Yangdong Market (양동시장)- Gwangju

Stephanie and I went to check out Gwangju's most famous market last Saturday, Yangdong Market. It's very convenient to get to as it's close to U-Square bus terminal, and it's also on the subway line. This market has been around for years, and an article in the Gwangju News Magazine showed a picture from the market back in the 70's. Things have changed architecturally, but I'm sure what they were selling back then is very similar to what we saw!

We first began by buying Stephanie some socks. Korean women like to wear socks that are made out of nylon, especially at school. Gotta keep your feet sanitary while wearing those community slippers!

Next, we found ourselves in the midst of the action. Fish, chicken, fruit, vegetables, kimchi, basically anything your heart desired. Some of the fish looked excellent, and the prawns were huge!



It always seems that at traditional markets such as Yangdong, they seem to sell everything in bulk, and that the vendor has enough to supply a small army. For example, how does he sell all this garlic?!



We also some some things that were a bit unsettling, so don't scroll down if you don't like seeing bizarre animals or parts! Don't say I didn't warn you!





Pigs heads and frogs- now that's something I'll have to go back for!

These are my new running shoes. If you think they look masculine, that's because they are.

I've been doing a lot of running in this past month, about 5 times a week. The other day I noticed while I was out, that my foot was really starting to bother me. When I finished, I took of my socks and shoes... I had a blister! I was suprised that I'd worn a hole in both of my shoes from all the running.

I went downtown Sunday afternoon and picked these up at ABC Mart. The salesman had good English, and told me there were no womens shoes that would fit me. I wasn't suprised at all. I had to choose from the mens, and these were the best option.

The salesman gave me a 5,000 won discount, and then a 5,000 won coupon for my next purchase. I would consider using it... if they had womens shoes that fit me.

Spring Fashion

This weekend the girls and I are going to Seoul again. One of the hardest parts of moving abroad is packing- there's always so much you want to take, but it's just not possible. We've got a general outline already of where we want to go. The list includes places like Itaewon for Emily's broken Mac, Dongdaemun, and our priority, Myeongdong. Myeongdong's got everything, last time I went to the Forever 21.

This time, we'll be also checking out the recently opened H&M, the first in Korea. I loved this store when traveling abroad in Europe, I'm excited to see how it compares here. According to the articles I've read, it is 2,600 sq meters, spread out over an "astounding" 4 floors! I've got a feeling I'll be spending some money this weekend...

We also figure that when we start dressing alike WITHOUT planning it, it's time for some new clothes.




Another store recently opened in Gwangju over the weekend, WhoAU. It is a South Korean clothing store that is modeled after "California" fashion. Think American Eagle, Hollister, and Abercrombie. They did have some cute clothes, and it's always nice to have options when shopping. I think that will replace UniQlo as my favorite women's clothing store in Gwangju.

Philippines Trip Day Seven/Eight

For the last day in the Philippines, we took a day trip to Tagaytay, south of Manila a ways. Tagaytay is known for having the worlds smallest volcano in the middle of a large lake. It was very scenic. Joe slept for most of the trip, suprise suprise, and majority of the time he slept, he was half in my seat!

We went to a park called "People's Park in the Sky." I wasn't dressed for the incredibly windy weather in my sundress, and had to hold it down the whole time. On the plus side, I did get a henna tatoo for $2 (a butterfly) and in the process, entertained many onlookers with my "whiteness." Kenny even took some pictures that day of all the Philippino men looking at me...

During the long drive back, I snapped some pictures of roadside fruit and garden stalls. The area is famous for buko, or coconut, pie, but instead we got mangos. I love all the bright colors.



Our last stop was the SM Mall of Asia. This mall is currently the third largest mall in Asia, even though it didn't look like it from the outside. We had dinner at a nice Filippino restaurant, and by this point I was very ready to get back to the fresh, healthy Korean food I'd been missing. I bought some English books and a few clothes. Though Korean clothes are cheap, Filippino clothes are some of the cheapest I've ever seen. I even had to buy a new bag to pack my clothing purchases in! At the end of the trip, the total amount of Won I spent ended up to be 130,000, majority of which was on clothes. We were very lucky to have Joe's family be such gracious hosts and cover 90% of our expenses.

I flew back the next morning (January 2) after an amazing, fun-filled week. Everthing was a fantasic experience, especially the weather. It was a well-deserved break from everything in Korea, but when I landed in Incheon, it felt great to be back!

Here's some more pictures from the last day:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=59501140#/album.php?aid=2219686&id=59501140

Philippines Trip Day Two

After a restful night in the laundrymat, we woke up around 8 and went to the Greenhills Mall in downtown Manila to do some shopping with the family and cousins.

Shopping was similar to in Korea, just that the prices were much lower and the clothes actually fit! Koreans are small overall, but Filippinos are more normal sized. That was a great change! Joe bought a pair of shoes, I bought a dress and a few presents for family and Em and Alli. Something I became aware of quickly was that the store owners were not calling out "Hey ma'am," but "Hey mom!" Joe explained to me that once you look like child bearing age, people call you "mom." That was somethin I was not prepared for! I still wasn't used to it at the end of the trip!

For lunch, we ate at Shakey's. It's an American chain, and everywhere I looked there seemed to be American restaurants. Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Dukin Doughnuts, etc. It was even worse than Korea. Tita Oma explained that after the WWII, things became heavily Americanized and they have great respect for our country. It was nice eating some American food I'd bee missing, but I also hoped that it wouldn't be all we ate!

We also talked about English education over lunch. In the Philippines, kids start learning when they enter elementary school, compared to in grade 3 in Korea. The school that Edmark and Raymund (Tita Oma and Uncle Eddie's kids and Joe's cousins) go to is taught entirely in English, and they also have 1 and a half hours everyday of regualr English classes. We had no problem with talking with Edmark (13) and Raymund (16) and Edmark was significantly better than the 13 year olds I teach.

After lunch, we got a bit lost on the way to the Manila American War Memorial and Cemetary but after asking for directions, we made it. It was nice and the weather was nice. You could see the clear blue sky over the water, but also see the not-so-blue air over the city. We relaxed there for a while in the afternoon, then went to Market, Market!, a 6 floor shopping center closeby. There we did some more shopping, they boys played in Time Zone, a large arcade, and had fun shopping in the outdoor food market. The colors of the fruit stands were so bright, it made me want to try it all! I did have a coconut to myself, and tried bits of other fruits, like jackfruit, melon, and mango.

Here we are at the memorial:


Fruit stand at Market, Market!


After we ate our fill of fresh fruit, we dragged our tired selves over to Bonifiaco High Street. Tita Oma described it as the Paris of Manila, but as nice as it was, it didn't compare to Paris! I could tell it was a brand new area of town, and it would be easy to spend lots of money there. The landscaping and architecture and general layout of the area was very nice. The christmas lights on the trees made it picture perfect. This was also good area for Manilians to walk their dogs, there were lots of cute ones!

Again, we were all tired by the time we came home to the laundrymat around 12 so falling asleep among the still-drying wash wasn't a problem!

Link to my facebook album of day two:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=230452815059#/album.php?aid=2219208&id=59501140&ref=mf

빼빼로 Day!

Today is 빼빼로 day, or Pepero day. Here is some information I found on Wikipedia about the holiday:

Pepero, 빼빼로, is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate syrup manufactured by Lotte since 1983. Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentines Day. It is held on November 11, since the date 11/11 resembles four sticks of Pepero. The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks and other candies.

According to one story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero."

Here is a display of some 빼빼로 for sale:

Korea's got Seoul

This weekend I decided to go up to Seoul to see the sights. It had been a while since I'd last been, and there is so much to see there! Originally I wanted to go to the DMZ, but then I started researching Seoul and decided there wouldn't be enough time to make it.

I got the bus Friday at 6 with Brian, Emily, Ricky (their friend from back home), Alli, and Alex. The bus was pretty nice, so I didn't mind riding it for 4 hours. We took the subway to our hostel, which was in Hongdae. By the time we unloaded our things there, it was around 12 pm. Luckily, Hongdae is where the college students and young adults hang out on the weekends, and we were close. Our friends from Incheon (Evan, Patrick, and Sophia) were in the area. Patrick had friends visiting, and Sophia was on a date, so we only got to see Evan Friday night. We met in the downtown area and hit up Ho Bar VII. We grabbed 1 beer there, and realized how hungry we all were. Across the street was a 님밥 restaurant and decided that would be fine.



At the restaurant, we ordered some dumplings. We got 6 orders, and we were all stuffed. It was delicious. After that, we were exhausted and went back to the hostel and were asleep by 2 am.

Saturday morning, I woke up early, and got ready. Our first stop was Paris Baguette for breakfast, then we went to the Yongsan. This area is the biggest electronic markets. There are over 20 buildings containing 5000 stores. Emily and I wandered around while Alli shopped for a Canon SLR camera. Em and I found a booth that burned DVD's, and I walked away with about 18 DVD's for about $25. I got The Ugly Truth, The Hangover, and seasons 1-7 of Sex and the City. You can guess what I'll be doing the next few weeks!



Alli got her camera and she tried it out when the two of us went to Gyeongbuk-gung (경북궁) which is Seoul's largest and most beautiful palace from the Joseon Dynasty. We were there about 2 hours, and took a ton of pictures. Unfortunately, I did not charge my camera much before I left, and it died shortly thereafter.

Here is a picture with some Korean students who wanted a picture with us. I love how awkard looking it is!


A pretty view of the temple


We met up with Emily for a late lunch (4 pm) in an area of town called Dongdaemun (동대문) where you can shop to your hearts content. Wikitravel says "Dongdaemun market has large department store-like buildings such as Doota, Migliore, and APM that have trendy shops and stalls grouped togehter so customers can shop efficiently and save time." The three of us gave ourselves 2 hours to shop. We flew through it so fast and walked out with some really good finds. We each got shoes, dresses, pants, sweaters, and some jewerly. Alli and I each bought the same sweater and pants because it was so cute. By the time we were done, we couldn't remember what we had found!

We went back to the hostel to get ready to go out. The boys had gone ATVing outside of Seoul, and we beat them back. The three of us put on our clubbing gear and met Patrick for dinner at Omatu Tomato, a great fusion restaurant in Hongdae. The boys eventually made it, and we spent the rest of the night bar and club hopping with Joe, Evan, Patrick, Ryan, Alex, and a few of their friends. It was a great night, except I could have done without the large storm that rolled in around 2 am. We all got drenched!

Sunday, we went home shortly after we woke up because we were all dragging from Saturday night. It took us about 1 hour on the subway to get to the bus terminal, then another 4 hours home. I didn't really say goodbye to our Incheon friends, but Patrick called later on to say goodbye to me. They'll be down in 2 weeks to visit us, and I don't think that it will be nearly as crazy of a weekend as this one was!

Lotte Mart, Suwan, Gwangju

Today was the big day. Everyone has been talking about it at school for the last month. Lotte Mart had it's Grand Opening today, September 24, 2009. This may not be that big of a deal for many of you, but for the residents of Suwan, this is BIG NEWS. The development of Lotte Mart is bringing a lot of businesses to the area. Suwan, which is my neighborhood, is the home of the first-ever Toys-R-Us in Korea! We are also getting Baskin Robbins, a new coffee shop, and Nike, Puma, Fila, and Adidas shops. I know this because I see the signs for them on my walk to school.


So I decided to check out the Grand Opening tonight. I'm glad I went, but I'll never go to a Grand Opening again. It was worse than the mall the day after Thanksgiving. Lotte Mart is a very short walk for me. It is about 4 blocks, or 15 minutes. It is very, very close. Usually, on a Thursday night, the area is very quiet and you are lucky if you see a few people walking around. Tonight was a different story.


There were police directing traffic at the intersection, and guards directing traffic into the 4-story parking garage. People were milling about everywhere, and the cars were double parked.

I didn't spend too much time looking around because it was way to packed. I know there are 4 stories of outlet shops, and a grocery store on the other half. Since I knew I needed some basics, I headed towards the grocery area. I saw tons of crazy things- mushrooms for 129,000 won (about $100), lots of seaweed, fresh fish, rice, and of course, fresh kimchi. I didn't even know where to begin. I had to ask for help to get a basket because I didn't know where they were located, but luckily there were clerks at EVERY end cap, just like all the other Lotte and E-Marts.

I just picked up the basics- rice, seaweed, body lotion, mozzarella, tomatoes, italian dressing, and hair gel. I decided to get organic rice because 1) it was the smallest/cheapest bag 2) I know I'm going to be here a year, but do I really need 20 kilos of rice? 3) I didn't feel like lugging 20 kilos of rice home! And the seaweed, well, when in Rome! And, its pretty tasty! I'm really looking forward to the mozzarella!

I saw a lot of crazy things, but I think the most interesting things are the people. There must have been some pretty good sales going on. I saw a person with 11 packages of 24 rolls of toilet paper. It was taller than him. Not kidding, here's a picture!

It wasn't until I saw him on the other side of the checkout that I realized/counted 14 packages! Really, how much TP does a person NEED??

In all, it was a very exciting experience, and I'll definitely be going back sometime soon, probably to see the Toys-R-Us!