Was it the hormones?

Or am I just really fed up with certain things?

Korea has a huge cash culture. This is no surprise and no secret. Sellers like to not pay any credit/check card machine fees and often like to get away with under or simply not reporting all of their sales. You can often haggle for lower prices if you pay by cash as well.

When I walk into an established shop that is quite sizeable (not huge, but sizeable), I expect them to be able to accept a card of sorts. Especially if it is a nicer looking shop.

OK, so onto the story:

I had to go to the dentist today because the wires on the very last teeth on the bottom of my mouth popped out. Nothing major, but I wanted to get them fixed up. I was really disappointed about spending my afternoon break there until I realized that going to the dentist equals going to Subway and getting my footlong Honeyoat Turkey and ordering their extra soft chocolate chip cookies! Yum.

Food aside, in the subway stations here, there are many spots to shop. The one by our place has no subway shopping, but my dentist is located in a pretty popular area for people to hang out. Thus, plenty of shopping. I stopped by my favorite place to get shirts because they are incredibly cheap and started a small pile of things I wanted. It suddenly dawned on me to ask if they take cards because we did not have enough cash on us. Here's the policy as the shop lady explained it:

They accept cards for a minimum of $10 (10,000won), but that's per item. They can't ring an entire sale on the card. So if I bought three shirts for $10 a piece, I could basically charge each one one-by-one on my card. Buying two shirts for $10 is not okay for putting it on the card. Spending $100 total is not okay to charge. I don't recall if they allow charges for things over $10. I think they do, but again, it's all per item.

I got upset. I got more upset than I think I should have. The problem was that I was finding incredible deals on tops I loved and that I wasn't able to do anything about it because they have a really weird card policy. The last time I tried to buy something that could grow with me, the shop I was at was going to discount it to $40. Finding cute things that breathe in the summer is a must. I hardly have a thing to wear for the warmer weather, so it's been important to me to pick a few things up.

I said to Hee Suk, "Well fine, then they are going to lose a lot of money because of their crazy policy. I can't buy these things! I was planning on spending quite a bit, and they just lost their sale!" I went to hang everything back up, and the clerk told me to hand her the items as I was in the middle of hanging one. I did so without saying thank you and just left.

I felt really ashamed. That's just not like me to leave with an ugly face like that. Hee Suk wound up finding money he had for another purpose (it was for something with his group and wasn't really our money), so we did go back so I could pick out a few things since I did have cash at home. I wanted him to tell the lady I was sorry, that I just felt frustrated with how things go here sometimes, but he said, "It's okay, they'll be happy we're giving them money." In reality, he didn't want to do it because he would be too embarrassed, I am sure. I know how to say I am sorry, but I couldn't think of how to say, "I'm sorry for getting upset earlier," and so on at the time.

The worst part is, they recognized me from shopping there before. I thought they were different people, but after we had initially gone away, Hee Suk mentioned that they had mentioned remembering me from before. I was pretty mortified after that. I don't want people to think bad things of me. When we went back, I tried really hard to be nice and smiley, but I don't know if it really cut it. I wasn't that bad to them. I am sure their native customers have been a million times worse before. I still feel bad about being all huffy, though.

At any rate, I walked away with for tops for right around $33. Two are more t-shirt style and are just really cute. Big t-shirts that kind of flare at the bottom are really popular here, so it's actually better to shop for maternity tops at just regular shops because you'll get far better deals (and far better styles!). One has a bunch of typing mistakes in English, but it's nothing you can notice without paying close attention, so I didn't give too much of a hoot.

Another top was a set with a short-sleeved white tee and a sort of pink jumper to go over it. We both thought it was really cute. The last item I picked up was a nice white shirt. I've wanted a cute one for the summer because they are so versatile, and it was an incredible deal.

I will take a picture of them as soon as they are done drying. ^^;;

In other news, the next time I ring my bell on my bike several times well in advance to oncoming pedestrians who decide walking or stopping in my path is the appropriate response, I might bowl them over. My Korean is excellent in such instances, and no, I never say bad things. And no, I don't always say something. To the guy who wanted to force me into a wall, I sure did. "This way is to too difficult!" I just shake my head most of the time.

I guess my goal while I am here is to help the population learn to have a little more public common sense/awareness, but doing it ajumma by ajumma or ajeossi by ajeossi is just not efficient enough.

(Ajumma and ajeossi basically mean middle-aged woman and man, respectively. In Korea, they joke that there are three genders: male, female and ajumma. I swear Korean ajumma could play American football. They are deadly.)



To Our Precious Child:

I am sorry that I am such a bitter crankypants sometimes. I am really doing what I can to work hard on that. Being frustrated by what seems like backwards customs at times really is no excuse. I hope that as you grow older, you will see that the person I was in these situations really is not the person I normally am. By the time your old enough to read and understand this, I pray that I am a far better person than I am now! I will absolutely work harder to be more patient and understanding. I am sorry if my bad negavibes ever get you down.

Love,
Your Silly Mommy


Just so you know that I am not some insane pregnant woman, I have started some really good habits. One important thing I have heard is how great it is to read to your child while he/she is in the womb. I have no children's books yet (which I hope to have tons of someday!), so I've decided that with my daily Bible readings, I will read both the day's selections for Psalms and Proverbs in both English and Korean outloud. I started last night and so look forward to continuing it throughout the pregnancy. Before we conceived, I found some wonderful children's Christian books written in both English and Korean, so I plan to search for those sometime soon and try to pick them up.

I almost forgot! Tomorrow is Parents' Day here in Korea (they don't do separate Mother's and Father's Days), so I am going to make something for Hee Suk. I am sure he won't do anything for me, but we'll see. I'll drop a million hints that Sunday is Mother's Day, though (which I have only just realized).

That's all I have the energy for right now, though. I am trying very hard to not eat another Subway cookie. I've already had two. I ordered one with my meal and decided I should order three more to take home. There are now only two remaining. Yum is all I have to say to that.

My Lord, please forgive me for acting in a far less than Christ-like manner today. I pray that even if it is the hormones, that You would move inside of me in such situations to help exude Your light. Please forgive me and bless the woman who I showed my frustration to today. Please also help me to not teach such things to our little one! Thank You, my King.