Stop & Chat: September 9-15 - Yatap-dong (야탑동), Chuseok (추석), and More!

This past week has been another whirlwind of activities. Get your food and/or drink of choice, because it's a long one!



Friday the 9th was a rather tame day. M and I went to the commissary to pick up groceries, as it's been a while since we've gone on a large grocery trip. The bright side is our kitchen is stocked for the first time in what feels like months. The downside is we're still too lazy to cook the stuff we bought. LOL! Not really, but it's hard to cook for two sometimes. We end up with lots of leftovers. The rest of the day I spent cleaning since we were expecting guests on Saturday for some more Pathfinder.

Saturday I woke up bright and early to do some more cleaning. M helped (which I appreciate) but it ended up backfiring when he accidentally closed a door on my head, breaking my glasses and giving me a headache. LOL. He felt really bad and I was fine, but I needed to take a nap. We didn't do as much cleaning as I hoped to do before said guests came knocking at about noon.

Pathfinder lasted until about 10PM, and it only stopped then because M had CQ at 6 the next morning. In that time ate a variety of hearty foods like pizza, steak & mashed potatoes, and cookies.

Sunday was yet another cleaning day. Having 8 people in the house all day makes for a messy abode! I also played some World of Warcraft with my family as it had been a few days.

Monday I was invited to go to Yatap with C, L, and L's little ones. I jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and we met up at the nearby bus stop to take some public transportation to our destination!

Our first stop - Daiso! This is one of the larger Daisos I've been to, but it's by no means the largest available. There are some Daiso stores that are 5 stories tall!

The first aisle that caught my eye was the scrapbooking/stationery isle. Those paper punches were between ₩2,000 (~$1.77) and ₩5,000 (~$4.43). There were also planner-related sticker packs for ₩1,000 (~89¢). What really caught my eye, however, was the washi!

10 meters of washi for ₩1,000! Less than a buck per! I tried to play it cool and only pick up a few.

It did not work. 

This Daiso wasn't as crowded as other Daisos I've been to, so it was nice to be able to walk throughout the store and see their offerings.

These plants were cheap! I didn't see anything above ₩6,000/$5.40. I wanted to pick some up but I didn't have a very good way of carrying the plants on the bus back home. I'll have to come back here with M and/or a car.

This was the selection they had for tealight warmers. These are significantly smaller than the other ones I picked up. They ranged between 3 and 5 inches tall and looked like they could hold maybe half an ounce of wax at most. They still looked cute, though!

Another section for ceramic goods! My mom would love to visit this store.

 A fun little 'outdoor' display.

"Hey honey, can you get me the orange plates?"

"What about the lime ones? We haven't used those in a while?"

"Fine, go ahead and grab the lemon ones while you're at it."

Off brand magic eraser that is just as good as the other stuff but significantly cheaper. 

Itty bitty trash cans. These are between 4 and 6 inches tall, depending on which one you get. What would I use them for? Not a clue, but I sure wanted one. 

They even had pet supplies! I like this Daiso. It has everything besides furniture for sale.

Once we finished up at the Daiso, we crossed the street to find some food before checking out a nearby E-Mart.

The last time I was in Yatap was April, when I went with C and we checked out a hole-in-the-wall candy shop and ransacked all of their goods. Seriously. My packages that went out that month were packed to the brim with Korean snack goodies.

Unfortunately, the store wasn't there any more! That's a sad reality of Korea, but we had foolishly let ourselves believe that because that shop had been there for a year and a half, it would stay forever.

L's little one wanted to hug the big plush teddy bear. 

This was the front of one of those restaurants where you get to pick the fish that you will eat for your meal. It freaks out a few of my friends as they discover the purpose of these tanks and their fates, but I understand it. What better way to know that your meat is fresh than to pick it while it's still alive? I feel the same way about the places that serve their fish while the fish is still alive (and filleted). Sure, some people might have an issue with it, but the end result is the same and it's a reassurance to the restaurant's guests that they are eating fresh food. Would I be able to do it? Nope. I just don't condemn those who do.

The orange sign is where we ended up eating. It was a small restaurant but the employees were very accommodating and friendly, even when one of L's little ones accidentally knocked over C's bowl of food. L mentioned during this time that she wasn't sure how she would have made this trip without the help of C and I. She needed to buy some Korean goodies for a military family exchange program so she could send it out by the deadline. The family she was paired with is stationed in Italy! How cool!

A close up of the menu. I got a garlic beef rice bowl. It's on the right page, 2nd row, 2nd from the left. In the picture you can see little orange-yellow flakes; those are the garlic flakes. It was delicious!

I don't think I've taken a picture of these before. These are basically escalators that carts can go on. The carts even have special wheels that lock into the ridges of the escalator to prevent it from sliding around.

Things were on sale left and right because of Chuseok. Chuseok is Korea's harvest festival, also known as "the great middle of autumn." It's also referred to as Korea's Thanksgiving. For more information, this website gives a good summary of the holiday.

You know you're an adult when you jump at the sales on socks and underwear. 

On the small screen, one of the Lego movies was playing.

Morning Glory is a big craft/stationery/planner type store in Korea. I see them all over the place and they're usually my go-to for notebooks and writing utensils.

There was a small pet store near a kids café. I didn't want to take a picture of the kids café because I thought that would be weird. People's children were running and playing.

The point of this particular kids café was for parents to leave their children with a babysitter and get some shopping done. It was ₩10,000/~$9 for two kids, for an hour. Unfortunately, L's younger child was too young to be left without one of the adults staying, so C offered to stay and watch them while L and I kept shopping.

We didn't get very far. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the right company makes 'quick' shopping trips turn into very long adventures. LOL

L and I did manage to go upstairs, to the grocery section of E-Mart, and pick up a fair amount of Korean snacks for her to send to her exchange family. That took the entire hour we paid for, so we went back to pick up the little ones and went to find a Bingsu café to reward the littles for behaving.

I forgot what flavors we got. One was a fruit and berry mixture, the other was a ginger and almond one I think. The red paste is a red bean paste. Not quite my thing for desserts, but it added an interesting flavor to the mixture.


Once we finished our goodies, we all grabbed our hoards of shopping bags, the children, and what was left of our sanity and hopped on the bus back home.
 

L and I live in the same neighborhood, so C and I helped her get all of her stuff to her house. While we were walking through the neighborhood I decided to take pictures so you guys can see the place!

Above is one of the community gardens.

A walking trail. I haven't been on this one, so I don't know where it goes.

These roads are tiny. It's common to have to stop and make way for another car if you happen to run into someone going in the opposite direction.

The best view I could get of a chicken.

Once we got to L's house, we hung out for a little and chitchatted before C's husband arrived and they offered to give me a ride home. Actually, C volunteered her hubby's services in driving me home. As we walked up to the car C said "I hope you don't mind but I told Liz we would give her a ride home" and his response was "I only agreed to one woman in this vehicle!" We proceeded to make jokes about two for the price of one and managed to convince him to drive me home. LOL


I got home a little before M and we made dinner together and watched some YouTube before going to bed.

Tuesday the 13th I got a head start on cleaning the house before I met up with C to go to Yongsan and pick up a Great Dane that I'm dogsitting. Her owners have been in Korea for about a week and because of the holiday they can't move into their home for another week. River (the poochie) was already developing sores on her legs from being confined in a kennel so they opted to try and find somebody to dogsit who could give her the space she needs.

River is a big lovebug. She loves cuddles and sleeping. She's also an incredibly calm and well-trained dog. No chewing issues, no aggression, just incredibly curious about her surroundings. Because she is so large she does accidentally swipe things and people with her tail, but she's so gentle nobody has minded. Just don't pet her unless you're committed to petting her until your arm falls off. The moment you stop she will headbutt you and/or punch you with her paws until you continue. If that doesn't work, she will place herself in your way so you have to acknowledge her presence. LOL

Wednesday we had guests over again for some more Pathfinder! It was another late night for everyone involved, and River was the star of the show. Everyone loved her and I got lots of great pictures to send to her owners.

Thursday the 15th I stayed at home with River and cleaned. I'm cleaning all the time now, whether it's prepping for guests or cleaning up after having guests over. LOL. I don't mind it at all; it keeps me busy and they help as much as they can before they leave for the night.

Time to see the goodies I got from Daiso!

Yes, I picked up some doubles. Did I mean to? You bet your hiney I did!

No, I didn't get a mismatched pair of house slippers. I got two pairs, one in purple, on in beige, for ₩2,000/~$1.78. Yes, please! I would've gotten more if I had seen more of this design and price, too!

Okay, this post took 3 days to write because I kept getting side tracked. I'm going to go ahead and post this before it gets any longer.