Saturday, August 14, 2010

Shopping mayham and more....

It is about our 4th day out and we are still here. Extremely confused and astounded, but still here and loving it! No desires to hop on the next jet stateside yet, even with an injury that caused much stir and panic.

No, no one is in the hospital (thank goodness) but there was a bit of blood and screaming involved. Joseph got his toes trapped in the glass doors at the pool/gym in our building yesterday. Don't worry, he is alright. No digits lost. Our gym attendant was quite helpful despite the language barrier and I hope she is not too worried or upset, as she seemed to be genuinely concerned for Joseph.

But, I get ahead of myself. have to update everyone as to our newest adventures.

On our second day out David and Taek went to the local grocery store/everything store to get some food and find a bunk bed for the kids. They came back with a table and 4 dining chairs, a bunk bed, a pillow and pillowcase (for me because of allergies), and various food stuffs to last us at least until the next day. David also regaled the experience of shopping in Korea. It is EXPENSIVE!!! Well, not that bad, but I will get to that later. We then went out for dinner with Taek and his family. We walked to a little restaurant not too far from our building and had a wonderful meal. I was full before we even made it through half the dinner (Korean side dishes are plentiful and come with the meal). Joseph however, slept through the meal. We are still battling jet lag and time switch. Ruthie is about set to Korean time, but the rest of us are still waking up and sleeping at goofy hours. We then went back home to try to get to sleep. Unfortunately, Joseph woke up and did not go to bed until 12:00 AM. Ugh!

The next day we (being David, the kids, and I) took the free shuttle from DMC Ville to the shopping complex. The store that we chose is a giant amalgam of grocery store, department store, home store all in one located in the World Cup soccer stadium. The store is called Homeplus and it is huge!!! I guess that can be expected for a store located in a stadium that once hosted the World Cup. This store was fun! It was packed as though half of the city's population was there. It was noisy with Koreans searching for various goods and extremely colorful. The down side to all of this is that I couldn't figure out 1/16 of the things I was purchasing. I simply had to guess by the packaging. I did end up getting it right on most things, but I accidentally bought 2 packages of paper towels (it was 1 + 1 day) instead of toilet paper. My only worry was that my peanut allergy might be a hassle to deal with, but I figure if I ask my friend who is coming over today I should be fine. As far as cost, only if you wanted to by American or meat, the cost was relatively close to US prices. The reason David was so set back, I found out later, was that he bought the items that are expensive here...those being grapes and bedding. The furniture was actually less expensive here. I did have a bit of a run in when I asked for help a couple of times and was answered in Korean. Though I clearly stated my question in English and that I didn't speak Korean, they still answered me in Korean. Luckily, I remembered enough of my Korean to understand that one lady was telling me 1 item was being purchased. I wanted to roam longer, but our bus was to pick us up 2 hours after drop off.

Well, I am about to head out for coffee, as we don't have a coffee maker yet. I can't function too well without my morning cup o'joe. I apologize to all if this entry seems a bit random and jumbled.



NEXT: School starts! (No really, it starts tomorrow!)



Random Pictures
 
Can you guess which on is the light switch? It's the second one in from the right. Now can you guess which button turns the light on?


The toilet beeps everytime you sit down. I keep forgetting this so I sometimes think the phone is ringing or someone is at the door or it is my cell phone.


On the B2 level of our apartment complex is a kid's room with a neat playstructure in it. Could you imagine having one of these in your basement?
 
 
 
This is Joseph pre injury.
 
 



There is also a driving range on this same level. The pool, gym, and sauna are one floor up.


Putting range.


There are about 7 of these ranges and golf clubs are provided.



Here is one of our purchases from yesterday...2 mediam loaft pans. Read it. It really says that!! I love Korean to English translations.
 
 
 

2 comments:

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  2. I'm glad you guys made it safe! We miss you guys already and are enjoying reading your blog. Have fun and good luck adjusting!

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