Huh?

Browsing the shops at my local underground market, I spied what I thought was the most poorly designed sweatshirt around:

A few hours later, this gem stood out from the others:

And a stone's throw away, we found this one (shown with my friend Deyne):

PS - let me know if you want me to pick one/all of them up for you.

#146

Another thing I haven't seen in the US: small, unattended kids waiting for the bus.

Something...

...I've noticed here that would never fly in the US: they rarely use car seats. Once you pick your jaw up off the floor I'll mention a few more things I've noticed, because carseatlessness is just one of many somethings that probably wouldn't fly in the US. It's probably #45.

Put some groceries on it

Prior to November of 2010, hardly any of these questions crossed my mind. In those simpler times, I didn't ever wonder which type of mayonnaise to buy (without any help from nutritional information or elaborations on the names). There's even a third option: "Gold." What to do what to dooooooo?

Visiting grocery stores while traveling has always been a treat for me. I love discovering bottles of wine for one Euro in Spain, cute half-loaves of bread in England, shelf after shelf of delicious chocolate in Germany and colorful cartons of juice in Thailand. But it's one thing to be charmed and amused by new offerings while on vacation and another situation entirely when you've got to navigate the shops to keep yourself alive for a year. I've made many timid visits to stores and markets of all shapes and sizes in recent months, and maybe my experiences can help someone else (*cough* Nathan) know what to expect.

Markets & Street Sellers
There is an abundance of proper outdoor (but covered) markets open year-round, but weather permitting, people also set up shop on the sidewalks all over the place. One can find seasonal fruit and vegetables, dried fish, frozen fish, grains, eggs, nuts and more. I liked how Luke put it when he visited: "It's like the farmers market. But all the time. And everywhere." Some sellers seem a bit more reputable than others, what with tables and signs and clean clothes. Others seem a bit more sketchy, so I asked a co-worker if it's ok to buy from them. He cautioned me that the produce might be from China, which is not good. He told me to see if other people buy from the person, and if they do, it should be okay. I've snagged some delicious and cheap fruit on the street, but once what I thought was a great deal ($1 for a huge bag of salad greens!) turned out to be some of the most disgusting stuff I'd ever ingested. Hit or miss, story of my life.

Grocery Stores
Because everything's not available in the street, sometimes an actual store comes in handy. I've frequented three sizes: Small, where there are only three or four aisles, the pickings are slim, and the shopkeeper might get to know you (and your habit of bringing your own bag or sticking your items into your big purse); and Medium, where there might be as many as fifteen aisles, there's greater variety and sometimes free samples, and there's probably a guy in the produce section yelling about the deals of the day into a microphone (which is broadcast throughout the store and also the sidewalk outside of the store). Here's a video example of this fun feature:

Then there's Large, where the signs and packaging usually have English and there are often dozens of samples to gobble up. On a few early trips I hesitantly picked up bits of dumplings and pastries with green toothpicks, fearful I'd be reprimanded for only snacking and not shopping. But after a lady boxed out a crowd of five or ten samplers to scarf down several pieces of a Korean cinnamon sugar pancake, I realized nobody cares. So with each visit I eat the same bites of tofu and chicken nugget, down the same tiny cups of instant coffee and drinkable yogurt, grab a handful of the same peanuts, and never buy any of these perpetually-featured items.

1+1

It's not just an incomplete math problem (which was my first guess). My friend Alison was nice enough to point out that this is the Korean equivalent of buy one, get one free. Or in some cases it's 2+1 (less exciting) or 5+1 (much less exciting).

Service

Service (or sohbissuh in Korean) means free! One of my favorite parts of going shopping is scanning the shelves to see what kind of service items have been taped onto boxes, bags or cans. Yes, taped. Just plain old packaging tape. No messing around with codes, or coupons, or mail-in-rebates. Sometimes it's something sensible, like two extra cartons of yogurt with your four-pack. Or an additional tiny box of cereal with your regular-sized box, or a baby bib with your carton of baby yogurt. Others make a little less sense but are still awesome.

• Buy a huge bag of instant coffee packets, get a neck pillow.
• Buy an eight-pack of beer, get two cans of tuna.
• Buy a box of cereal, get a frisbee (or DVD, or fuzzy socks, or special crafting scissors).

And perhaps my favorite: buy a jar of spaghetti sauce, get a roll of paper towels.

Other observations:

• Hardly any peanut butter to be found (especially when compared to a Minnesota store, below left), but seaweed and soy sauce options are endless.
• Save some money by buying your vegetables dirty!
• Canned food isn't so common; offerings usually only include corn, pineapple, bamboo shoots, and peaches.
• Creepiest brand name: 마더스핑거 (Mother's Finger)

So that's what I've noticed as I've wandered around stores, looking for things like eggs (they're by the vegetables?!), or spicy mustard (it's near the pepper, not by the regular mustard). Of course, just when I get the hang of things, it's almost time to leave.

Two for Tuesday

Students' t-shirts, pencil cases and notebooks are endless sources of confusion, entertainment, and sometimes even motivation. Today I'll highlight two lovely fifth-graders' notebooks.

First an excellent geography lesson, courtesy of Stacey:


And this happened:

   (To minimize squinting...)

Tight Spaces

My brief trip to the US in May/June, especially its long drives across expanses of mid-western states, reminded me of how tiny my adopted country is. The Internet told me that South Korea is slightly larger than Indiana, a state home to roughly 6.5 million. Korea's population? About 48.8 million. 

With so many people crammed onto a peninsula, it's no wonder the traffic sucks, the smog is terrible, hi-rise apartments stretch out as far as the eye can see, and the sewage system definitely leaves something to be desired (even when all those bathroom users remember to put their toilet paper in the trash bin). On the other hand, the public transportation is pretty remarkable, many places are open 24 hours, there are about nine million restaurants and coffee shops to try, and people get pretty inventive with how to best utilize the limited space they do have.

Why waste the space between two buildings? Put a vending machine in it! That tiny bit of land between the porta pottie and the driveway? Perfect for growing some corn.

Some days you might step out of your apartment to find a blanket on which a neighbor is drying chili peppers. Or you may find the landing by the elevator has temporarily become home to a tarp covered with mysterious, pea-sized brown balls. Well done, Korea.

Interesting Feedback

Summer English Camp was a ton of fun and hardly seemed like work. The students were really responsive to my attempts to be an energetic teacher, and they were enthusiastic about the material and activities I chose. But I'm not sure how they see me as a person. The newest portraits (on white board this time) are pretty different from how they thought I looked in May.

Jennifer thinks I have huge eyes and a club hand (she got the big forehead right),
Becky thinks I'm a good winker with some extra fingers, and Dana thinks I resemble a gnome.

The drawings were confusing, but this white board contribution made my day. I swear I didn't tell/ask/bribe her to write that.

Thanks, Lucy!

This Scale is Bored

My scale's box tried to tell me the details of how it operates, but the English translation was getting a little wordy. Anyway, here's what it says:
All weights are approximate having been rounded up or down to the nearest whole number.

Anyway, we guarantee accuracy within +/- 1% + 1 division of applied weight.

Photo Update

Who loves Korea? My friend Song and I do!!!
Slowly but surely, I'm getting a little better at updating Facebook with photos from my life here in the future. Many are repeats from the blog, but you can still take a peek here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023096&id=146100645&l=93e8a8dde9

Month One Mysteries

My first month in Koreatown has already drawn to a close. I'm getting better at remembering to put my toilet paper in the bin next to the toilet, not in the toilet. I'm fumbling my chopsticks less. I know some bus routes. I'm working on my language skills. I'm meeting some people. And yet many things are still perplexing. Here are some mysteries I might one day understand:

Why are there three North American outlets in my apartment? And why was a brand new single-serving French press travel mug tucked away into the cupboard that houses the pipes and things for the stove?

Who put these apples on a blanket on the sidewalk and then left them unattended? And how do they taste?

Who keeps having a cigarette party in the stairwell of my apartment? I find these 1/5-smoked cigarettes on the stairs many mornings.

Why would a little girl use a pay phone? Don't they all have cell phones?

Who makes up these weird chants and dances that I have to learn and perform in front of students over and over and over again?

First Thursday

Smile fail.

Christmas card spoiler alert! I had to go to a photo shop yesterday because all the passport-sized pictures I brought from America were too big to use on my Alien Registration Card application. For about $10 I got a handful of teeny plain pictures, plus two of these larger, airbrushed beauties with a flowery pink border. Act surprised if it shows up in your mailbox next month.

* Awesome outfit of the day: 5th grade girl - pink hooded sweatshirt dress with a picture of a dog and the words "Hi happy dog. Choose Joy!"

* Awesome development of the day: New Potential Friend Alison. She works near me, she's from Canada, she's been here seven months, and was kind enough to show me around the city for a few hours. We shared a sweet potato donut, wandered through a market, and she told me she can show me where to buy cheese. A smashing turn of events, thanks to Facebook.