Shopping

Today's blog is about...shopping. Here are a few of our shopping experiences.

This is E-Mart. This is similar to a Wal-Mart and it takes about 15 minutes to get there by bus. To get a cart you have to put a 100 Won coin in the handle of the cart and it will unlock. When Matthew and I first came to Korea we thought you had to pay 100 won every time but you get back the money when you put the cart back. The first time we got a cart and then put it back we were both surprised when our coin popped back up! I think it's a rather ingenious idea.

Inside it's laid out in different departments and there are two levels. The following video shows how we go from one level to another with our cart.

I think that this too, is a marvelous idea. =) A flat escalator for carts, how awesome is that?! We think that because everything is built up or down here (lack of space in Korea) that these were invented to make moving carts easier.

While E-Mart is similar to Wal-Mart there are some distinct Korean influences.

As you can see, these are dried cuttlefish. They might be squid, but we're pretty sure it's cuttlefish. Anyone for a snack?

But E-Mart has been very good to us. When we first arrived in Korea, it was the only place we felt semi-normal. Plus, they have free samples if you go at the right times, and when you are starving and have no money, it's the place to be!

E-Mart has also been a place to get the new and improved! We are staying in the apartments furnished by the SDA Language Institute and some of the stuff has been around for a while. Please observe the following improvements.

The old ironing board left rust stains on our white clothes and different wrinkled marks because the board had lines in it and it was very frustrating. Especially so because we don't have a dryer in Korea and I have to iron just about everything. We got this early on, so these are old pictures (obviously as I have long hair). The new ironing board is so wonderful, plus it looks more cheerful! However, carrying that back on a bus with arms loaded full of bags is not something I want to repeat.

Also, courtesy of E-Mart is the iron. When we got to our apartment the first night I scanned for an iron because all of our clothes were wrinkled from being in our suitcases. Our coordinator, Cleopatra let us use hers but helped us to get this snazzy new iron. I was very proud and plus the two matched =)

Here I want to insert a video of the washing machine. When it is done it sings. You might have to turn up the volume but its funny so check it out =) The first time I thought it was someone's cellphone and then I figured it out and it cracked me up.

Whoever moves into our apartment next should be very grateful because we've helped to update the place. One day when Matthew came back from school, and I was cooking lunch, he said, "What's that smell?" Now this was not in the positive sense and so we tried to figure it out. Sometimes there are just random nasty smells that waif through our apartment from the outside, but soon we realized that it was our rice cooker. It was old and just reeked when it cooked rice. So we told the school our situation and then we got this...

The new one is really high tech and makes little beeping sounds so you know it's done cooking. There are a lot of buttons on it but we only know that start and stop button.

The next purchase we made was fairly recent. Our frying pans are old, one even has a melted handle and everything sticks to them. No matter how much oil you put it's terrible. So last time we were at E-Mart I was staring at the nice new frying pans and Matthew said I could get one!!

The one of the left is the new one, it might be hard to see which is better, but the new pan is very, very wonderful!

Matthew has a very lovely pose, don't you think? =P

Once a term (every two months) all the teachers go together to Costco. We pile in the blue van and off we go. Costco has several layers and here is a video of us going down into Costco's parking.

The first floor in Costco is everything non-food related, second floor has food. It's pretty simple to get around and a great place to get things we can't find at other stores.

Sometimes when we are leaving Costco, we find that our van has been blocked in by another car. When this first happened I thought, "Oh no, now we're going to have to try and page the person to have them move!" But no one else seemed concerned, instead a couple people went to the car and pushed it out of the way! The car had been put in neutral for that exact purpose and we just pushed it out of our way, into someone else's way, and loaded up and left. Nothing to it... I wished I'd had my camera that first time, but luckily I had it another time, so here's a video of that situation. Our vehicle is the blue van.

E-Mart and Costco are our biggest stores but there are many other little shops to get food at. You have seen some of those places in a previous post. We buy from local stores quite often and fresh tofu is one of our staples.

Here is a fresh block. They have it laid out in a huge rectangle and then these squares are cut up and put into a bag for you. It is a lot of tofu and we usually freeze 2/3rds of it.

If you are feeling adventurous there are always a variety of sea creatures to eat.

These are called "sea squirts" - at least that's what we were told. They look like a rubber ball with triangles on them. Eat up!

Sometimes when one might feel lazy about shopping, shopping can come to you! While riding the subway there are many opportunities to buy things. Stockings, back supports, music, walnut openers, gloves, etc. Here's a sneak peak at one of those situations.

This is one of the hardest sales pitches because you have to make it, sell it, and keep moving within about two minutes. That's how long it is between stops and you have to try and convince the current riders very quickly. My personal favorite is the walnut opener/peeler/cutter because they demonstrate it and I find it fascinating to watch. Apparently whoever lived in our apartment thought so too because we have on in our drawer.

I wanted to throw this picture in here. I saw this when we were going to meet up with on of my students for her birthday. It's an ad for a store.

When all is said and done and it's time to come home, we have four floors to ascend. In hopes that you will sympathize we put up a video of our ascent.

Thank you for reading! =)