Hot and Cool

Hot and Cool

When the weather is cloudy and rainy, what do you do in your country? In
Korea, I would go to the “mock yuck tang”, which is a public bath house. It is place
where people can go to spa and bathe with their family or friends. The time you can
spend in the bath house is unlimited. Thus, people can soak as long as they want. I
have a bathing ritual that starts with getting into the bath tub and scrubbing my body
with a shower ball. Originally, the purpose of a bath house is for people only to wash
their body. However, these days, it is not only a wash room but also a place to relax.
There are TV rooms, restaurants, massage chairs, saunas and a swimming pool, so
there are many ways to relax in a bath house. In Chicago, I can do just about anything
that I want, including, watching films, listening to music, and eating Korean food.
However, the only thing I miss is the Korean spa culture because in a mock yuck tang, I
can feel fresh, and communicate with my family or friends.


The first thing I miss is the hot and cold water bathtubs in mock yuck tang.
Before getting into the tub, people have to shower. This is public bathtub, which
anybody can enter, so everybody has to maintain good hygiene. The water temperature
in the bosuck Jacuzzi is around 70 Celsius and the back sides have jets for massage. I
love to sit there and recover from my fatigue, and it makes my body easier to scrub by
softening my skin. I sit until I feel dizzy and sweaty. Sometimes, I bet with my sister on
who can stay longer and endure the heat of the Jacuzzi and as a penalty the loser has
to go to the pool, which is very cold. Even though I cannot swim, I still have fun in the
water by splashing around. When I go to the Korean spa, I tour various kinds of baths
like a green tea tub and a salt tub to detoxify the body. In Chicago, I can submerge my
body into the small bathtub in my home, but I cannot enjoy diverse baths and Jacuzzis
like the ones I used to enjoy where I could chat with my mother or sister in the same


Even more than the Jacuzzi, I miss the Korean shower ball. After I get into the
Jacuzzi, I scrub my skin with a traditional Korean green shower ball which has tough
fabric. When using the scrub on the skin, it can often be a little painful and can become
red. For me, that is not a problem. It is important to remove dead skin because it
promotes my cleanliness. There are parts of the body you cannot reach, so whenever I
went alone, I asked people who sat next to help me. Approximately 99% of the people
I asked would say yes, so we scrub each other's back and hips. Even though we had
met that first time and saw each other’s nude body I always felt comfortable and made a
new friend. If I went with my mother, she would rub my back using the shower ball and I
rub her back in return. After I scrub my body and check for dead skin cells, I feel finally
clean and fresh. In America, when washing myself I take long showers and use a soft
shower ball which is too soft to remove my dead skin. In addition, I have nobody to help
me clean my back and it does not feel friendly or warm the way a community bathhouse

Finally, I miss the amusement of the various facilities offered by the public
bathhouse. The Bosuck sauna where I usually go includes a small resting room. In the
center, there is TV room, and on the right corner, there are restaurants where I usually
eat Korean hot and spicy noodles and drink traditional Korean juice, Sic Hae. There are
also saunas and places to sleep. For example, after my friends and I were up all night
studying for an exam, we slept on the warm floor and watched TV and chatted. These
facilities made people feel relaxed after a nice bath.


We often spent twelve hours at the bath house. In Chicago, they do not have
many public wash rooms or bathtubs. Americans just quickly wash their bodies in a
small shower that is shaped like a old telephone booth. Koreans do not go bathhouses
every day. However, before big holidays or when feeling stressed, we go bathhouses
habitually. Around this season which is getting cool and rainy, my family would go to
bathhouse and have a great time. The Mock Yuck Tang is not just about cleaning but
also about feeling the warmth of community with the people who care about each other.
It just like a Starbucks in the US.