Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Shoptastic!!!

Ok, so that title was totally lame-o but it totally describes what I felt today! We got up early today and went to the brand new E-Mart in town. The Grand Opening was on Monday and it caused quite the commotion in town good and bad. Most people are happy and excited about it because you can go there and find all you need groceries, home stuff, clothing, gifts, a hair salon, a nursery for your kids while you shop, nail salon, Baskin Robbins (with some incredible stuff they don't have in the States!), and even a traditional tea house. Tem de tudo (they have everything) as we say in Portuguese ; ) I would put it way above a Walmart, more Target quality and fashion in clothing, shoes were actually kinda lame, but the grocery section has everything and good sales if you can stand the product girls dressed in bright red and yellow airline uniforms. They have a mini-office depot and a mini-best buy section with any and all electronics including appliances of all kinds (except a waffle maker we were sooo hoping to get).

It sounds so shallow but walking in there felt like Christmas, the materialistic kind of course, but Christmasy nonetheless. Everything was so shiny, Christmas music playing in Konglish, and everyone had a smile on their face. Everything was spotless, literally, the floor not a scratch, perfectly placed product on the shelves and the people in charge of each section wore white gloves so as to keep items finger-print free and ease of dusting.

We wandered all 3 huge floors, the top 2 floors are parking.


This is the NEW E-Mart in Jecheon! We took a cab, it cost us just under $4 (x2 and its not super cheap transportation but if you shop and have stuff to carry home its too far to walk so the cab is definitely worth it.)




These are the fun escalators that run in between the floors. First off to get a cart you put a 100 won coin into the cart handle at the front door (it returns it when you put it back and they click together, a great system if you ask me, no carts left in the parking lot etc.) The cart wheels have grooves and they click into place on the escalator so you don't have to hold the cart or even push it up. It would be very tough with such a steep incline after you start filling it up with groceries and stuff. It's actually kinda fun to ride up and down,and yes, ok we did go all the way up to the 5th floor fulling knowing there was nothing but parking, just to see the view from the top.

The next couples shots are a few random funny things we saw and a few things we bought...


I thought these were too cute, donut tape rolls! Each color was a different flavor, not sure if they actually smelled. They actually look more like Life Savers instead of donuts.


Hilarious! Only in Korea would someone ever come up with a strange way of wearing a tie! So fun as they say here (they don't always understand fun and funny mean different things).


This candy I've seen a few different places, who names an edible product that! There is also weird flavored gum here like cookies and cream, YUK! its just wrong.

Let's play a game of guess how much this is:




Adorable, pink, polka-dot, Amy-size slippers in a normal section which is practically impossible to find = priceless...actual cost: about $6 USD


A super cute classic black purse = priceless... actual cost: about $9 USD


Fun, bright colored plastic cups, Ben not being able to shatter them = priceless actual cost: about $2 USD
*Side note: Got the mugs at Home Plus the other day, so cute and reminds me of my cute kitchen colors at home!


We found a few things from home we desperately missed! Lets hope they taste the same, the Kit Kat bar package says "International Recipe" on it, what does that mean?!!?!?!


We got this as a gift for Director Lee and his wife. It is their 25th anniversary today and he has mentioned it a lot lately and Ben was finally able to get the date out of him. We just wanted to take the opportunity to get them a little something to show them how much we've appreciated their kindness and generosity to us and to really say congrats because we all know that being married for 25 years these days is an incredible feat. He always tells us he is going to get a silver medal and in 25 more years a gold medal! So we gave them a "silver" bag of "kisses" hahaha stupidness implied, he is really a very funny guy and we knew he would get and appreciate it. I also happened to bring an anniversary card in my stash from home that was PERFECT so together it was our little gift to them. Apparently he REALLY liked it because he called me while he was still at school this evening to say thank-you and tell me how surprised his wife was to receive a gift, it was sooo cute! It tickled me pink to be able to show them in a little way we thought of them. I guess its just those little things that mean the most sometimes, I know for me its true so when I get a chance to do it for others its all the more special. It's the love language thing I think.


This filled my afternoon, making peanut brittle with some of the organically grown peanuts Jennifer's dad gave us. mmm it tastes soooo good to have something homemade especially during the holidays!

Here's the final product...who knew you could make really good brittle in a microwave!



Well thats about it for today... the next few days should be fun, we honestly have no idea what we're doing on Christmas day we're just kinda going with the flow and "Que, sera, sera!". My lovely husband priceline negotiated us a fabulous 2 night stay in a 5-star hotel (for dirt cheap) in Seoul for New Years. He's always making my wishes come true! I'm soooo excited we're going to be in Seoul, South Korea and get to experience the new year in a HUGE vibrant city and hopefully see an incredible fireworks show too!

later!

4 comments:

Sara Nanney said...

It sounds like you guys are having a blast! I cracked up at the pictures of Ben on the escalator with the cart. And the cups/mugs you got are so cute! Have fun in Seoul for New Years...love you both!

Karen said...

Love the pics! Have a wonderful holiday and happy new year!

Benjamin + Amy said...

thanks Sara! yea that was a really fun morning. Today was kinda bittersweet but we're making it as cheery as we possibly can. We'll be posting pics of our Christmas Eve today... we have a tree with little things under it!!!!

Karen- thanks! Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to you! Hope Fred's behaving these days ; )

Casey said...

The M&Ms are definitely the same (and I think the Snickers and Twix are, too). The KitKats are not as good as the US ones, but they are still way above Korean chocolate. It was so thoughtful of you guys to get your director and his wife a gift.