I love the subway.

I'm sure you've all heard of the terrible driving that takes place in Korea. And trust me, it's pretty bad. Cars cutting each other off with inches to spare, making completely illegal U-turns, parking where there really isn't a spot, more cutting off with inches to spare, etc. But they're surprisingly good parkers. 

Every time you go into a parking lot, you notice that they always park head out. It's never (well, rarely), head in. They always back into a spot. I'm guessing it's so that they can get out more quickly and because then you can see if a car is whizzing around the corner and about to hit you as you pull out. Very interesting. 

I went to a Home Plus for the first time. Think a really compact department store for cheap, like a Wal-Mart. 

Korea does not have Wal-Mart. Because Wal-Mart pulled out. That's right. Korea defeated Wal-Mart (Click here for a NY Times story). My cousin's husband explained to me that Wal-Mart didn't connect with Korean shoppers. They had a sprawling store with high ceilings, sort of in the American style, but Koreans didn't like it. They prefer the compact, multi-layered store. But yeah. Koreans are tough to please, apparently. 

On Sunday, after church, we went to Lotte Department Store again. Now last time I told you it was this gigantic department store. It's also attached to a giant hotel. And it has its own amusement park inside. And it has something I didn't know existed until yesterday — a folk museum. Not like an art gallery. But like a museum with replicas of buildings. What the heck. And inside the "museum," there are restaurants. Not a restaurant. Plural. So we ate at one of these.

This was my lunch. Rice, veggies, and spicy squid. SO SPICY. SO GOOD. I love that stuff. 

This was my dessert. I don't know how to explain it. It's like hardened sugar, but not crumbly. It's like hardened caramel but not chewy either. 

This is part of one of the replicas. Cool lighting, eh?

Me and Hyunjoo in front of a store replica. 

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Eventually I went out on my own to try to find this other church, so I took the subway for the first time since I got here. Man, last time I went out less than an hour after I moved into my dorm, but this time it took me 4 days. This is the Seoungnae subway station. It's one of the rare outdoor ones.

So I never actually found the church (long story), but it was fun walking around for 45 minutes around small stores, apartment buildings, 5 other churches, and tons of schools. So I'll end this entry here. Miss you guys!

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

The rest of Thursday

I'm sorry if you guys are turned off by my super long blog posts. But that's why I have pictures and you can just scroll down and look at those. Yay! 

So after I left you yesterday, I got lunch with my cousin (who is Hyunjoo's mom, not Hyunjoo. I have no idea what that makes her, but whatever) and her mother (Hyunjoo's grandmother) at this sushi place. 

So basically we sat in this little room that had heated seats and a door for privacy. And WOW there was a lot of food. We had at least 10 dishes come through that door, including tempura, some buttery mushroom dish, something with fish intestines that was the best thing I've ever eaten, and lots and lots of raw fish. 

The picture on the left was taken after we were done eating and we were leaving. Scroll down for some pictures of the 음식.

Afterward we went to the Lotte Department Store. It's huge. Really huge. It's like 11 or 12 stories of crammed shelves, racks and everything else. I'm picture happy. So sue me.

The "home" floor. Lookit all the shiny!

How many bored salesmen can you spot?

The Korean economy is very service-based (and low wages). So whenever you go to any store, get ready for a salesperson to pounce on you and ask you what you want, even if you have no idea. In America, they're easy to ignore and the more or less leave you alone, but in Korea they're following your every move. Hence, they scare the heck out of me.

All of the bored husbands are chilling at the expresso bar.

I love lamp.

Eventually, we left and the three of us went to this GIANT farmer's market. GIANT. Like football fields giant. We went to the seafood part because the moms wanted to make me 게장 (geh-jang), which is this really delicious raw spicy crab. So. Good. So we went and got hounded by all these crazy ladies who wanted us to buy from their stalls. I basically just stood around and took pictures, like these. 

 

Yes, that's sea cucumber in the middle. And live octopi!

We also went to the fruit one and bought persimmons and strawberries, but I'll save that for a Facebook album (aren't you excited?????).

Afterward we picked up my cousin from 학원 (hakwon), which is like tutoring/afterschool/torture, and I knocked out. When I woke up, I had 게장 and I was freaking happy. Then I went back to sleep. 

After I eat brunch, I'll update you about this morning. Love love <3