A Korean "Five"... some first impressions and observations

Well, since it already feels like i've been here for MONTHS thinking about all the stuff i've seen, tried, and experienced in the past 14 days, i thought i would try to organize my thoughts a little and post this as a "top five".. er... well not really a "top", i suppose. Let's just call it a "five" :)
So, here's five things about my first week(s) in Seoul, South Korea:

1) Everyone lied to me about what they DON'T have here: South Korea HAS EVERYTHING, or at least Seoul does. Chocolate, shower curtains, tampons, thongs, bigger sizes of clothes, kraft dinner, EVERYTHING. and anything you can't find in your local grocery store (where you can find pretty much everything) ---such as super-american snack foods and things of that nature--they have at Costco!! We went last week, and although during Seoul rush-hour the ten-minute cab ride took us a full hour, I think it was worth the trip. Sara and Kelly got some really cute out-of-the-ordinary snacks for their kids' SLP christmas parties on Friday. I bought two massive bottles of Kirkland Signature "all purpose moisturizing lotion", sketchy, i know, but for some reason the only lotion I have been able to find is a $23 bottle of imported Aveeno--which I don't even like that much at home where it's $7, let alone for more than double the price. I haven't seen sheets or towels yet, or deodorant (though I havent looked since i brought more than a year's supply).

2) Itaewon: A short trip to Itaewon, the foreigners area of Seoul, last week was a little less exciting than I expected. Super touristy, and all overpriced. They had a lot of BAaaaddd looking knockoffs of the weirdest stuff that you'd never find at home--tons of fake like... Dooney and Bourke, and Ralph Lauren and Anne Klein and brands like that--weird! But obviously a lot of fake Coach, Gucci, Prada, Chanel and the typical ones as well. Lisa Barbieri (shout outs pickering high!!) was looking for a medium-sized purse, and I was looking for a bigger bag, but everything was just WAY overpriced for what it was. Like, I'm sorry, but im not going to pay $80 for a plastic knockoff of a bag I could get at a Coach outlet at home for only a little more. Especially after seeing how the Chinese do fakes on Canal Street in New York last Easter--I was not impressed. That said, there was a lot of cute souvenier-y Korean stuff--beautiful mother of pearl inset hand mirrors and jewelry boxes, tons of amazing amathyst jewelry, and many other very "Korean" items, so i think it would be worth a trip back near the end of my stay here, or maybe for presents to send home.

3) Oh! and I got that citron tea that I tried at Aunt Sandra's house before i left in Itaewon--as delicious as I remember. It's like orange peels (or possibly the peels of some fruit called a "citron" which I have yet to actually see whole) marinating in honey in what looks like a jam jar. You add a teaspoon to boiling water and voila! orange-tasting sweet tea! I love it. and with flu season in full swing, the vitamin C will hopefully help me fight it off a bit. Other than that stuff-- Koreans don't drink tea!! Well, i shouldn't say they DON'T, but i expected a lot more i think. Tea is apparently a Chinese/Japanese thing. Here the only tea I've been able to find in mass quantities is this stuff with corn cobs on the box--and considering i've never seen it served anywhere, i don't trust it yet.

4) They seem to be really into coffee though, and I've been having Americanos from the local Paris Baguette most mornings. At $2,500 won, they don't come cheap, and without cream, I have taken to having my coffee black-- but they are definitely nessessary to wake up in the morning. they also have a CRAPLOAD of bottled and canned coffee beverages like those Frappucinos from starbucks that you can get back home (in fact they sell those too), and they also love Nescafe-esque coffee "powders". However, as I know from Elisse aka miss coffee-obsessed, there is NOT NEARLY ENOUGH caffeine in that stuff to do anything effective, and most of the canned ones are powder or syrup-based, so they aren't too exciting. BUT, you can get them hot in this little like "hot fridge" in all convenience stores--which is cool. AND, there is a surprising amount of stuff here for under a dollar (1000 won). Many of those coffee drinks are like 80 cents, and most vending machines have stuff in them that costs like... 30 cents. wooo hoooooooo!

3) Korean Sushi: It's called "Kimbap", and it is tasty!! Essentially it is 'futomaki' from back home, but with spam and like... other stuff in it. I get something called "chim chee kimbap" which has like tuna salad in it. It basically tastes like a tuna sandwich (the pickled radishes in the kimbap reminiscent of the sweet pickles you put in tuna salad), mixed with sushi. aka: AWESOME. and it's super-filling, quick to grab and go, and costs a mere $2. I am set for life. Everyone at the school says they kind of got turned off of it because that's the lunch they pack for field trips and it is always like warm and squished by the time you eat it... but I haven't had that yet!!

4) Adventures in food: I have had more mexican in Korea so far than I had in MONTHS back home--and it's delicious! Dos Tacos for Kelly G's birthday on Thursday, Dos Tacos in Hongdae last Thursday after some brutally freezing outdoor shopping, and Les Amigos Burritos in Itaewon with Lisa last Sunday. That aside, I've had Korean food for everything else (ooh! except last night christmas eve tradition of Chinese food, but that experience could be described by this as well.... --> ) Everywhere you go to eat out has menus written only in Korean. Luckily I have gone out with Kelly quite a bit, who happens to take Korean lessons and understands some of the writing, but other than that--everything is pretty much a crapshoot. Since I'm not too picky, I have been pleasantly surprised by pointing to random items and getting a surprise meal... Kimbap I have actually learned to say thanks to Kelly, and honestly, the lady just says "cham chee kimbap" when I walk in the door now... (i;m a regular i guess). But one thing is true--they love pickled stuff. Every meal comes with at the very least a plate of kim chi (fermented spicy cabbage), most also come with some kind of broth-based soup, and often you'll get something else thrown in, like these yellow pickled radishes, or cucumbers, or a little salad, or shrimp chips, or... something. They all eat with metal chopsticks--which is new, but i'm no stranger to chopsticks, so it's fine-and big long-handled metal spoons. I love the Korean food book from my Aunt Sandra that just says over and over and over "Korean Food--Pleasing to the Eyes and Mouth"... but it really is!

5) Shopping: So far the most exciting shopping trip I have been on was with Sara to the Express Bus Terminal "subway shopping". It is essentially a tiny hallway... well, two tiny hallways, probably like a 3 kilometre underground loop of like, street stalls of clothing, purses, shoes, boutiques and all kinds of stuff. Like junk for sale as far as the eye can see. Korean sizing is... ridiculous, triple zero, double zero and zero. I walked into this one store and the lady was all excited -- we have size 80!!--obviously acknowledging my bigness. HA! it was MAaaaayybe a Canadian small, or a really tiny medium. That SAID, a lot of the clothes are "One size", which sounds sketchy, but most Korean style can be summed up by the image at the left: leggings (one size--they literally stretch forever), something big and droopy on top (one size--and made of literally the strangest assortment of fabric I have ever seen, but never cotton), and a plethora of cutesy accessories (mainly over-the-top headbands, furballs, or ENORMOUS scarves right now). I think Rebca would love it here--because a lot of it is her kind of vintage-flowy kind of chic outfits. The other things is: there are NO BRANDS ON ANYTHING, except for the BIG brands, but that is mostly purses from what i've seen so far. Like every store looks like a winners or.. well more like a Goodwill. A lot of REAL weird tacky sweaters and furry godawful things... but definitely cool in a way, and different. and a TON, like i mean TON of fur everywhere. Probably 1 in 4 people on the subway is either wearing a fur coat, a fur scarf, or a fur vest. So... yeah, Rebecca, come here you baby seal killer, you.