Shoe Shopping

The black pumps that I brought from the Philippines weren't the right one (they said the heels were too thick) so I have to buy another pair here. The dilemma was finding a pair according to their specifications. And cheap. The nearby mall offers a pair for around 84,000 won (around 4,200 pesos) and the weekly allowance is only 140,000 won!

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Anyway most of us slept the whole morning, but I got up by 8.30 and headed for the hotel resto but there wasn't any food. I asked the waitress if there's no breakfast on weekends. It turned out they only serve bread and juice on weekends; maybe because most would rather catch more sleep than eat. So there I was in an empty resto with my favorite mug and slices of bread (my roommate wouldn't get up).

After breakfast I headed back to our room--606--and guess what, I soaked myself in a hot tub! Yey ultimate stress relief! And with earphones plugged, I'm in heaven. Well, almost. :) I actually warned my roommate that I sing when I'm on my mp3 player.

As I got off the tub I asked my roommate if the housekeeping personnel had come while I was, uh, away. They hadn't so I got dressed and proceeded to look for them (calling them won't make any progress, with the very little Korean I know) and out of the corner of the hallway came the front desk agent informing us that we're moving to the eighth floor. The Japanese trainees have graduated so the better rooms are now available. I wondered if better is actually better.

Me and my roommate Precious re-packed our bags/suitcases and I headed for the eighth. Same location, same floor area, different beds. The former had a double and a single and now we have two singles so we had more floor space. I got the housekeeping personnel to remove the single couch that they'd squeezed in between the beds for more space. Then instead of parallel beds I re-layout-ed it. :)

So excited about the pc so I tried it at once and was so happy that we got a better one, really. I was able to download YM for me and Chikka for my roommate.

And this is why I have this long post instead of a hurried one at the business center. Bow.

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Right after we settled down, Bianca called me to ask me if I want to go shoe shopping at some place that looks Divi. I agreed and then off we went. We took a cab to Hwagok station of Line 5 subway (they have so many subway lines, confusing!) and took the subway til Singil station. Then transferred to Line 1 to go to Seoul station. Then walked for around 10 minutes til we reached the place. (I forgot what it's called.)

Among the tiangges we reached someplace that looks a bit like a mall and shopped for a good pair and after 15minutes they closed down. 5 o'clock! OMG. Jila panicked and bought the pair she last fitted even if it was one size smaller than what she needs. It was 35,000 won.

Me and Bianca felt really bad about spending so much to get there and not being able to buy any. We shopped around the tiangges and got into a nicer store where Bianca was offered a pair for 55,000 won. I knew I needed to buy a pair so that our little adventure won't be useless but still I can't get myself to pay so much for something to be used for just around a month or so.

So while Bianca was waiting for the pair of her size, I went out and scanned different stores. One was on sale for just 8,000 per pair so I thought there must be something lower than 30. (I didn't find shoes in that 8000 won store, they're more on sandals) I was getting depressed and most stalls are really starting to pack up and we started tracing back our steps, frequently stopping at some shoe stores.

I was feeling hopeless but still tried when I got into this one store and found one and was asked for 25,000 won for it. I was having second thoughts. Then I tried, uh, my lola's greatest talent: asking for a discount. I gave my price, 20,000 won (1000 pesos) but he wanted 23,000 so I pleaded but he won't give it to me. So I handed over the shoes and he said, "Okay, okay. 20." Hahahaa. Charm.

As he was wrapping up the deal and wrapping my shoes as well, I said, "In Philippines, 20 thousand, expensive!" (Excuse my English coz this is how I said it, really. You know, you just need to give the key words or else they won't understand you at all.) I added, "I buy only 10 thousand." [big smile here] And he goes, "10 thousand, China. Korea, 20." [his big smile here] Haha.

Anyway, the three of us felt the achievement that we were able to go through that. Taking public transportation and all. We ended our "achievement" with a slice of fresh and sweet watermelon for 500 won.