Also, Wednesday was the only day so far that we were able to take that Yonsei bus. One of the other longer programs ended on Thursday, so they stopped doing the bus service until Monday (I think). Until then, we've been taking another bus service out to Yonsei and then taking the shuttle up the hill of death. Not too bad, actually.
Everyone came and met us after our classes. Umma wanted to tell Mia's teacher (who is coincidentally also my reading teacher) that we wouldn't be in class on Tuesday. I think I'm left to make some sad attempt to mime this on Monday. We'll see how that works. Haha. Also, Mia got her ID card from Yonsei. I never did. This saddens me.
We had lunch and then walked down to get our eyes checked for glasses. I need to say something about glasses here in Korea. They're amazing. They're super light. Sometimes I forget they're even on. They fit Asian faces, so I don't have to worry about my glasses falling off of my face. Also, they're really into the whole thick rimmed glasses thing and they're not as supe expensive as they are in the States. Thus, glasses in Korea > everyone. It took a while for us to choose what glasses we want. Then we had to get our eyes checked. Found out my prescription had been too high. That probably explains why I got all those headaches wearing my glasses before. We had to wait a while to get the stuff, so we decided to use our time wisely and take a trip out to Namdaemun! Actually, we had to exchange an outfit for Bruce.
Very few markets I've been to hold a candle to Namdaemun. Actually Dongdaemun is 10x more intense, but it's a little too much so for me.
I don't think I've ever taken the subway to Namdaemun before, so it was cool to see that you can enter the market from the subway station.
Namdaemun is a market for everything from clothes, to touristy souvenirs, to fake purses, to food, etc. It's a bargain hunter's paradise.
Last time I was here, I wasn't able to go here that often. It's not really Gianni or Andrew's idea of a fun trip out. It's not James's favorite place in the world, either, but he has less freedom than Gianni or Andrew did. We did some clothes shopping. I even found some very Asian outfits. This is surprising because I pretty much gave up on clothes from these markets fitting me.
We're probably going back there. You cannot conquer Namdaemun in one day.
Scratch that, it might take a lifetime to conquer that market.
After Namdaemun, we went to Shinsaegae, which is this enormous department store. We didn't go there to shop, but to eat. They've got sinks set up in the food court.
We had jjajjangmyun. It was good, but jjanjangmyun in Korea isn't quite the same unless you're getting the cheap stuff delivered to you. Yum.
On the way back to the subway station, we found a dog clothing stand and bought Bruce a hanbok. We're so excited about making him wear this. We also got him a Mickey Mouse outfit. He's going to be thrilled when we get back. Because we got him a hanbok, we're planning on doing the traaditional first year celebration with him. His picture will join ours on the wall at home.
We took the subway back to the Sinchon area to pick up our glasses. On Friday night, this place is super bustling and it's impossible to get anywhere by foot, let alone by car.
We picked out glasses up. They were nice. I could repeat the whole spiel about how great glasses are in Korea, but you guys might get jealous of the sheer awesome of these glasses. Instead, I will show you a picture of the ridiculous glasses Umma let Mia get.
We took a taxi back to the apartment, which took forever in Friday-night traffic. On the way back, we did spot an Issac's Toast stand, which Andrew has told us is one of his favorite foods in the entire world. I don't know why, but I would like to have it once before we leave. That and Yong Chul Burger, but that's back in Anam Dong, which would take forever to get to.
We got back around 8. They told Umma on the way out this aftternoon that we had to move out of the 3 bedroom apartment as soon as possible because our 2 bedroom apt was finally ready. That meant that we had to stress pack the moment we got home. None of us actually unpacked much because we knew we had to move, so it took us about an hour and a half to do the whole move. It was still stressful because our family cannot do anything without stress. Auntie Maureen came and met us here and had dinner here.
That was about it for Friday. Expect our folk museum trip post soon. It will be EPIC. I'm still catching up, but we need to go out and sightsee so I should start getting ready.
Now, I will leave you with angst Namdaemun-style.
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