Myeongdong Shopping....

Because of World Cup last night, we didn't wake up until maybe 12pm today.....

I thought that I should probably get my shopping done today, so I decided to go to Myeongdong. Joyce wanted to check out the different bookstores around Seoul to find the English translated Korean books, so we went separate ways today.

Myeongdong's LOTTE Duty Free shop was CRAZY!! I think in general, I just don't like crowds.... especially crowds that make me feel like they're greedy for something. I'd rather just spend a bit more money, but shop at my own leisure in malls than in outlets. Same thing for buffets... I just don't like seeing people greedy for more food than they can eat just because they're trying to get a good deal (reminds me of the parents who were eating at a buffet in Spirited Away). Nonetheless, I went to LOTTE today and tried to fight the crowd of Chinese people (yes, pretty much only Chinese people) who are buying LOADS of stuff to take back. When I say loads, I mean loads. I mean, there were not bags, but BOXES of them..... like, they bought the entire section of the store or something.

Those are not just boxes in front of a store.... those are boxes for these Chinese people in front of me. Yes, that's right. They bought all that... up to their waist.

I also saw Chinese customers on WeChat who told the employee "don't talk to me, talk to my friend on WeChat. I'm calling her now". OMG....... Or people who stood there for a while talking to the employee because they didn't know how to find their electronic plane tickets. Ah...... It was a jungle.

Oh, and I met the street vendor's "parade" to set up their eatery shops. It looks like they start setting up around 4pm.

After buying all the stuff, I went back, rested a bit, and went to Ewha University to meet my friend's friend.

It is a very pretty university...

(wow, I look so tall!)

I told her that I really don't know how to pick cosmetics, so she took me around Ewha's shopping street and we looked through a few stores. She said she also didn't know much about cosmetics, but she can help me check how these things look on me.

We ended up staying in Innisfree for a loooonng time. It looks like they have some nice and reasonably priced stuff (seriously, I can't tell what's good and what's bad, even now). I do think their nail polish is super cheap though... it's only 3,000 won for most of the bottles! The sales helped me pick out some cosmetics and put some stuff on me... but my friend's friend told me to just wait a day to see if it's really good before I buy it. I'll probably go back tomorrow to finish my shopping spree.

She then took me to this restaurant she said is famous for 나주곰탕 (Naju Soup), she said she likes it better than 설렁탕 (seolleongtang). She said it's made pretty much the same way, except that seolleongtang is made using the pork's bones and this one isn't.

She also taught me how to eat this the Korean way. She first takes out all the meat and put it on the cover of the rice bowl, then dump in all the rice in the soup (she said you do the same for all 국밥, soup rice). Mix it a bit, then take the rice out with the soup and put it back in the bowl. Dip the meat in the sauce, then eat everything with a spoon.

It was a very interesting way of eating it.... I would have eaten everything separately, with chopsticks.

She also ordered two mandoo... they were really good. Also eaten with the sauce.

She then taught me a trick, eating stone pots like this, Korean style. She said that all the food that comes in a stone pot like this (soup stuff) will rest on a wooden stand. When you're almost done with the soup, you just tilt the bowl on the stand, so that you can eat the rest of the food much easily. She also said that Koreans eat really quickly (she was done eating and waiting for me to finish...). She said even though that food was boiling hot, Korean men can finish eating it in 5 minutes. Geez. I thought I was a fast eater.

After dinner, she helped me walk back to the hostel because it was close enough to walk at night to save a few dollars worth of subway fee. I was really thankful for a Korean meal introduced by a local! I would have never known to go to that place, and also wouldn't know the proper way to eat that Korean food!

She said that tomorrow is the first day of summer for Korean (they go by the lunar calendar, and it falls on June 5th), which means that everyone has to eat samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) because it's better for their health in the hot summer day. Which also means that all of the samgyetang restaurants are gonna be PACKED. Joyce and I will try our luck tomorrow....

Oh, and I finally understood what "ade" drinks are in Korea. They're really big on these "ade" kind of drinks in the summer.... lemonade, grapefruitade, strawberryade.... I thought it just means they add lemonade to everything. Wrong. They add carbonated water (more like 7-up, which they call cider) to the juice. I love it! I really like the fizz with the sugar/flavor. Mmm....

And the drama I've been watching recently aired their new episode today. Wow.... watching the drama on live TV! So exciting! And I'm glad to say, I can understand pretty much 85% of the episode without caption!! (Are You a Human? is the name of the drama)

Of course, it really is because that I've been following it so I know the story development, so even without caption, I can guess what they are saying even when I may not know some of the words. And also because the words they use in this type of drama is not very hard. If this were a law drama, doctor drama, or dramas with very specific terms, I would have been totally lost. Nonetheless, I'm glad that I'm improving!

Since Joyce and I didn't spend the day together, she's gonna be a guest writer today to talk about her day!

Joyce's Day:
Woke up close to noon due to staying up late watching the World Cup final, which was so fun and exciting due to Ann's commentary.  =)  Went to catch the bus to the bookstore. Today was book shopping and reading day. 

Bookstore #1: Seoul Selection.  Cozy and quiet.  I lingered for probably an hour and a half, partly browsing and partly avoiding the heat outside.  Got 3 books: Please Look After Mom, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, and Under the Same Sky.  All 3 by Korean authors.  Onward to bookstore #2: What the Book.  Got lost getting to the bus stop, but overall I really like the public transportation system in Seoul.  What the Book was a lot bigger than Seoul Selection and had many more books.  They had a pretty good selection of used books too.  =)  Ended up getting 2 more books there: The Vegetarian and Hope's Edge.  More books than I'll be able to read in the time I'm here, but I will try! 

Went to a cafe down the street from the bookstore called Hell Cafe (ironically, it was freezing cold inside, which was a great incentive for me to stay).  Iced caramel macchiato... very yum.  Read and allowed sweat to evaporate.  Felt good. 

Took the subway back to Hongdae, and walked around Hongdae looking for a place to eat.  All these people were out picnicking in the park, so I stopped to sit on a bench and people watch.  Also continued reading.  Very relaxing.  Also less hot, but still hot. 

Then when it got too dark to read, I got some popcorn chicken and tater tots from a street stall.  Tater tots.  =)  Then....haha I ended up going to Coffee Bean!  I said I was only going to go to Korean cafes but this one was near home and big and cold and allowed people to stay and read for hours on end so it was kinda perfect.  Thank you Ann for letting me chime in on your blog!  =)