I did not know coffee was that dangerous. However, standard Korean coffee is like standard US coffee with plenty of milk and sugar and thus bearable, unlike Japan, where it’s black and bitter. We didn’t eat at this bar, but at a blowfish restaurant, two days in a row. The second day it was (a) to discuss with a customer in a friendly atmosphere and (b) for those who stayed for rounds two and three the previous night to have a soup. Note also the wicked cool iPhone I have that has Koreans drooling – apparently, iPhones are not yet available there. Apple is said to be negotiating some deal, but from what I was told there are two cell phone internet providers that all other cell phones need to use and the iPhone is somehow able to circumvent their monopoly, so it could take a while. The people can’t wait…
Here, for your education, the box in which my passport arrived. I have to correct my previous information: receiving it cost 7350 won, because the hotel charged a commission fee of 350 won, of which the clerk informed me with so many excuses I began to be embarrassed.
This is the view from my hotel room after a day with torrential rain and light hail. I can also see the Seoul tower, but it’s not on this picture and the iPhone has no zoom I know of, so it only shows up as a little lit stick anyway.
Work finished a little early on Wednesday, so I headed here, where I’d already might or might not have been a year ago on August 30. Most the other jewelry shops had already closed, so I was quite happy to find this one with the lights still on, though later I found out I’d walked up a few minutes past closing time. The first thing the father said was he remembered me. A few minutes later and after some conversation that didn’t betray the fact the son suddenly asked, “You’re from Switzerland, right?” I showed them a photo of Janet wearing last year’s purchase – I keep a few wedding photos on my iPhone – but either they didn’t make the connection or they’re used to their pearls being used for important occasions. I won’t say what I got this time, but I will make the next photo link to a map of their location. It’s the best little pearl shop in Seoul as far as I’m concerned.
Ah, yes, much better with the glasses pushed up.
And, for closers, a few Engrish shots.
Who can resist? Incidentally, the Japanese “Horumon” doesn’t mean “hormone,” as I long thought, but is a corruption of “horu-mono,” literally “throwaway things.”
It’s too bad you can’t see what you get if you pass the Wonder Girls, but you can always translate 드라마 in Babelfish.
A few words of wisdom from a Seoul Metro traveller…
…and some instructions from a public washroom.
That’s it – time for bed!
…”standard US coffee with plenty of milk and sugar” — for historical interest, this is not what I grew up thinking coffee was. I know that these days coffee is more confection than beverage, but my parents and most of their friends drank their coffee hot and black. Maybe that’s why I never learned to drink it, at least not until 8 a.m. Saturday chem labs, where room temperature was not standard but more like 30 degrees (F), and black, instant coffee made with distilled water boiled in a Florence flask over a Bunsen burner brought our freshman bodies to life.
A blowfish restaurant? Two days in a row? Sounds more dangerous than the atomic bombs.
When do we find out what you may or may not have purchased at the jewelers? With pictures?
I meant (standard US coffee) + (milk & sugar), so maybe our definitions aren’t that far apart.
Who knows – maybe our favorite recipient might wear something to Thanksgiving? At any rate, it’s similar to what she wore at the wedding.
To get to that pearl shop, get off the metro at Jongno 3-ga and take exit 11 to ground level. Walk toward the park and turn left on the street in front of it, then take an immediate left followed by an immediate right. Now you’re on the right alley; the shop’s on your right, about half a dozen shops down.