Overwhelmed by E-Mart

I got home a little earlier from work tonight (about 8:30 pm) so I thought I would write a quick entry about E-Mart. On Tuesday evening after work Cassie took me to experience E-Mart. E-Mart is insane. That's the only way to put it. It's like Walmart, but if a Super Walmart were 4 stories and 3 times as big on each floor. In the store I thought I was looking at a wall of the mirrored reflection of the store, but no, it really goes on forever.

So we took the bus to E-Mart, and the first thing we did was go to the 4th floor food court. They have a McDonalds there so we got our little fix of American fast food (even though I'm pretty sure the last time I ate McDonalds was in High School). They actually have all the same Menu items as we do in the US, which was weird to me because even in Austria they had wiener schnitzel on the menu. So I got some fries and some chicken nuggets, which were very comforting after a day of intense teaching. On the same level of the food court is a huge bookstore, so we trolled the aisles looking for an English section, but sadly there wasn't one.

Here's a little bit of mistranslation in action for you:

Then we went down to level 2 for the home decor/electronics/shoes/clothing/lighting/office supplies, etc. The problem with E-Mart is there is no organization system at all! There are clothes thrown randomly in every level, a few lamps here, then some on level 1, etc. So you really have to spend a lot of time there just trying to find the stuff you need because it could be anywhere!

After you get all the stuff you need on one level, you have to check out before you go to the next one. Luckily groceries are all on one level, so at least they made that section a little easier. There's also a nice wine shop area, tons of foreign beer, and a fairly good selection of american products. The E-mart closest to me is one of the smaller ones (which seems ridiculous) so other ones have even more choices.

Here's what I came away with: a Brita water filter, a swiffer mop and refills, house shoes, Laughing Cow cheese, milk, Corn Flakes with berries, Nature Valley granola bars, Riesling, a box of cookies for my Kinder class, and a personal size Hawaiian pizza! So I didn't overdo it or anything, this was mostly a go and see what all they have trip. Plus when you have to carry everything home with you in a bus or taxi, it definitely limits your spending. But I did treat myself to the guilty pleasures of the Laughing cow, granola bars ($7 a box!) and Hawaiian pizza (on sale because apparently Koreans don't like my favorite kind of pizza!). All in all a very good trip, but there are still so many things I need for my apartment so I'll be going back soon I'm sure.

Tomorrow is Friday (yesss!!) so happy it's the weekend. Tomorrow night I'm going with a few people to a Norebang, which is the Korean version of Karaoke where you rent out your own room. So looking forward to that even though I couldn't carry a tune to save my life. Then Saturday Cassie and I are going to Seoul early so we have the whole day to explore, shop, visit the Foreign Food Market and an English bookstore!!! Seoul is massive so there is so much to do and see there, and it's so close! Sunday all the teachers are going to the baseball game since last weekend it was rained out, very excited about that too. And then Monday is a Holiday here so I get the day off!! I plan to do absolutely nothing, well explore some of the parks here if it's nice weather, but I think I deserve a catch up on reading and tv day too.

That's it for now, I will update yall after this weekend!