Esta tarde despues del trabajo he ido por primera vez a un Spa/sauna :). Jiwon, una compañera coreana de Thomas nos dio un cupon con un buen descuento para ir a este spa coreano. He de decir que no soy nada fan de los spas, balnearios, etc. Ademas, no aguanto ni un segundo en la sauna debido al asma. He estado retrasando todo esto bastante tiempo, desde el 2 o el 3 de febrero, pero ella lo hizo con tan buena intencion, que no se podia dejar escapar esta oportunidad. Hoy era el ultimo dia para usar el cupon, como soy!! jeje!
Hemos alquilado un zip car para ir a este sitio que esta a unos 15 km de Evanston. El aparcamiento estaba abarrotado, todo el mundo tenia que usar el cupon!! El primer chiste ha sido cuando nos hemos bajado del coche, bajo la lluvia, hemos llegado al spa, hemos esperado nuestro turno y Thomas se ha dado cuenta de que se habia dejado el cupon en casa,jajaja! Que fiesta!! Una cosa que no soy fan y encima a pagarlo, mas el coche, claro.
Today after work we headed to a Korean spa/sauna. It was the first time for me :). We got a groupon from Jiwon, Thomas' colleague, also from Korea. It had a great discount, but to be honest I'm not the biggest fan of spas and saunas ever. Moreover, I can't even stand the sauna for more than 10 seconds due to my asthma. We had been kind of delaying it, we got it after my birthday, the 2nd of February, but she is always so kind and she had such good intention that we couldn't let it go. Today was the last day to use the coupon, so we really needed to go!!
We rented a zip car to go there. The place is around 8 miles far from Evanston. The parking lot was packed, everyone had to use the coupon before the expiring date, hehe! The joke of the day was that after walking under the rain, making the queue and renting the car, Thomas realized that he had forgotten the coupon at home, nice!! I'm not even fan of this place and we are paying for it plus the car, that's a good start!
Al final hemos pagado la entrada, 25 $ por persona. Incluia la entrada al spa y a las distintas saunas que habia, ademas de una sala de cine, una sala comun para sentarse a charlar o relajarse y la entrada al restaurante. Ademas de todo esto, hay salas de masajes, tratamiento de exfoliacion, masaje de pies, etc.
Yo me sentia extraña, nunca habia estado antes en un spa y no sabia como iba a ser. He recorrido un pequeño camino hacia la zona de señoras, he dejado los zapatos en mi armario y he entrado al vestuario. No sabia exactamente que hacer, que pardilla, jaja! Habia gente vestida, desnuda, con toalla, con pijama...Al final, una de las empleadas me ha visto con cara de duda y me ha dado un pijama de mi talla :). Como estaria de tensa que no he visto que habia 5 piscinas delante de mis narices. Me he puesto el pijamita rosa y he salido hacia la sala unisex, esperando a mi principe azul con su pijamita gris,jajaja!
Alli todo el mundo andaba descalzo, cosa que a mi me da mucha grima, aunque todo estaba muy limpio.
We finally paid the normal price, 25 $ per person. The normal spa + sauna was included and a cinema room, unisex room to sit and talk and the restaurant. Apart from that, there are massage rooms, scrubing treatments, feet massages, etc.
I felt weird there because I had never been in a spa. I went to the ladies part, left my shoes in my locker and walk to the changing room. I didnt' know what to do, so stupid! There were naked people, dressed people, towel people,ahhaa! One of the employees finally found me and gave me a pink pijama. It felt ridiculous :) I was so stressed that I didn't even realized there were 5 pools just in front of me. I put on the pijama and headed to the unisex room and looked for Thomas, wearing the same ridiculous pijama in a gray version, hehe!
Everyone was walking on their bare feet and I didn't like that too much...
Hemos empezado a explorar las distintas saunas. Todas eran secas, no habia vapor, eran como "salas calientes" jejeje! La primera de todas era templada, nada del otro mundo, la gente estaba alli tumbada con sus pijamitas. Nos hemos ido a la mas caliente y solo el abrir la puerta me ha cortado la respiracion, jaja! Thomas se ha quedado alli y yo me he ido a otra sala un poco mas fresca :) La pared estaba cubierta de sal y me he apoyado contra la pared, hasta que me he dado cuenta de que habia un letrero que decia "no tocar", bueno, no un letrero, habia al menos cinco :) Me he relajado alli mas o menos y he salido de nuevo al encuentro de Thomas. Nos hemos ido a otra sala de calor intermedio, con paredes de ladrillo normal y alli nos hemos quedado un ratito. Las primeras gotas de sudor han aparecido, pero vamos, casi nada, no parecia una verdadera sauna.
We explored the different rooms, they were all dry saunas, no steam ones. The first one was just warm with people laying there on their pijamas. We went then to the hottest one and I couldn't even breath just with opening the door, hehe! Thomas stayed there and I went to an intermedium one. A room with salt in its walls. I just hung out there, leaning my head against the wall until I realized there were 5 sings of "don't touch" hahaha! I could more or less relax there and after 15 minutes I went to look for Thomas again. We went to another room with normal brick walls and pretty warm. At that point I almost sweated, but not really. It was not like a real sauna :)
Despues hemos ido a la sala de carbon, con la pared cubierta por el mineral y tambien con sal. Esta sala era mas oscura y bastante relajante. Despues de este circuito hemos ido a cenar. Habia varios platos coreanos y japoneses. Yo me he pedido un tipico arroz con verdura y gambas con una bebida de aloe vera. Thomas se ha tomado una sopa de ternera y una bebida tipica coreana hecha con arroz y azucar.
He de reconocer que aunque todo estaba muy limpio, no me ha gustado nada andar descalza en el restaurante.
Por otra parte, la gente estaba alli muy relajada, con sus ordenadores, iPads, hablando, viendo la tele, tan tranquilos :) Algunos de ellos tomandose un rico te verde americanizado, es decir, con nata montada por encima, no comment!
We've gone to a charcoal room afterwards. The walls were covered by the mineral and salt. It was darker than the others and pretty relaxing.
After this we went to take some dinner. There were some Korean and Japanese dishes. I had shrimp stir fry and an aloe vera drink. Thomas ordered the beef soup and a sweet drink made of rice and sugar.
Even though everything was very clean, I have to admit that I didn't like walking on my bare feet in the restaurant. On the other hand, there were people there just hanging out, relaxing, with ther computers and tablets. Some of them were drinking delicious green tea in the American way. In other words, with whipped cream on top, no comment!!
Thomas en el restauante. Thomas at the restaurant.
Arroz frito acompañado de judias negras, sopa de miso, algas y la bebida de aloe. Stir fry with schrimp together with black beans, miso soup and what I think are seaweed.
Sopa de ternera, arroz blanco, algas y cosas que no se identificar. En el vaso, la bebida de arroz.
Beef soup, white rice, seaweed and unidentified stuff. The cup has the rice sweet drink.
Por utlimo os dejo un video que he hecho aprovechando que la sala estaba vacia, solo para enseñarosla un poquito :) La experiencia en general, la defino como curiosa y en definitiva diferente a las cosas que a mi me gustan hacer. Eso si, alli habia gente que parecia que estaba en su casa :) Desde luego no era la imagen que yo me esperaba, una sauna con paredes blancas, todo muy pulcro. Esta era de colores y con decoracion muy oritental, un buen contraste para acabar el dia :)Ya veremos si repito.
To finish I leave here a video I took while we were alone in one of the rooms, just to show you a bit how it looks like :)
I define the experience as curious and different from the things I like to do. It was surprising seeing how some people felt like at home :). I was expecting a kind of northern sauna, white walls and floors and this one was far from that picture, oriental style and colorful decoration. Nice contrast to finish the day :) Let's see if we repeat.
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