TGIF

So even though this blog is about my life in Korea, I should definitely talk more about Korea itself. Today was a pretty crazy day in many respects.

1. Today was the funeral of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, who was the first Korean cardinal. Interesting fact: According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, During student demonstrations in 1987 the late cardinal he gave refuge to student activists. "He brazenly told the government: 'If the police break into the cathedral, I will be in the very front. Behind me, there will be reverends and nuns. After we are wrestled down, there will be students,' according to his website." Read more about the funeral here.

2. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited South Korea today as part of her tour of Asia. Clinton mostly talked about North Korea and how it should stop making missile threats. She also ensured South Korea that the U.S. alliance with the country is strong . She also received a Korean name, crazy yes? According to the article, it's a gesture of friendship and goodwill.

3. Yellow Dust. 황사 (hwangsah). Click on that link, dude. It's scary. Basically it's a heavy wind that comes from Manchuria and the Gobi Desert in China. And it not only carries dust, but POLLUTION. Yes, China is polluting the world. Apparently if conditions are right, the contaminated air even hits the United States. So this morning when we were driving, I discovered that what I thought was mist wasn't really mist. The air was tinged yellow with this Yellow Dust. Awesome. Apparently it only happens in the spring, which is why people who go during the summer don't really mention it.

What harmful chemicals, you ask?
Sulphur (an acid rain component), soot, ash, carbon monoxide, and other toxic pollutants including heavy metals (such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, lead, zinc, copper) and other carcinogens, often accompany the dust storms, as well as viruses, bacteria, fungi, pesticides, antibiotics, asbestos, herbicides, plastic ingredients, combustion products as well as hormone mimicking phthalates.

Owned :(

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OKAY! Now back to the stuff you guys care about =>

PICTURES

So after a very lazy morning where all I did was post blog stuff, I went out to go shopping with Hyunjoo's mom and grandma. We went to 남대문 (Namedamun), which translates to Great South Gate/Door. AKA lots of cheap shopping.

Here are pictures of some of the underground shops there. They had everything from dishes to rugs to jade necklaces to... EVERYTHING.





AND THEN we had lunch in this secret food alleyway. Basically you walk into this tented area and on both sides of you there are food booths. They all sell pretty much the same thing, so all the food ladies start yelling at you to come sit at their booth. AKA really intimidating.

Eventually we sat at this little booth. So good. We had free 비빔냉면 (bibim naengmyun), which is cold buckwheat noodles drenched in spicy sweet sauce, and I had 칼국수 (kalguksoo), which is this noodle made from ... flour and egg? Anyway, PICTURES.

And then we started to walk back to our car. Here are some of the shops above the ground.



In addition, I also got a little tour of some of the buildings in the area.



This is the old Bank of Korea, which has now been converted to a museum (there is a new one, but it's not as cool looking).


This is the giant Post Office headquarters. The building is supposed to represent wings which transport your messages everywhere. Cool, eh?

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And for all zero of you who asked me where the pictures of myself are, here's one!



IT WAS SUPER COLD (remember snow in the morning?), so I was lucky I got to wear Hyunjoo's mom's jacket and I bought a cute scarf. I also bought cute earrings for cheap. YAY!

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Final thoughts:
1. Since we drove to 남대문, we needed to find parking. AND IT TOOK US 30 MINUTES. So many cars. In any case, I noticed that Hyunjoo's mom turned on her emergency lights when we were in the lot, and a lot of other people did too. So I asked why, and I learned that people who are in a lot and want to find parking will turn on their emergency blinkers to let the parking attendants + other drivers know that they're looking for a spot. See? Learn something new every day.

2. CARS CAN BE PARKED WHILE THEY ARE IN NEUTRAL. Yeah, read that again. So like I alluded to above, parking is a headache in Korea, so people double park. A lot of times people leave their phone numbers on the windshield of the other car if they know they can be back in a jiffy. But what if you're planning to be shopping all day? In that case, park your car in NEUTRAL and the people who are blocked by your car can push your car a little in some direction so that they can get out. I knew Korea was ridiculous, but this blew my mind. I still can't get over it.

3. HyunJoo is at her 학원 (hakwon). Not a big deal? IT'S 9:20 P.M.!!!!!!! She has it from 8-10:30 p.m. RIDICULOUS. I'm letting my kids watch TV, probably documentaries.

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One more thing

So one of my favorite Korean foods is 게장, like I mentioned before. We had it again for breakfast so I took pictures. Enjoy!

heavenly

k toodles