Naked Spa

Over the past couple of months there’s been a lot of talk about a hot spring spa, a.k.a.the naked spa. The spa is attached to a hotel within a 10 minute walk from our apartment. From all the hype, all I really understood was that you had to be naked, no swim suits allowed! Many of my Western friends aren't too keen on a naked spa.  A couple of weeks ago my friend Cindy, who is Chinese, asked if I wanted to go with her. I thought a day at the spa sounded wonderful, naked or not.

When we arrived, I was surprised that we didn’t need to check in. We simply were handed a plastic bag, which contained a white hand towel & were escorted to a locker room. Cindy began taking off her clothes & I realized there wasn’t any warming up to this naked spa thing, you walk in and take off your clothes… so I took off my clothes.

 

After getting naked, we went to the pool area where there were many naked Chinese woman. There were multiple indoor pools in varying temperatures. There was also an outside hot tub and a wet and dry sauna. It was nice. We headed for an indoor hot tub. From the hot tub I noticed that there were small cubical type stations at one end of the room where it appeared women were scrubbing, with a towel, the bodies of other women. It’s not something I've seen in the U.S. From there we went to a special area to get a body scrub from an employee of the spa. The employees in this area were wearing matching bras and underwear. The underwear had the word "Rosy" bedazzled on the front of them. I guess that was their work uniform. The area had a number of large cubical type areas with 3 foot walls and large doorways. I lied naked on a massage table and had an employee used the white hand towel I was given when I arrived (so that’s what the towel is for), to give me a full body scrub, or at least that’s what I thought I was going to get. After a short bit my friend translated that the employee was stopping the scrub because I wasn’t “dirty.” Instead I agreed to a full body milk massage. The milk massage was $5.80.

After the milk massage we were issued pajamas, which were pink flannel shorts and matching tops, so we could leave the woman only area and have lunch. We enjoyed a delicious hot pot lunch Hot pot is where customers choose raw meat, seafood and vegetables and cook them in a pot with either spicy or bland broth at their table. After lunch we went to a lounge area where we got a 2 hour head, shoulder, leg and foot massage for about $21. We also checked out the communal sauna where both men and woman can lounge in there cool pajamas (men wear the same pajamas, but they are blue). Six hours later we left the naked spa. I’m a fan.

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Old School Chinese Wedding

We recently attended a traditional Chinese wedding. Our friends Preston & Maria are American, but have lived in China for several years managing an English school called Jayland Learning.  They decided to go all out and have guests dress in traditional Chinese dress and follow many Chinese wedding ceremony traditions that most don’t follow any longer. We had a great time.

Here are some photos from the day, which includes Andrew wearing a dress:

The procession. The bride was carried from her home to the venue
with the groom walking in front.

Firecrackers shaped in a heart, notice the guy lighting
the firecrackers has a cigarette.

 

The groom relieving the beautiful bride.
The bride's face was covered most of the ceremony.

Andrew's dress was a favorite among male guests.

The bride & groom & us.

Andrew posing with his lunch crew.

The banquet style reception.

Enjoying the dinner.

Trying a cold chicken foot (a favorite amongst the Chinese) & Andrew's look of disgust.

Andrew not enjoying what he just placed in his mouth.

Cultural Introduction

A few weeks ago (I know, we're a bit behind updating the blog), Andrew and I attended 16 hours of China cultural training. The training was conducted by a company, Jayland Learning, which Intel contracts with to provide all Intel ex-pats and families an introduction to China. There were 9 people in the class. Five of them had been in China for over a year and we've been here already 6 months, so it wasn't exactly an "introduction," but helpful nonetheless. It helped us understand, at least a little bit, why some Chinese do the things they do. 

Here are a few random things we learned about the Chinese culture during the training:

• Chinese people typically do not directly communicate their true intentions, known to us as beating around the bush (much different from Andrew & my “direct” communication sytleJ)
• Chinese generally try to avoid direct confrontation; try not to make the other person look bad.
• Rather than responding with a direct yes or no, Chinese will often say things such as "it is inconvenient" or "I'll try my best," which means no, without saying no.
• Yes doesn't always mean yes. For example, when asked 'Do you understand,' and a person responds yes, it could only mean, 'Yes, I'm listening.'
• China is a collective-oriented society. Collectivist cultures expect people to identify with and work well in groups which protect the group in exchange for loyalty and compliance versus individualist cultures, such as the U.S., where individual uniqueness and self-determination is valued.
• As a westerner, our presence at a Chinese social function, such as a wedding or community event, is often viewed as something special and could raise the host's prestige and social standing.
• Never give a Chinese person:
• A clock. The phrase "to give a clock" means to attend someone's funeral in Chinese.
• An umbrella. The Chinese word rhymes with the word 'separate or break up.'
• Pears. The Chinese word rhymes with saying 'saying farewell' which is linked to breaking up or death.
• Scissors or anything sharp as it symbolizes severing relations.

In addition to the classroom setting, there were a lot of Chinese activities that we took part in. 

Traditional tea set-up

Following instructions, smelling the tea before tasting it.

Chinese artist

Our Chinese names: bai ting ya & bai an de.

Attempting to learn Tai Chi

Making traditional Chinese dumplings.

Traditional Chinese hot pot.

We ate all of the shrimp, eyes & shell included.

Learning how to write Chinese characters.