"How are you?"

I really do hope that our sleep schedule gets a bit less screwy in the near future. Last night we fell asleep at 5 pm...then we woke up at 3 am, fell asleep at 5 am and got up again at 8 am! I feel like a kid on X-masacre morning for pete's sake...this jet lag thing is just a little bit too out of control! After hanging out in the tiny little world we'd created in our hotel room all day yesterday, mostly out of fear, I was feeling a bit pathetic this morning and insisted that we leave on an exploratory mission. Bryan seemed pretty content to eat in the restaurant on the floor above us again, but after Katie's rave reviews of Korea cafes, I was pretty set on venturing out to find one. Strangely enough, we didn't have to venture far, and ended up eating breakfast in a tiny little coffee place across the street called "Copain". After all our difficulties of the previous couple of days, I felt like eating someplace with a French name...in Korea...as anglophones, would be a a fun little foray into cultural mixing...and besides, who doesn't want to eat at a place called "Buddy"? How much friendlier could anywhere get, I ask you? I mean, just LOOK at this place...soo CUTE! We sat at a table with a little bench with two little throw pillows and a chair, and things got even cuter when the waitress brought us the two ham/egg sandwiches, soup, coffee and lemonade we'd ordered.I am clearly overjoyed, as you can see in the picture there. Not only was my extremely hungry belly getting some food (finally, remember, we only ate once yesterday before falling asleep at 5 pm and I am a lady who likes to keep nourished!), but please take note that there is a DOILY under my soup, people, a doily! It's like my soup is sitting on a tiny old-lady couch! And my spoon says "Wicker Rocker" on the handle. Perhaps you can see both better in this close up of my delicious meal? Do you see that doily there peeking out from under the soup? And the cute little spoon with it's somewhat non-sensical misnomer? and here is Bryan's equally cute meal...served on a little tiny cutting board and also featuring a little purple doily...to protect the cutting board from the evils of coffee or simply to add a bit of whimsy to the meal? You be the judge. After we'd finished eating I bought what is easily one of the most delicious baked goods that I have EVER consumed. It was this little lady finger type cookie thing (but with two halves and much much softer) filled with what seemed to be...er...butter. Seriously, it looked like caramel, but once I'd gotten it into my mouth, I definitely think it was just over-pigmented B-U-T-T-E-R!

After we'd eaten, we took a little walk up the street in no particular direction and happened upon a really interesting shopping area. It seemed to be set up for pedestrians, and even featured a little rain canopy overhead, but there were

cars zooming in and out, left and right, and a complete and utter lack of sidewalks! No one else seemed upset by this, so we tried to keep our shock (and a few times fear)

under wraps. I was perhaps a little bit too pleased to find that I could get not only Birkenstock's, but also

(really really cute) Clark's (that I'd never even seen before).I'm really hoping that both of the above come in my size and plan to figure out the size conversion AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I suppose as is usually the case for women of size like myself, even when we can't get our hands on the cutest of cute garments on display everywhere, usually a cute pair of shoes is well within reach and should quench any consumerist urges that spring up in me! Part of my stress when packing came from the belief (re-enforced and confirmed by various sources)that I'd have trouble finding clothing here, and possibly even shoes (since I also have pretty wide feet), so learning that I could at least find one of those items (if I needed them) was pretty comforting!

Probably the best parts of this little foray were the shop names, including this little gem "SOUP:Performance Feminism Fashion". Now, I don't know about all of you, but I'm always on the prowl for the proper outfit for my Feminist projects, and I'm really hoping this place carries my size!

Another key moment of the day was when a lovely elderly woman exclaimed "How are you?" and, after we'd answered proceeded to strike up a conversation...in Korean. We think she was commenting on how tall Bryan is, but we're really not sure...yet another moment where I feel like I really should have gotten a handle on Korean before leaving! I mean, I missed out on chatting with a lovely elderly woman! This is a serious loss for me since, as previously stated, I heart senior citizens! We'd been warned before hand that people would frequently start speaking to us on the street, and that we shouldn't be freaked out or anything because mostly thy just want to practice their English, but gd it, it'd really like to know what she was saying! It could have been the cutest, best or most hilarious thing ever, and my ignorance has prevented me from experiencing it! Oh woe is me!

After finally purchasing some rather expensive (44000 won...that's like 40 bucks! I am not the kind of woman who usually spends that much money on "styling" products...I mean, my usual shampoo costs 3 dollah or under!) shampoo and conditioner, we're now taking a bit of a breather back at the hotel and will hopefully be able to venture out later on tonight to get some dinner (it started snowing really really hard earlier, and now it's started raining, and we all know how I feel about THAT!)..I'm starting to get hungry again already! I guess I'm used to being a bit better nourished...but then again I'm also used to being able to walk over to my cupboard to get some food! Soon tummy, soon!