thopping sips

When shopping in Korea, there is this brilliant concept of "free." Unfortunately, it's not the price we're talking about. "Free" refers to size. "Free size," as in "one size fits most." This poses a problem for some, if they don't fit into the stick-skinny range, as most Korean girls tend to be. This concept of "free size" is a slap in the face for any woman with meat on her bones. There was one store I went to where the biggest size jeans they had were... my size. I'm an average size, therefore, this means that half of the women from the states would be unable to purchase jeans at this store. For a quickly developing, well-adapting society, Korea is quite unreceptive to diversity in size or style. A big selling point in the markets is that "everyone buys it." Yep, that's how they try to get you -- by telling you everyone else has that shirt you want to buy.

You've got to be prepared to be bombarded by the salespeople. They call out "Unnie! Unnie!" incessantly and pretty much grab your arm to drag you to their stands. You must be careful with your gaze placement. If you show the slightest bit of interest to an item, it's over for you. It helps a bit, and it's quite fun to give the salespeople a startle. I'll say "Hangook mahl moh rah yo," with an exaggerated American accent or will straight up say, "Sorry, I don't speak Korean... sorry!" The double-takes and confused stares are well worth the joke.

Carrying cash helps when you shop at stands. If you pay with cash, you have some haggling leverage.

Things are overpriced here. For starters, any foreign brand, Gap, Nike, Adidas, etc. are ridiculously overpriced. I saw a dress at the Gap here in Korea that I had bought in the states before my move. It was on sale here and still more expensive than the full price I paid for it in America. Jeans there are sold at over $100 a pop. Clothes in general are overpriced here. For the quality you get here, you can discount shop in the states for a much better buy.

However, there are some items here that are worth it. Jewelry and some accessories are cheaper here and you have an incredible variety to choose from.

And so, my conclusion? The cheap eats are way more worth it than the cheap buys.