Hello Spring...

Hello!! Today is the first day of spring. Oh at least it felt like it. :) This made me get up earlier than usual(However that may have been due to my stomach virus...) Put my jacket on and go to the big super market near my house for an adventure.

I decided to walk from my house..(This is my building...)




So then I have to cross a bridge and above you can see a view from there.


Overall, it was maybe a 20 to 30 minute walk to my adventure to the super market. The biggest difference between Korean market and anywhere else is the samples. You will walk out of the store probably taste half the items and have some wine too. Ha. Also, if the store has an overstock of something, they tape it to a different item and sell them together as a special. Also, they can be the most unrelated things. For example: Today I had to buy Naan Bread(Bread from India, flat and made on the stove.) I also got a free measuring cup and some cleaning gloves. I have also bought before some cream cheese and got lotion for free, bought cereal and got a bra storage bar.......

So, anyways the other difference is this country has TONS OF PEOPLE. I mean TONS. Therefore, it is not like the US when you shop. It's a battle. It's a war zone. First of there are tons of people in the stores:


So getting around can be a challenge, especially if there is a SALE. Second, you have to identify the object and wrap it in 2 bags. So it doesn't leak on the way home. & Then you have the seafood section. This my friend is the scariest place on earth to me. Why you ask?
Because Imagine a chicken walking around at the store, the butcher asking you to pick it out and than killing it in front of you. Or a cow, being there and you say "Hm....I want that one..." and just like that they get them out for you. Well, that is what it is like for the fish in South Korea...
However, we do have that with lobsters, so I guess I understand the concept in America same as Korea. Neither the less, it's different. Hey, when in Rome....Also, The seafood section here is the largest I have seen in my life. They have EVERYTHING. They have things I have never seen in my
life. There are so many kinds of shells,
snails, snakes(?), fish, crab, and fish.
You can get everything. Not only that but they have the biggest sizes of these things I have ever seen. I saw crabs the size of my head. (I'll try to find one to take a picture of.)
Anyways, going away from meat we
have the kimchi sections. Kimchi is
huge in Korea. Kimchi is basically fermenting seasoned cabbage. What I understand it has hot
chili sauce, garlic, onion, shrimp paste and left in huge pots for years. The longer you have your kimchi age
the better the kimchi. A restaurant in Seoul has kimchi that has been aged for at least 3 years and is very popular!This is the usual kimchi made with cabbage.


This lady has another kind of kimchi. You can buy it by grams and it has different kinds. You can get Onion kimchi, Radish kimchi, and many more. They all taste very different and you can usually try them all at the store. That way you can see that some have less fish flavor, some more, some very spicy, and some much less.

While I was waiting in check out line at the store, a Korean women came up to me to ask about the Naan Bread I was buying. She spoke English so I was able to explain how to make it to her. After the bread conversation I told her how good her English was and behold she said her daughter was in USA! I asked her where and she said she was a student at Duke University, NC!!!! I told her that I lived close by in Cary, NC and she said that is where her daughter lives too!! Small world!!! The end for now.