Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease and Other Sundry Things About My Day

When I got in to work today I was informed that one of the elementary school students was going to be home sick with a disease like chicken pox but not chicken pox or the measles. I asked if we could look it up online for the English word. THE KID HAS HAND, FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE!!!!!!!!!! I have seen news reports of cases here and there in Seoul but I had no idea there were any cases south of Seoul. My coworker's girlfriend's school had a single case which spread and the entire school had to be shut down for a week so that the place could be professionally sterilized. All I could think was, thank god I only have that class once a week. One of my other student's today was scratching at his hand and I made him show me and ascertained that it was just a mosquito bite. It might be paranoid but I don't want the disease either, not even for a week off of school!

After work, I meant to swing by the gym but somehow ended up going shopping for an hour and a half and spending a lengthy time reading my book over dinner. (Salsa Boy has a Korean class...public school teachers only, don't think I didn't try to join.) The weather is hot and unbearably humid and I need more shorts/cool weather clothing. I ended up buying a new hand bag (about thirty bucks) which also got me a free pair of socks that are pink and white with a giant bunny on them. I am sorely tempted to re-gift them to Salsa Boy as a joke but I will probably wear them when I am nearing laundry day. If anything, my little girls will love them. I bought a cute blue dress that hits my leg just a smidgen above the knee and would be perfect for work, if only it didn't expose the tattoo on my shoulder. I could always slap a big band-aid on it and pretend it's an "ouch." However, it will be perfect for weekends and after work dinner dates.

Outside of the boutique I was accosted by a Jehovah's witness. Why do so many Jehovah's witnesses speak such good English? When they tried to give me their literature I stammered that I was Jewish and 'thanks anyways' and dashed off in the opposite direction. Evangelism always makes me deeply uncomfortable. Aside from being against my religion, it always just seems invasive and brash.

At the next store there was a very helpful saleswoman whose shopping related English was excellent. She chatted with me in between helping me find the most flattering style shorts and figuring out my size perfectly by just glancing at me. Her son is 6 years old and in an English kindergarten program like the one I teach. Apparently he comes home everyday singing English songs to no end. I got the impression that she is getting a bit sick of 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' but overjoyed that he is learning English so quickly. It was a relief to have a helpful salesperson who wasn't pushy but honestly talked to me about which styles would be most flattering for my body type which as she pointed out is hippier than most Korean women BUT that I had very nice, thin legs and not to be embarrassed about wearing shorts. I got an awesome pair of denim shorts and a free cooler, some sort of promo deal. She also helped me get a membership card that gets me discounts at all of these major stores that are linked. I kept getting asked at the check out if I have one but I never knew how to say 'no but I would like one' in Korean. She helped me fill the form out and voila! I am the proud holder of a membership card, the likes of which I have a billion of for stores in NY. Last stop of the day: buying organic face wash and a lip liner which got me a few handfuls of free samples for their other products. I never know how to tell them that since I have no idea what most of them are for I end up throwing them out. However, I like the free masks and cleansers the most since the Korean is a cognate and thus, easy to figure out.

Shopping isn't terribly interesting to post about but I wanted to post about Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (Dear Immune System, Please buck up. Love, Alex) and since I just got home from shopping I wanted to share about that...and all of the ridiculous stuff I got for free. When I go shopping I kind of love that the economy sucks: lots of sales and tons of free goodies. What I should have been doing: going grocery shopping or on a run. But hey, trying clothing on burns calories! I have been eating crackers for breakfast for the past two days because I am out of bread for toast making. E-Mart is lovely for getting everything in one place but it is exhausting. I miss my small town IGA with it's 5 aisles and salespeople that know me personally.

I shall probably spend the rest of the evening dithering on the internet and reading my novel (White Teeth...by someone, I'm too lazy to go look for it just for my blog post).

Korean words learned today (from the Korean kiddie primer I picked up over the weekend): strawberry, banana, peach, apple, squash.

GRE studying done: None. Unless you count practicing multiplying large numbers in my head. Salsa Boy taught me a new method for doing arithmatic in my head which is doing wonders for me. Good activity for walking around the city and shopping.

DMZ-The Photo Commentary

When you arrive at the Joint Security Area (JSA) you have to sign a disclaimer. I took pictures of some of the more interesting bits for you that include the words 'death' and 'Communist side.'

The (South) Korean soldier is standing in a modified Taekwondo stance. I wonder if there is always so much tension in the fist or just when large groups of tourists are gawking and taking pictures. The right side is South Korea, the left is North Korea.Notice how the soldier has half of his body behind the building? This is so he can keep an eye on the North Korean side of things and yet present a smaller target and get out of the way faster when/if they shoot at him.
This is the North Korean side. The guard pulled out his binoculars and stared at us while we took pictures from afar. Kind of crappy shot but I was trying to zoom in on the NK.The Bridge of No Return. Much talked about in the history books but not very exciting. It is very much abandoned and looks like it hasn't gotten any use since the big prisoner exchange that it's famous for.
There are two adjacent towns, one in South Korea and one in North. When the one in South Korean erected a 100m flag pole North Korean retaliated by building a 160 meter flag pole. Notice how you can't see a flag flapping about? That's because the flag weighs 600lbs and takes quite a bit of wind to get it moving. However, too much wind and it has to be taken down because its own weight will tear it apart. Freud would have had a field day with North Korea.

Because of course, the DMZ makes everyone thinks of flowers.

More later on my feelings/experiences this is just the photo bit. I hate trying to format the pictures with silly blogger.

Phew, last open class done!

For the past two weeks, my school has been doing open classes in the afternoon so that parents can see what they are paying for, etc. Only one class per afternoon because they have some sort of meeting before and after with the director and the supervisor. It's actually not too stressful, the parents sit come in after 5 minutes (homework checking/writing time) and observe for ten minutes. Today's was the only one I was a bit worried about. Every mother showed up, plus I had the director and the supervisor sitting in instead of one or the other (it's the lowest level class, the brand new kids so the first time their parents really get to see their kids in action). I did what I always did when I'm nervous about school things, I wear a tried and true outfit and micro-plan my lesson to deal with any sort of thing that might come up. It went well though one girl was so nervous she couldn't remember if she wore sandals or shoes that day and had to go out in the hall to the shoe rack and check. (We are practicing 's' words.) The parents all got a kick out of it though.

Open classes all make me feel hopelessly young. It didn't help that my eyes have been bothering me (Dear Self, Please remember to change contacts PROMPTLY every 2 weeks. Love, Your Eyes) so I had to wear my glasses. My glasses are cute but make me look like I'm about 18. In Korea, people are frequently surprised that I'm a teacher and not a student. Salsa Boy tells me that I will love this when I'm in my 30s and taken for someone in my 20s but when I'm on display with parents I just want to feel professional. The slippers don't help. I like not wearing shoes inside but I always feel too casual with my feet in slippers. At least the parents were in their socks.

Tonight will be an early night since I have to get up at 5 in order to meet the USO tour group at 7 in Seoul. DMZ, here I come!

Bibliophile Related Ecstasy

I joined a book club! An expat in Seoul actually paid for an ad on Facebook, aimed at expats living in and around Seoul about a book club. The Jamsil Expat Book Club (Jamsil is a neighborhood in Seoul) to be precise.

The first and last time I was ever in a book club was when I was maybe 11 or 12 and I joined the group at our local library. The books were fine but I was the only one under the age of 40 who showed up. When I was in 9th or 10th grade I think there were other options at the bigger library but they were reading Young Adult books and things I had moved past when I was 9. That's not to say that I don't still read them on occasion (can we say Harry Potter obsession much) but I don't really want to sit around and discuss them.

In conclusion: I'm over the moon about having something to do on a week night that does not involve teaching. The first book looks like it's going to be I Have the Right to Destroy Myself by Young-ha Kim, a Korean author.

Awkward timing: I need more books to read for the upcoming week and all I have left is a 19th century book that I'm just not in the mood for. Salsa Boy got an interesting Sartre book but if I'm going to read Sartre, I'd much rather read it in the original French. Normally, I'd go restock on Saturday morning but I'm GOING TO THE DMZ. Super excited though a tiny bit nervous. There will most definitely be a picture loaded blog post (assuming blogger isn't being EVIL) on Sunday or Monday.

Random: I finished yet another journal and the only decent replacement notebook I found at the supermarket (I didn't have time to go to a fancy stationary store) was one that says "Manchester United" on the cover. I am officially British and a football fan. It was between that and Hello Kitty. Despite my 6 year old class's zeal for anything Hello Kitty I really don't want to carry a notebook with a giant cartoon kitten on the cover around with me. Especially since I am known to pull out my journal and start writing at bars...on a Saturday.

A Social Calender

When I lived in the States I didn't have much of a social life. I always had friends but very little time for them. My favorite social event was the study party since I could get what I needed done AND get to see another human being. I met people in dining halls for meals and cafes for coffee but I was always getting up from the table early to go to one of my part time jobs or work on my research. My biggest luxuries senior year of college:
-The single pint I had on Thursday nights. (I couldn't stay at the bar late like many of my friends since I had work at 9am.)
-Rock climbing 3-4 days a week in the evening.
Though as the term progressed, I'd take breaks from rock climbing to get some reading done. During finals I would climb for an hour, write a page or two and then climb for another hour.
Don't get me wrong there was the occasional party but the emphasis is definitely on the word occasional here.

My expat life in Korea is completely different. Expats bond. We have two great u

Image by chotda via Flickr, "Doctor Fish" The fish eat your calluses.

nifying things in common, teaching kids English and living in a completely foreign country where we have minimal use of the language. There are girls' night out for (pseudo) Mexican food and Dr. Fish, adventures, clubs, parties, museums, palaces, temples, dinners that go for hours, bookstores to raid (also lasting for hours) and the list goes on. I love it. For the first time in my life, I am never turning down plans because of my study regime. I can do what I want to do when I want, within reason of course.
(Note: Those legs aren't mine. I have a similar picture of my own legs but why spend 20 minutes fighting with blogger to upload my photos when Zementa will pull a similar one off of the net for me and insert the image in a split second.)

I am not entirely sure what I want to do next year though I am seriously considering teaching English in Japan. I have friends resigning, friends changing countries, friends heading off to grad school or to shoot movies. I'm not sure what I want yet and I'm slowly learning that that's okay.

** There would be pictures from this weekend and my night on the town but NONE OF MY FRIENDS HAVE UPLOADED THEIR PICTURES!!!!!!!!! I forgot my camera. Typical Alex thing to do.

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A 55,000 (won) Book...That Fails

After much parental pressure I finally ordered myself a GRE prep book. I'm really glad I have a math teacher and former GRE prep course teacher for a sister-in-law or it would have taken me hours to choose a book. After discovering that NONE of the Korean bookstores listed The Princeton Review on their websites (and yes, I searched in Korean and English), I got on Amazon and decided I might as well get the best tool available and got the fancy, 2010 edition, complete with DVDrom tutorials and a plethora of extra online resources. The book costs $34.99, which all things considered isn't horrible. However, since I have no money in US dollars (I used my meager savings to live off of when I got here before my first pay check, also to pay for the ridiculous visa paper work stuff needed to get to Korea) I had to pay in won. This means the book cost me 43,975won (this is using today's exchange rate, I think it was closer to 47 when I ordered the book) plus 10 bucks for shipping and handling. (Another 12,569 won) Now it seems like I'm complaining an awful lot about paying for a book, which is a bit hypocritical considering that my book buying budget per month is larger than what I spend on transportation, clothing, toiletries and what have you per month. I'm not complaining about the price of the book. I'm COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PRICE OF A BOOK WHEN FORTY PAGES ARE MISSING. They printed the introduction twice and LEFT OUT PAGE 1-40 COVERING VITAL TEST TAKING STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To say I am peeved is the understatement of the century. In the states, no big deal, I could call up customer service and I'm sure it would be solved easily. Now I have to stay up super late or get up at the crack of dawn in order to reach a human during customer service hours, not to mention the fact that I need to somehow send the book back (The post office closes at 5, I work until 6 or 7 everyday and it is no where near my work. Additionally, it has no Saturday hours.) and wait another TWO MONTHS for the new book to arrive. This brings my level of peevishness to rather high level.

Let's rewind to 2 hours ago when the book arrived at school.

The assistant brought me my package while I was checking homework during Earth Class (mid-high level proficiency elementary school students). Being the curious kids that they are, they wanted to know what it was...especially given the grimacing face I was making at the box. I explained that it was a study book as I pulled it out of the packaging.

Student A: Yuck! Studying!
Student B: ...but Alex teacher, it's an ENGLISH study book. (Student B is convinced I don't study Korean nearly enough. This is probably true.)
Me: I know but it's for a test I have to take in English.
Student A: Ewwww, tests.
Me: I KNOW! You think your book is hard, this book is EVIL!
Me: (squinting at Student B's HW) ... A say mouse toy? Do you mean a talking mouse toy?

The level of anxiety and nausea I felt about the book, the test, and thinking directly about grad school continued to rise until I discovered the missing pages. Think about how being car sick feels...it was around that level of anxiety induced nausea. Then all that lovely

Image by Pabo76 via Flickr (kim bap)

mess of emotion was replaced with irritation and anger. I started studying the math section anyways over my kim bap dinner and calmed down once I started taking notes. Despite any reservations I may have about the grad school, taking detailed, color coded and organized notes always calms me down. I even bought a special new notebook for the occasion which made me feel a little better. Also purchased, giant gold star stickers that my kids are OBSESSED with. They are practically the size of their hand. Talk about a good reward for doing your homework well.

The picture only post will be attempted in a separate post. Notice the kim bap picture above? I installed a tool called Zementa that helps you make blog posts more interesting by making relative links and pictures easy to add in (it takes just a single click to add a picture in like the one above AND IT DOESN'T MESS UP THE HTML FORMAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I'm not sure how much I'll be using it but it is pretty nifty. Now you don't have to go back to my blog post on kim bap to remember what on earth I'm talking about. Though I must admit, the kim bap I eat looks much tastier.

The Promised Pictures-Fail.

Third time's the charm right? Fail. I got a 400 error again. However there is some sort of scheduled outage that will be going on later today. Maybe a server update will go through and then my pictures will happily, finally upload.

Today I took the subway from work to meet (well, guess who) in Pyeongcheon. I got into a subway car in Geumjong that was seriously decorated. The bars were wrapped with fake ivy and hanging from the ceilings were bundles of garlic and red peppers (the spicy kind). I have no idea what this was for. I tried to sound out the signs but there weren't any words I recognized. From the pictures I am guessing it's a tourist destination advertisement but then again, I'm not sure how garlic and peppers would play into that. I took some pictures from my cell phone camera but since the picture uploading is NIL it's going to have to wait for another day. Then again, they did some pretty funky subway car decorations in NYC that were deodorant ads and floor cleaners.

Field Trip

My public school teacher friends get to take a free Korean class (of course I couldn't join ~grumble~). They have a few field trips planned, and members of the class are allowed to bring a friend. Salsa Boy, of course, elected to bring me. So bright and early Saturday morning we headed to a ceramics museum where we got to see ancient and modern ceramics. A lot of Korea's ceramics centers on ginormous containers, used for fermenting and storing kimchi. Ususally these were pretty plain but some were painted with symbols to promote fertility (the fish), high status (the cock, as in a male chicken people), long life (the tiger... I think) and so forth. There were a few other symbols BUT I FORGOT MY NOTEBOOK! This is what happens when I get coffee from the shop instead of drinking some before I leave the house. Oh well. The curator gave us a tour and one of the Korean teachers translated. His translation was excellent but the curator didn't talk too much about every piece in the museum. I wouldn't have minded a bit more information since it was really interesting and there wasn't anything available, in Korean or English on the pieces. It was a fairly balanced mix between ancient and modern pieces. I found the modern work much more fascinating, a mix between art and historic and cultural influences. Very different from pottery and ceramics that are being produced at craft fairs and such (that I've seen anyways) in America.

After a tour of the museum's collection, we got to MAKE OUR OWN POTTERY. And this is where I was brutally reminded of my utter failure in arts and crafts classes at summer camp. I just never have the patience to sit still and slowly work something into the desired shape. My only semi success was a great pencil holder/mug thingy of Albert Einstein's head. If I remember correctly, it was sort of an accident but it turned out nicely anyways. We were basically given a large lump of clay and told to go crazy. I ended up making a pendant, stamped with a traditional Korean fish (it looked cool!). This is after several comically failed attempts at making a bowl shaped thing. However, I did manage to make a very cool little bowl during my turn at the wheel. I even managed to write my name, in Korean, without ruining it! Salsa Boy will get our pieces in a few weeks (after they've been fired in the kiln and such) and bring them back. He made a rather cool dragon and a perfect bowl. Obviously gifted with the artistic gene in ways that I am not. It doesn't help that I have a bit of an inferiority complex about art, since my mother is so talented. I used to moan at the fact that I didn't inherit her artistic genes OR my father's math/science skills until my mother pointed out that I am artistic, just with writing, not visual arts. Also, as my math teachers have pointed out, I'm not terrible at math since no one who is terrible at math decides to take upper level abstract mathetmatics courses for fun in college. I may love doing 3 page proofs but I still subtract on my fingers. In my book, that counts as pretty awful at math. In any case, that was my Saturday morning at the ceramics museum.

What did I do Saturday afternoon? I went out to lunch with a friend and then came home and slept until dinner. I didn't go to bed late on Friday either, I think I was just run down from a week of teaching while sick. It still hurts a bit to talk but it doesn't make me want to cry so I suppose that is progress. I'm pleased that the steroids are finished though. They made me incredibly moody. Happily, Salsa Boy was not put off by this and cheerfully made me fajitas and tea throughout the week. I plan on doing absolutely nothing today. I am caught up on all of my favorite blogs and after I eat my breakfast/lunch/meal shaped thing I plan on laying in bed and reading until dinner time and not doing anything remotely productive. ... Except for laundry as I cannot show up to work in the clothes that are left clean in my wardrobe. Somehow, I don't think that college tshirts and mini skirts are appropriate attire for a kindergarten teacher.

Obviously, blogger is plotting against me. I just tried to upload my photos twice and it keeps giving me a "HTTP 400 Bad Request" error. I'll do a picture only post later tonight or something.

Health Update

I took my very first sick day ever today and went to the doctor. He made very pitying noises when he looked at my throat which made me feel better about taking time off of work. Apparently, I have a very nice case of acute laryngitis. He googled image searched some pictures for me so I could see just how mangy my throat/vocal chords were looking. I am on 5 different medications, including a steroid to help me get better quickly. I'm going back to work tomorrow but I'm going to go in early so I can prep some worksheets and change around my lesson plans this week to minimize speaking. It's easy enough to do with upper level classes who can read and write sentences independently but it's difficult to do minimum voice use lessons with the 6 year olds and forget about the 5 year old class.

I don't like taking sick days. It makes me feel a bit pathetic. I remember one day my freshman year of college I tried to go to work with bronchitis. They didn't want me in the office! My supervisor was like, Alex, please go home. Look, I'm filling out your time sheet. You were here, we are paying you to go home and not get us sick!

I've gone to work far sicker than this throughout the year but not without a voice. Teaching little kids and having a voice is kind of necessary. I was really nervous about my employers being angry but they were really nice about it and I got a sweet text from my boss, hoping that I feel better and all.

I'm not sure what to do with myself. Obviously, resting is in order but there are only so many hours one can lay prone. I'm thinking of cleaning the bathroom later. Killing germs is always fun! I can take out my aggression on the ones in my body by killing all of the germs in my bathroom.
...This was perhaps more logical in my head. I blame it on the handful of pills I had to take!

A Teacher Without a Voice

My vocal chords have been bugging me all week but Friday was awful. I was super grateful that I'd made up a worksheet for Friday's lesson that involved very little talking on my part and lots of writing and coloring for the kids. I didn't go out at all Friday or Saturday because the idea of talking socially and smoky bars/clubs was too much. Saturday morning the pain in my throat actually woke me up. Today I didn't talk at all, mainly because I can't speak above a whisper and even then it hurts. Finally, around 8:30pm I had Salsa Boy call my supervisor and let her know that I was taking my sick day to go to the doctor and get my throat checked out. She wants me to call after the appointment to see how it goes but I told her I'd have to have the doctor speak to her since obviously, I can't talk.

Ugh. I feel guilty taking time off from work (even though I am guaranteed 3 sick days in my contract and I haven't used one yet) because I know it just means that all of the other teachers will have to take up my teaching load. However, what else am I supposed to do? Mime the kids into discipline? Forget it. I know the doctor probably can't do much for me but I'd settle for some prescription throat medicine. I'd rather be teaching than at the doctors, that's for sure. Thus instead of the usual Sunday post, full of the weekend's adventures you get this, sick Alex reporting on her throat. Very interesting, I know.

Democracy and Apathy

The Korean branch of the Human Rights Watch agrees with my previous post--democracy is being suppressed, or at the very least curtailed in South Korea. University professors have been protesting the denial of citizens' right to assemble. It's in the papers but it doesn't seem to bother the average citizen. Democracy is never a given, it's something that must always be fought for and defended. On the other hand, I suppose South Korea is doing a better job than the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (i.e. North Korea).

Lately, I've just been feeling very tired. I keep meaning to go to the gym but I come home and I'm so exhausted that all I can fathom doing is laying down and maybe reading. Of course this means I'm reading nearly a book a day and that I'm going to have to go to the store again soon or raid my friends' shelves. Another expat started an informal lending library for the people in the area. We all post a list of the books we have and then message each other if there is something we want to borrow. The thing is that I'm pretty possessive of my books and tend to like to observe how people treat books before I lend them out. Do they dog ear and break the spine or use a bookmark? Do they, god forbid, write in someone's book? How long does will it take them to read the book? And perhaps most important, will I have to hound them to get my beloved back? There are some books that I'm not quite as attached to, say, the books I didn't particularly enjoy reading but for the most part I'm neurotic about my books. My kids have all heard the lecture that books are special, special toys and we never bend them or try to eat them like candy. The thing is that you can't really lecture an adult on the proper way to treat your books without sending completely off. It's assumed that grown ups know how to treat their books. THIS PATENTLY NOT TRUE!

...I'm done. Not sure what I have planned for this weekend though hopefully something fun. I think I'm getting dragged to the movies one afternoon which is alright. I like going to the movies, I just don't really like sitting still for so long. Most of the time I'd rather wait for it to come out on DVD so I can pause it when I need to go to the bathroom or get a snack (or 3).

Renoir and Riots

On Saturday, Salsa boy and I headed up to Seoul to see the newly opened Renoir retrospective at the Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA). The retrospective was alright but it was frustrating that the captions and information about the exhibit were only available in Korean though painting titles were also listed in the original French (which I translated for Salsa Boy). Seoul works very hard to depict itself as a truly cosmopolitan city and they invest millions every year to make it a more welcoming and attractive tourist destination. In the past few years I've traveled to more museums than I can count in many countries and in all of them, museum information was available in at least 5 major languages. There were plenty of other foreigners there and I listened in amusement to one couple (American) guessing that 'coussins' possibly meant cousins (it means cushions). That being said it was a good exhibit and it was interesting to see a retrospective displayed thematically rather than chronologically though I disagreed with some of the choices made. As an art student, one of my favorite things is to see how an artist's style progresses over time. There were some fabulous portraits but my favorites, the large garden and park scenes, filled with people weren't there.
After the museum, we grabbed some sushi for a late lunch before heading up to Dongdaemoon Market. However, upon leaving the restaurant we saw that the idle lines of police were now running/marching back toward Seoul Plaza, decked out in riot gear. Bus upon bus of riot police unloaded and made toward the Seoul Plaza. Salsa Boy was very gung ho about getting closer to see what it was all about but some of the strongest advice I ever got while in France was to avoid domestic protests and strikes as your legal rights are extremely limited as a non-citizen, should you be arrested. The riot police were lined up outside the subway entrances letting people in but not out into the main plaza. We ducked into the subway and headed north to the market. This morning's newspaper ran a brief article on the police crack down of unauthorized protests and demonstrations now that President Roh's funeral was concluded (it had taken place at the palace off of Seoul plaza). Korea is a 'democracy' but freedom of speech and demonstration is nothing like the unalienable right we have in the States. Bloggers have been arrested, (see the particularly incendiary case of 'Minerva' who accurately predicted the economic downturn and criticized the Korean government's response and action to it) or had their articles or blogs shut down without notice. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue but I haven't heard anyone talking about it on the streets. Articles in the paper tend to get relegated to the middle. Granted, with the tense situation in North Korea right now, no one is talking about much else but it would be nice to see some fire about democratic rights being curtailed.
Dongdaemoon was a bit of a let down. It's a really great place to go if you want really ugly western clothing though there was a beautiful selection of traditional goods, none of which I need. I didn't end up buying anything though Salsa Boy got a hand carved, traditional Korean stamp with his name phonetically spelled in Korean. I'm trying not to shop and save my money for a summer trip to China.
I have never felt less anonymous in my life, walking through these riot police or more ostentatiously American. It didn't help that I'd just treated myself to my once a week vanilla soy latte from Starbucks and was clutching the cup for my dear life. They were very obviously briefed on foreigner treatment as we were graciously let through and stepped aside for as we made our way back to the subway, better I think than our Korean counterparts attempting to do the same.