My roommate, Hao-Hua, and I got up at 7 am and took a stroll around the front of Ewha (E-dae for short), where all the little shops and cafes are. The weather still hasn't improved from yesterday at all. It's muggy, rainy, and humid--in short, a meteorologist's worst nightmare. At least when we started walking, it wasn't too bad, though E-dae itself looked pretty spooky in the...fog? Smog? Haze? Whatever you call this:
We had breakfast in a small little cafe, grabbing some kimbap for 1,500 won per roll (less than $1.50!). The inner college students in us went ballistic--cheap food is good, but even better when it's cheap AND delicious at the same time. Even better, I actually spoke Korean competently! Score one for me...
...and then hold on, scratch everything, it's raining cats and dogs outside. Usually this would call for throwing caution to the wind and running for it, but when your destination is further than your sprint can take you AND down a very slippery hill or two, you change gears pretty quickly. My raincoat was soaked by the time we made it back inside.
So originally, we were supposed to take a bus tour of the city, but we called it off due to the weather. Then the plan was to see Transformers 3 at the nearby theater after lunch. But we were all saying, "no one comes all the way out to Korea to watch an American movie." After much waiting around in the subway station for our TA to get our subway passes (I suspect it was about an hour or so), we were--relieved that we finally had something resembling a plan--headed for Dongdaemun.
Of course, this is when the heavens decide to drop buckets of water on our heads, so we rushed into the nearest shopping center to keep dry while we could. While I'm sure the girls were delighted to get some quality shopping time (3 freakin' hours!), the Fantastic Four were...considerably less thrilled. Don't get me wrong, we were interested to see what they had to offer in the men's department. While I can't speak for the other three, I can safely say that I don't want to be caught dead in form-fitting pants, gaudy shoes, shirts with strings of English words that don't make any sense, or any piece of clothing with Angry Birds plastered all over it.
Also of particular note: the lone white man of our Fantastic Four, Matt, nearly gave one of the shopkeepers a heart attack when he spoke Korean to her. Commence hysteric laughter amongst the Americans.
At the top floor of the shopping center, though, was a small arcade tucked away in the corner nearest the movie theater, and Hao-Hua spent 2,000 won more than he was expecting in an effort to break the day's high score on the basketball game. (He did.)
Of course, what would a stay in Korea be without going to a barbeque dinner? This particular place was different from the ones we're used to in Los Angeles--it's basically a buffet. You pick the raw meat you want, take it to your table and cook it. Even the banchan (side dishes) are served buffet-style. Naturally, we all reeked of the stuff after we were done...I felt sorry for the people standing near us in the subway on the way back. It's a wonder the stench didn't kill anybody. Needless to say, when we got back to E-dae, I showered that out of my hair. Too bad I can't do the same with the searing pain in my feet.
Before I go, the obligatory group shot (taken by me, which is why I'm not in this one):
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