Mani Pedi for my Seoul

It has been a long few weeks here in Seoul with me being super sick and having lots of issues based around my health, so I decided I deserved to give myself a treat! My poor feet are worn down ragged from all the walking that I do now in this big metropolis and from standing on them teaching young Korean children the English language for 50-55 hours a week! I thought a good pedicure would be just the remedy for my feet, and then agreed my hands could use some work too. So I decided to throw in a “gel polish” manicure in for myself as well. (gel nail polish is a polish which does not chip for 4 weeks so its way worth the money if you are a klutz like myself and chip your nails everyday.)

I went to work and asked my Korean managers where to get my nails done. They drew me a map of a place near where I lived and wrote in Korean “gel polish”. They also taught me how to say “gel” which funny enough sounds basically like “gel-aay-ugh.” I was excited but also admittingly a little nervous about this little adventure I was going on.

As I reached the nail Salon called “Tiara” I entered and began to try to explain what I wanted done. All of the signs were in Korean and neither of the two manicurists spoke a lick of English. It took about ten minutes to get across what I wanted (gel manicure and regular nail polish pedicure). They put me up on a seat for my pedicure and had my toenails OVER a sink, but did not use any water or scrubbing. The other woman was doing my nails, just as I have had done before, filing and clipping away as usual. They spoke back and forth in Korean, and I thought ‘hey, this is just like at home when I can’t understand what my manicurist is saying!’ Still for some reason, I listened really hard as if I would pick up things they were saying because I live in Korea…..but once again my limited Korean failed me as the ten words I know in Korean did not fall into their discussion.

Although I was a little confused about when the pumice stone was going to come out, I couldn’t help but notice how much attention to detail they both had. They were so meticulous in their work; filing until perfection, painting so evening and taking their time. I finally got up the courage to ask the woman doing my toes why she was not using the water. (I did this by pointing to the water spout and putting my hands up in a quizzical fashion and saying ‘why.’ Remember, no English means lots of gestures!) She said something in Korean and mimed the price 50,000 won, basically saying instead of paying 25,000 which gets you the basic toenail stuff done you have to pay double for the whole shebang. If you want them to get down and dirty with your tough skin and dirty feet it’s going to cost you in Korea! I never realized how good I had it in NC when I could get a pedicure (soap bath, pumice stone and all) for $25 to $30! Good times….

Regardless when my nails were done they looked amazing! I made a mental note to remember the price differences for next time, since I clearly cannot read any of the signs and it is pure luck I have understood this much already! I was going to get up and pay when the woman said something in Korean, shook her head furiously, and put my foot dryer on for another cycle. She in so many gestures communicated to me that my feet would not dry for 1 hour because it was regular nail polish and not gel nail polish on my toenails!

(soap opera on TV, she is crying!)

Now, since I understood by this point she was a perfectionist and this was a quality I like about my manicurist I decided just to hang out under the foot dryer for another 20 minutes until she was happy for me to leave. I proceeded to watch her and her colleague do two other women’s nails as they all intently watched a Korean soap opera. After twenty minutes of me also watching this soap opera, since I had nothing else to do while I was waiting, I decided all soap operas are the same. Although I have no idea what they were talking about in this episode I know someone was very sick and the dramatics of it all made 6 people cry in the first 8 minutes. There was terrible camera work, long pauses, poorly emphasized words that I am sure were not even that meaningful, and drama drama drama. Just another episode of “Days of our Lives” if you ask me! J

Anyway, back to the nails. When I got to the point where I thought my head was going to pop off from watching this Korean soap opera I waved over the manicurist and pointed to my watch signaling her I had to leave. She touched my toe nails, made a “tsk tsk tsk” sound, and reached for some plastic wrap. She was upset because I did not wear flip flops to the salon. My shoes instead were closed toe which she felt would mess up the polish. (but it was 40 degrees outside today so flip flops would not have been appropriate!) She then proceeded to wrap my feet in plastic wrap giving a barrier between my toes and where they would hit the top of my shoe.

It was very considerate, but also very humorous as I thought about walking home like this. I paid her, thanked her, and promised to come again. As I walked home with plastic wrapped toes, waddling down the street like a penguin, I decided that my first mani pedi in Korea was a great success!