Big Spending Day!

Class was interesting today. We moved seats yesterday, however I was all alone--the classmates I was supposed to be sitting by did not show up. Today everyone showed up. The student to my right is a Chinese Australian. He speaks fluent English obviously, growing up in Australia. And, for some reason now that I am sitting next to him, he decided it would be okay to talk to me. All the time. During instruction. (Which obviously as a teacher and a good student I do not appreciate! However, it was nice to finally have someone in class that I can understand--and he is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese as well, so once when we didn't know a word he asked a student from Taiwan and he was able to translate to Mandarin and then Kevin translated from Mandarin to English!) So, it will be an interesting week sitting next to him I think. However, he's missed a lot of class, so there's no telling how often he will show up this week. We had a quiz today, and I was definitely not prepared for it. :(

After class, I stopped by my room and then headed out for my shopping trip. It has been getting progressively colder and I was not prepared--not having a winter jacket at all. I had also been thinking about the boots so I had a goal. I returned to Ewha Women's University area for the boots. I don't know if the shopkeeper recognized me or not. Probably not. But I did decide on the tall knee-high boots. I walked around a little and went to the pie shop to get a treat for my roommate. She was so sweet-even though my interview was at 10pm Korean time, she left the room and hung out with a friend so she wasn't in here interrupting or anything. And I felt extra bad because at night she told me, "tomorrow I have to get up early for church"!! So she had to be out of the room til late and then get up early!! T.T So sad! After I bought her a little pie treat, I kept searching, hoping I could find a good winter jacket. I was just about to head back when a jacket caught my eye in a larger store. I felt the sleeve on the mannequin and thought it felt quite warm. I found one on a rack and the lady told me to try it on. Then the bomb dropped--the hood had raccoon fur. Another jacket with raccoon fur?!? I tried to explain I did NOT want raccoon fur, but she only had that kind-she said real fur is better than fake fur. But she also showed me that I could take the fur part off. I liked the jacket and now it didn't have a fur hood! I asked if I could get a discount because I did not have the fur "hood" and she agreed and gave me a 30,000W discount!! I got the jacket for 109,000W! (She also told me if I had American cash she could give me another discount! Awe, shucks--didn't have any on me.)

I was feeling pretty excited about my two big purchases. I headed towards the subway and saw a street vendor selling "hodduk" (Korean pancake filled with sugar, cinnamon and peanuts) AND it was only 700W! Typically I see hodduk for at least 1,000W. So I decided I would have this tasty treat. :)

I returned to my room and was thinking about what I would do for dinner. I figured I would check in with Brian and see if he had plans or not--I hadn't really hung out with him in awhile. Just as I was about to send him a message, he sent me one asking about my dinner plans! We went for "dakgalbi" which is chicken stir-fried on a hotplate in front of you with vegetables. Except, we ordered "pizza bokumbap" which was basically kimchi fried rice with a TON of cheese on top! It was so good! Exactly what I was hungry for (and didn't know!).

The rest of the evening was devoted to homework, studying and catching up/feeling comfortable with where we are in the lessons again. On Thursday I have a meeting 1 on 1 with one of my teachers to help prepare me for the exam I think. I'm a little nervous because of how my speaking skills are lacking, but hopefully she can give me some good tips.

In the subway with my hodduk! I can't wait to return to this area and get it again!

My new boots!!

My new jacket!!