First Swim!

Today was my first swim in Korea. I heard about a YMCA fairly close to me about a month and a half ago. I meant to start in February but I needed to buy a swimming cap. (They actually don't let you in the pool without it here.) Also there were a few holidays on which the pool was closed and I didn't want to have to pay for a month and not get as many days as possible.

So, I heard about rigorous cleaning before entering the pool, and I also heard about very friendly Korean ladies who are willing to help you through the whole process. Neither intimidated me as much as it should have. When I stepped into the ladies shower room, I saw more nude than I ever thought I'd ever see in my life. Women were talking to each other with no clothes on. Ok, I know... I've been to a gym in Canada, some people get nude to shower, then they wrap up to walk around. Occasionally a towel falls off a shoulder and there is some exposure. NOT IN KOREA!! They don't bother wrapping up! It feels a bit funny to get so descriptive about it, but it really shocked me. I felt like a pervert because I was staring a bit.

So I follow the same rigorous bathing patterns as I did in the public bath house in Japan. I have a good thorough shower, then I get in the hot tub and soak, then I shower again and scrub off any dead skin. I'm finally ready to enter the pool. Through this whole process I am being noticed. I don't even have to catch people looking at me, they aren't being shy about taking glances. One really kind lady said hello in the hot tub and we began to talk. I said I was trying to learn Korean and she said she was trying to learn English. She invited Curtis and I over to her house. We exchanged phone numbers and I'll update you about whether we go or not.

I get my suit on. I head out to the water and everyone isn't just doing lengths. They are doing warm up exercises with a guy on the deck - kinda like aqua size. I start to think I'm in the wrong place. Then because everyone has started and I'm late, a bunch of Korean ladies start to laugh at me. I obviously look very lost and confused. I ask if I can join their lane and they warmly accept me. After the stretching exercises, I learn that every lane is for a different level and each also has an instructor. We figure out that because I can't do the butterfly stroke, I'm not in the right lane and they send me to a different one.

First we practice kicking with a flutter board, then we practice the frog kick, then the breast stroke, we put them together and at the end of the lesson we were starting to learn how to do the butterfly kick. I felt so uncoordinated at first. After a length I felt really comfortable doing it though. I can't wait to try it again!

I left a bit early to have enough time to change and get home again. When I got to my locker I remembered that I put my key out on the deck of the pool! I'd have to go back in for it. I enter the pool and I think... oh good no one noticed. I get closer and closer to the edge of the pool and and slowly a giggle builds to a titter, then a guffaw, and then full blown laughter. Once again, I ham it up and I show my key and then sheepishly hide my face in my hand.

I really felt good there. I know they laughed at me, but I don't mind. They weren't being rude, it's just that they noticed me. Everyone knows I like to be noticed! It makes me feel really special actually. :)