One of the many wonderful things about the Korean-style heated floors is that when I wake up in the morning, I not only don't have cold feet when I get out of bed, I can warm up my socks by laying them on the floor so they are toasty when I put them on. Do you know what a wonderful feeling putting on warm, toasty socks is?? It's like putting on a sweater fresh out of the dryer :3
I went to the Top10 store in Gangnam this morning to exchange two jackets I had bought for a different size. I still have not figured out their sizes there, since I was unaccustomed to clothes in Korea HAVING size (generally everything there I have bought in the past is what is called a "free size". In layman's terms, you either fit this hybrid cross between an XS/M, or you are SOL. I say cross between XS and M because some areas are super small but others are really loose. For example, I fit most clothes in Korea but often the shoulders or chest area are too tight. They are often really long vertically though, since it is the style there to have shirts that sometimes go down to your knee area. It varies from article to article, but apparently the 105 size I got at Top10 was like an XXL or something lol. I exchanged them for 95's). I ended up walking into Top10 before it was even open, although how I was supposed to know that I don't know. The doors were unlocked and workers were moving about inside, so I came in. I went upstairs to the counter where a female worker was standing, whereupon she (I'm assuming) told me in Korean that they weren't open yet. I played the dumb foreigner because I was on a tight time schedule today, and didn't want to have to come back lugging my big bag of jackets. She was really nice, even though she didn't really know what to do lol. She tried explaining again Korean and did the floundering-don't-know-what-to-do-shy-Korean thing they do whenever I speak only in English and they don't know any English. It's cute ^^. I bought another of the men's cardigans I got last time at the Top10 at COEX, since it fit so well and is made so nicely. And is still only 10,000 won!!
The KoreaPost office I went to mail a postcard is so scarily efficient, I actually had to ask the elderly guard/helper guy wandering around what the heck I was supposed to do. I was intimidated by the office lol. There were 5-6 workers along the long desk to help you but there were no lines. Zero. Instead, there were tons of chairs and people seated in them; think like the pharmacy at Kaiser, where you get a number and wait for your number or name to flash up on the screen and then you go up to the counter. It was like that here, but you take a number and then wait until one of the desks had your number flash above the station. In the meantime, I was left to sit in comfort and wonder why I don't live here again. WONDERFUL. Every US post office I have ever had the misfortune to go into has inevitably had a horribly expected long line snaking around that takes forever because there are only one or two people at the desk. Who are usually very rude and cranky and as unhelpful as possible. I'm sorry you hate your job but that is NOT my fault >.< No offense to any respectable postal workers out there, I know you are numerous. I just haven't had the good fortune to ever meet any of you :(
I went to the Top10 store in Gangnam this morning to exchange two jackets I had bought for a different size. I still have not figured out their sizes there, since I was unaccustomed to clothes in Korea HAVING size (generally everything there I have bought in the past is what is called a "free size". In layman's terms, you either fit this hybrid cross between an XS/M, or you are SOL. I say cross between XS and M because some areas are super small but others are really loose. For example, I fit most clothes in Korea but often the shoulders or chest area are too tight. They are often really long vertically though, since it is the style there to have shirts that sometimes go down to your knee area. It varies from article to article, but apparently the 105 size I got at Top10 was like an XXL or something lol. I exchanged them for 95's). I ended up walking into Top10 before it was even open, although how I was supposed to know that I don't know. The doors were unlocked and workers were moving about inside, so I came in. I went upstairs to the counter where a female worker was standing, whereupon she (I'm assuming) told me in Korean that they weren't open yet. I played the dumb foreigner because I was on a tight time schedule today, and didn't want to have to come back lugging my big bag of jackets. She was really nice, even though she didn't really know what to do lol. She tried explaining again Korean and did the floundering-don't-know-what-to-do-shy-Korean thing they do whenever I speak only in English and they don't know any English. It's cute ^^. I bought another of the men's cardigans I got last time at the Top10 at COEX, since it fit so well and is made so nicely. And is still only 10,000 won!!
The KoreaPost office I went to mail a postcard is so scarily efficient, I actually had to ask the elderly guard/helper guy wandering around what the heck I was supposed to do. I was intimidated by the office lol. There were 5-6 workers along the long desk to help you but there were no lines. Zero. Instead, there were tons of chairs and people seated in them; think like the pharmacy at Kaiser, where you get a number and wait for your number or name to flash up on the screen and then you go up to the counter. It was like that here, but you take a number and then wait until one of the desks had your number flash above the station. In the meantime, I was left to sit in comfort and wonder why I don't live here again. WONDERFUL. Every US post office I have ever had the misfortune to go into has inevitably had a horribly expected long line snaking around that takes forever because there are only one or two people at the desk. Who are usually very rude and cranky and as unhelpful as possible. I'm sorry you hate your job but that is NOT my fault >.< No offense to any respectable postal workers out there, I know you are numerous. I just haven't had the good fortune to ever meet any of you :(
Thank you thank you Tina for showing me how to properly eat seolleongtang!! Without you, I would've been lost- and totally eating this in the wrong way hahaha. The staff would think I was retarded AND crazy. It wasn't until I was inspecting all the different pots on the table that I saw the salt and remembered I was supposed to put it into the soup T.T No wonder this broth tasted like water, and here I was thinking, damn, that other place we went to last time was way better hahah. Once the salt and pepper were in, it tasted as delicious as I remembered.
Since I had kalguksoo twice already, I wanted seolleongtang (my other favorite Korean dish) a second time as well! Dajeong had looked up places for me around Gangnam the other day, so I searched around the back streets near Sinnonhyeon station before I came across the place she had mentioned. I'm so so thankful that I can read Korean relatively fast now, so I'm not standing in the middle of the street, lips moving, and my eyes fixed on a sign that is probably advertising a random brand of ramen or something hahah. The looks people gave me were weird enough @.@
I feel like the young guy who greeted me thought I was Korean but my brain was so fuzzy that when he spoke to me, it took me a minute or two to get my bearings. It was the weirdest thing, I think I was still distracted from having spent the last half hour focusing solely on my Korean reading skills. I understood him and knew how to respond but for some reason it caught me off guard, so I just stood there vaguely saying ah yes...just one person....ah yes...seolleongtang...ah yes okay, I'll sit over here...T.T He probably thought I was retarded lol. Whatevs. I asked him in English for the dish I wanted, partially because I can't pronounce the 15 character long name of the dish and partially so the staff knows I'm foreign and not some depressed random girl eating seolleongtang all by herself. FT Island playing while I waited for my food, which made me happy. They aren't as big in Korea so you don't hear too many of their songs playing in public places.
I feel like the young guy who greeted me thought I was Korean but my brain was so fuzzy that when he spoke to me, it took me a minute or two to get my bearings. It was the weirdest thing, I think I was still distracted from having spent the last half hour focusing solely on my Korean reading skills. I understood him and knew how to respond but for some reason it caught me off guard, so I just stood there vaguely saying ah yes...just one person....ah yes...seolleongtang...ah yes okay, I'll sit over here...T.T He probably thought I was retarded lol. Whatevs. I asked him in English for the dish I wanted, partially because I can't pronounce the 15 character long name of the dish and partially so the staff knows I'm foreign and not some depressed random girl eating seolleongtang all by herself. FT Island playing while I waited for my food, which made me happy. They aren't as big in Korea so you don't hear too many of their songs playing in public places.
I went back to the same store I had bought my black knapsack from the other day to buy two more adorable bags. I didn't know if their 50% sale would be ending soon, so..seize the day!! The store's name is Naughty Kitty if I remember correctly...I don't know what's up with their store name choices here haha but clearly they don't understand the implications in English. And I thought Kinki Robot was the worst they could do...
I spent some time afterwards wandering around and shopping. I had wanted to go back to the store where I bought my knapsack for 10,000 and I wasn't disappointed by the bag selection they had today! I was having lunch with my friend Yeji today so I headed over to Sinchon. She is studying for her civil service/government position placement exams or something of the kind, which are EXTREMELY difficult. She was explaining how they work to me over lunch, and I was like Mind = Blown. It makes the bar exam look like a first-grade spelling test. (No offense to any potential or past bar exam takers, it was just a joke!)
Seriously though. The people here take this test over and over again, and the whole series of tests take almost a full year. So people fail over and over and take it over and over. You have to study and take the first part of the first test, then the second part of the first test a few months later. Then you have to take the first part of the second test, the second part of the second test, and the third part of the second test, and so on. And if you don't pass ANY of these parts, you fail and stop right there. You can only continue if you pass each part. And in the final part, only 50% of the test-takers are accepted into the government sector they desire to be in. THAT MEANS AFTER ALL THAT WORK, TIME, STRESS, AND EFFORT IN CRAMMING ALL YEAR, ONLY HALF OF THE ALREADY CUT-DOWN AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT TO THE END WILL GET THEIR JOB. Yeji said she wakes up at 7am and studies studies studies until 11pm when she goes home and eats and then wakes up to do it again the next day. And the next. And the next. Goddamn. No wonder everyone's smarter in Asia O.O Yeji will pass the test though, I have faith in her! My eonnie is a smart cookie :) She wants to work in international relations, and she will be WONDERFUL at it.
Seriously though. The people here take this test over and over again, and the whole series of tests take almost a full year. So people fail over and over and take it over and over. You have to study and take the first part of the first test, then the second part of the first test a few months later. Then you have to take the first part of the second test, the second part of the second test, and the third part of the second test, and so on. And if you don't pass ANY of these parts, you fail and stop right there. You can only continue if you pass each part. And in the final part, only 50% of the test-takers are accepted into the government sector they desire to be in. THAT MEANS AFTER ALL THAT WORK, TIME, STRESS, AND EFFORT IN CRAMMING ALL YEAR, ONLY HALF OF THE ALREADY CUT-DOWN AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT TO THE END WILL GET THEIR JOB. Yeji said she wakes up at 7am and studies studies studies until 11pm when she goes home and eats and then wakes up to do it again the next day. And the next. And the next. Goddamn. No wonder everyone's smarter in Asia O.O Yeji will pass the test though, I have faith in her! My eonnie is a smart cookie :) She wants to work in international relations, and she will be WONDERFUL at it.
Yes, I AM drooling AGAIN over their adorably chic and elegant cafeterias. Apparently cafeterias here are like modern sit-down restaurants and cafes. Seriously! They are so cute. Cafeterias at home consist of plain scratched plastic tables and benches, with kitschy decor. Swell.
We got jjajangmyun, a popular Chinese dish (black bean sauce over noodles). Yeji ordered me some fried mandu (dumplings) and pork with this yummy sweet chili sauce on them too! Last time I was here, we ate at the Western side cafeteria, which is on the opposite site of the building. This was the Eastern side cafeteria, but still had a Western food window nonetheless. I was DYING over their food return area; it had a conveyor belt that you just plop your tray on and it moves it along, like a plate of sushi. There were little cut out holes to put your spoons, forks, and chopsticks in, all marked by a little sign with a spoon, fork, or chopsticks! IT WAS SO CUTE, I was freaking out so hard Yeji was cracking up haha. I have no idea why that tickled me so much; I think it was the chopsticks marked hole lol. It was so Asian and perfect. We would never have that in America and I wish we did!
Shops and restaurants in the Sinchon/Edae area I saw as I walked around. It's so busy and colorful here, with funny shop names, unique building designs, and the common multi-stacked thin, tall buildings (with like 5 different cafes/restaurants/stores one on top of the other going up vertically). Trying to practice and read the signs in Korean keeps it interesting! I know I'm still a highly inexperienced traveler and all, but I really do think Seoul has a unique flavor that's all its own.
After we ate, we got coffee at her university's coffee shop with ridiculously low student prices (cuz of course, they have that too. They have a FLOWER shop and hair salon in their university. What do they not have... @.@). It's so awesome the university really tries to make it easier for students by making the food and coffee so afforable. When they give "student prices" at UCSB, it was more like "here, take 50 cents off. Aren't we so generous?". Here, they give you whole trays of food for a couple thousand won, as opposed to the 8,000 or higher you'd be paying otherwise. Yeji had to get back to studying so she walked me back to the front and then I headed off to Edae. Thanks for making time to meet with me Yeji!! <3
I wandered into this GIANT Artbox on my way to Edae. The pill looking things in the bottles are actually small capsules with scraps of paper in them. You are supposed to write on them once a day for a year. They have smaller bottles, for a month's worth or tiny ones with just a week's worth of capsules. Really cute! Also hamburger notepads and yummy candy bins :)
Like Japan, they take recycling and separation of trash seriously here. Not only are there NEVER any trashcans anywhere in public (so I have to hang on to my trash pretty much all day until I get home), when I DO finally find a rare trashcan, they are often like these ;_; They are color coded and I DONT KNOW WHAT GOES IN EACH ONE. So I'm too scared to put my trash in one, in case it's only for glass or only for combustibles, or only for electronics or something. I DON'T KNOW, I'm American. The extent of my recycling knowledge is blue bin = recycling. The bins are also tiny here. These were bins for restaurants and stuff O.O The bins we have at my RESIDENTIAL HOME are like three times the size of these lol. The restaurant trash bins at home are like small houses.
Edae is only one stop over from Sinchon, so I just walked horizontally from Yonsei. I love Edae in the same way that I love Hongdae. I love the atmosphere and the vibrance coming from the area. It's not quite like Hongdae though, which is a more mellow hang-out kind of place for boys and girls. Edae, in accordance with its proximity to the all-girls Ehwa University, is a girlier version of Hongdae. It has tons of girls clothing stores, heaps of cosmetics stores (often you see the same exact store only a few stores down from the first one), and tons of jewelry and shoe vendors all over. Everything is really pretty and cute, and obviously targets girls. It is similar to Hongdae also in it's maze of streets with endless shops going in all directions. It's easy to get lost!
I made a most happy discovery of my favorite tornadoes as well! The adjusshi manning the stand sold ugly hotdogs (and normal corndogs) as well as sausages. He also had a whole collection of seasonings to put on the tornadoes after they were done, unlike the last cart I bought them from. I used an onion & garlic powder on mine :) It was SO YUMMY SO YUMMY SO YUMMY. Like heaven in little crispy tasty bites :3 I could sit and eat these things forever, so it's probably good that I don't live here. Just writing about them is making me want some SO BADLY. I can't even explain it. Yes it sounds good when reading about it, but there's something about them when you're actually munching on it that is just so...GOOD. It's addicting, like all the street vendor food here T.T
Chicken & beer are so common and popular, there is term for them Haeri told me about. I can't remember what it is exactly, but it's literally a combination of the words for beer and chicken. THEY GO TOGETHER SO WELL, THEY HAVE BECOME ONE WORD. - Also some more shots from around the streets of Edae. With all this in your face, can you kiiiiind of start to understand how I end up shopping so much??
Pretty much the most common lower body clothing I see here on women are these leggings/skirt combination articles. The skirt is attached to the leggings. They are most often a short, tight pencil skirt-esque kind of skirt made of the same material as the leggings. Occasionally I see a flared or other variation on these...skeggings? I have never seen them before I came here to Korea, so I was kind of taken aback the first time I saw them lol. However, TAKE HEED AMERICAN LADIES. This is how you are supposed to wear leggings; they are not pants. I repeat, THEY ARE NOT PANTS. It's one of my biggest pet peeves ever. Wear a long shirt that covers your butt or wear shorts or a skirt over them. There is NOBODY who wants or needs to see that much of your butt on any given day. Seriously I don't care who you are. It's not pretty.
I made my way back to the main drag of Edae and walked towards the subway. I had miraculously managed to not buy a single thing yet, other than my first Tornado when I first arrived. I had fun browsing and window shopping, but talked myself out of buying anything that caught my eye and I actually considered getting. As a reward, I bought a second Tornado because the first really did nothing but make me want another one immediately hahah.
My Etude House goodies + samples and free mask, and the HK perfume I bought Jess from there! Jess loves Hello Kitty ^^. I also got my favorite hand cream from Missha, with a free face-cleansing wipe pack they added to my bag. Before I entered the subway station I passed this large group of young adults who were animatedly chatting with these two white foreign guys (they sounded German) in completely broken and random English. They were so excited about it though, it made me smile. More kept joining the group too. I had heard that many young people, upon finding out that you speak English, will immediately strike up a conversation with you in English so they can practice. I think that's so awesome!! However, I'm always out and about during the day so I generally encounter the older generation and they are either suddenly afraid or look at me like I'm a bug if I speak English lol. So this was a nice thing to witness.
Of course, I AM leaving the country just a few days so I stopped by an Etude House and a Missha on the way to the station and picked up some last minute things I wanted to take back. I was planning on stopping by the Gangnam Underground Shopping Center on my way back to Yeoksam too, so I could look for a carry-on back to use on my way home. I had had to check-in my carry-on bag on the way over to Korea and somewhere in transit it had ripped :(
Of course, I should have known better -.- The Shopping Center is dangerous. I walked into the Center, full of good intentions and firm convictions. I left with 3 shirts, 4 sweaters/cardigans, a duffel, several boxes of citron tea, and a most interesting collection of adorable earrings. Wah. At least I accomplished my original mission of finding a carry-on?!? Lol. It just goes so fast...I stay strong in the beginning and bypass everything that catches my eye, but after like the 150th store with adorable clothes and sale signs everywhere, you start to break down...I spent less than $100 on all that but I was carrying like 9 bags because of the backpacks I had bought earlier that day and the Etude House/Missha stuff. I forgot to mention how much that makes me stand out lol. Whenever I go shopping and then head home afterwards with my 5-6 bags, it automatically makes me look foreign because the people who live here have this all the time so they never really go on "sprees". If anything, the most they are carrying is one small bag from a cosmetics shop or a paper bag with a cake from a bakery. I stopped for a minute on a bench to think and regroup, and then realized some of my purchases were things that could hold other stuff! I packed my purse and all the smaller bags into my small duffel and into the larger of the two backpacks I had bought and headed back into the subway with my hands now blessedly free...they were starting to turn red and throb from all the weight they had been carrying lol.
As SOON as I started carting around the duffel and backpack people would ask me if I was Korean first thing, as if checking haha. They wouldn't immediately assume I was. Then I would get the chance to tell them I was from America and avoid all the awkward staring, the averted eyes, and confused looks. I guess Americans who LOOK American (read: white people) are rare here but Asian people who LOOK Korean then don't know a lick of Korean and say they're from America are even rarer -.- How splendid for me. I'm practically a martyr. Or an alien.
Also, I saw a Jo Kwon on the subway home. It was young and still had not reached full J.Kwon maturity, but it was most DEFINITELY a Jo Kwon :D I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to take him home with me so I can be his friend when he gets older and he can make me laugh until I turn blue and die hahah. I was happy leaving him there though. The next generation will need another Jo Kwon once my generation's one has gotten older and gone into retirement...pfft. Who am I kidding. Jo Kwon will never go into retirement xD
Also, I saw a Jo Kwon on the subway home. It was young and still had not reached full J.Kwon maturity, but it was most DEFINITELY a Jo Kwon :D I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to take him home with me so I can be his friend when he gets older and he can make me laugh until I turn blue and die hahah. I was happy leaving him there though. The next generation will need another Jo Kwon once my generation's one has gotten older and gone into retirement...pfft. Who am I kidding. Jo Kwon will never go into retirement xD
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