Shopping Mall Fun

This is one big fish!

Yesterday I was supposed to meet another adoptee who is from Houston and we were going to go to lunch. I rode the subway to the spot and waited. She was running late, so we didn't connect, but I still wandered into the e-Mart. Not sure what the "e" stands for, but what a place. It's funny but she was commenting on when she's meeting new people it's difficult because we blend in...not like in the States where if we'd have shown up at the mall, we would have been the only Asians. The only way I don't blend is that neither of my coats that I brought with me are black...one is light blue, the other is lime green. They definitely stand out.

The mall is at least seven stories tall. When you first walk in it looks like a normal department store. It's not until you start walking around that you realize that it's almost like a flea market with lots of individual vendors set up. Each of them follows you around to "help" which is always uncomfortable. I figured out a way to put an end to that...just ask them questions in English...they shake their heads and back off. LOL It worked in most cases.

There was an information desk and I was looking for something specific. The girl (I say girl, because everyone looks soooo young, including her!) spoke English and suggested I go to a different floor. So, onto the elevator and down two levels, and I stepped into the Korean version of Trader Joe's or Costco! It was a huge supermarket with everything you could possibly imagine. There were ladies standing at nearly every aisle giving samples of foods. There was a huge produce section, people jostling about getting what they wanted. There was the requisite meat section too with lots of fish on display...some of it smoked, some of it alive, some of it frozen. And the picture above is of the huge fish on a table in the same place as the other ladies were giving samples. No one was sampling it, but I'd never seen such a big fish at a grocery store before.

Their shopping baskets are strange too...they roll sideways. It's the weirdest thing. Lots of families shopping together, it seemed, and like Costco, everyone was going for the samples. I got some yogurt (for breakfast or snack), some bananas and a small box of brownies. I say small because once I got it home, I realized the brownies were individually wrapped, and there were only four of them, each only about 1 1/2" square. I was obligated to eat more than one immediately. The yogurt flavors all seem fine except concord grape coco. I was curious last night so I opened it. It was grape flavored, and had some sort of chewy thing in the yogurt, bleah. I'll try to give that one away. LOL

I didn't make it to any of the other floors of shopping, but I imagine I will wander back another day. On the ground floor was a McDonalds! It was the busiest most crowded McDonalds I've ever seen. The lines were at least six people deep, and at least six lines wide. They have fun things like shrimp burgers, bulgogi burgers (bulgogi is bbq beef), shanghai chicken (which is our spicy chicken, I think). I got my usual cheeseburger and fry. Their ketchup tastes funny...too sweet. The cheeseburger was just a regular, American cheeseburger. Yay.

So, back to the guest house, to put away my yogurt, and then I wandered over to the Hongdae shopping area, where on Saturdays they have sidewalk sales. It reminded me of the Strand (if you're from Texas), or the streets of New Orleans, or a super busy Lincoln Park area (if you're from Chicago). It's near Hongik University, so there are lots of student-aged people, and lots of shoe shops, clothing stores, karaoke bars (very popular here), restaurants, etc. And most buildings have stores/restaurants up at least two or three stories. So you can imagine the congestion. It was fun to walk around and be an observer. Whenever you step into a shop, you are always greeted with an "ann yong has eyo", which is hello/good morning/good evening, and a mouthful! Some of the shops are no larger than the shed in our back yard.

Well, today I am going to the DMZ on a tour. It was definitely on my "list" of things to do while I am here. I'm going as part of a "tour," as you cannot go by yourself. We have to bring our passports for a security check. There will be an audio portion, a tour of Tunnel #3, etc., so a report and more pictures to come.