Adventures in shopping

For Annie, Em, and Loftus, if you're reading this and wondering about fashion in Korea, this post is for you. One, everyone here is pretty trendy for the most part. Guys usually wear pretty tight jeans. They also carry purses. Or shoulder bags. Possibly because their pants are so tight they don't have any place to put their stuff. In any case, it's not really weird. At all. I didn't even notice it until someone pointed it out. It works. Korean fashion is anything goes. But they ALWAYS pull it off. Sarah says it's kind of 90's style. I'm not quite sure what that means...

It's considered immodest for women to wear low-cut or shoulder baring shirts, but they have no qualms wearing very very short shorts and skirts. Women also wear high heels. Everywhere. Even ill-fitted shoes. When we went to Mudfest (more on that later), there were women in heels at the beach. I just don't get that. I don't get anyone who does that. Ever. It does not make sense.

So far, I've been pretty scared about shopping here. Because people are tiny. And I am not. I've heard stories of foreigners who are small who have problems with people telling them they don't have clothes that fit them. It's one thing to realize that in the fitting room; it's another to be told that before you can even look at anything. Another thing that's different here is that in a lot of places you can't try stuff on. You just have to guess and buy it.

Anyway, today I faced my fear and I went shopping. I needed a shirt and shorts for Jeju (as well as for weekends; I am always amazed by the fact that I live in Texas but own more pairs of pants and sweaters than summer wear. Anyway.) I can't go shopping in Korea. The problem is I can find shirts for KW10,000 which is about $10. That's disgusting. I can't deal with that. That's like offering chocolate covered chocolate to a recovering choco-holic. Really?? Unfair, Korea. And I haven't even hit the motherload. I haven't gone shopping at the markets where you can haggle over prices. Luckily, I managed to restrain myself and just bought what I needed (ok, my Mom's reading this).

One funny thing that happened was, I was looking at a shirt when the sales lady came over and showed me the men's shirt, which looked a little big but I could probably pull it off, and then she showed me the 'women's' shirt which I'm pretty sure she took off a doll. It was tiny!

For those of you who have worked retail, be glad you don't work here. Most stores I went into had the sales person stay right next to me as I looked. I wasn't sure if it was to make sure I was helped or to ensure that I didn't steal anything. Hm. Also, I just left Hongdae and most of the boutiques were open. At 2 am. Just sayin'. I'm so glad I don't work retail here; talk about killer hours.