On our way over to Myung Dong we got a pretty good (if foggy) view of Seoul Tower. This is one place that I want to go to before I leave, preferably at night when, I've heard, the view is supposed to be amazingly pretty.
We also saw this pretty sweet Western looking fountain.
Once in Myung Dong, we found a really cute looking makeup store. We were immediately attacked with good service. I literally mean ATTACKED! This lady (who spoke great English) was going on about the best colors of these eye shadows and just, without even asking, started putting it on our eyes. It was like, "Hey! You'll be pretty whether you like it or not, dammit!!" After the initial attack, she kind of backed off and let us ask questions about the things we were interested in and while Tara was asking about some blush I escaped the lady to look at some eyeliner where I was promptly attached to another English speaking lady who, luckily, was a little less pushy than the one that attacked us with the eye shadow.
I don't feel too bad giving into her sales pitches because they were things I asked for and she just directed me to them. They weren't even the most expensive things in the store. She actually told me about an eyeliner that would look better on me that was half the price of the one that I was looking at. Granted, half the price just made it dirt cheap as opposed to Walmart cheap.
I ended up getting a bunch of makeup and some face cream stuff that no one cares about (even if it smells GREAT and is all awesome) but spent only a fraction of what I would pay in the States for all of this.
That's not even the best part.
They also gave with the purchase a whole ton of free stuff: a butt load of samples, two face masks, a nice hand mirror, nail clippers that look like a cat paw, a feather pen, oil control paper, and a big ol' tote to put it all in.
Man, I love Korea.
Especially shopping here. What am I going to do when I go back to America and I can't get dirt cheap cosmetics and awesome service with tons of free crap with my purchase!? There is no where like that in the States is the answer.
Thus, right now my favorite place to shop for cosmetics is Holika Holika. Here is the store that took my money.
Here is Tara standing in front of the store that took our money. You can't really tell in the picture, but the lady had put a ton of blush, pink sparkly lip gloss, and some green eye shadow on her and all together it kind of made her look like a doll. It was pretty adorable.
Speaking of free crap, we were also accosted in front of other stores with free stuff just to go in and look around. So we did! I got a free purple Christmas tree pen and a box of cotton pads out of the deal.
Here's a picture of the ladies that kept trying to force free stuff onto us.
Right now is the "Korea Grand Sale!" which means there are banners and stuff telling us it's the "Korea Grand Sale!" Supposedly a lot of stores are having awesome sales, but it's pretty hard to tell sometimes. One might think that this might be why got so much free stuff with our purchases, but I don't see much of a change from before the beginning of the "Korea Grand Sale!" (the exclamation point is important).
Tired out from all that hard work shopping (whew!) we sat down to some much deserved food. We went back to a restaurant we had been to before for some Chicken Bulgogi. Yum!
Here's me excited for food!
Tara loves food, too!
They start you out with some sides: cabbage with some kind of dressing on it, radishes, kimchi, and some kind of soup.
Then they bring out a pot, put it in front of you, and start cooking. Mmmm... mushrooms, mushrooms, carrots, more mushrooms, green onions, and a slice of potato.
Then they add the marinated chicken. Soooo good!!
It cooks in about five minutes which, nearing the end, they add the glass noodles and it becomes delicious!!
Also, Tera loves Kesha (spelling?) and the guy at the front counter of the restaurant was playing a record of her so Tara took a picture with it.
And that was all Friday! Friday was a busy, busy day with many good adventures (and a few that just make good stories).
Saturday we tried more delicious Korean food for dinner (no shopping on Saturday! Spent all our spending money on Friday), this time closer to home. On the way, we stopped by the pet store and admired the cute, cute puppies in the window. Cuteness!
The food was great, if a little bit spicy (burning lips!), but the best part was their high tech take out boxes. We didn't finish all their food and since Tara doesn't have a microwave (poor gal) she didn't want to take it home so I got it all. Sweet! Two dinners in one! When I got the bag of left overs home, I opened it to see their amazingly high tech take out containers: plastic vegetable bags!
Heck YES! That is amazing. Mom was a little grossed out when I told her. She thought that was just dirty, but I don't think they are used. They probably just have a roll in the back that they rip off of and send you home with it. Made me to laugh.
And THAT, my friends, was an awesome four day weekend. Now, why does it have to end? Why, oh WHY do I have to go back to work tomorrow? That's just silly. It's not too bad, actually. Kids will be going off the walls though, just coming back from break, starting a new school year (apparently?) and not caring because it's the last three weeks of the term. But, hey! I got awesome videos planned to keep my middle schoolers entertained and some fun academy projects for the elementary kids.
Aja! Aja! Fighting!
Hey Jen, find out what day Tara doesn't work and when Dad and Jesi come to visit this summer you guys can go to the tower at night time and see the views and go have dinner some place. Add that to your to-do list.
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