Party in the R.O.K.

Buy one TOP, get one Gdragon free? Pretty good deal.

I went to Myeongdong today for some speed solo shopping and hopped in to Innisfree for a minute. I always buy my face cleanser from here but I have no idea why since I have never bought anything else here in my entire life. (Why did I decide to buy face cleanser here instead of at Skin Food or Etude House or Face Shop, which are my favorite Korean makeup stores? I don’t even know where there is an Innisfree near me. Anyway.) While I was examining the shelves, looking for my cleanser, I got the feeling that someone was staring at me. I looked up and saw this. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that no, this is not a real man. This is a lifelike, life size mannequin. Of Lee Min Ho.

I think it’s creepy.

Shopping Haul

Hai guise look! I bought cute spring stuff, too!

I went to Dongdaemun yesterday and Myeongdong today to get some spring/summer shopping done. When are either of those places not crowded? Dongdaemun Sunday afternoon was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with screaming large groups of Chinese tourists and I wanted to kill everyone because it was so noisy and crowded. However whenever one of the Chinese tourists body slammed me or stepped on me or elbowed me or walked right into me, which was quite often, they said “Sorry” which I could appreciate. I didn’t have to go to work today (Monday) because the vice principal insisted I stay home to recover from my kidney infection, even though I insisted I was fine… my school actually offered to give me TWO WEEKS paid off work to ‘recover’ but I just took this one day since I was already feeling perfectly fine after my first few hours in the hospital. Myeongdong was actually not too crowded, and I was able to move freely about in the stores and streets without getting agoraphobic. I am so lucky because both these places, which I’d say are the biggest shopping areas in Seoul, are very close to my apartment.^________^ The perks of living in the generally uncool and geriatric Northeast part of the city.

Here is my lovely general shopping haul. Can you say ‘pastels’??!

Pretty crystal earrings from Doota! I think I paid too much for them… but I fell in love. From Dongdaemun.

From Dongdaemun. I love this bird pattern! I had actually seen it on various dresses and skirts all over Korea, but the clothes were always too small… or, one time I almost bought a dress with this pattern, and it was so cheaply made it was already falling apart. So now I found it, in the form of a collar and matching sleeves! Put a bird on it!

I love the Bambi pattern on this loose, flowing sleeveless shirt from SSFW in Myeongdong! The Bambis looks like illustration in an old 1950s Golden Book.

This sleeveless shirt (and the mint one) from H&M in Myeongdong were kind of a steal at 25,000 since similar styles are usually more expensive in Korean stores. At least in H&M you can choose a size that actually fits your body well. Although these are sleeveless I’m hoping they will be work appropriate for those really hot, gross summer days when I am wilting at 8 AM after the arduous hike to school (why must my school be on a mountain?!?!)

A pretty hair bow from SSFW.

My curtain skirt! From Doota. The saleswoman was telling me it was ‘very Korean style’ but come on, this is definitely Japanese style. Or Victorian style. Or decorative window hanging style.

I also bought some makeup^^ This was really a shopping spree. There are some new (or, new to me) roll-on perfume sticks at Skin Food so I bought one to keep in my bag for when I get sweaty and start to smell bad in the summer heat. (Maybe I am over-emphasizing how sweaty and smelly I get in hot weather….) I also bought a liquid eyeliner there (I think it’s called Eggplant Liquid Marker) and it’s fantastic. It doesn’t smudge and it’s so much easier to apply than liquid eyeliner brushes since it has a tip like a felt tip pen.

Bonus photo! I just re-discovered this awesome poop-head alien a student drew for me over a year ago while uploading the clothes photos. It is amazing!

I have never been in the Kosney store in Myeongdong so I went today out of curiosity and its the biggest and best one I have ever seen! And there is a cute little pink Choo Choo Cat boutique corner!

More Myeongdong… I actually went here yesterday on a date with the model guy and came back today to do some shopping while it wasn’t too crowded so I have a lot of nice pictures. Since I’m just hanging out in a coffee shop now I will upload some of them!

Changmin and Yunho… yum.

Destiny.

I went to Myeongdong last night. I always say I am never going to go there again, but I end up there once every one or two weeks. Fortunately, it wasn’t as disgustingly crowded as it is on weekends since it was only a Tuesday night, and it was possible to actually walk and move around. Most of the stores have Christmas decorations up in the windows, and everything was red and green and sparkly. Plus, a bunch of Korean stores were selling cute sweaters with reindeer and seals and snowmen. The stage in front of Migliore had been set up as a Christmas photo op spot with a reindeer, a snowman, and thousands of lights. If only it had been lightly snowing, it would have been a perfect Christmas scene. It was certainly cold enough.

And, amazingly, two early Christmas miracles occurred! Well, not miracles so much as coincidences. I was in Forever 21 with three of my friends, looking for some shiny, sequined New Years attire, and I thought I saw a Korean guy who is friends with our friend who is leaving for Australia in two days. I just assumed it couldn’t possibly be him and forgot about it. But then we ran into our friend! He was doing some last-minute shopping before his flight from Korea on Thursday. The fact that we were able to see him again, and that we had all decided to go to the same store at the same time on the same day was really amazing. Then, after we paid and were leaving the store, I thought the person going down the stairs in front of me looked like my friend who teaches at the high school connected to my middle school. Same long, thick black hair, but a coat and bag I’d never seen. Anyway, when she turned around, I could see the side of her face, and it really was her! I couldn’t believe it. And then while we were walking outside I saw this guy who looked like G-Dragon and he came up to me and gently brushed a stray eyelash off my cheek with his delicate hand and said “Yo! Yer comin’ wit me, bay-bee” and it really was G-Dragon and he led me into his black, tinted-window SUV. We took a long, romantic walk along the Han River and he asked me to marry him, and I said that would be nice but I also wanted to marry the other four members of his band and he said that could be arranged and they all believed in polygamy anyway. DESTINY.

We went into the new Uniqlo flagship store that just opened two weeks ago. It was exactly what you’d expect. Boring, basic clothes (and some fleece zip-ups with very ajumma patterns.) I have a pair of awesome, thick, warm jeggings that were only $15 from Uniqlo, but really, I don’t really get the whole Uniqlo craze. I don’t get why people were waiting in line for 2 or more hours during the opening weekend just because some turtlenecks were slightly on sale. (I’ve waited in line for 8 hours to get into a store, but that was because it was a Lilly Pulitzer sample sale and everything was really unique and super-expensive with like a 90% discount.) Then again, Uniqlo’s clothes are very practical, and I don’t really consider practicality when making my fashion choices. (My purchases from last night were a sleeveless 70s-patterned dress from Forever 21 and a see-through silk shift with a pastel Monet-inspired design that looked like it was from Anthropologie from a store in the underground market. It is not summer. I don’t know why I am incapable of purchasing seasonally-appropriate clothes, or just generally, anything with sleeves.) Also, everyone was going crazy over Uniqlo’s Heat Tech stuff. Snapping up armfuls of it. I’m not sure how I feel about that. They must make millions off of it. I am really suspicious whether it even works or not (I do not trust anyone or anything.) I’m going to need to see an unbiased scientific study before I drop cash on that stuff. A couple of people said it was warm, but yeah, is it warm because it’s like, magic, or just makes you warm because you’re just wearing an extra shirt or leggings under your pants? I demand proof.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am going to buy a new coat in Myeongdong after school because apparently it is socially unacceptable to wear the coat I bought here last year because I “practically lived in it for six months” (according to my friends.) But that coat is so warm! I want a tan, grey, or royal blue long wool coat. I hope I can find one at one of the big Western stores there (Zara, H&M, Forever 21) because I think the sleeves on a Korean-made coat would be too short on me.

Plus, if I go to Myeongdong, I can totally eat a spicy kebab from the kebab street vendor! And I will probably come home with four bags because that always happens when I go to Myeongdong.

Still full from Myeongdong Gyoja

Early this morning my body decided to fall up the stairs to my classroom and I have huge bruises on both my legs and some cuts on my left leg. I am also currently walking with a slight limp. I went to the school nurse. She is really, really sweet. She sprayed something on one of my bruises and it instantly felt okay and hasn’t bothered me since. Then she put some kind of ointment over my cuts and bandaged them up. The bandage sticks out under my black tights and teachers I don’t even know (like, high school teachers and the school guards) have been pointing at it and saying stuff to me in Korean (which I don’t understand. I don’t know how to say “I fell up the stairs” in Korean, haha.) Anyway, that certainly ruined my plans for tonight, which were to go to the gym and then walk about twenty minutes and back to get a sandwich at Subway. Looks like I’ll be in bed all night!

I had a good night in Myeongdong last night, hanging out with my friend who was looking for some presents for his/her significant other (don’t want to give away details in case anyone sees it!) I got there kind of early and spent a long time in H&M and got a cute rust-colored cropped jacket I’d wanted for awhile. It had finally gone on sale at 50% off. I’m wearing it now and one of my co-teachers told me that I look “very thin today.”

When my friend made it, we ate at the famous Myeongdong Gyoja restaurant, which has a line winding far down the street on weekends. Even on a Wednesday night, it was packed. This was my first time eating here, but my friend had been before. This restaurant is known for three things: 1. being really old (about thirty years) 2. its knife-cute noodles (kalguksu/칼국수) and delicious mandu (dumplings) 3. its extra spicy, garlic-y kimchi. The kalguksu was delicious and so filling. And the kimchi was the spiciest I’ve ever eaten. By the end of the meal, my eyes were stinging and my tongue was raw, like after eating a spicy pepper. It had so much flavor; i was like eating raw garlic! I can still taste it in my mouth. It was that intense. The people who work here walk around constantly replenishing your kimchi and I think the woman near us understood us. We noticed that there was only a little kimchi in our dishes so we remarked “They must think we don’t like kimchi because we’re foreign, but we actually love it” and seconds later the woman came back and piled up our dishes. I would definitely recommend this restaurant and it also seems very popular with tourists. I mean, it has a website in Korean, English, and Japanese. Plus, I saw a ton of Japanese people wander in clutching their Myeongdong shopping maps. If you’re in Seoul, check it out.

Nothing else was really uneventful about the night although… I’m so ashamed to admit this… I bought the newest Super Junior album. Am I 13? The picture of Siwon on the front is so “sek-shi” and it’s big like a record and really colorful… these are my excuses. Anyway it was totally worth it because this is what the inside looks like:

Now, just one more class to get through today, and it’s my grade ones, and they’re the best, so I’m not worried. I do need to make my lesson plans for next week, though. I guess I can do that while I’m stuck at home in my bed tonight.

Here’s one for all the Big Bang fans who follow me. A massive Big Bang picture on the North Face store in Myeongdong.

I miss Daesung! ㅠㅠ

I think I had too much fun this weekend but Monday is a “red day” (National Foundation Day) so I’ve got a three-day weekend! And my students are doing midterms all next week, so all I have to do is show up at work. I’m going to watch TV and study Korean instead of working! 앗싸!

Friday, I went to the Korea Cultural Foundation in Jongno to take my Korean placement test. The test was much more difficult than I had expected and covered material you would learn from beginner levels one through five, but I managed to answer about 13 out of 20 questions correctly. I really had to blindly guess for some, but I got the first nine in a row right, and I was certain of those. Unfortunately, I tested into the beginner two level, and that class is currently full, so now I have to wait until November to start the lessons. Lame ㅜㅜ Still, I’m impressed that just by studying about once a week for a little bit on my own, I managed to test into the third level of the Korean language.

After that I joined some friends near my subway station for dinner and drinks. I almost canceled because it was cold and I didn’t feel like walking there, but I decided to go and it was fun. I remember someone bought a rum shot and I was very, very excited to hear them play a 2NE1 song. Also, I don’t remember how I got home. I know I took a taxi and it was probably like $3 but I have no recollection of this at all.

I slept after the conversation club meeting Saturday and hung out at my friend’s apartment until it was time to meet some other friends in Hongdae. I haven’t been there in sooo long. I’d forgotten how many foreigners are there, and also how many drop-dead gorgeous Korean men are there, strutting around in their blazers, skinny jeans, and combat boots, flipping their long hair. Oh, Korean college boys. We started off in an obscenely crowded bar that I had been to my first night ever in Hongdae and I met some new people and saw some people I hadn’t seen in a while. Then we moved to another bar that I remembered having gone to before and it was packed with obviously high school boys or first-year college students. However, it was empty that night, and we kind of had the place to our group of eight or so people for a long time. We also got free drinks because my friend knew the guy who works there. The guy who worked there was drunk on the job (???!) and kept falling over. We saw him slumped over on the stairs outside the bar around 4 AM. He probably won’t get fired because this is Korea.

After spending the morning sleeping, doing laundry, and watching more of the Korean drama “Heartstrings,” I’m going to head over to Myeongdong and wander around and maybe get a kebab and then go to Sinchon to meet my boyfriend and some of his friends to help them get ready for an English job interview they have. I have to play the interviewer and ask them questions. I’m nervous but I’m sure they’re 100x more nervous.

I’m also looking for a Korean language partner, female preferred. I need to get back on hanlingo.com and find someone I can meet up with to practice my speaking! I want to be ready when I start my class in November.

Also, I took a pretty long shower and washed and conditioned my hair and it still smells like smoke. I think that’s the worst thing about a night out in Korea. I think I’m going to have to Febreze my hair before I go out!

A cute ponytail holder I got in Myeongdong at “Naughty Cat.” I didn’t actually choose this one at first. I chose a more low-key one, but then the guy working there told me they were two for 1,000 won, so I got this one. I don’t know where I will ever wear this, though! I think it’s for children…

Myeongdong k-pop junk. I saw Japanese girls buying armloads of this stuff.

I may or may not have bought a pair of GD&TOP socks…

I went to Myeongdong with my friend from college who is Korean-American and also a middle school teacher in Seoul. The purpose of our trip was to catch up and also buy some presents for her family and friends back home. I had a lot of fun looking through stacks of k-pop socks and notebooks and stuff. We also ate some really good 딹갈비 (spicy chicken cooked with rice) and bought some stuff for ourselves! I got a dress at a little Korean store and bought a scarf on the street and some earrings and hair bows at a cheap jewelry place so full of Chinese tourists you can hardly move called Naughty Cat. I also got a skirt at A Land, which is the Urban Outfitters of Korea (except they have APC and actual designer stuff- not sure if Urban Outfitters does that yet.) And the cherry on top of our catching-up date was dessert in a quiet and cozy third-floor cafe, enjoying some good frozen yogurt while looking out the window at the busy street below.

And something very, very exciting happened yesterday. I had been telling my friend how much I liked the store Spicy Color at D Cube City, and as we left A Land, she said, “Wait, isn’t that the store you like right there?” As it turns out, there is a Spicy Color in the alley behind A Land. Either it was new, or I had just never noticed it. Even though I end up in Myeongdong once or twice a month and have walked down that same alley numerous times to avoid the crowds on the main road. I am so oblivious. Unfortunately, at this point it was almost 11 PM, and Spicy Color was closed. (I’m not sure what time Myeongdong officially ‘shuts down’ but when we left at almost 11, most of the small stores were closed, and only big things like ABC Mart and makeup stores were still open. I don’t think I’ve ever been out in Myeongdong so late.) So, next time I end up in Myeongdong, that’s the first place I will go. Even though I really shouldn’t buy more clothes.

I really love Myeongdong. It’s definitely the most Japanese place in Seoul. The girls outside the makeup stores wear Japanese-style outfits and yell in Japanese. Signs and menus are usually in Japanese. Young Japanese women walk around loaded down with shopping bags, with crazy hair extensions, over-the-top makeup, and weird furry tail keychains on their over-sized bags. I never understood why so many Japanese people came to Myeongdong and bought so much stuff (lots of young Japanese people fly to Seoul multiple times a year JUST to go shopping) until I actually went to Tokyo and saw how disgustingly overpriced everything there is. Anyway, my favorite part of going to Myeongdong is checking out all the Japanese shoppers, because they have the craziest style.

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