Feeling: Adventurous
Listening to: Epik High – Born Haters
My midterms exams are over. So whats a girl to do? Go exploring that’s what!
For my exploration of the weekend, I decided to visit the Rubber duck in Jamsil at the Lottle World Mall.
Lotte is one of the biggest companies in Korea. The best comparison I can give to my American friends is that they are like the Macy’s of Korea. They have big named brands in their store, a bit pricey, but great quality. Some brands you can find here are Coach, Polo, Gucci, Prada, Chanel, and A LOT more. But you get the gist of what type of merchandise they have based on these brands alone.
The department store is set up by dividing section by floors. The first floor can be makeup (with all makeup brands know to women), the second floor can be woman’s clothing, third floor can be men’s clothing, fourth could be bags and jewelry, and etc. The basement is usually like a grocery store with important produce and meats. Honestly if you’re looking to do some shopping I don’t recommend here because it’s so pricey. I found a pretty dress at a Lotte Department store, and decided to look at the price tag just for fun…430,000Won (That’s over $400USD). Although, if you’re looking for designer labels and high quality merchandise then by all means, this is the place to go!
But back to important matters: The Ruber Duck. Lotte has recently been doing a campaign where they have a giant rubber duck float in the Seokchon Lake outside their mall (aka Lotte World Mall) It’s called the Rubber Duck project , and has been done in several other parts in the world. But in Korea, it’s set off this huge trend where people will take selcas (aka selfies) with the duck in the background. I’m not entirely sure what the project entails, but from this quote I found from creator and designer Florentijn Hofman’s website it sounds like its trying to promote kindness and happiness: “The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn’t discriminate people and doesn’t have a political connotation. The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!”
I, of course, had to jump on this chance. And added my own little flare to it; The American duck face with the Korean rubber duck float. Aw yeah.
I don’t know if you can fully understand how gigantic this thing is. It was designed by a Dutch artist named Florentijn Hofman and, quote: “weighs seven tons with a concrete anchor and pontoon that supports it,” (Yonhapnews). This picture might help:
Take my word for it; It’s fluffin massive.
I got there early, around 10:00, and it was pretty quiet. There was a bit of a crowd there already taking A LOT of pictures. They had a gift shop where they sold rubber ducks, tshirts, stickers, and more.
If you are in the area, I recommend getting there AT LEAST by 10:00AM. This place fills up fast. When I arrive the gift store wasn’t even open yet, so I decided to walk around and take pictures until it was. That was a mistake, because I had to run back to get in line before it got too long.
The line stared from here…
…and ended here.
Fun. And when I left the store it was twice as long if you can believe it.
And yes I bought a rubber duck. No shame. I don’t want to her it Ma. IT WAS WORTH IT!
The World Mall was a lot of fun to just explore. I didn’t even buy anything, I had a blast just window shopping. Aside from clothing store, they had a TS Entertinment Cafe (A Korean music label) with a bunch of BAP merchandise, A Hello Kitty shop, A Hard Rock Cafe (TOOOO Expensive), and a book store. I even found a restaurant that served lobster. As a Mainer, I take pride and a lot of enjoyment in our lobster. So walking in there I was immediately sent to LaLa land.
Waitress walks over: Do you know the Maine Lobster?
Me: *laughs and explains that’s where I’m from*
Me inwardly: Do I know Maine Lobster…DO I KNOW MAINE LOBSTER?!?!
If only the price wasn’t 100,000Won ($100.00USD)…
Restaurant Culture
Speaking of which, you’d be surprised to know that restaurant culture in Korea is very different from America.
First of, the best point: THERE IS NO TIPPING IN KOREA!! From my understanding, Korean waiters/waitresses get paid more than what American waiters/waitresses do. So there’s no need for tipping in this country. And in some cases, it can actually be a bit offensive if you do try to tip.
In Western culture what usually happens is: You get seated, the waiters/waitresses will come periodically come by to take your order, check in on you, and give you the bill, and then you leave. But in Korea is a bit different: Depending the place and style of the restaurant, you seat yourself. When you sit down you’ll usually see a wooden box with chop sticks and spoons that you set out yourself. The most important difference though is that the waiters/waitresses do not come by periodically. They only come if you call them over. If the restaurant is rather big, look in the corner of your table and you’ll see a button. Click it, and you’ll hear a “ding” that will indicate to the waiters/waitresses that you need someone. When you are ready to leave, you go to the front counter or to the waiters/waitresses to pay your bill. And in some cases you pay even before you get your food, which I like cause that means I can just leave when I’m done.
A couple of other random points:
- Yes, there are restaurants here that require you to take off your shoes before you enter. But not all. If you see tables low to the ground with mats start untying your shoes!
- If you really have a hard time with chopsticks, 9 times out of 10 the place will have a couple of forks in the back for when foreigners come to visit. Just ask!
- This may be confusing, but it’s EXTREMELY important. Cola = Coke/Pepsi and Cider = Sprite/7up. According to a friend, it’s because one of the first carbonated drinks with lime and lemon flavor brand name was called “Cider”. So people have called those types of drinks “cider” ever since.
- About being carded for drinking; Since I’ve been here and throughout the numerous times I’ve gone out to have a drink, I’ve only been carded ONCE! But the one time I did get carded I had forgotten my wallet (I NEVER do that. And OF COURSE I got carded when I did!). They will probably card you if you are in an area far from a university. This is because if you are a university student you’re obviously over the drinking age (Which is 19), and a majority of their customers are from those said students. I still was able to get my drink though. Wanna know how? They looked at my Facebook. No joke. I was with JunSung and his girl friend and they pulled up my profile to prove I was a university student. And sure enough it worked. I was flabbergasted because that would never, ever, ever, EVER fly in the US. Ever.
Music – Epik High
Epik High is a hip hop group signed to YG Entertainment and are one of the most famous Asian group in the world. Before their debut,members Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz had a history of featuring,writing, and producing songs for other top artist and had made an incredible name for themselves in Korea, and in Asia. They have even scored 1st place on the iTunes Hip-Hop album chart with their album “Epilogue” (and were the first South Korean artists to do so). Epik High are known for featuring several artist in their album tracks and are known as “Lyrical Geniuses“for their amazing talent at producing powerful and creative lyrics. Their songs have even been called “lyrical pieces of literature” and“urban poetry”.
Their 8th album, “Shoebox” came out a few weeks ago and it’s absolutely fantastic and pure art. I had this nice moment where I messaged a Korean friend I made at Kookmin about the release, and we both had a “OMG!OMG!OMG! This album is SOO perfect!” moment. Which is nice, since I can’t really share my KPOP interest with anyone in the states.
This song in particular, “Born Haters”, is FANTASTIC!! And to make it even better it features 2 legendary rappers in Korea: Beenzino, Verbal Jint, and rookies Bobby and B.I. from iKON and Minho from WINNER. It’s a collaboration of some of the best rappers in KPOP right now! The song is a shout out to all of their critics, anti fans, and haters of each of the rappers and an glance into their personalities. And what’s even more cool is the MV itself. Like I said before Epik High’s music is very artistic, and so are their music videos. In the “Born Hater’s video, each of the rappers represent 1 of the 7 deadly sins. See if you can guess who is what. For an in depth look into the music video and a description of who is what sin, go here.
WARNING: The F word is thrown around..ALOT!
My Days as an Exchange Student in S.Korea 