010912

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i am approaching the end!!! jokes i have only entered double digits. 10.

rather fun day today! met up with Min and went shopping at Myeongdong (again)!!!

Min was running a little late, so Eero and i decided to head over to the shoe store to get his new shoes...
in the shop, we bumped into this wall!
it's a wall of celebrities wearing the shoes sold in this shop~
haha..

can u identify some of the celebs??

this shoe store had very cheap shoes but also very normally priced shoes (mainly Lacoste shoes - having the same price as you would find in Australia). nevertheless, it was quite good! Eero left with a pair of 39,000 won shoes ($39 AUD ish).


about 30 seconds after leaving the store, Min calls and we met up for the first time in 2-3 years!! he hasn't changed much.. haha... we went to a chain store that served cold noodle, bibimbap with bbq bulgogi as a side dish.. it was SOOO good. paid 6000won ($5-6).



i had bibimbap =D


on our way out walking towards SPAO, a Korean clothing chain, we bumped into two security guards clearing a path for a mysterious black van... a celebrity van! not knowing who it was, people started stampeding toward it and got their phones out.. i did too, out of the excitement of the moment. it ended up being a solo actress/singer.. she walked quite fast and had a very 'independent woman' feel to her.. didnt catch who it was properly though.. =[ 


on top of SPAO, there is an SM ent. endorsed shop that sold signed photos and celeb merchandise under the SM family~ there were pictures of SNSD, Super Junior, etc... and photobooths and yeah... haha.. i wasnt meant to take photos.. but here are some sneak shots.



we visitted A LOT of stores... Korea has so many classy/dressy styles that they wear casually, so to me, this is wonderland! casual blazers, chinos, knitwear, etc... UNIQLO has the biggest range of chinos i've ever seen and an even bigger range of slim fit jeans.... must return soon.

after leaving Myeongdong, Min said that Dongdaemun is also a good place to go shopping. we visitted a building called Doota (not DOTA). it was like a big arcade with little personal clothing booths. it was great. the shop assistants were quite pushy (but that's the customer service style here in Korea) and tried to sell me as many clothes as they could.. if it weren't for the clothes being decent, i would've thought them the same as dodgy shop assistants haha!

on the way there though, i found these next photos to be interesting.


a line of clothing stores.. longgggg

a river playground in the middle of the city... Sydney should have one IMO.



after we were done with shopping... we went to a cafe and chilled for an hour or so. we saw a stage getting prepped for singing competitions (apparently very common in Korea.. random singing competitions in public).

time went rather quick and soon, we were on our way home.

the shoes i bought! $50

i like quirky shirts alright... $20

for dinner, i went to the cafeteria eventhough i wasn't as hungry.. but i thought 1 meal for the whole day wasn't good so yeah..
$2 again for a meal.. and WOO it was good! i think i have mastered the ticket machine (no problems at all) and i ate dinner like a true local. the dish was rice, spicy soup, octopus and the general side dishes =D.

after dinner, i decided to do laundry as well (with Winky helping to decide.. LOL).. i also dried my clothes with the machine in an upstairs laundry room (WOOHOO dryer machine > hanging to air-dry). i feel like a housband already (house + husband).. i took my room mate's clothes out of the washing machine and hung them up on the hanger, and folded his dried clothes from the hanger and when he came home, he was surprised HAHA. but he was happy.. i guess this was a good step in relationship building.

i also bumped into a disabled man from Ghana who is staying 2 rooms away from me.. he was very nice. he went to go for a stroll (ride? on his wheelchair) along the river bank perhaps to catch the sunset. =]. there are friendly people here, i just need to stop and chat to them.

overall a good day... not as tiring as i had thought it would be... but satisfying =]

i spent the rest of the night digging out old photos on Facebook and yeah... HAHA good times.. i miss Gold Coast =[.


i didn't feel homesick today.. it was moreso, if i was home, then i'd be doing this and that... but i'm here now in Korea for a good reason and for an experience, so i'm going to be Spongebob and soak it all up (inside joke Shawn Tan).


tomorrow Jo's mother and sister will be leaving for Sydney, so i won't be seeing her.. =[ but that's okay! i hope they have a safe flight and that you won't miss them too much~

my school semester will start soon.... must prepare myself.

 edit: my room mate has started to say good night to me every night before going to sleep even though we both know there is a big language barrier.


Thankful: I have friends in Korea who I've known for years since high school who are willing to help me whenever and wherever. I am learning day by day to take care of myself by doing chores and general survival.

Prayerful: Positive relationships with everyone around me so they may see Christ's love through me and that I may be an influence in their lives.

Dangers: Unwise spending of money. In my excitement sometimes, I can be very loose with my wallet. 
What is God teaching me today?
1 Corinthians 9.

 v19-23: I shouldn't neglect the others around me who I 'cannot connect' with. The party-goers, the heavy drinkers, the sexually immoral.. instead, I should see them as gospel opportunity. I must understand them and be 'among' them. (Not to do what they are doing, but to be the different).

 v27: Discipline means working at something until you cry, sweat and bleed. DoaGM talks about discipline as literally beating your body and making yourself a master over it. Thank you God for the reminder.