Stop & Chat: July 30 - August 1

Saturday M was off and I wanted to check out an arts and crafts market that I had heard about. So off we went to the local Garden 5. Except this time we went to a separate building of the establishment - the Garden 5 Life.

That little sign means we're almost there!

The Garden 5 Life building is split into 4 complexes: Fashion, Young (Kids), Living, and Techno. The Living section is what we wanted, which had an arts and crafts/stationery section.

It was quite hard to find what I was looking for, as the stores had a hodgepodge of items jumbled together, as well as a bunch of kid's arts and crafts sets mixed in. I did find some Hanji paper, which surprised me.

M found some fireworks in the ₩1,000(¢90) section. I wasn't comfortable with him buying such cheap items and was convinced they were discounted because there was something wrong with them, so we moved on. 
 

A closer view of the Hanji paper we saw. They were absolutely lovely, but more expensive than I was used to. These ones ranged between ₩2000($1.80) and ₩3400($3). The designs seemed more elaborate than the cheaper ones I got in Insa-dong, so I think I'll go ahead and pick some up the next time I'm in the market for Hanji paper.

I'm so upset as I look at this picture. I didn't even realize that box of 'fabric string' was actually fabric tape. Liz, you really need to learn how to read. It's one thing if the labels are in Hangul, but I can clearly see that it says Fabric Tape in English. If I'd seen that I definitely would have picked some up!

Anyways, I picked up some stickers, paper, and other miscellaneous items to send back home. By this point we decided we were hungry so we started looking for the food section.

The complex has a huge courtyard in the center, which rotates its decorations/accommodations depending on the season. As you can see here, there were a bunch of water type activities available. In the top left you can see little kids in blow-up hamster balls. On top of water. Can I please shrink down to the size of a kid and try that?!

The restaurant section was incredibly crowded. I snapped this picture because I thought we were going to eat here - Ashley's Salad & Steak, or something along those lines. It was an American style eatery. When we went up to the front, we were told there was a waiting list and it would take over an hour. No thank you!

So we ate at a nearby Korean buffet place which had space for us, but was incredibly crowded.  Of course I forgot to grab a picture of it.

After we finished eating we went to the Fashion complex and I looked for some makeup.

Whaaaat? You ask. Why yes! I, Liz, am on a hunt for makeup. Last weekend I finally decided to (yet again) take the plunge into makeup and bought some foundation and basic foundation applying supplies (sponges and a brush). As that's the only makeup I have currently, I decided that I wanted to check out the makeup counters to see if I could round out my stash a bit.

Along came Etude House. It was a lovely, smaller counter so out of the way I almost missed it. None of the other stores called my name, so I went in and checked out this place. It helped that it wasn't overly crowded with people (it was a Saturday, after all) and I felt like I could check out the products in relative peace.

I picked up some eye shadow and was on my way to the counter when an employee asked in broken English what I was looking for. I conveyed that I was just looking to stock up as I had no makeup, and she got really excited and started showing me some products that she thought would go well with my eyes/face/whatever she was looking at. Because of her, I ended up buying some mascara, eyeliner, and makeup cleanser as well. While I was in line to check out another customer came up and showed me some nail polish, telling me in English that "They're on sale for very cheap! ₩2,000 ($1.80)" I, of course, had to check out the nail polish display and picked up four nail polishes as well. 

While I was standing in line, the employee who had helped me started talking with the customer in Korean, and eventually the customer came to me, gestured at the employee, and said "She just really wanted to tell you that you are so pretty!" This. Made. My. Day. To give you a picture of how I looked, I hadn't showered that morning, my hair was in a messy clip on my head, I had no makeup on and a very red face because I was slightly embarrassed about the language barrier, a stained shirt from my old workplace, shorts that are 8+ years old and have been through many athletic events, and my tennis shoes. M made fun of me because the compliment made my already red face flush even further, and I stumbled over my "thank you"s, both in English and Korean. Then I chitchatted with the customer about how she learned English. Her brother married a New Zealander and she has been learning English since then and loves to practice whenever she can. Through the customer, the employee made sure that I understood what she had tried to tell me about each of the makeup products she had convinced me to buy. Much to her pleasure, I had.

I got up to the counter and paid, and the employee gave me quite a few freebies. A bag, a skin treatment set, and a mirror with a lipstick design. I left the store with much more than expected. LOL

The rest of our Saturday was spent cooling off at home as much as possible without using the ACs too much. Basically it's sitting in front of a fan, stripped down, with a wet wash cloth and/or a bag of ice. 

Sunday was a short day. We were trying to switch our sleep schedule over so M could go into his day shift schedule with little to no hiccups. The end result was a lazy day in with pizza and some movies. 

Today was rough for me. The house was too hot to leave the bedroom for the first half of the day, then I gave in and ran the living room AC for a few hours so I could clean, take pictures, and put together some boxes. I've been in the office for about an hour now, and I don't feel overly hot, so I'm hoping I can get another hour or two in before I have to vacate the office.

Anyways, that's it for my short catch up. I left out a few days, but they were pretty boring. More video games and staying out of the heat LOL. This heat turns me into a zombie. I haven't even been melting my wax!

Has the heat prevented you from melting? Have you heard of Etude house?