First Trip to LotteMart for Groceries

The most difficult thing about working in a private academy (and there aren't many difficult things...) is that I get out of work after 8, wait potentially 40 minutes for the bus (the 751 intentionally avoids me), and don't get home and put all my stuff away until around 9-9:30pm. Either I just want to relax or everything is closing, but regardless of the situation I often find myself living off of 7-11's ramen stash every night. Probably not the best solution.

So since today was Saturday, I decided to try grocery shopping for the first time. I already knew there was a LotteMart underneath City 7, about a 20 minute walk from my apartment. Easy. I head to LotteMart with my umbrella in hand since it's raining pretty steadily, but the trip wasn't too bad. This LotteMart iss not as big as the one between Dogye and Shinchon, but it's still pretty big. It's Korea's WalMart, essentially.

I head to the toy section first because one of the things I definitely needed was some easy adaptable game for my kids to play so I could get them to lighten up about speaking English in the classroom. I tried it with Uno the other day on some of my older kids and it works really well. Unfortunately Uno was like 15 bucks? And every other game was very specific or had rules in Korean that I couldn't possibly comprehend. Board games didn't see to be the answer. There was Jenga, which gave me pause when I thought about all the potential in terms of sentence construction games and such (can only remove the type of word needed to finish a sentence), but I really need to develop that game more first in my head before I drop the money of something I really may not use. I settled on a deck of cards in plastic case (always gotta think about the rain during monsoon season in Korea) that were only about $2. Kind of simple, but that's good. It means a malleable product for a multitude of games like blackjack, go fish, indian poker...whatever. I grabbed that and moved on.


I meditated briefly on a rice cooker, which would probably be good in the long run, but I decided it was probably a little early for that. Now, I'm glad I decided against it (more on that later). I head over to the groceries and almost want to burst into tears once I see the price of fruit. Fruit in Korea is astronomically expensive. A bunch of grapes cost anywhere from $7-$10. Vegetables were a little confusing too, because I didn't know if that was the price per pound or what, but fruit was what really killed me because that was like 90% of my diet back in America. Needless to say, I freaked out when I saw the canned fruit aisle and canned fruit only cost about $1.50 (a can of peaches) to $3 (a can of mangos). I bought like 6 big cans of fruit.

Korea has Nutella, I think we'll be okay.

I also found peanut butter and jelly, which are a little more expensive than in America, but not by much. Bread was a killer because it only comes in tiny little half-loafs at about $3 a pop, but it was a necessity. I have to stick to what I know for now, until I can learn to cook something or get more acquainted with Korean products. It seemed dumb to buy a bunch of stuff I had no idea what it was or if I would like it. Sticking to the basics for now.

Anyone who knows me also knows Orange Juice is just about the only thing I drink besides beer. The OJ I bought at the big LotteMart last time was kind of gross, but better than nothing. This time, I found OJ 50% a half-gallon. I decided, what the hell, and bought two. Luckily for me, this turned out to be some DAMN good orange juice. Like Sunny D with out that nasty sugary taste. Also grabbed some milk and a giant box of Frosted Flakes. Some girl had a booth set up with little samples of Frosted Flakes to try and wanted me to try some but I was like "please girl, I know what Frosted Flakes taste like" (But I didn't actually say that). She was super excited when I bought a box of her Frosted Flakes. I did try a sample of the milk however, because I wasn't sure if it was milk or yogurt. Koreans are huge fans of the drinkable yogurt concept and a bunch of milk cartons were actually filled with yogurt. Yogurt is relatively cheap in Korea, or the same price as America. I grabbed some of that (to keep getting my fruit fix).

Those cartons are yogurt, not milk.

Now, to explain what makes this shopping trip obviously more complicated than it needed to be, you should know that, to get a shopping cart, you must deposit 100 Won in a little slot. I did not have 100 Won. I thought about taking an unattended cart, but I already stand out enough here without being labeled a cart bandit. Instead, I opted for one of those little green Publix-style "I only need milk, bread, and eggs" arm baskets. By this time in my shopping adventure, I have fully loaded down this little green basket to the point at which the whole thing is bowing in from the weight of all my canned fruit, jelly, peanut butter, yogurt, milk, and juices and I have to carry it with both hands. I decide that's as much as I'm getting today and head to the register.

After checking out and purchasing a few plastic bags (which are not free in Korea), I realize I am required to bag my own groceries -_-; I probably should have gotten a summer job at Publix, becaue it would have been really useful now. I had only purchased two bags (fairly deep though) and the next person had begun ringing up their items so I had to keep reshuffling my items to get them to fit properly. The damn giant box of frosted flakes had really screwed me over.

Heading out with an extremely heavy bag in each arm, I realized there was no way I could make that walk back home, and I definitely needed a bus. Problem was, I couldn't find a bus stop. I walked maybe 4 blocks in the pouring rain (arms full, so no umbrella) until I got to a bus stop. I only had two goals at this point: 1) Make it home safely and 2) Don't let my bread get squished. If my bread had gotten squished, that would have ruined my whole damn day. I was a little impatient waiting for the 213 bus (which was the one I was comfortable with writing) and jumped on the 501 (which I knew went in the same general direction). Lucky for me, the 501 is my boy! It stops maybe a 2 blocks from my apartment, which is way better than the 213.

I am soon learning that, in Korea, you don't build up a shopping list and wait for shit to run out before you go shopping. You make little micro-trips. At least, if you don't have a car. There is also the problem of plastic bags that I always run into: do I save them to reuse for shopping? Or do I use them for trash? It's always a choice I'm so torn between and Korea makes me hoard plastic bags like a packrat. I'll probably have to make another trip out today for basic household supplies like dish soap and something akin to Oxyclean, but for that I'll just go to the KSMart near my apt (more like Publix - slightly more expensive but built for convenience).

Now that daily life is starting to get under control, I'm think I'm finally ready to see the kinds of things Changwon has to offer me! I know there's a gun range near my house and a golf academy as well. I'll keep you posted on what I find out about those...

Hope you're enjoying sleeping, America!