Stop & Chat: Word Vomit

M returned from his work trip on Friday the 1st.

Saturday the 2nd we went to Yongsan for a Boy Scouts meeting M had. When that was done, his scout leader offered to take us out for lunch. We ended up taking a cab to a restaurant north of Dongdaemun with spectacular American comfort food. There we did the traditional Korean share-all and split some chili mac, lasagna, and a French dip. We also drank a little beer, and M and S sipped on whiskey while the owner offered me a free mojito. Day drinking at it's classiest. LOL

Once we finished our food, we walked around Dongdaemun for several hours. During that time, S had to leave for a family emergency. M knew of a camping shop that has a backpack he's been wanting, and I enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the house.

While taking the Subway back to Yongsan, we had an interesting experience. An older Korean gentleman ended up in the line for the subway by us, and he seemed absolutely delighted to see us. At least, I assume he was delighted. He seemed incredibly inebriated and his words were very slurred.

It seemed like he was trying to speak English, then he switched to another language that I couldn't recognize. We tried to be friendly but it was hard to work out what he was asking. He kept using a word that I couldn't fully recognize, gesturing between all of us and smiling. I had a sneaking suspicion about the word he was using, and a younger Korean male M made eye contact with on the subway strengthened those suspicions when he started sniggering and buried his nose into his phone.

Now that I'm home and able to look up what Russian is in Korean (러시아인, pronounced pretty much the same as in English, except that first "R" is that rolled l/r sound) I have confirmed my suspicions. The man was asking if I'm Russian, and given the circumstances, I believe it was more than an innocent "are you Russian?" Depending on the circumstances when one asks "Russian?" what they're actually asking is "Are you a prostitute?"

So that man evidently thought M was in for a good time, and if I'm to understand his gesticulating, possibly wanted in on that. I'm going to need a moment to let that one sink in. LOL

The rest of Saturday was uneventful. We got home and went to bed early.

Sunday the 3rd we went down to Camp Humphreys to pick up my Wacom tablet. Wahoo!! I'm still working with it to get more used to it and tweaking the settings, but I like it so far.

While we were in the area, we went to the PX and came across a deaf Korean who was offering Korean folk paintings. We decided to finally do something we've wanted to do for a while: buy a nice art piece! Thus, the picture above. We're so cultured now, bow down to us and our sophistication.

While in the PX, I tried looking at the makeup. While M was gone, I made concentrated efforts to practice my makeup application and had a list of things I would like to get to round out my makeup collection. M stopped me and said I should go for the higher end stuff if I'm putting it on my face. Yup. You read that right. My husband is encouraging me to go high end and spend more money. 

 
His reasoning for it was that higher end stuff shouldn't cause as much skin irritation. It made sense, as I'd already voiced to him some issues I had with my current stash. If there was only one thing I could buy, I told him, it would be brushes; mine are not blend-friendly and irritate my eyelids like no other. But since he gave me a free pass to expand my horizons, alrighty then! Don't need to tell me twice.

While in Humphreys, we also played a round of disc golf. Then drove home. All in all we were gone about 8 hours.

Monday the 4th, M went to pay rent while I chatted with my parents. It had been a while since I talked to them, so I figured confirmation that I'm still, in fact, alive would be good for their mental health. Once I was done chatting, we hopped in our cars and went off on another adventure! Destination: IKEA!

This time our visit to IKEA was for something perhaps a bit odd: pans. M has been doing some research and shopping around and his opinion is that the pans available at IKEA are our best option right now. We only needed to replace two pans, and there were some stores near IKEA that M wanted to check out, so it seemed like our best option.

We managed to only get two more things than we planned at IKEA: a set of tupperware for hamster goodie storage, and some Pyrex-type containers that came with an airtight lid for M to bring food to work.

In the nearby outlet mall, we got a little bite to eat before walking around the stores. Nothing caught his or my eye, so we left to head home.

Tuesday was a recovery day. M slept on his normal night shift sleep schedule and I played some video games and wrote out some blog posts. I also used that time to finalize my research and pricing out on various makeup brands and items I've been wanting. One thing threw a wrench in my plans: Lorac's Labor Day sale. Such enticing eyeshadow palettes, and cheaper than some other brands I was looking at. I couldn't resist. All in all I submitted an order to Lorac, Morphe, and Essence cosmetics. One of these things is not like the other, but that's okay. I had it on good authority that Essence had some banging lip products I had to try out. Near bed time, C called me and asked if I wanted to go to Yongsan and Insadong with her. I said no, fu- just kidding, I said yes.

Wednesday I woke up bright an early at 5 AM. And by woke up I mean rolled over, saw the time, and rolled around and groaned until conceding defeat to the day and getting out of bed at 6. It really wasn't that bad, I just thought I would need a little more sleep before getting ready.

I met C at about 10 and we set off. She needed to run some errands, and I had some items on my makeup list that needed to be bought at the PX. While there, we had to check out the clearance dresses, and I came across this beauty:

Confession time: I've never even tried on a dress like this before (what kind of dress is this? I'm so woefully uneducated in women's fashion) because I never thought I could pull it off. I thought I would look like a sack of potatoes. But I tried this dress on anyway, and I actually liked it. C confirmed that this was a must have, and I snatched it up at the low price of $7!

We finished our shopping, dropped our bags off in the car, and made a quick trip to Itaewon so C could convert some USD into Won. While there, I picked up some stuff at Lush.

I just tried to look up the name of the new cinnamon based shampoo bar, and it's called... New. Alrighty then. While here, I restocked on my Veganese conditioner and bought a shampoo bar tin.

After dropping off our new shopping bags at the car, we headed for the nearest bus to take us to Insadong. It was raining at that point, so Insadong wasn't as crowded as normal. We enjoyed that emptiness and took our time shopping at the same Hanji store I've been going to since last Spring.

We also sat down and ate some food at a restaurant. We had barbecued bulgogi with ox bone stew. The stew must be some sort of black magic. It started off tasting a little plain. Each of us added our rice and some sea salt to our soup. The soup got slightly better. As our meal went on, however, the soup got more and more appetizing, until it was the only thing we wanted to eat. I still don't know how that happened.

Once we finished up at the restaurant, we went to the 5-story Daiso that I've been wanting to go to for a while now. I did a fair amount of shopping there. Once that was done, however, we headed back home.

Haul time!

I picked up an owl warmer for ‎₩3,000/~$2.60. Isn't it so cute! This guy can't hold very much wax, but he's perfect for smaller rooms that don't need a lot of wax to scent up.

Washi tape, of course. I thought I wouldn't pick any up. I told myself I'd be good.

Oh dear me, how did these end up in my basket? Each package of washi tape cost ‎₩1,000/~85¢.

I picked up some washi tape holders, as well! I know my entire stash can't be held by these little guys, maybe 4 or 5 regular width rolls per holder. I like the idea of having the rolls I'm currently using and the in season rolls easily accessible. The best part...

...is these are made to stack!

Finally, I picked up some contacts at the Daiso.

Just kidding, These are small bowls.

Now the hamsters have a special bowl I can put their fresh food and handmade treats in when I serve it to them! Is it really necessary? Nope. Do I care? Also nope. :)

While going through the underground subway areas to find a restroom on our way back to Yongsan, we ran by some stores and these caught my eyes. 10 sheets for ‎₩5,000/~$4.40? Sign me right up. I behaved and refrained from buying one of each type of mask.

In the week since these fun activities, I've gone on a hike with M, chitchatted with friends, sat in for a movie night, and played some video games. I also kept up with the news on the aftereffects of Hurricane Harvey and chewed through my nails worrying about Irma. I'll be keeping my eye on the news back home in the coming weeks, but it looks like the worst of everything has passed. Thank goodness!

How has your September been so far?