Insadong...Our Black Friday

This week I have two days off. The end of the month is always hectic with getting in grades and stuff. Since I have today off, I have had plenty of time to run errands and blog. Yesterday we went Christmas shopping. Americans have Black Friday....Americans in Korea have Insadong. It's a place where you can find all kinds of cool Korean stuff. We found fun trinkets and lots of cool stuff with words on in that doesn't make sense. Not to mention I found out from a student that you can purchase kimchi in a package that will last a month non-refrigerated. Who knows, you might be getting a package of kimchi in the mail soon :)



We woke up with a refreshing cup of Christmas Blend along with a few donuts, bundled up because it was 30 outside, and hit the road. I mean subway. As we were walking the fun street, I spotted a Christmas tree!! I had to have a picture.



Later as we were finishing up, a parade began to take place. It was like the Macy's Thanksgiving, only more Koreanized. So we watched for a bit and waved to the cute children. That took about 10 seconds and I was ready to move on. We went home with lots of fun stuff that will fit nicely into a few light boxes for shipment. All in all it was a fun day and we found our own way to make it feel like the holidays in a country that doesn't celebrate it!!



Today is Monday and we received a delightful package. A Christmas tree!! Kathy sent Patrick's birthday present and added an awesome tree with a few ornaments. She absolutely is the best!! It has been hard listening to Christmas music without feeling like our place looks Christmas-like. Now that has all changed. I set it up immediately and found a candy tree topper while I was out.



I think this picture looks better. It shows how large and towering the tree is compared to our change bowl.



I was feeling pretty low because I went to Starbucks to use my free coupon drink. I have been saving it for December 1st to get a peppermint mocha. Guess what? No peppermint mocha!! What?? Instead, the holiday drinks are toffee nut latte and dark cherry mocha. Who wants a dark cherry mocha? I've had enough cough syrup as a child to scar me for life. Why would I want to add cough syrup to my mocha? Blast!! That's my favorite word right now. A friend from Ireland teaches me fun words like "blast" and I try to be as Euro as possible when I say them :) Anyways, I was completely outraged, but Kathy smoothed it all over with the tree. Thanks Kelley family.

Now I can listen to my music, drink my Christmas Blend, and have a holiday spirit in our tiny abode. Plus Patrick had fun opening his package today even though his birthday isn't until next week.

Patrick really enjoyed his surprises as well!!








Doesn't the fly swatter look great in the background? We have never used it because Patrick likes to be the Karate Kid and snap mosquitoes with chopsticks. He's my hero.