Costco = Lifesaver

On our second day here, we didn’t have to be at the school until two.  We wanted to get out of our hotel and explore our new home.  Another delightful bit to the “love” motel was that we couldn’t figure out how to turn down the heated floors.  They were scorching.  If we knew anything about the metric system we might be able to put an estimate on how scorching, but we are still trying to learn the conversions.  Basically, our entire room was HOT.  We tried each of the mystery knobs at least three times, but it still felt like we were entering the tropics whenever we returned home.  Despite the cold and rainy weather, both opening a window and even sporadic use of the air conditioning was required.  Very ironic in the winter.  Anyway, the only place that we knew of within walking distance that we knew we wanted to check out right away (at least without help from the other teachers at the school) was Costco.  Since that initial trip we have made a second trip, so here are some of the pictures from what we found on our delightful outings.  We were almost disappointed in the fact that we would be able to get so many amenities of home.  

 

Some things were much different….

 

  

And many were the same.

 

Newman’s brand!

And pesto sauce! 

Same wines as home, but much pricier.

And of course, Soju.  A very popular drink in Korea, it’s similar to vodka but much more watered down.  It’s still about 20% alcohol, and has the tendency to sneak up on you.  More about our first encounter with that later….  In the meantime, here is me with a 2 Liter of the stuff.  I would need some help with that much for sure.

 

But the best part of all, drum roll please…………CHEESE!  And Tillamook at that!  I can’t even describe how happy I am about this discovery.  A little spendy for Babybel at 19490 won (just under $20).  But well worth it after a few months of withdrawls, I’m sure.

And of course, the deli.  No different from the Costco at home, minus the language!  For our second meal in Korea, pizza and smoothies seemed to be a good bet, as we could at least point to it while ordering.  

  Our lunch for the day...

Sort of pitiful considering all the great local food that undoubtedly surrounded us, but we are still learning, and vowed that while it’s useful, we won’t rely on Costco for everything :)