I was chatting with my unnis and oppas at the front desk this morning when they suddenly realized I was leaving tomorrow morning :( They were so sad. I made such good memories here, in the hotel and in the area around it. I finally know where everything is and can make my way around when I need something or want to go somewhere, aaaand I'm leaving. /sigh. I bought boxes of cookies for my staff friends and for the cleaning crew who took care of me so well this whole trip and wrote my favorite hotel attendants a card. I had Dajeong translate what I wanted to say into Korean so I could write it down :)
I know you're all thinking "but you always buy a lot". Contrary to popular belief, I am a careful shopper! I have a Costco of a closet but its carefully accumulated :D I don't usually buy expensive clothes or ones that aren't on sale, and I try to limit what I buy at one time with some exceptions (E.g. I am halfway around the world and a $5 silk button-down top is staring me in the face).
My Usual Method of Shopping
1) See something I like, 2) Check the price, 3) Judge mentally whether its worth the price; if its worth the price, 4) Judge mentally whether I need it and/or already have others like it, 5) If I STILL want it I view items in my head I would/could wear it with and 6) judge whether I'd wear it enough to justify buying it for the price and quality
If it passes all these trials, I buy it. If it fails at one of them, I move on! Now y'all know what's going through my head when I'm staring silently and intently at an article of clothing while shopping hahah. This is why I prefer to do any real shopping alone, to spare my shopping companion :)
She excitedly introduced me to her parents as well, as "Candace from America!!!". This struck me as so funny, since I've never been anywhere where it was cause for excitement or where you had to explain you were from America before. If my parents were there, I would've been equally excited to introduce her as my friend from Saudi Arabia!! It seems like such an exotic and far-off place, but I guess to everyone else, America is also a far-off place. That's so interesting to think about for me; I'm learning all sorts of things I've never thought about before. This is another reason I wanted to come abroad, to learn more about the world and how other cultures think and act. We live in a bubble in the US, and I want to know what's outside it. This is a first-hand chance!
But I digress again. Sorry, I got excited lol. Going back to my friend, we commiserated about not understanding the sentences Koreans tried to speak to us, although she has mastered English as well as Arabic, so she's way ahead of me linguistically. Her English was really good too, completely natural and fluent! I was so impressed, I wish I was bilingual lol. I can't remember her name, much less spell it but it was really pretty. It sounded like Riyula or something. I will leave her a note on her door before I leave, with my email or something. Maybe we can still be friends and penpals :)