So, I guess with all that I've posted, I have yet to share with you my actual city and my day-to-day life. I'm going to be more conscious of that and try to take more "normal" pictures. So, here are a few to start.

First off, I don't really know why, but I was expecting Korea to look a lot more like this...



... with little cute shops, quaint boutiques, markets, and lots more chili peppers being dried...



... along streets lined with two- to three-story buildings. I expected there to be Korean writing all over the place and very little English at all. Instead, and I'm not necessarily saying that this is a bad thing, this is what I see on my way to work everyday:



Bluquay's (pronounced Blue-Key's) Fashion Mall and E-Mart where during the Chusoek season, you can find mass-produced traditional Korean hanboks on sale!!!:



and where you can see department stores like any of those on Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC with huge cosmetic sections for the fashion-conscious Korean population...



The funny this is, though, that while Koreans pride themselves on how much their country has developed since the war, as a whole, their mass-produced culture still has a ways to come before they claim English fluency as a society... as seen by these few examples.

1) When congratulating teachers in an English program, even though it's a difficult word to spell, please don't misspell the important word on the sign:



2) And when you're making posters to advertise what you have a to sell, if you serve porridge, please don't use another not-so-common term for it:



(Don't you know someone who can proof this for you?)

3) When I passed this shirt in the subway station, I just couldn't pass it up. When you're making shirts, please ask someone if the language is profane:



Just wanted to share a bit of my daily life. :D Enjoy!