Home Store

I went to my first Korean store today with Sara and her TA, Hosanna, and Hosanna's sister, Gospel. They were born in the US, though their parents are Korean and they've spent most of their lives here. But their English is almost flawless, and Sara and I haven't asked, but we assume their parents opened a Bible or hymnal and stuck a pin in somewhere to pick their children's names. They're amazingly nice girls though, and I really enjoyed walking around with them. Both Hosanna and Gospel kept an eye out for things they knew would look weird to an American, since they'd spent time in America and knew what our "normal" is. And Korean kids are very touchy feely with other people of the same sex (or at least, my younger boys sit in each other's laps and constantly touch one another, and both of the female TA's I've walked around with have taken my arm or held my hand at one point or another), and it makes people seem much friendlier and more familiar than they might otherwise.

Ha Na was also a good tour guide the other night, and also incredibly sweet, but she didn't understand why we stopped to take pictures of the tank of octopus outside a restaurant in town. Gospel and Hosanna knew we'd want to stop and try the dried squid snacks and the thick grain juice that was weirdly coffee-like, but skip the hot dogs.

The store has everything. A huge selection of clothes and shoes and bags, but also a huge grocery store with anything you could want. You can buy alcohol for a dollar a bottle, but Frosted Flakes were $6 a box. Probably because they're manufactured in America, but it still seems weird to pay that much, no matter the reason. They have Dunkin Donuts here too, so that made me happy.

We got a few more kinds of alcohol to try, some chips, a box of cookies, sushi, fruit (not weird fruit, just because we wanted fruit), and some Korean desserts the girls suggested. Gospel told me about the time she was in the US visiting, and Hosanna was still in Korea. And Hosanna loves peanut butter, but you couldn't get it in Korea until just a few years ago. So Gospel bought two jars, but then tried to take them through security, and had to throw them out, completely unopened. Likewise, when I asked what she missed from the US, she said you can't get Reeses here. Apparently Koreans have something against peanut butter.

After we got back and unloaded groceries, Sara and I went back into town for dinner, and lucked out and found a restaurant that had a copy of their menu in English. So at least ordering was easy. Dinner was amazing, a rice curry, and a dish with rice and octopus that was actually really spicy. We had some leftover, and managed to ask for a takeout box, but for some reason the woman seemed really opposed to giving us one. I need to ask a TA about that, because when we asked for a bag or box, she asked, "Take out?" and we told her yes, but she kept shaking her head and making "no" signs. But then she turned out to have a box after all, obviously made for take-home. We took food home the other night as well, so I don't think it's a big cultural taboo, but that means I have no idea what the problem was. 

I should go to bed, but first, quote of the day from my student, when explaining an artist's rendition of what water on Mars would look like. "But how Mars can look like this? It's an imagination picture!" My kids can be adorable.