The Adventure Gets Much More Comfortable...Day 3 in Korea

I woke up on Saturday morning around 6:30. After wallowing in my bed for a while I came to the conclusion that sleep would no longer find me and I got up. My breakfast of toast and milk reminded me of my objectives for the day: find I-Mart and E-Mart (I wonder if there are Marts for the other vowels...)


I showered, got dressed, put on my sunglasses (I wanted to watch the people staring at me) and decided to set out for I-Mart first, since it was closer and I had more of an idea of where it was. I walked back along the highway, past the gas station with the old men, back towards the school. Turns out that I-Mart was RIGHT BESIDE IT. It was literally on the other side of the street and I missed it somehow! Oh well, I'd found it! I was overjoyed! I ran in to find fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, along with all the junk food and freeze-dried noodles that I could ever want. Score! 


Here are a few of the things that I bought:

Makgeolli (rice wine)

Various noodles (They beat the crap out of anything in the US)

Stick Coffee (yes, the name of that brand is Maxim. It's the kind that I got, too. You have no idea how much I enjoyed searching for Maxim on Google Images)

Cheese

Butter (didn't have any before this day...makes toast so much more enjoyable)

Crap

More crap

Crap Combatant (it was a good thing, too...I was down to the spare roll...thank you Korean food)

It is difficult to describe the joy of being able to go somewhere in a foreign country (where you can't speak the language) and buy food and toilet paper. Knowing that you can do this puts to rest a lot of worry and fear. (You don't want to worry about starving, or being dependent on someone else to get food for you). Loaded down with groceries, I began my proud trek back to my apartment. 

Before I'd even returned to the apartment, I began to wonder about my second objective for the day: E-Mart. It could turn out to be much more difficult, as I only vaguely knew the direction that it  was in and that it had a yellow sign. As I was walking along, I looked at the city in the far distance and what did I see poking up above the rooftops?

It wasn't much more than a blip on the horizon, but there it stood, proud and tall. I smiled, despite how much my arms were aching from all of the crap I was carrying. Today was going to be a good day.

I got back to the apartment and unloaded all of my stuff. After putting everything away, I set out for destination number 2. When I reached the highway, I could see that one of the closer buildings was blocking the sign, so I walked in the direction of the sign until I could see it. From that point, I just followed roads that looked like they might be going in that general direction. It wasn't long before I could see the store itself. I had the option of following a road that led to it, or cutting through a nifty little park that came out behind it. Of course, I chose the park. 

Here's a picture of the park that I filched from someone else's blog:

As I was cutting through the park, I looked up ahead and saw what appeared to be a bearded man on a bicycle. "Hooray!" I thought, "Another Westerner!" As he rode closer I raised my hand to wave at him, only to realize he was just a Korean guy with a cycling mask on. I immediately pretended like I was scratching my back...

From a distance, this could be mistaken for a beard.

After escaping from my faux paux with the biker, I found the entrance into E-Mart and went inside...

Holy God, I don't know how I've lived this long without going inside such a place. I walked in, and all around me was this giant food court. Everything looked awesome. I walked around the food court for a good 15 minutes before finding the area where you actually went into E-Mart itself. 

How can one describe E-Mart...imagine a department store...with the selection of Wal-Mart, a setup similar to Target, and employees who are NICE TO YOU and WORKING HARD. Holy crap. That's E-Mart. I was able to find something like this:

This allows me to plug in my computer, without frying it! Hooray! I'm connected to the rest of the world again!

I also found cables that would allow me to charge my phone (kept on airplane mode) and some detergent. When I was buying the detergent, I sweet old lady who worked at the store came up and encouraged me to try a different kind. After watching me nod, she finally asked me in Korean if I spoke Korean. "A little," I replied in a form that I later found out was not the most polite. I hope she didn't mind my social faux paux. There were a few on this day...

Since the lady was so sweet, I bought some of the detergent she was pushing on me. 

Sympathy Detergent

This wasn't the only thing I bought due to a sweet old employee urging me to. I also got a plastic container (one that was environmentally friendly!) that was pushed onto me by an old lady who was convinced that it would be great to store the batteries that I was buying. I didn't care. I was happy as a clown knowing that I'd be able to power my computer and access my Korean lessons, as well as the Internet.

The trip back to the apartment was uneventful. When I returned, I immediately resumed studying my Korean lessons and learned about how I may have offended the lady selling detergent. Whoops! I also spent a lot of time practicing the phrase "Do you speak English?"

The phone rang, and I answered by saying hello in Korean. My director seemed to get a big kick out of this. After asking me about my day, she invited me out to eat at a Chinese restaurant with her family and some friends and business associates. I joined her, Mr. Lee, and Jake in the car. When they asked me what I'd been doing, I told them about my day and admitted that I'd been studying more Korean. When they asked me what I'd learned, I tried my new phrase on them. The director looked over at her husband, who furrowed his brow and took a guess at what I was trying to say. Guess I need to keep working on my Korean...damn "monkey apple carburetor..."

We arrived at the restaurant, where I tried to practice as much traditional Korean etiquette as possible, despite variations from it by the present company. I met several very nice people. One guy, who sat next to me, had a very similar haircut and someone made the comment that we looked like brothers. I was glad to be in the company of such friendly people, although I felt that I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation.

Dinner!

I had spicy seafood soup similar to this dish. (Try saying that 5 times fast) Although my mouth was able to handle the spiciness of the dish, it caused me to sweat profusely. When I was finished, it was time for Jake and I to leave because the director had important business to conduct with the group. As we were heading to the car, Mr. Lee reminded me to say goodbye to everyone. I turned and proclaimed "Annyeonghi gyeseyo!" (Goodbye/Stay in peace) This prompted a squeal of delight from one of the Korean ladies. "You speak Korean well!" she said. "A little," I replied, this time in a polite fashion. I was doing a happy dance on the inside. 

Mr. Lee dropped me off at the apartment. I thanked him for the meal and then tried to say "Annyeonghi gaseyo!" (Goodbye/Go in peace) He smiled and said goodbye. Jake told me to have a good evening.

Once I removed my shoes, I took a moment to look in all the cabinets and cupboards at all the food and toilet paper that I'd purchased. I felt a sense of accomplishment...a sense of pride that I would be able to eat and poop all on my own. I went to bed with these thoughts, resolving to work harder on my Korean.