New Development at Yoga

After yoga, we always sit on the floor around a table and drink some tea. Conversations go on around me in Korean and I usually have a conversation with my 72 year old yoga buddy. It has been this way since I started back in March. Last week as I sat down to drink my tea with my yoga buddy, the manager (owner) came out. She doesn't teach very often but she recently told me in her limited English that she really wants to learn English. She sometimes joins us for tea but what was unusual this time was that everyone got up and left as soon as she came into the room.



This left me and my yoga buddy. They began a conversation that got more heated by the moment. After about 10 minutes, I asked him what was going on and he didn't want to tell me. After five more minutes, I asked again and he said that the manager was complaining that we were talking in English too much. My yoga buddy was really offended and was letting her know. I was really shocked! I asked him if someone had complained and he first denied it but later confirmed that it had happened.



Apparently, people are wondering what we are talking about. In our defense, most of our conversations he interprets for the others because a lot of times I am asking questions. I know a little Korean but not enough to carry on a conversation. I do talk to the other women in the dressing room even if we don't totally understand each other. I've had most of them show me their phones which have pictures of their grandchildren.



Finally, after 20 minutes, she looked at me and said, "Becky! I love you!" I said, "Kamsamnida (thank you in Korean)." We then got up and left. My yoga buddy was really angry and I was still in shock that the whole thing happened. I have no idea who would have complained about it. My yoga buddy also said that they complained that when he spoke English, he spoke very loudly which isn't true at all.



Honestly, this did upset me and I wondered how I would feel about yoga. I am only going on Tuesdays and Thursdays right now because of how busy I am. When I went the following time after this incident, everything was as it always was. I decided to do a little shopping after yoga, and as I exited Home Plus, I ran into one of the yoga ladies. She speaks absolutely no English but we seem to communicate fine and she is one of my favorites. She always has a huge smile to greet me. She insisted on taking me for mandu for lunch. My bag was pretty heavy and she also helped me carry that with her taking one handle and me, the other handle. It's a common thing to see in Korea.



She ordered mandu for us and honestly, seven mandu fills me up. Somehow that got lost in communication and after the mandu came the pork cutlet above for me. I thought I would die! I was so full but I had to at least make an attempt and I ate half of it. She was watching everything I was doing and I didn't want to offend her.



While we were waiting for our food, she wanted to see what I bought at Home Plus. So I pulled out my spaghetti sauce, potatoes, milk... She was fascinated with what I bought. We had a great lunch and parted afterwards. It was a wonderful experience.


She did let me take a picture of her. I really need to learn her name but I have a hard time remembering Korean names. They are very different than U.S. names.

Yogahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I really thought with two months of yoga under my belt I would:

1. Be able to sit cross-legged for more than 3 minutes (sometimes I can go 5 minutes).
2. I would be able to do the lay on your back with shaking your hand and legs in the air exercise for 20 minutes like the other 70+ year old Koreans. I can last about 10 minutes tops.
3. Be able to tolerate being smacked on my back for 5 minutes. No, I have my 72 year old buddy help me out and he is very gentle.
4. Be able to walk triumphantly home, ready to take on the rest of my day. Instead, I hobble or stumble home and immediately lay on the couch for a good hour to recoup.
5. Tolerate pain better. Nope, I'm still a wuss when it comes to pain.
6. Be able to twist and turn all the ways a Korean can. Now I truly think we are just built differently. I don't think I ever do some of the moves I see in yoga. Don't get me wrong, I try but my body just doesn't bend that way.

Thursday's yoga had me wiped out for most of the day. One of the day's exercises was standing in place with your arms and head swaying listening to drums chanting. This exercise lasted about 20 minutes. I was really worn out by then end of class and ready to drink my cup of tea and exit when one of the main instructors grabbed my hand and put me in another room. Oh no, there would be more today.

She had me lay down on a cushioned mat and then proceeded to press into certain points all over my body. Some of the places felt like a knife going in and she wouldn't stop even when I tried to get her to. This went on for about 45 minutes (a lifetime) and finally she ended with taking her hands and running them parallel to my body about 4 inches above my body. She said this was taking out all the toxins.

I don't know how I got home, I was in pain all over. But I must admit after a few hours, I felt better than I have felt in a long time. I don't know if this will be occurring regularly but maybe they are trying to build up my pain tolerance. Who knows. Now I understand the saying "No pain, no gain."

I am really curious now what yoga in the U.S. is like. I've never taken yoga before but I will continue when we return to the States.

Dang! I Didn't Know Australian Cream Cheese Was So Expensive!

I paid 7900 ($7.90 US) won for this cream cheese. The size is about 4" round and 3/4" thick. It's brand new in the cheese section at my Home Plus and I just couldn't resist. I also bought some bagels to go along with it. I have found very little cheese in South Korea unless it's pizza cheese (shredded mozzarella). I've been craving a flavored cream cheese and lo and behold, it was there. Now, if we could just get a "Chipotles" here I would be in food heaven.

My trip to the Traditional Folk Village was cancelled because of the snow on Tuesday. The village would have been very muddy yesterday. We are going to try to go tomorrow.

Yoga class was brutal today. It seemed a lot of the exercises were focused on the knees. My knees were like jelly by the end of class. My buddy left early (I told you it was brutal) so when it came to the twice a week "beat on your partner's back", I was paired with another older Korean man. My buddy takes it easy on me because he knows that I struggle with the pain as hard as they hit. You bend over and your partner hits you on your back with his cupped hands. It lasts about 2 minutes although it seems like hours. Then you do the same to your partner. I cannot hit anyone that hard, it's just against my nature. The instructor always comes over and helps me out. Today she said in English, "He wants this, it is good." I shook my head and said, "I can't do it." I've decided in the future to gracefully bow out of this part of the class. We will see how that goes. I don't want to dread going to class and because of this exercise I have been feeling that way.

I also had to stay after class for 10 minutes of knee exercises. I had to sit on the floor with my legs straight out in front of me, ankles together and slap my feet together, of course, HARD. She left me in a room by myself and I did it as long as I could. I finally crawled to a standing position and limped to the door. She was surprised to see me and I said that I was done. I got dressed and left. My legs were so rubbery that I'm sure I was a sight walking the half mile to home. My legs hurt, my back hurts but amazing I feel really invigorated.

It's Korean Yoga for Me!

The socks in the last post were given to me from the owner of a yoga studio. The red dot is where I should be pushing off from when I walk. My Korean girlfriend came down last Monday, knowing I was interested in starting yoga, and found this studio not too far from our apartment (1/2 mile). I told her I only wanted to go twice a week since I have so many craft projects and maedeup to do.

We arrived at the studio and sat down for a consultation along with some delicious tea. The owner then took me into another room for an evaluation. She had me lay down on a mat and proceeded to run her hands, palm parallel to my body, all over me and down each limb. So far, a piece of cake for me. Then she took her finger and started pressing into my sternum - HARD! Of course, I winced and kinda moaned. She told my girlfriend that I needed to relax and ignore the pain. She pressed for about five minutes before she stopped. I was relieved, but only momentarily. She then took her finger and pressed somewhere on my hip bone and it hurt even more than the sternum. I thought I was going to die, it really, really hurt. I closed my eyes and tried to block it out, but it didn't work at all.

She said that my energy was being blocked and I needed A LOT of work. No kidding. She then had me try to put my legs up and over my head and try to touch the matt with my toes. Nope, I couldn't do that. She then had me stand up and wanted me to slap my lower stomach area with my open palms repeatedly. Harder and harder until it was really painful. I had to do this for about five minutes which really is a lifetime when you are not used to doing this. My arms were just killing me and my stomach, let's not even go there. I was sure I had done some organ damage. She said this is very good for you and it is how they warm up before yoga class. We finished off by having me sit cross-legged. I can do that but she wanted my kness to touch the floor. That turned out to be an impossibility.

Afterwards, we discussed the plans for me. She said that I needed yoga five days a week and she wanted me to start immediately. Since this was last Monday and the Lunar New Year Holiday was Wednesday through Friday, I told her that I wanted to start this Monday, the 11th. So I am going to yoga five days a week. I start at 10:10 to warm up, class is from 10:30 am until 11:30 am and then another ten minutes to cool down.

Today was my first day and I was pretty scared. I was ushered into a changing room the size of a small walk in closet and given my uniform. I changed and was led into another room where a bunch of Koreans were already warming up. Warm up consists of walking around the room, walking using heel to ball of your foot. The next thing we did was stand in a circle and hold hands and recite a bunch of Korean. It was kinda like a pep talk. The first Korean to grab my hand to form the circle was not the instructor but an older Korean man. Yikes, I was scared - I haven't had the best experiences with older Korean men. I found out that he knew English really well and he really took care of me during class since the instructor didn't know any English.

We then spread out and starting pounding on our stomachs, then proceeded to pound on our arms all the way up and down, front and back, then down the front of the body and then the back of the body. This had been five or more minutes and it was getting hard to even hold my arms up. All of a sudden, another older Korean man came up behind me and starting pounding on my back really hard. It hurt! I was so shocked that I turned around and said , "What the hell!" I usually don't swear but when I'm really shocked, it just comes out. Sorry Mom, skip this part. He stopped immediately and the other Korean said he was just showing me how to do it right. I told him that I wasn't ready to do it right but maybe I would be in a few weeks. He laughed.

Class consisted of lots of strange body positions along with meditation. I was physically able to do about one third of the exercises. After class we sat for tea and my new older Korean friend asked me how old I was and I told him 48 as of yesterday. He is 72 and I couldn't believe it, he looked 40 and I told him so. His English was very good and I told him so. He just beamed. He said he learned it during the war when they sent him to South Carolina to be trained. I'm assuming it must of been the Korean War but I didn't ask. I also met another woman who is my age and she is learning English so she could speak some. She has six children which is really rare here but she said that she is so happy that I am going to be her friend. It was nice to meet people that are my age. They asked a lot of questions: Are you a teacher? Is your husband in the military?...

I had a great time and the Korean with the six children wanted to know where I was going after class. I told her I needed to get a few things from Home Plus. She said, "Me too." So we went together and I think she wanted to shop together but as she got her cart, I told her I just needed milk and needed to go home. She said, "Ok, see you tomorrow" and off I went. I was so exhausted I couldn't wait to get home.

The more I sit today, the sorer I become. I thought I was in ok shape, I walk a lot and lift weights but the yoga definitely used muscles that may have not been used since I was a kid. But I feel great and I know I have just embarked on a life changing journey. I never thought Korea would change me so much, but I am definitely not the same Becky.