Thailand Vacation Part One!

Phew...after a long six months, okay not really. 6 months literally flew by! But man were we ready for a break. It may have flown by, but I was pretty close to being burnt out from teaching. But not only teaching. Lesson planning, office politics, etc. But work is work! Back to our vacay!


We decided to head to Thailand for 7 days. We got to see my mom, and a lot of my family! We got a early morning flight out of Busan, and after 5 hours, we were in Bangkok. My mom picked us up (at midnight!) and we headed to her friend's house to stay the night. It was really good to see my mom. Miss you mom, and love you very much!

I got to see my mom! Love you mom!

When we woke up the next day, we headed to our hotel. It was a really nice hotel, and we dropped our stuff off before heading over to see my mom's friend. She is the Principal/dean of a small University! We said hello (she hadn't seen me since I was a kid) and then went to check out Jim Thompsons house. Think he was famous for reviving the silk industry in Thailand? Plus he had a pretty nice ass house. It was huge, and the architecture was really good. Then, we went to eat dinner, sukiyaki at MK. Ahhh...SO GOOD. It's like, they give you a pot of boiling water, and then you throw in seasoned meats, mushrooms, tofus, vegetables, whatever, and let it cook right in front of you. They have dipping sauces as well, and it was pretty delicious. After dinner, we went back to the hotel.

With the principal and friend of my mom

At Jim Thompson's house

Before we put in all the meat!

The next day, we went to meet my Auntie. She took us on a boat and we went through the Chao Praya river. We saw a lot of cool temples, docks, and buildings. When we arrived to our destination, we went to check out one Bangkok's major tourist attractions. The Golden Temple. But...on our way there, we also stopped at another temple to check out an enormous reclining Buddha, and ate lunch. By the way, let me very quickly say that the one thing I miss most about Thailand, aside from my mom and family, is the food. Goodness me, the food was excellent. I'm not lying. My mouth is watering right now thinking of all the good food that I had there. Pad Thai, Pad See-Ew, Grilled Chicken, sticky rice and mango, curry, papaya salad, all kinds of fruits, Pad Ka Prow?...mmm. So good! Another quick side note...when you pronounce Pad, say it like "Pauhd." It's not "pad" like I-pad. Thanks! =) So after lunch we got to the Golden Temple, and it was pretty awesome. We had to change into long pants/skirts beforehand, but wow did it look great. Lot's of good pics, I'll show you a couple!

Some river views

Golden Temple

Reclining Buddha

My aunt!

After that, we headed back to my Aunt's house. We ate dinner, and then we went to get some Thai massages! I'm not going to lie. Mine hurt a little bit, but overall, I'd say I enjoyed it. Jenn LOVED it! And best of all? It was incredibly cheap. Anyways, we headed back home after our massages and then, later that night, I met some of my cousins! My cousin Gap I had met before, but I had never met Bao. She and he were about the same age as us. Gap was the same age as me, and Bao was a year or two older. To be honest, she reminded me a little of my little sis. Always smiling, and full of life! (Miss ya sis). They took us out and showed us a little bit of Bangkok's night life. We went to get this dessert where they had a plate of ice cream scoops, and warm chocolate fondue to dip it into. Delicious. After a quick game of bowling, we headed to Khao San road. Famous? Yes. Do you remember the book (that later turned into a movie) called "The Beach?" The movie had Leonardo Dicaprio in it. Anyways, in the book, Khao San road was where the main character started his adventure in Thailand. Great book by the way, highly recommend it. A little violent and lots of swearing though if you're not into that. Anyways, Khao San road was awesome. We went there at 11 or so, and it was super crowded and filled with foreigners. The road had everything. Souvenirs, food, so much food, hr long foot massages for 3 bucks, clothing stands, bars that proudly advertised "We don't check I.D.", and even stands that promised to make you fake diplomas, drivers licenses, etc. I really liked the whole atmosphere of it! Anyways, we headed back home eventually, and called it a night...on a bus! A really nice bus. Seriously. Comfy seats that you could fall asleep in, personal tv monitors with games and movies and tv shows. I almost didn't want to sleep! But it did leave at midnight so we went to bed. Why did we get on that bus? Because we were leaving Bangkok to head up north and see the rest of my family! Overnight bus was really convenient and saved a lot of time. Plus, it was really comfy! 

At Khao San Road!

Pad Thai...Phaud Thai!!!

Mango with Sticky Rice. Delicious

Fake everything. Hahahahah

My cousins! The girl next to Gap is his girlfriend, Mae.

We got into Khon Khein about 6 or 7 am after a 6 hour bus ride. I forget exactly. Then we headed over to my aunt's house. We relaxed for a bit and then my other aunt picked us up to head to the dinosaur museum. The ride was long, but it was totally worth it. I love dinosaurs, and this museum was huge. One of the cool things was that they actually kept the actual dig site and built a little exhibit around it. So Jenn and I got to see what the dig site was like when they uncovered the dino fossils. Pretty cool huh? Then we went into the actual museum part and checked out all the cool exhibits and dinosaur skeletons. After that, we walked across the street and had an amazing lunch of grilled chicken, sticky rice, and beef noodle soup. Yum!

One more golden temple pic...

The dig site!

We headed back to Khon Khein, and had dinner with my other auntie. She has two kids, and my other cousin was staying with them as well. I gave them some Korean pop star stuff, and souvenirs, and we all had dinner together. Sukiyaki again! Delicious! We also tried our first dragonfruit! Dragon fruit is really...well, pretty. And you cut it open, and it looks a little weird, but it's awesome. I guess texture-wise it is kinda like Kiwi, and tastes like it too. Just a little more, fresher/tarter if that makes any sense? Anyways, really liked it! After that, we went to another hotel and called it a night. The next morning, we were going to head to my grandma's house in Khon San, about an hour and half away! But I'm going to let Jenn tell the rest of that story! So long for now!

Dragonfruit!

Near our hotel! We like to jump!

Hello!! 안녕하세요!!

So...Fluke wrote an amazing post about his first semester here, so I'm not-so-subtly copying his idea and writing about my first semester. Let me begin with 안녕하세요!! (Annyeonghasaeyo!!=hello!!)


Culture Shock
I'm not sure I really experienced it. I mean, a lot here is different, some parts are completely different, and other parts remind me of home, but I think I just adjusted over time to what initially seemed a little strange. I never felt like the culture of Korea was so different that I couldn't adjust. Preparing dinner on top of my washing machine and refrigerator are totally normal now. The bathroom becoming a showeroom--totally normal. Changing from my regular shoes to indoor shoes and wearing them all around the school--normal. Cars on the sidewalk--to be expected. Seeing signs in English everywhere and forcing myself to read the Hangul to practice--getting easier and I'm reading faster. Waving "HI!" to just about everyone still makes me smile. Getting stares for looking different--it's normal, but still awkward sometimes. Adding the word "maybe" to practically every sentence with a co-worker because it is more polite to be indirect than direct/to-the-point has become more natural. While it is frustrating at times, I catch myself adding "maybe" to conversations among friends when it is not unnecessary! Bowing to everyone older than me and saying hello--this is probably the habit that will take me the longest to adjust to when I go back home!


Teaching English...with a Co-Teacher???
Well, most of you know that I did not have a "Co-Teacher." I had a teacher who spoke hardly any English and therefore could never translate when necessary. Good news is that the class became my class!! All English instruction came from me. I planned all instruction and prepared 99% of the materials. I designed the activities or got inspiration from fellow English teachers in Korea. I had my own classroom management techniques. I was the teacher of English!! My "Co-teacher" essentially got paid to do nothing. BUT...I love the kids and I love my job. Honestly, I would so much rather be in complete control than having zero control like some other English teachers I know. I mean, I came to Korea to teach. I would not be doing so well here or be as happy if I was merely a puppet by the Korean English teacher. I know I will continue to grow as a teacher, but this first semester I definitely grew as a teacher.
 I only taught grade 5 so I really got to know my students and their personalities. I love teaching grade 5!!! The kids do not have the 6th grade attitude yet and they are adorable. I have a handful of students who are fluent in English and I love having a quick chat with them before/after class. I have students who love English class even though they are way below grade level in English. I love the students' smiles and excitement when a game/activity goes well. I like singing with them and having them practice their English fluency without them realizing it. I like the "Jennifer teacher! Jennifer teacher! How are you?" I love their responses to questions. Even though not all the students have the vocabulary to express their creativity in English, I know through their art, their projects and their oral responses, that quite a few of my students have an amazing sense of humor. One time, the target sentence was "What a nice car!" when looking at a part of a cartoon strip. A student said, "What a nice car! Let's steal it and go to Woobangland (the amusement park in Daegu)!"


Learning the Language
Hmm...where to start....basically-I know more than I did when I came here! However, I thought by this point I would know way more than I do. The reason is that learning Korean isn't crucial because in Daegu, there is English everywhere. I'll order my meal in Korean and then the cashier will say the English number back to me to make sure she understood! I'll say nae-il (tomorrow) and the person will say, "Tomorow? Ok." haha it's been really nice to have English menus and restaurant names, but so many more places would be possible if we knew more of the language. Reading it is one thing--understanding what we are reading is another.
I've learned some words from my kids! I learned the word for bathroom and how to say "I do not have." Of course, the later was in response to my question, "Where is your book?" haha. Other words I've picked up from hearing it so often or from friends sharing what they know how to say. All and all, I want to learn more Korean!


Last few comments...
I love Daegu and I love Korea ^^ I love meeting up with friends downtown. I love shopping in the subways. Oh, I love public transportation!!! I love traveling and exploring on the weekends. I love how my students call me "Je-ni-pa" or "Je-ni-pa Teacher." I love not saying "excuse me" and "sorry" every time I accidently bump into someone in a crowd because it's not part of the culture here. I love the Korean English teachers at my school who help me with whatever I need and who just come to my classroom to chat sometimes. I love when other teachers at my school have the courage to speak to me in English. (I never assume they speak English and I don't put them into what could potentially be an embarrassing language barrier experience). I love finding new restaurants and becoming a returning customer. I love seeing my students around Daegu and receiving the head bow with a "Oh, hello Jennipa." Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences in Korea thus far. No, not everything has been easy. No, I was not a perfect teacher nor did I have the perfect co-teaching experience. But yes, I look forward to the next semester. Yes, I am so, so, so, so glad I came to Korea for this incredible teaching, learning, traveling, and personal growing experience it has become!!!

First Semester. Done. And a little reminiscing about teaching...

Well, that's the end of one semester!!!


Can't believe that it has already been 6 months since Jenn and I got here. I still remember being incredibly nervous for my first ever class, and now I'm...still nervous. But much, much improved from that first day. I know our blog is almost all about our trips, so I thought I'd just talk a little about my first semester here.


First things first, middle school is tough. I imagine that it'd be tough anywhere though. The kids are usually sleepy, unmotivated, and lackluster. I used to work at Target, Burger King, customer service jobs, and if I was having a bad day, well, I could usually get away with it. Here, it's completely different. If one class is a total fail, and puts me in a bad mood? I can't let it show, because 10 minutes later, I have a completely different class. 22 classes, over 600 students, makes memorizing names nearly impossible. 5-6 classes everyday makes coffee a necessity. 7 co-teachers means constantly adjusting to different teaching methods and attitudes. The Korean school system means constantly expecting the unexpected. Schedule changes, right before your class starts. Classes getting canceled...then un-canceled, 10 minutes later. Students misbehaving, students being too loud, students not participating. It's no wonder I don't blog about teaching more often huh? Hehe. 


BUT...here comes the good part. I still have 2 or 3 classes where I walk in, and the students literally start clapping because they're so excited to see me. I have a bunch of 7th grade boys who love English class, and are always trying to do their best to impress me. The students are given opportunities to be creative, and they always surprise me (in a good way) with their ideas. Reading a mock English newspaper article and seeing that I am featured in it as the long lost father of a student who apparently looks like me? Hahaha. Seeing a student just laughing or smiling during my class. Seeing students speak English in an activity without realizing it, just because they are enjoying themselves that much. Going through a powerpoint or Prezi presentation and hearing oohs and aahs at my technical skills. Being able to do a Summer English camp, and having the kids create their own movies. Going to Jenn's elementary school for a summer camp, and having a complete blast teaching kids about Superheroes (using English of course). Having a student come up to me after class to shake my hand before he left for summer vacation. The constant snacks and coffee that I get from my always friendly co-workers. The always great lunches and dinners I've had with my English co-teachers where we talk about teaching, Korea, California, and just life in general. The cultural trip that I went on with my VP and Principal. Walking to a temple, drinking fresh mountain water. The amazing friends and fellow English teachers that I have met here in Daegu. It's these things and more that make me not regret any of the time that I've spent here so far. If I could do it all over again, I would.


So all in all, I'd have to say that it's been a good first semester. Bring on the second!! (Which is supposedly much harder, but hey, one day at a time right?)


We're off to Thailand and Jeju tomorrow, so we'll probably be writing a big update about that 3-4 weeks from now. Peace!

K-Pop Dancing in Daegu!

Hi everyone!


As promised so long ago, here is my blog about K-Pop dancing!


First of all, what is K-Pop?? Well, it's Korean Pop music. When I say that k-pop is super popular and the k-pop singer/performers are famous, I mean that K-Pop is literally everywhere and the singers become the celebrity crushes of practically everyone. You cannot walk down the street without hearing a K-Pop song coming out from the stores (especially cell phone stores). The songs are crazy popular!! A song will be released and suddenly, it is everywhere. Each week or so, a new song is released. These singers grow up in the k-pop business, training for many years before they become part of a group to eventually release songs. They perform the songs on famous tv shows and events. The dance choreography to these k-pop songs become the "it choreo" of the moment. I heard that the choreo is available to dance instructors so that they can learn it to teach at their studios. Anyway, the choreo to the K-Pop music is what I learn in my K-Pop dance class!!!


My dance instructor at G-Style Dance studio at Sinmae is amazing :) She is sooooo good at breaking down the choreo into more simple pieces before putting it all together in a sequence. AND, thanks to her, I know how to count 1-8 and know the words for left, right, and applaud :) She learns the choreo so quickly that the week after a new song is released, we learn the choreo in class. She teaches us at a relatively slow pace (according to the overall level of dancers in the class) and it takes 1-2wks to learn. Because it is choreo that the singers do while performing, it is usually pretty simple. The best one was to "Breakdown"  by Kim Hyun-Joong. I hate to admit it, but the male K-Pop choreo is so much more fun! I think because the a lot of the female choreo is cutesy/sexy. When a song is not released during the week, she creates her own choreo to other songs. This week was to "On the Floor" by J-Lo! SOOOOO much fun!!!!! Sometimes, my teacher videos the class doing the choreo when it is finished and almost always, she posts her dancing the choreo so the people in the class can go to her studio website and practice. 


You can check out the K-Pop music/choreo at: http://club.cyworld.com/gstyledance
On the left, under "My Dance STYLE is G", click "master move" to see her dance. Click "members move" to see the K-Pop classes! Sometimes I'm in it--just depends which class she records. Oh ya, that's the other thing. There are 8 K-Pop classes during the week. I pay for 3 classes/wk and I get to choose which ones I go to! Usually, I go to Tues/Thurs at 8 and Fri at 7 mostly because the studio is 15mins away and it's difficult to come home from school at 5, make dinner, eat dinner and leave my apt by 6:40 to get to a 7pm class. 


Anyway, K-Pop dancing is a lot of fun. An added bonus is that I keep up with the newest K-Pop songs. Unlike the US, the songs are super popular here for a couple weeks before it gets fazed out for the new releases. Without my class, it would be much more difficult to know what is still popular, what is brand new, and what is considered "old" already. 


And that's my post about K-Pop dancing!  Bye everyone!

View from the studio window! (Studio is 7th floor at the Sinmae main intersection)

Sorry it's blurry. This is the amazingly clean floor and mirrors!

The waiting/relaxing area in the entrance.

G-Style Dance (written in Hangul) the door!

2011 Boryeong Mud Festival!!

Wow, so this weekend was probably one of the best weekends we've had in Korea so far. We went to Boryeong for their annual mud festival. If you're wondering what a mud festival, it pretty much is exactly what it sounds like. A festival dedicated completely to mud, and getting covered in it! But lets start at the beginning.

We had signed up for this trip 2-3 months ago. We had heard that if there was one festival to not miss in Korea, it would be this one. So we signed up, and after months of waiting, last Friday it was finally time to go. My bad, Saturday. We booked our trip through a tour company called Adventure Korea. I really have to tip my hat to them. The trip was so well-organized, and everything went so smoothly. They got us our motel room, the buses left on time, and it was just a really well-planned event. Jenn and I are definitely going to look to them first anytime we are looking for a tour company. They really were just amazing.

Before

Anyways, we left Saturday on the buses at 7:30 in the morning. Pretty early, but Boryeong is 3 hours away from Daegu, so we knew why we left. We went with two of our friends, and also met up with a lot of our other friends once we got there. Before we got to the festival, Adventure Korea had set up a little event for all of its participants. We got to check out these awesome mud flats about 10 minutes away by bus from the main festival area. We got there, they gave us army fatigues and black shirts, and had 4 different events for us. There was mud soccer, mud boot camp, mud wrestling, and mud pyramids. We didn't get enough time to do the mud pyramid, but we did everything else, and it was really fun. For mud boot camp, we had this really buff Korean dude yelling at us to do push ups in the mud, roll around in the mud, crawl in the mud, and he was really funny and awesome! Halfway through the whole thing, it started raining, but the thing is, it felt great! Keep in mind it was already like 85 degrees out or so, and the rain provided a much needed cool down. And what makes mud even better anyways? Rain of course!

After!

After our little field trip, we got cleaned up and piled back on the bus. The bus then took us to our motel, and we checked in. After that, we went exploring! Our hotel was literally right next to the beach so we got out and there was a boardwalk right next to it. Along the boardwalk there were many restaurants, all selling really good looking seafood (which we can't eat cause Jenn doesn't eat sea food) and really good Korean bbq (which we did eat, delicious!). After lunch, we kept walking toward the main festival area. So there is the beach, the boardwalk and then the mud park. Which cost us some money to get in (first time they charged for mud park apparently) but I'd say that it was well worth it. Inside this mud park there was mud slides, mud wrestling, mud prison (go inside and they splash mud on you), mud tug of war, mud obstacle course, mud race, mud everything! The only annoying part were the lines, but we didn't mind waiting too bad. We did everything of course, except for mud wrestling. Outside of the mud park, there was mud painting (with different colored muds) and a bunch of food, souvenir, and mud cosmetic tents. And the beach of course. After we spent a good amount of time in the mud park, we went to clean ourselves off. Because we were covered in mud! So we walked out of the mud park, and into the ocean. Just awesome. Water felt great, and we were clean in no time. We chilled in the ocean for a while, then went back to the motel to shower and get ready for dinner.

After meeting up with a friend for dinner, and waiting forever for our food, we left the restaurant at around 10 or so. We decided to go get some snacks, desserts, and drinks and go relax on the beach. The beach was huge, and the coolest part was that they prepared for all the people, so there were huge floodlights everywhere that illuminated the beach for everyone. At 10 pm at night! On our way to meet up with some more friends, we walked past a concert. With famous pop stars! So we watched that for a bit and then kept heading toward our friends. Then we got distracted again. By a firework show! It was a dang good one too, and completely random at like 1030 at night! Eventually, we made our way onto the beach, relaxed, talked, and had a good time. Around 2:30, we called it a night and headed back to the motel. And of course, the beach and boardwalk area were still packed full of tourists and people. But we were tired!

Next day was a lot more of the same. We woke up, hit the mud park up, and went to the beach. It was warmer on Sunday so we stayed in the ocean a little while longer. Then at 3:50, we headed back to our tour bus and left Boryeong. It was a wonderful weekend, and something that I will never, ever forget. I'm going to join in with the rest of the foreigners here and tell everyone this, if there is one festival that you have to go to in Korea, make it the Boryeong Mud Festival!!! Oh, and all these pictures were taken with Jenn's camera and an amazing waterproof case! Bye!

Exploring our City

Figuratively speaking of course. It's not really ours. Anyways, Saturday was a beautiful day in Daegu! The weather was a nice, hot 85 degrees or so. Humidity was high as usual, but I'm getting used to it just fine. So we decided today that we wanted to check out Bukbu bus station. Apparently, near this station is a international market of sorts. Here is where you were supposed to be able to find Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, etc. cooking ingredients, and restaurants. We met up with our friend from San Diego (California represent!) and got on a bus near our apartment. The bus ride took about an hour, and when we got off, we looked around for this market.

Bukbu Bus Station!

We saw a lot of international food stores. They had authentic Indian curry, long-grained rice, Vietnamese stuff, Chinese stuff, everything. It was nice to see all the diversity and food stuffs. But...we were hungry, and we had heard that this area had a real authentic Chinese restaurant. What do we mean by that? Well, in the states, there is Chinese food right? But for the most part, it's Chinese-American. Meaning that it is Chinese food..sort of. But it has it's own American twist. Because you'd be mistaken if you ever thought Panda Express was authentic Chinese food. It doesn't even come close! Anyways, my point is this, Korea is the same way. Korean-Chinese food is good, just not authentic Chinese. So yes, we searched a lot of the Chinese restaurants, and we finally found one. Our friend figured it was authentic because the menu and name was Chinese, and not Korean. (She knows how to speak and read Chinese!). We sat down and pretty much let our friend order for us, because we had no idea what was on the menu. What we ended up with was pretty darn delicious. Stir-fried beef, pork with vegetables, and some rice. Best Chinese food I've had since I've been here, and closest I've gotten to the authentic Chinese restaurants in California (Sam Woo, Yank Sing, etc.). 

After our delicious meal, we walked around and checked out some more goods. Jenn and I finally found some Jasmine rice, which I have been looking for...for a really long time. Korean rice is fine, but its a little bigger and stickier. Jasmine rice is just so much better, and we were super excited to find it. After that, we took the bus back home. 

Then, we met up with some of our other friends a couple hours later for dinner (Chilli Cheese burger and hot wings), and went to watch the new Transformers movie. It was awesome, but it also disappointed me some. But I could write a whole blog post about that, and since that has nothing to do with Korea (and would probably not interest anyone who didn't live and breathe Transformers like I did), Im not gonna write it. Hehe. That was our Saturday!

Spa Valley!

Hi everyone!
Last weekend, we took a trip to Spa Valley! Spa Valley is a water theme park like a Windsor Water Works plus hot springs and jjimgilbangs (hot tubs, saunas, baths, showers). Even though the weather wasn't perfect, it was nice enough to play in the water and it didn't rain :)


Directions:
From DAEGU BANK on the green line (NOT Daegu Station) take exit 2. There is a Paris Baguette on the corner and the bus stop is right there. Take Express Bus 2. (It's red) It will take about 20 minutes. The stop is called "Spa Valley." The bus sign thingy says Spa Valley in Hangul and in English so you can't miss it!

At the entrance.

We woke up early to get there (had to take the subway and a bus ride) and at the ticket counter we somehow got a discount! After buying tickets, we went up to the locker rooms. Our shoes went in the first room of lockers (co-ed), then Jackie and I separated from Fluke to go in the main locker rooms to change out of our regular clothes. We wondered why our shoes went in a different locker, but then figured it out at the end of the day :) Anyway, when we got to the water park area, we walked into the wave pool. The water was cold, but we were making progress until one of the lifeguards blew a whistle at us! Apparently, to be in the wave pool, you must have a life vest and a hat. So, we left the wave pool and headed to one of the water slides. Again, we were told we needed a life vest. We found the area to rent them and went back to the water slides. Some of the slides required inner tubes and others didn't. All the rides were fun and the best part was...there were no lines! A couple times we waited a few minutes, but ya. 


After the slides, we went down the lazy river! Then we lounged in a heated outdoor pool listening to the K-Pop music. Jackie has a waterproof camera so we got some cool water pictures throughout the day. We had burgers for lunch and churros for dessert! I seriously think I have had more churros in Korea in 4 months than I had in an entire year or two at home haha. How did we pay when all we had were bathing suits and life vests??? With our locker keys of course! When we bought something, Spa Valley charged it to our locker number and we would pay the bill at the end!

After one of the rides!

Somehow we ended the ride backwards!
You can see our locker keys on our ankles..that's what the cool people do!

Our life vests made it easy to float and relax :)

Underneath a waterfall thing!

On the lazy river

When it got colder in the late afternoon, we headed to the indoor part of the water park. We lounged by the water jets in the pool, relaxed in the purple water hot tub, and put our feet in the "doctor fish" pool. We each paid the equivalent of $4 for 30 minutes. Doctor fish are these tiny brown colored fish that eat dead skin off feet! It took me about 15 minutes to get used to the tickling, prickly feeling. It was strange and awesome to have my feet cleaned by small fish, but I'm telling you--it worked! My feet were much smoother after 30 minutes it was crazy! I will definitely do it again and hope I get used to the feeling faster because every time I flinched or moved my feet, the fish would leave...and go eat the skin off Fluke's feet! haha

Purple hot tub!

Doctor fish!

Anyway, after the doctor fish adventure, we decided we should get going. In the locker rooms, they had bathing suit dryers! So, we put our suits in the dryers, changed into our regular clothes, and in 5 minutes, our suits were dry!!! It was awesome. They weren't completely dry, but almost...Anyway, we gave our locker keys to the cashier just before the shoe locker section. We paid the bills, then got our key back. Then we could get our shoes out of the lockers! It is the perfect system because who is going to leave without shoes? And you can't get your shoes until you pay your bill! Anyway, it was time to leave Spa Valley, but it was too early to head back to the apartment. So...we went downtown and saw a movie! 

We picked a perfect day because we got there before lunch, it wasn't a hot, sunny day, and most schools had Saturday school that day. We will definitely go back to Spa Valley!