Day 3
Tuesday June 17th
On Tuesday we went to the Blue House, Cheong Wa Dae. This is their equivalent of the White House. The grounds were beautiful.
After touring the Blue House, we split off into 2 groups. One group went to Insadong- a tradtional looking Korean shopping area while the other group went to Apujeong Station.
In Korea, you can get these awesome perms called 'digital perms.' Sometimes they're called settings. They don't make your hair into tight curls like regular perms- they give you loose ringlets or waves just at the bottom. It looked super fly but I didn't end up getting one.
Day 3 I had a close to a total melt down- but in the end, had to laugh at myself..
I had to buy new underoos that afternoon due to a series of unfortunate events. Don't get the wrong idea- nothing obscene but it was important to buy new underoos and it had to be that afternoon.
I walked in and out of many clothing stores. They had ridiculous t-shirts with English writing that make English speakers think, "I'm not sure that is what you want to say." Examples: "Do Not Enter." and "Why is you so fussy?"- but no underoos.
But alas, I see a Victoria's Secret! Aha! I go inside and see a pair I like. I look at the price tag.
Converting Korean Won to US Dollars is easy. 1,000 won= 1 US Dollar.
I am thinking, "Wow $4.80? That's kind of low but maybe they're cheaper here."
I was wrong.
I go up to the cashier and hand her the underoos.
She looks at me and immediately starts speaking English.
"This is your size? Small?" She says to me with disbelief.
"Yup."
"Hmm, ok..." she looks at me again with a quizzical look, "That will be $48."
I clear my throat and dig deeper into my purse.
"It is more expensive here because we do not have many stores," she says.
I try to play it off like, "Oh, no problem. $48??? That's a steal!"
I can't back out now. In her eyes, I am the dumb American who doesn't speak Korean and is spending $48 on underwear I am too fat for. I have to commit.
I leave the store and find the nearest Starbucks. A sign of home. Anything to reconnect me to the idea that I am not an incompetent douche bag.
Inside the bathroom there was a woman basically acting like the Starbucks restroom was her own personal dressing room...I'm not sure what was going on there- but she says to me, "Hi! Where are you from? Are you Japanese?"
No goddammit, I'm Korean...I came to this country to finally be in a sea of people who look like me, to finally blend in, and I'm sticking out like a sore thumb.
She was very sweet. She ended up telling me she owned an American restaurant down the street that sold pizza and pasta. I asked the name of the restaurant and she didn't know but wanted to give me the phone number...I think something got lost in translation.
After that, I ended up going back to the hair salon, one of the girls couldn't get her hair done. The people at the hairdresser told her they couldn't perm her hair because it was dyed.
We had both had frustrating days so we went for a beer. We walked down the street and ended up at a place called "The Coreanos" by accident. I realized I accidentally chose the MOST American restaurant I could find in the neighborhood. It was a bunch of hot dudes from LA serving tex mex. Whatever. I had a beer, new underoos, and bonded with my friend.
Life is weird.
That night I went home to my homestay family.
I hung out with my host brother who was 24. We had bulgogi and bean sprout soup and soju.
After dinner, we drove out to where my host mother worked.
This shopping cart measures how far you've walked and how many calories you have burned.
The other photo is of the American Food aisle at their grocery store. As you can see, it is Mexican food, chocolate syrup, jam, Campbell's soup, and maple syrup. Yes kids, only the healthy stuff.
After getting home, my host father made dessert.
Here is the recipe:
1/2 watermelon scooped out in chunks with a spoon
1 liter of sprite
sugar
ice
Mix in a big bowl and eat it like soup.
It was a heavenly way to end a weird, weird day.
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