Stealing the Seoul of South Korea! Part 5

School has started.  I'm teaching Math 10, IT 10, and Digital Media 11/12.  I'll keep this short because I don't have much time these days. Luckily for me, day 5 in Seoul was a pretty relaxed one.  It was a shopping day down in COEX Mall and a quiet night back at my home stay.

Started the day really late.  Mama woke me up for breakfast in front of the other home stay guests because of my tardiness.  It was as if she was treating me like her son. Not sure if I was supposed to be flattered or insulted.

After breakfast, I talked to my parents via Skype.  By the time I emerged from my room, everyone in the home stay was gone, so I did my laundry and then headed to a coffee shop to figure out where to go.  Sue told me of various English bookstores, one of which was in COEX Mall a bit past the Gangnam region. I headed there and had lunch in a French patisserie along the way.

Some sort of promotion for the new Playstation Vita at COEX

By the time I got there, I realized two things: the mall had the Kimchi Museum and a casino. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my passport with me, which is needed to get into casinos.  Upon further inquiry on why I needed it, I found out that only foreigners are allowed to gamble.  South Koreans aren't allowed to gamble in their own country!? WTF?  I headed to the Kimchi Museum instead.

This small and somewhat quiet museum was very interesting.  It was quite educational.  I learned a lot about the history, nutritional value and methods of preparation of Korea's mainstay dish.  They even had a variety of samples to try.

Kimchi samples

After the Kimchi Museum, I headed to a bookstore to pick up Lonely Plant: Thailand.  From there, I headed back to Myeong Dong and walked around my neighborhood a bit before heading back to my homestay.  I had the intention of trying the local jjimjibang (spa/sauna) that evening, which was conveniently located 2 floors below my room. However, things took a sharp turn when my homestay family decided to rip out some traditional Korean costumes. A couple from Hong Kong were leaving the next day and everyone was getting dressed up for pictures. I got into the spirit of things...

No, I haven't become fat because of delicious Korean food.
I have 4 layers of clothes on!

Ended the day with a nice long talk with my girlfriend on QQ and surfing Seoul tube.  One channel made me remember that Koreans go absolutely nuts over video games...

Starcraft competitions on Korean television. They show full
games on TV with commentary as if a sport!