After leaving the airport and taking a van ride to our hotel, we got checked in pretty easily. Customer service seems to be a big deal here, but it also means it feels very formal which we are not used to. Bowing is a customary greeting here, for example. Our apartment is in Yeouido, which is a government/state area of Seoul from what I understand. Our main requirements were having a pool and being close enough for Chris to drive. I don't plan on driving while here, as the subway is very good, clean, and supposedly easy to navigate.
Our apartment is nice, though smaller than it appears in the website pictures. We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, both with king beds. We also have a living room, dining room table, and kitchen. We have laundry, but the washer and dryer are super small which makes doing laundry quite the ordeal! The kitchen has most necessities that we need, and a stovetop with two burners. The fridge and freezer area somewhat small, but at least they are bigger than a mini fridge! It feels like being back in residence hall student apartments. Perhaps I will make bbq chicken with bagged rice, like I did back in the days of sharing an apartment with Katie, Angela and Mr. Shimek. Probably not, though, haha.
Speaking of cooking, we took our first trips to grocery shop and get needed household items the day after we arrived. Our first stop - IKEA! Our main goals here were to get something for laundry, a bigger garbage can, and hangers. We only found the hangers. Plus a bunch of storage crap to make organizing easier. And perhaps some lingonberry jam and Swedish meatballs. Hudson loved the cart escalators that you can navigate hands free!
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| ready for IKEA! |
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| Look, no hands! |
Next we headed to Costco...like any other Saturday, lol! Costco was interesting. There were quite a few things we get from home, like granola bars, detergent and bottled water. We also found chicken in 1.5 lb packages, organic ketchup, eggs, string cheese and a few other needed items. We did not buy fruit there, as it was very expensive. Looking back we probably will buy it there, because we are finding that groceries are crazy expensive. For example, this Costco pack of Chicken broth is 18,900 won. Thats about $18-$19. FOR CHICKEN BROTH. I think the prices at Costco are high because a lot of the items are the same Kirkland items we can get at our Burnsville Costco. Pretty sure I cried here, not because I was excited about the samples, but because I miss home. Costco had dried monkfish as a sample. I didn't see a single American. I was hoping to find chicken apple sausage. But alas, we will absolutely return.
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| Costco haul |
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| 6 boxes of Chicken broth for $19? OUCH! |
Our last grocery stop, and home to an epic parenting fail, was a place called HomePlus. Its the Korean equivalent to Walmart one stop shopping. We looked through produce, grabbing some $10 grapes and bagged salad/salad dressing. Hudson also grabbed a dragonfruit he was excited about. Then, right after the produce was raw fish. Loads of raw fish that smelled like raw fish. Hudson, with his fantastic gag reflex, tried to keep it down, but couldn't and promptly puked into my hands. That was awesome :( We cleaned it up with plastic produce bags and some hand sanitizer, and I am absolutely traveling with plastic bags from now on. Poor kid isn't used to the strong smells we are finding everywhere. We bought some ground meat for tacos, some spices, cheese, sauces, pot stickers, milk and some iced tea. We did not find dishwasher tabs, cumin or taco seasoning, tortillas tweezers or frozen veggies.
Overall we survived our first grocery shopping experience with only one puking experience. At the end Hudson and I sat on a bench waiting for Chris, who was dealing with his corporate card being rejected at checkout (uh-oh!). A nice man who was likely mid-80's started talking to Hudson, asking him his name, age, etc. He was very sweet and said "He very pretty. He pretty in Korea. Where is his papa?" I pointed out Chris and he said "He very tall!" Yes, he is!
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| HomePlus Grocery Store. |
Our menu for the week is set, but I won't bore you with the details. We eat breakfast every morning in the hotel restaurant, which has both Korean and western breakfast options. Hudson has had oatmeal one morning, eggs another, and fried rice with dumplings another. Im sticking to poached eggs or oatmeal, while Chris is our food-venturer, trying all that is available. All of us love the fruit though, with Hudson having watermelon each and every morning. We miss home, but still feel like this is an adventure worth attempting! As you all know, I am not shy, but this certainly is past my comfort zone. Remember, we are only a free text away and I love talking. Special shout out to my BFF Dawn, whose texts have helped me more than she realizes. Especially her encouragement to "eat some kimchi" (NO!) and her question if there were American grocery stores here like we have Asian grocery in America, but with Doritos and Hershey Bars instead of cheap rice. LOL, I needed that.
