Day 7: 5 July 2009 Sunday

I finally had 8 hours of sleep today!

Post-shopping at Artbox: Melissa, I found the perfect ribbon sticker! It's pink actually, I hate the flash on my camera :(



The Koreans we have met and rendered us help have really been nice to us,  and I don't know how we'll ever be able to thank them sufficiently.

In the afternoon, I met Jeannie at  Yongsan 용산. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in I-park mall: 자장면 for 4,500원 which was really delicious. I love, love, love, love, love 자장면. Those that I've eaten in Singapore taste really different and aren't as nice as the ones I've eaten here in Korea.

I'm sorry for the lack of photos of the places I've been to lately because it's really tiring and painful carrying a dslr in my handbag and my left arm might just break off one day from the weight.

After lunch, we went to the building Wan Ling told us about to check out the prices for the electronic dictionaries. Initially, I couldn't decide which to get: Sharp RD-CT40 (touch screen, colour, flowers adorning the front) for 180,000원,  Sharp RD-7500MP for 105,000원,  Sharp RD-P1 (writing pad) for 150,000원 for the display piece only, and Sharp RD-5500MP for 120,000원. My budget was 150,000원. We were kind of stuck at the last shop for quite some time and the salesmen are weird, like the one in white. He told us not to go back to Singapore. But he said that because of one of the models he recommended to us: an electronic dictionary something like the itouch and you can actually watch TV on it; but the problem was that we could only watch the TV shows in Korea. He made us promise with our pinky fingers that we would go back to the store when we said we'll consider and go back later. But we didn't in the end because of 2 special persons.

As Jeannie and I were discussing where to go to do more price-checking as we were on the linkbridge to I-park Mall, a married Korean couple approached us and asked us if we needed help. We told them that we were looking for electronic dictionaries and they actually brought us to I-park Mall and told us to follow them as they'd help us ask for the prices! They taught us a new word: 바가지, which means overcharging. They said that if we were to ask for prices, we'll be quoted a much higher price; whereas if they were to ask for prices on our behalf, we'll be able to get cheaper dictionaries which was what happened :)

With the wonderful couple!



The only makeup I put on today was eyeliner and mascara but I've no idea why I still look so white.  Anyway, I didn't get any of the Sharp electronic dictionaries I had in mind. I got a Nurian 누리안 X-13 for 185,000원. No, it's not pronounced in the same way as how you will pronounce the word "durian". Jeannie got the Sharp RD-7500MP for 120,000원. We were informed that it was impossible to get a brand new 7500MP for 105,000원 when it's a newer model than the 5500MP which we were quoted 120,000원. Which meant that the guy from the store in the other building probably tried to sell us an old piece :( If you check the price on Gmarket, paying for 185,000원 is really worth it because the average price online is around 220,000+원 or something. I've decorated my dictionary already. It's pricey but I think it's a worthwhile investment, and I'm not going to stop learning the Korean language. It's a lifelong learning for me and I'll use it for a long time.  I really love Korea and the language which is so beautiful.

I got the sticker from Artbox.





Went grocery shopping in E-mart where my electronic dictionary came into good use when I didn't know how to say "dental floss" in Korean.  Finally bought hand soap after living off someone else's in the common bathroom. I'm not the only one who lives off it, my friends do too and we each thought we were the only one doing it when in fact, almost everyone did too.

I met Wan Ling, Yi Hui and Alpha in Ewha이대 for dinner. We wanted to eat porridge at the porridge eatery we went to the other day but it was closed so we went to a Korean restaurant where I had a super delicious 비빔밥 for 5,000원. I'll really miss eating authentic Korean food once I'm back in Singapore. Only 25 more days left here! And there are many pretty cafes here in 이대. I plan to check out all of them before I leave this country.

My desk now.