Its another Sunday

Well it has been a few days since I blogged, I was waiting for something exciting to happen, and I don't know if I would classify it as interesting; but an improvement. The US and S. Korea have decided on "voluntary" importation of beef no older than 30 months. The US packers and government has agreed to not send and the Korean government has agreed to not accept cattle over 30 months of age. FINALLY!! More than 95% of the cattle slaughtered in the US are under 30 months of age anyway, so I don't understand why it has been such a hassle. I do not know how the Korean consumers are handling this news - as all the news stations are in Korean (and I am still a little rusty at my Korean, lol). But the news was announced at a press release Saturday afternoon. I hope that things will go well, and that by the end of this week US beef is sitting on Korean soil; and that at work we are able to do some promotions. It would be very exciting to go from thousands of people protesting to people eating US beef - all in the same month - and while I am here.

Saturday one of my co-workers and I hit the town. She helped me learn the subway system, which thankfully the exits are in English and Korean! We went to the area where Seoul's most famous art university is and browsed and had lunch at an Italian place. We then went to Lotte department store. A little history lesson on Lotte: the man that owns them is Korean but lives in Japan, and he has hotels, departments stores, apartments, etc in both countries. So a win-win; you get Korean shoppers and Japanese shoppers; and both of which will frequent the stores in either country -- talk about brand loyalty. But the department store was cool. We went to the food area, there were rice cakes, and fried odds and ends, all the different kimchi (chili marinaded vegetable - usually cabbage), there were tons of eateries, and things you could take home, and then you could buy groceries. I bought some roasted seaweed, it was obviously crispy, but kinda salty - very good. After a day of walking and shopping we were spent, but have made plans to see a movie and go to the Korean Folk Village (which is supposed to be pretty awesome). Also, on Thursday we are going to visit the biggest and best sensory (food tasting) lab in Korea, and perhaps the world. Should be very interesting.

Today I went to Insadong, which is an area close to my hotel where there are hundreds, if not thousands of shops, street vendors, and places to eat. Usually on the weekend the place is packed, but today was my lucky day because you could get around pretty good. So I did some shopping.

Ok I want to leave you with interesting things I have discovered through a series of 50 questions a day.
* Most Koreans will live with their parents until they get married - yes even if they are 30, 40 years old. They may decide to get an apartment with a sibling, but usually not.
*Koreans never live with someone before they are married.
*Koreans think the whiter their skin is, the better. If they are dark skinned it is seen as disgraceful.
*Tattoos and other than ear piercings are not things their cultures does.
*Koreans love to travel and most have deffinately been out of the country.
*It is not uncommon for a Korean person to go out of the country for college, and most will go to a country where English is the native language so they can perfect theirs.
*Ironically, Koreans usually never speak English except to someone who does not speak Korean - they will not speak English among themselves or at home.
*Most Koreans do not wed until after college and usually after they have a job and can "support" themselves.
*Rice is included in every meal.
*For breakfast the meal usually consists of rice and soup.

Well I will leave you with that for now. But I found a place today in my wanderings called "Beer and Chicken," which is like us having wings and beer. So yes, I will have to check that place out, and it is pretty close to the hotel.

Take care, Love Lindsay