Back to hotel to check out, and then back to "old downtown" to see a stationary store that was closed last night. Glad we did - 5 floors of handmade papers, craft supplies, journals, etc. really interesting to see what local people would buy.
Hello Kitty is still very popular - here's the most extreme version of branding I saw.
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| Hello Kitty swiffers! |
So, the Korean school system is intense - Isabel teaches in a private school, and students in her kindergarten class are 3-4 years old. They go to school from 9-2:30 with no naps, and as she says "they NEED naps". The older kids go to regular elementary school for a full day, then come to her school for after school English lessons from 3-7:30. Isabel gets a lunch break, then a late afternoon break, and she's tired at the end of the day. Can't imagine how they kids feel. That was a segue to saying that we went to her apartment to meet her during her late break, then she went back to work. We had al fresco beers - quite the Korean tradition to get beer and sit outside the convenience store and drink.
The local beers are barely tolerable, so in honor of Raymond, we had Budweisers!
After Isabel was FINALLY off work, we caught the bus to Seoul, a city of 10 million people. For comparison, New York has 8.5M, Houston 2M and LA 4M. To deal with a city this big, you need to pick a neighborhood or two and focus. We are staying in Myeong-dong, in the very cool Hotel Sin Shin. If you can't tell from the link, we have a small suite, with 2 beds, a queen for us and right next to it, a single for Isabel. The bathroom is super luxurious and it's nice to have to have the extra sitting area.
Loren and Isabel went out for street food and beers - I went to bed.
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