Day Thirteen

Very nice day today.  Cold but clear and it felt good to walk around.  Since it was a day off, we made it over to Itaewon.  There are a lot of American shops but also neat little sidewalk vendors.   We were there for three hours.  You can definitely negotiate... even with sellers in the indoor mall.  We went with Erica (wife of a patient), Debbie (caregiver of a patient) and Dawn and Dave (the newest couple).   Mom and I were approached on the sidewalk by two female students who wanted to practice their English with us.  I had actually read that this would happen in a book I got on Korea (Culture Shock: South Korea).  Overall, good day.

Day Twelve

It's Saturday here so it was to the clinic at 8:30 am.  As it was snowing, getting into the building was interesting but we made it.  Mom got the 45 minute protein drip and one of those rump shots (she had it out of my view so I didn't ask) but it had to have been either the CK or the vaccine. 

For lunch, we decided to have real Korean food for a change, so we ventured downstains to Yura.  I really wish I had taken my camera.  We both ordered the Bulgogi Kettle (which is a marinated beef mixed with mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrots, etc.).  It was really very good.  They start you off with a salad, which had some kind of super cold relishy dressing.  Then they bring out the kimchi, cold bean sprouts, some kind of fish, what looked like small oysters and some kind of slimy mushroom sprouts (all in separate little bowls).  I tried everything except the small oysters.  It was all pretty good except the fish thing.  Ugh.  Mom only tried the cold bean sprouts and a piece of kimchi.  Then they brought out the Bulgogi with a side of (I think it was Jasmine) rice. This was obviously a lot of food for just two people but we did the best we could to eat what we could.                                               

This wasn't our table but lunch sort of looked something like this (the Bulgogi is in the middle).

Then they brought out a cold plum tea after the meal.  Mind you, all this they brought when all we ordered from the menu were "two Bulgogi Kettles, please".

We thought it would be nice to go the movie theatre across the street, just to do something different.  So, after we go back into the hotel room, I put my jacket back on and went across the bridge to buy tickets (it is reserved seating so wanted to be sure we pre-bought tickets).  I could not believe how crowded it was!  I actually had to take a number to buy the tickets.  Anyway, there were only two movies in English (with Korean subtitles)... Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.  After flipping a coin, we ended up with Sherlock Holmes.  Entertaining movie. 

Tomorrow, if mom is still up for it and it's not completely freezing outside, we'll take the shuttle over to Itaewon for a little shopping.  Will let you know how that goes!  How to ask "how much" in Korean:  Olma Imnika.