Yes, I know, I'm not supposed to go to a jjimjilbang or onsen given that I had just undergone IPL treatments but Youngjin's mother said that it was alright. At least in the onsen, I could keep my armpits out of the water. We spent about half an hour in the onsen before washing up and meeting Donghyun and Youngjin back at the counter area at midnight. Because none of us brought our shampoo and body foam, Sujeong bought a shampoo and body foam and the 3 of us shared the 2 sachets, how miserable :( Lesson learnt, go to a jjimjilbang prepared!
We had no transport back so we took a nice stroll back to the apartment before Sujeong's mother dropped by later on to pick her and Donghyun up.