shopaholic’s paradise

It’s been a while since my last post so I was trying to think of a new topic when it hit me…. I haven’t done a post about shopping!!! :O!
How could I have deprived you of such a post for so long!? Most of you know that shopping has become an addiction of mine this past yeat, and those of you who have come to visit me know why! Shopping (for me) is so abundent that I can’t step out my door without being tempted.

Just. Walk. Away. Haha no chance.

I have to specify “for me” because I happen to be a) female and b) small enough to shop at most stores in Korea. The sad truth is that if you’re above a medium at home, you won’t be able to shop at stores where most of the clothes are “free” size. My feet are also juuust small enough to buy shoes here so shoe shopping is a pleasure for me, rather than the struggle most of my friends go through to find footwear.
Let’s start with my most-frequented shopping district, which is my home, Gangnam. Yes, most of my clothing comes from Gangnam station which makes me officially “Gangnam Style”!! ㅋㅋㅋ

With my Gangnam crew… hard to see but we’re rockin the horsey dance.

The subway station, like many in Seoul, is jam-packed with clothing stalls, jewelry, phones, cosmetics and the best konglish^^! Here you can find adorable dresses, sweaters and skirts on racks that will say ₩5,000 or ₩10,000 (roughly $5 or $10). This is my #1 downfall if I’m trying to save money. It’s just so easy to slip a green bill out of my pocket in exchange for a panda bear sweatshirt.

₩5,000 animal shirts for people?!

Gangnam is also great for brand name stores as the retailer will usually put a really BIG store close to the station. Super fun stores like top ten, innisfree, giordano and kyobo have huge stores along Gangnamdaero.
If you keep going along that main road you’ll get to Sinsa which hosts the famous Garosugil. I mostly go to Garosugil when I want to hit up Forever 21 but there so many nice places along the street. It’s the best place to go if you want to see some funky chic street style. I’m not sure how it magnetically draws in all these super hip people, but everyone there looks like they walked straight off the catwalk.

Looks like I’ll have another reason to visit!!

Myeongdong is a great area to go if you want the (shopping) comforts of home. Tourists and locals alike flock to this shoppung district for stores like h&m, zara, mango and forever 21. The street shopping is really fun here too, if you don’t get carried away by the crown before you have time to look at a booth.

The fun and occasionally offensive hat selection.

Another thing I love about Korea… girls actually wear stuff like this!

The fourth and final area I’m going to write about is Insadong. It’s very different from the shopping I’ve mentioned because it’s not only girlie stuff. Insadong is the best place to buy souveneirs, art, antiques and handicrafts. If you’re looking for a break from the bustling, plastic-surgery ad-strewn streets then head over to Insadong for a different cultural experience.
There are so many more great shopping spots (hongdae, dongdaemun, yeongdongpo etc.) but you get the idea! Oh I almost forgot! The best thing about buying cosmetics- free samples!! Lots of them! I have more free samples than i know what to do with, but they sure come in handy for travelling and to have in my purse!

A small selection of the free samples. FREE ^^

I also have an over-flowing closet… most of my hangers are doubled up, but I do donate clothes every so often.

My closet… never too old to have boy band posters, right!?

So there you have it. Confessions of a shopaholic in Seoul!
Like and comment if you want to hear more about fashion and shopping! ♥

Juno what I want.

There arent many better ways to feel awesome than getting your hair done. I’m currently munching on a blueberry bagel after a wonderful experience at Juno hair and I’m feeling pretty great ^^!

Juno is the second hair salon I’ve been to in Seoul and I think it’s gonna be my new go-to. The first was the Green Turtle in Itaewon which was really nice but after my first visit they stopped giving me the nice head massage. Plus Juno hair salon in Gangnam is much closer to my house.

My visit started with the staff taking my coat and giving me a drink with clementines and cookies. Pretty good start. Then my stylist came over to consult and gush over my hair colour (apparently lots of Asian women spend a lot of time trying to get my colour!).
Already feeling pretty good, I headed over to the shampoo room for a lovely 20 minute wash and massage. Awesome~! Then I sat down with my new bff while she gave me the exact cut I asked for. I had shown her a pic of Emma Stone with a nice side bang and she gave me pretty much exactly that.

The pic I showed her.

The side bang! Don’t worry Grandma, they won’t always be in my eyes, just showing a close-up!

 

I wouldn’t say I’m over the moon about the new cut, simply because it doesn’t look much different than before. I do think it frames my face better and gives my hair more shape. Plus it’s gonna be fun to pin it back with cute clips ^^!
Overall it was a really nice experience and now with my fancypants phone I’m able to update my blog almost immediately! Aren’t you so lucky ;).
Oh, and the whole thing cost ₩25,000 which is quite reasonable- especially for Gangnam.

Bithday shoutout to my baby brother who’s 24 today :D!

Oppa Gang… enough already!

I have seen a lot of news recently about Gangnam Style being “over” and that people are getting sick of it. While I am definitely sick of hearing the song, the hype over Psy and his horsey dance has come with its benefits and hindrances.

On the bright side – people all over the world are LOVING K-Pop! It’s amazing that people are enjoying listening to a Korean song so much! Hopefully this will encourage people to listen to music in different languages and in turn, learn a bit about other cultures.

exactly!

Psy has also put Korea on the MAP! I mean, two months ago when I told people I live in Gangnam they’d be like “Gang-what?” but now everybody knows what I’m talking about (sorta)!

… my Gangnam.

On the other hand… all the fame and attention towards Psy definitely has its drawbacks. A lot of Korean artists feel frustrated that their music isn’t being taken seriously. I read this yesterday and I can kind of see where he’s coming from.

According to Tiger JK (a Korean rapper), hecklers in the audience insisted that he perform the “horse dance” from the choreography of Psy‘s “Gangnam Style“, and he was unable to hold back his frustration. He tweeted, “Creators project event other night. I went crazy on all them white folks in the crowd, Cussing them out. During my set, these dudes kept telling me to horse dance , F*** rapping just dance. I had to cut all my song short. Without self control. My F*** you turned into F*** everybody To F*** all the white people to F*** CNN To F *** Hollywood. To Fu** all yall who think Asians are here to make you laugh by dancing my ass off. F*** Hollywood thinkin Asians are just a comic relief.”

Tiger JK at the Creator Project

Tiger JK has since apologized, but I can’t really see who’s in the wrong. Is it wrong to make racist comments to people who are acting racist towards you?

If you want to read more along these lines, Ranier “The Falco” attempts to explain the Psy hype on his blog here.

A lot of really hardcore K-pop fans get very haughty when people talk about Gangnam Style. They think people don’t really know K-pop… they just act like they do because they know one song. Personally, I’ve never heard anyone claiming to be a K-pop expert after listening to Gangnam Style.

Um, a little extreme?

To summarize, I don’t think that Gangnam Style is a true representation of K-pop. While it’s a good introduction to K-pop, I don’t think many North Americans realize that there is a huge, creative and diverse music scene in Korea (and all of Asia). So if you loved Gangnam Style (how could you not?), keep in mind that there’s lots more where that came from, but it won’t all be SO ridiculous. 🙂

If you have been living under a rock, here is the original video:

I was going to post another song from Psy’s most recent album but it’s impossible to find a song other than Gangnam Style on youtube! Instead, here is another song that’s very ‘typical’ K-pop.

Hey, I never said it was great K-pop, just typical ;)! That was Gee by Girls Generation (SNSD).

There is soooo much good K-pop out there that I just want to post video after video. For now, I’ll just post ONE more video – super popular at the moment! A beautiful song and really creative video. G-Dragon, That XX:

the doors are on your left.

One thing that I discovered very quickly (thanks to some fellow teachers :)) is Gangnam station. This underground paradise is not merely a subway station. It is a shopping haven for pretty much any female under 40. I try not to go in when I’m feeling poor, but since I just got paid…. lets just say I spent a lot of money in a short amount of time. There are stores of every kind to make girls drool. From make-up to shoes to hair do-dads and cell phone trinkets and clothes, clothes and more clothes. I recently read that Gangnam station is up there for most expensive shopping destinations, but a smart shopper can find all kinds of outfits for under $10.

Did I mention that it’s also a subway station? The subway system is Seoul is world class. It’s clean, fast and definitely more efficient than sitting in the horrendous traffic at street level. It can get extremely packed, but I’ve never been so jammed that I couldn’t move… like I have on some other city’s subways.

My two favourite things about the subways are the songs and T-money. There are two totally awesome songs – one plays at the station to let you know that a train is approaching, the other plays on the train when you are approaching a transfer station. To hear these wonderful ditties (and get them stuck in your head all day), watch the video below.

 

 

Another fabulous Korean invention is the T-money card. At first I thought it was a simple card that you swipe to get onto the subway, but it’s so much more than that. You use T-money to get on the bus, you can pay for a taxi with it, pay for groceries and use it at stores at the station and I’m sure there are more uses that I haven’t even discovered yet! Basically, as long as there’s money on it, it’s all you need! No more cash or debit cards… it’s all about T-money.

Another feature about these cards, and about the subway itself is that you don’t just pay a set fee. You swipe your card to get onto the platform and when you leave the station. Apparently it calculates the distance you’ve gone and you pay accordingly. It’s 900 won (90 cents) to get on the subway, and then depending on how far you go, you could pay an extra 0-500 won to get off.

So it’s cheap, fast and fun, but there are a few downsides to the subway. It’s surprisingly only open until midnight or earlier. This is probably intentional, as Koreans are big drinkers and it might cause some problems to have the subways open after everyone’s had a few too many soju. I’ve also experienced a couple crazies on the subway. Nothing scary, mostly just pushy old ladies preaching about Jesus.

So the bottom line is getting around in Seoul is easy-peasy and it’s definitely one perk that I missed while living in a small town.