Invasion of Privacy

Yesterday I booked a bikini wax at this cute little esthetics place in the Bupyeong Underground Shopping Center. I was really excited because I get bikini waxes on a regular bases back home, so I will try to keep up with them here. Anyways, I show up for my appointment tonight and the waxing lady, whom I'm convinced is the owner, calls me into the wax room. There are two beds in the waxing room and they are side by side with just enough space for a human to fit down the middle. I walk into the room expecting it to be just me and her, well, to my surprise there was a girl being treated in the bed beside mine and the only thing separating us was a divider that was 5 feet tall. At least there was a curtain, so the clients and workers outside couldn't see in. I was like, "OK, I can do this." Then the lady waxing me gestures to me to drop my pants, I was thinking, Right here? With you watching? Sure enough she stood there and waited for me to take my pants off. I was thinking that if she asked me to take off my underwear I was done. Back home you have your own private room with a door that locks and you put on disposable underwear and cover yourself with a towel while the esthetician waits outside. Not in Korea, so since I was already out of my comfort zone I just went with the flow. Then she has me lay down on the bed (with my underwear on) and she puts paper towel around my underwear, so no wax gets on it and she can keep the underwear out of the way. Then she goes about her waxing business. She finished one side of me and then the girl that was working on the client beside me comes over and I'm not even joking, stands over the bed and watches me get waxed. Normally this would make any human being completely uncomfortable and they would likely complain, but I was pretty much stuck in the position I was in because of the language barrier, the fact I had no pants on and the wax lady continuing to wax away. The girl that was watching didn't leave the room until I was done and the lady waxing me must have been telling her how to wax while she watched because they kept mumbling every once in a while. I wanted to complain at first about the audience, but I honestly stopped caring and had no energy. I was actually waiting for more people to come in and start watching. The lady waxing me was very precise, but she moved my underwear around a lot and came awfully close to 'you-know-where' a couple of times. In Korea there is no such thing as personal space, so the girl watching and the lack of 'taking off my pants' privacy, etc was nothing out of the ordinary for them. Anyways, once the wax ended I was relieved because I got to escape the interesting session with a bit of dignity still left in me. While the lady was waxing me she asked me if I wanted to get a pedicure because she saw my toes and kind of freaked out. I've been having an issue with the big toe on my left foot. It got infected and was barely attached to my skin, so I clipped it off for fear of snagging it and ripping the little bit of skin that was left on it. Well, she pointed out the grossness of it and I explained it was ok, but sore. I mean, first I have lack of privacy and now you embarass me with the toe situation, what's next? The bikini wax cost a lot more than I would have paid back home, but I didn't have a lot of time to look for cheaper or leave Incheon to go get it done before Deok-Joek Island this weekend. Since I'm off to the Island for the weekend and won't be back until Monday evening that means I will be MIA from blogging until then. There are three new blogs for your weekend enjoyment. Sorry, if this blog was too graphic, but my story was kind of funny and needed to be shared. I will take loads of pictures on the Island and write my blog about the trip as soon as I return.