The weekend before Chuseok is not the time to go shopping...

...And other things that have been irking me about Seoul.

Don't get me wrong, I love Korea. I really do. But since I got back from my trip (which made me a mean person I might add), I have been in an interesting mood. I can't motivate myself to do anything unless it is directly related to work or drinking. Korea enables my drinking habits...
But what that means is, if I wake up on a Saturday hung over, I won't even leave my house to get water or food, unless I am invited out...

Another problem is that since I've been here over a year, many people have left (and even returned) and the result is other than a few close people at work, I really don't know a lot of people since I got back. It is nice to have my buddies, but when you work and play with the same people day in/day out... well sometimes you just need to know other people outside who share your interests (and don't encourage you to drink until your liver explodes a little more like below).


Then, this freaking rain has been going on nonstop. I mean my tan faded within a week and its been downhill ever since. Returning from warmth to gloomy/cloudy days has been no good for my emotions.

I also find myself not wanting to eat Korean food as much because after 3 months off of it, I noticed a big difference in my body, and being back on it, well I love Korean food but it(at least the stuff I eat) doesn't seem to be the healthiest. Maybe because I eat barbecue 3 times a week. Ugh...

The other day I was so upset because I couldn't remember how to ask the bus driver to let me off after he drove past my stop and no one tried to help me. I have no idea how my coworkers do it, I hate living where I cannot communicate as effectively as I want to , which led me to the decision to sign up for level 2 Korean.

This weekend I decided to go with my buddy to Costco. It's pretty simple you sign up for a year membership (35,000 won) and then shop to your hearts content. They've got many of the goodies people miss from home, and a few you don't as well. And (for me at least) it's relatively easy to get to. A straight shot down line 7 to Sangbong (Inner City Bus Terminal station) and out of exit 2.

I've been before, but this weekend was mass chaos. Every family in Seoul must have been in there shopping for Chuseok. Big hits were the meat aisles and the gift set sections (see you must give gift sets for chuseok). Some of my favorites include the Spam gift set, Ginseng (nasty stuff) gift set, among others.


Well, the problem is that at the best of times it seems koreans are oblivious to others around them, with old people pushing past or throwing you out of the way without so much as a word of excuse me. Multiply that by a trillion during chuseok. I almost punched a few people. My highlights include a little girl taking a look at me and starting to cry for her mom, the old lady who jabbed me in the stomach without a word of apology, and the people who were actively pushing my cart away AS I was standing in line to pay. Ugh...

The day wasn't so bad however, I got a lot of yummy food, and wrapped it up with hot dogs and pizza at the food court. All in all though, I will never go shopping before a major public holiday ever again.

And I came up with some other resolutions to keep myself busy/out of this funk. Attend everything I am invited to, learn more korean, and get back in shape (gym/taekwondo). It'll be awesome. And in case you're wondering I've set the deadline to leave Korea. May 2011. We'll see what happens

For Chuseok, I might go camping. I went on this trip last year

But don't get it twisted, I still love Korea... for now anyways :)

Costco Korea website: http://www.costco.co.kr/eng/index.htm