We have been here 13 days so far, and I may have spent approximately 8 hours not confined to either our hotel, or our new apartment. So, I can honestly say that there isn't too much for me to share about Korea, other than that its COLD and DRY, and that they like Tai Chi more than yoga.

However, we have made a few grocery shopping trips, and that in itself is a fun experience. There are basically three options (that we have discovered) to buy food: a ) E-Mart (similar to Walmart) b)Costco c) small corner stores. When we moved into our apartment this past week, we stopped in at the E-mart just down our street, and it took a lot longer than normal to find what we needed. For instance eggs: There is a giant section reserved for eggs. Koreans seem to love eggs. If you don't pay attention you might end up with sulfur eggs, liquor eggs, fertilized eggs or ginseng eggs. If the product is made in Korea, it generally will not have an English description, but thankfully for us, there is usually an imported option as well, which has both languages. So most of the time it comes down to comparison. Some times it works, some times it doesn't. For instance: Flour. This picture represents three different types. The one on the far right was experiment number #1 - pizza dough which turned out....but strangely. Not surprising though, considering that we now have decided it must be noodle flour. The middle bag was experiment #2- oatmeal cookies- which were a bit tough. I still have no idea what type of flour it is. Lastly on the left, the newly acquired all purpose flour. Thankfully, we were able to find a bag that clearly indicated what it was for.

Its fun to check out the many unfamiliar foods available. There is an abundant variety of dried foods: dried fish, seaweed, roots, silk worms (yummm!) etc. The spices are limited, so I'm glad I brought a variety with me. I try to keep an open mind about trying new things, but there are some that just hold no appeal for me.

We took a trip to Costco, which is about 25 minutes from our place, and it was an experience that can only be described as a GONG SHOW. You know its busy when there are traffic control people physically pushing back the barging carts, so that people merge fairly while tying to get down the people mover between floors. We are walking up and down the aisles, and as we get to the main intersection I'm hearing Trevor saying to me" Keep moving Nic, don't stop now or you'll never make it, go, go, go!". It was like we were in the red sea, and if we stopped the wall of people might come crashing down. After 2.5 hours we did make it out of there, vowing not to return until desperate. The items were similar to Costco at home, but some of the prices varied drastically. Prime example: Kirkland maple syrup. Cost at home? maybe 18 bucks. Here? 42,000 WON!! (that's $42.00 CDN). So we will have to suck it up and use Aunt Jemima at a whopping 14,500 Won ($14.50 CDN) Ouch.

We moved into our apartment a week ago today. Everything is unpacked, and we are settling in. For the most part, we now know how to use our appliances. We are getting used to the periodic PA announcements, and since we have no idea what they are saying (is the building burning? is there a robber on the loose? Are they fumigating the underground?) we have decided that the only thing to do is ignore them. Our television has maybe 10 English channels, (though none are full-time English) which seem to play either movies or Will and Grace. Thankfully we have an abundant selection of DVDs, and we brought our Wii, so we should have that base covered. Of course, we also bought a Vonage box (ie. internet phone), so talking on the phone is free (aside from the monthly charge). Now that our stuff is unpacked and the apartment is setup, I intend to make full use of that.

Anyway, that's all for now and I want to go to bed. Before I do though, here's a video tour of our apartment for your enjoyment.