A visit to the doctor...

On Thursday night, while having dinner with Abby and a new girl Jade, I was asked if I wanted to take part in what was deemed an "adventure". As I am not one to back down from new experiences (which may be the reason I am in this country in the first place), I agreed. Abby asked if I liked fish (I do) and left it at that. I asked if I should bring a bathing suit, and she finally let me know that we would be going to see Dr. Fish, and all I would need is money for the bus, the visit, and a cup of coffee, and a strong will.

On Saturday, I met Abby, Ed, and Jade at Abby's apartment and we took the bus to Ya Woo Ri, the mall downtown. The bus only costs about $1.10, so it's a bargain and a half. On the third story of the Dunkin Donuts building across the street, is Dr. Fish. When you walk in it's actually a swank coffee place with old brick interiors and fun lighting. Koreans also seem to have this great love of Americana. They had rag dolls and rocking chairs scattered throughout the place, also Christmas decorations, which apparently no one ever takes down. So after ordering our coffee, with the help of our ambassador, a guy who runs the place and speaks English (even though we are quite capable of functioning in our broken Korean), we were finally led to the Dr. Fish-zone. A quick sit down for coffee and the time came.

We sat in front of a tiny tub that we placed our feet in and washed off our feet, preparing for the treatment. Then we were led to a tank of fish that were slightly bigger than minnows. So here's the Dr. Fish treatment: one places their feet in the tank, and the fish eat the dead skin off of them. I know, I know it sounds gross and in fact just a short evolution from zombie fish, but it actually wasn't that bad. I felt awful that these fish had to eat feet, but I see it more as doing my part to contribute to an eco-system. I feed the fish, they live to eat more feet. We all spent abouyt 15 minutes in the tank, doing our best not to freak out (although Jade was the most vocal of the group. The best way to describe the feeling is to say that if you didn't look, it felt like tiny electrical pulses to your feet. If you did look, it felt like fish were nibbling at your gross feet. All in all the experience was interesting. Afterwards, we washed again, where I was able to actually see and feel the results of the feeding frenzy. I was able to see nibble marks from the tiny helpers and even today, my feet feel really good, and look better. That may not have been my last trip to Dr. Fish.

Here's the link to the videos of Abby, Ed, Jade and I meeting the good Doctor.