Nice Things for Me

You might remember this place? The little coffeeshop Coffeenie by my apartment that I like to go to on Saturday mornings for a vanilla latte and a waffle! When I first arrived, somewhere in the first week, the coffeeguy took a polaroid of me and the pup-in-a-bag. I didn't think they actually put it up until last Saturday when I saw me!!!

Photos on the wall...

A group of some of the photos...

Me and mags-in-a-bag!

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The first Saturday after MY FIRST PAYDAY(!) I went with a couple of girls from work to get a pedicure... lovely, lovely pedicure! Me with my takes-forever-to-choose problem and the 200 colours of nail polish... lol... actually, I picked my colur off the top of my head this time, and I loved it!

         

     Mariko in the chair, Jill on the bed and getting her nails done above...

We (the 4 of us girls at work) have decided that it is going to be a payday tradition, and a pedicure will follow paydays from here on in - LOVE IT!!

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Today I went for a massage. The women at the clinic didn't speak much English, but I made the appointment on Monday so I sucked up the courage and went in after work today. 3 words: OH. MY. GOD!

I went in and it turned out that the women in the clinic were all from China (including the owner), not from Korea (expats themselves, they don't know any English!). They (all 3 of them!) escorted me to the change room and after skeptically chatting and arguing while holding up 3 different pairs of the same sized shorts in front of me, handed me a set of clothes to change into. Have to say I was kind of happy about the clothes, as the one thing I don't much enjoy about massages at home is being naked and hiding under a towel - it just feels so weird! 

So here's me in my schnazzy getup... better than the buttercream yellow from the hospital in Seoul, wouldn't you say?!  :) In the massage room there was a heat pad on the table, and a warm fuzzy blanket to lay under. The masseus spoke great Korean, so we muddled through a short conversation. My massage was a 'Sports Massage' (I didn't want any of that aromatherapy relaxation crap, I wanted my shoulders and hip fixed!), and by the time it was done I felt like I'd been through a workout!

My arms, back, shoulders, head, neck, and legs were pushed, pulled, pinched, poked, slapped, kneaded and elbowded seven-ways-to-Sunday. At one point I thought she might be trying to snap my toes right off my feet, but then she went onto something new. She did this awful chicken-wing thing to release a knot in one of my armpits, and something equally terrible to get a knot out of my chest. Though I couldn't see to be sure, I'm thinking that at some point she may actually have been breakdancing on my back while spinning on her elbows!! Toward the end she had me sit up with my legs out straight in front of me and she jumped up on the table behind me... pulled my arms back, put her feet on my lower back, pushed on my back and pulled on my arms - I thought I was gonna POP!!  I'm laughing now as I picture how ridiculous it must have all looked, lol... what an incredible massage!

When the hour ended I could have sworn I'd been in there closer to 90 minutes, but it was just under and hour, and it was freakin' fantastic. I loved it, and I actually think it's the best sports massage I have ever had... I made another appointment for next week! I'm going to go once a week for the first month and then every other week, woohoo!! I always said I'd like to do something like this - and now I am!

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2 other things... today when I was leaving the massage clinic I saw a sign for a reflexology clinic on the 3rd floor... that's where they work on your body through different points in your feet? I've always wanted to try that, so now it's on the list... there's a good chance that after 32kms on the bike tour that are coming up this weekend I'm gonna need all kinds of therapy!!

Oh, and last but not least... I'm trying a month at the gym in our building to see if I actually go... so far so good, running in the morning when it's ick outside... cross your fingers for me, will ya??!