Perhaps sensing that some students were starving and sick of bulgogi (the main meal we’ve been fed this whole trip), Pizza Hut was thrown in the mix for dinner to the delight of probably everyone. If there’s one food that hasn’t been screwed up internationally, it’s pizza and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t totally excited to see something with cheese on it whose ingredients I knew like the back of my hand. The salad bar was still distinctly Korean, however, with things ranging from kimchi to delicious green apple jelly to cocoa puffs and lychee berry. Go figure. Perhaps this suggests that I don’t like Korean cuisine, but anyone can get sick of bulgogi when it’s all you eat for 5 days in a row…And at a few places, I didn’t find the bulgogi to be all that edible. I’m not much of a meat person unless it’s chicken/turkey breast or LEAN cuts of beef. So I’m maybe 50% vegetarian (but mostly just 100% picky). Fatty, chewy textures are inedible for me, and often times bulgogi has this exact texture. Luckily the meat is sliced so thinly that I could handle it most of the time. But I must admit for 2 meals I had to rely on my Kashi go-lean rolls because it seems that Korean food has NO fiber. I would kill somebody for some fresh veggies and whole grains right now…I do also realize the irony and incompatibility of wanting to be a world traveler and having the “white meat only” complex, but maybe one day I won’t want to throw up if I eat chewy meat. American cuisine, nutritionally, is disgusting—but it’s universally edible. And every time I’m abroad, the thing I miss the most is sandwiches… Is there anything wrong with just wanting a regulation turkey sandwich? Is that so bad? I hope everybody is in the mood for a sandwich date when I get home. Because I’m going to resume my love affair with them as soon as I’m home.
After eating a continent of pizza, my nervous system was flooded with endorphins and naturally the next step was to shop on the streets leading up to our hotel. Kyle and I were reunited for another shopping extravaganza (how he still hangs out with me when I’m shopping is a mystery; what a champion). He said he was happy to have my company and was entertained by how enthused I get over sparkly things. And shoes. And makeup. And pens. And hair accessories. And shirts. Having been told that cosmetics were cheap, I went in to The Face Shop and Innisfree. And I hate to sound like such a girl but OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!! While I only sampled certain cosmetics in the store, they seem to be of good quality, but are SOOOOOO cheap! Lip gloss for $3? OK!!!!!!!
Then it was off to the next store, which I would call an advanced dollar store. Most things were more than a dollar, but it was just cheap, random knick knacks. There was a little bit of everything. Pens, notebooks, purses, shirts, hair accessories, earrings, candy, cell phone charms, socks. EVERYTHING! Ok, everything girly, I guess…The first thing that caught my eye was the whole aisle of colored pens. And if you know anything about me, you know about my legendary pen bag filled with every color of pen. However, I had to really search in the small space where my wants met my needs and settled for one apple-green pen. I had to put back about 5 other pens…
What happened next is better seen than explained, but you can imagine the hilarity that ensued when I spontaneously decided to look at cheap sweaters and was greeted with some of the funniest things I’ve ever seen printed on a shirt. I should first explain that it’s really big here to wear sweaters (and by sweater, I mean a sweater made out of sweatshirt material with screenprinted design, not a nice wool sweater, but those are popular, too…). It’s especially popular to have references to American things (I saw a UW sweatshirt…?): sports teams, cities, cartoons/characters or just America itself. The first sweatshirt I picked up was bright yellow with a shark with the phrase, “America—it kinda looks like a shark or something”. And I mean I guess it does, but that’s random, even for me. The “or something” really sold it for me and Kyle and I burst out into flames of laughter. The store keeper glared over at us, possibly offended by our laughter. She really had no idea that it was the opposite. Being that I am quite blonde, I never wear yellow, but I will sacrifice the appearance of my skin tone and run the risk of blending into myself to model this around campus. The next sweatshirt made even less sense. In the corner, there was a poor interpretation of a DNA helix with the caption, “BINGO! DINO DNA!”. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat does that meeaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnn?! I have no idea, but it’s awesome and at this point, tears were gathering in the corners of my eyes, I was laughing so hard. Being that they were only $10, I had no choice but to buy them. Other people in the group had heard about my “legendary” sweatshirts and a few people came to my room to see them.
No comments:
Post a Comment