finally got our acts together and decided to head over to the leeum samsung museum of art. it being xmas eve, and korea being more christian than buddhist (surprised me too), lots of things were closed. including places to eat. we wandered for what felt like forever, and our only option was a diner, where i got tuna salad and fries. not korean, but what can you do. we did manage to stumble across a pharmacy though - score! ryan had written out the korean symbols for pharmacy (yawk-gook), and we'd been looking for one for 2 days. this place even had english in the windows! however, today was not to be our day either. we went in, asked "english?" and tried to mime our symptoms, but the 2 older ladies behind the counter just shook their heads with a lack of comprehension and said "no". not knowing what else to do, we just walked out. it was a bit hole-in-the-wall-ish, so i quickly came to the conclusion that it was more of a traditional medicine shop than what i was looking for. moving on.
afterwards we headed to the museum, which was actually 3 in 1. and for the price ($10) it better be. now, you may say "$10 isn't much of an entrance fee" but really, when every other place we've been has only cost $3, then yeah, $10 seems a bit steep. museum 1 was traditional art, 2 was contemporary, and 3 was a rotating special exhibit. i liked #1 the best, mainly b/c i often have a hard time understanding modern art. one "display" was merely 2 pieces of canvas painted 2 shades of teal. really? i could have done that. quite easily.
found our way to a supermarket to try to pick up some things for ryan (still searching for that gift). we were only partially successful, so decided to go with our plan C of a photo book of korea. back on the subway, it was obvious that it was a holiday. i've never in my life experienced such a crowded place. we became sardines, and they actually had traffic cops with illuminated star wars-y batons directing people. tried to capture it on camera, but really, the pictures do it no justice. eventually made our way to the mall where - this proves what a small world it is - amidst all the 1000s of people, we run into ryan. granted he's white and was wearing a red motorcycle jacket, so easy to spot, but still. and then we had to try to cover up why we were at the mall. he was meeting a friend, so we said we'd split up and meet up again later for dinner, outside the bookstore. convenient for us - since that's where we were going anyway haha.
we decided we'd buy what we've been eyeing the entire time we've been in korea - a dunkin donuts cake. yes, DD sells cakes here. i guess most koreans don't have ovens in their homes, so the thing to do is go to any number of stores - be it a DD, a traditional bakery, even 7-11 type stores, because they all sell these outrageously good looking cakes - and bring it with you, whether that be to home or elsewhere. then it was over to the bookstore. the odd thing is that all their books are wrapped in plastic, so you can't browse thru them to see if you'd like it. and b/c we can't read korean, this quickly became frustrating. admitting defeat again, we gave up on the photography section and headed to the foreign books, where i think we found a good choice. it was 'cultural symbols of korea'. in english.
met ryan (with our gifts hidden) and browsed the mall a bit. managed to get my photo of the couple matching underwear haha. dinner was more of a japanese place with korean influence. it was good, but i'm wondering what my stomach is thinking of all this fried food i've been eating! on our way out of the mall, found a legit yawk-gook - the pharmacists had white lab coats and all. now this is what i'm talking about. described my symptoms and they quickly handed over a magical pink box, saying "take 1 a day, feel better". and that's good enough for me on this christmas eve in korea.
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