Cory And Katy

Koreans calculate age differently than we do in the states, which kind of sucks because we’re considered 1-2 years older. Koreans count the baby’s time in the mother’s womb as a year, so when a baby is born, s/he is already 1 year old. Then, all Koreans become one year older at the New Year. So, if a baby is born 2 weeks before the New Year, s/he is already 2 years old in Korean age, when s/he would be considered just 2 weeks old in Western cultures.

So, since we aged 2 years just by stepping off of the plane here, I think Cory’s 27th birthday was just a little less painful, because his Korean age (28) stayed the same.

To celebrate, Cory came to my (Katy’s) school and ate lunch with me and all the other subject teachers at my school. We had a great lunch and some delicious Korean chocolate cake. My co-teacher even presented him with singing Korean children. Not really, but some students who didn’t perform a song they learned in class very well came to the teacher’s lunch room and had to perform. It was adorable!

The big thrill of the night was the spa we went to in the evening. Korean spas are a big deal, and most are fed with natural spring water. We went to a new, ritzy spa with our friends Curran and Star. You have to get naked with all the Koreans and soak in delightful baths, so we wanted there to be at least two of us of each gender. We get stared at so much here anyway that we thought people might be straight up gawking at us in the spas. Fortunately, I think there is some sort of nonspoken rule about avoiding eye contact or something, because everyone in the spa was very respectful of everyone else’s privacy. Being naked with Koreans was much more fun than I thought it could be! The best part of the baths were the massage streams. Mmmmm. After soaking for 30-45 minutes, we got out and put on clothes given to us by the spa. Star and I joined Cory and Curran in the coed outdoor foot baths for some delightful foot-soaking before heading to all sorts of themed hot rooms. Yes… the rooms have a theme and they are hot. People like to just chill out and relax in them, but we were quite ADD and made the rounds to as many of the rooms as possible.

After the spa, we went to a burger joint that Star and her husband, Anthony, say are the “best burgers in Busan.” And they were delicious. No words, just picture:

This burger actually costs more than 4 hours at the spa. And it’s so worth every bite.