Exploring a Seafood Market



While Ariel's parents were visiting, we saw some interesting places. One of the uniquely asian experiences was a trip to a seafood market. After a long subway ride filled with many transfers, we managed to find our way into a warehouse filled with vendors. It was a little disturbing to see so many ocean creatures clamoring in tanks waiting to become dinner. Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience. The ground was wet with sea water and animal guts. Ariel and I both rolled up our pant legs before entering. I expected it to smell unbearably fishy, but the air just seemed thick and musty.


The warehouse was full of massive shrimp, abalone, enormous mussels, snails, squid, octopus, fish, skates, sharks, eels, and many more marine creatures. Octopus were sitting in tubs of water and crawling out, only to be poked and prodded by a woman with a long stick until they relented and stayed in the tub. Shrimp practically the size of my head rested on beds of ice. Mussels and snails gasped for a breath of sea water as they lay stacked in a pyramid.


We stood and took in the sights. We gawked as men grabbed fish out of tanks and beat them over the head until the flopping subsided. We watched as people filleted fish and laid it on beautiful platters. We took pictures shamelessly. I only saw one other white person. It was upsetting to witness the raping of the ocean (I even saw some sharks in the fish tanks), but I don't regret going.

The Dr. Fish Experience



How could we resist? It's a coffee shop that has good coffee. That in itself is a difficult thing to find in Korea. Ususally, coffee is burned, watered down, and comes in a dixie cup. There are very few places where you can get a real, large cup of coffee, which is why I love Starbucks at the moment. Starbucks feels like home. It is even decorated for Christmas already in true American fashion. It's still the beginning on November, in case no one has noticed!?!?!?!!?! But I am digressing from the importance of Dr. Fish.

It's a nice coffee shop where you can sit and relax (unless it's the weekend, and then it's a madhouse). You sip your coffee and eat free bread and waffles. Eventually your number comes up, and it's your turn for Dr. Fish. You are probably wondering what the hell Dr. Fish is (if I haven''t already called you and rambled on and on about it). Dr. Fish is where you have fish eat all of your dead skin. First, you wash your feet off, and then you sit in front of a nice window overlooking the busy street below. Next you stick your feet in a pool of water filled with hungry fish. The hungry fish bite you, eating the dead skin from your feet and ankles. For someone who is ticklish, this is pure torture. It's common to hear shrieks of horror from the waegooks (Korean word for foreigner) as the fish chomp away. The Koreans sit there like it is a normal thing to have hundreds of fish biting you at once. There are actually whole pools that you can lay in while fish eat skin off of your entire body. I don't think that I could handle doing that. It was hard enough to keep my feet in the water for 15 minutes at a coffee shop.

I learned from the menu that there are many benefits to Dr. Fish. Besides exfoliating, it gently massages your feet in a way that no person can do. It improves circulation, and it brings you closer to nature. You feel connected with the fish that are getting a meal of dead skin. Being a biologist, I see this as a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. I benefit by getting smoother, softer feet. The fish benefit by getting fat off dead skin. It's a win win situation. I'm just glad that I get to be the person and not the fish in this scenario.

Another Day in Korea



So today I decided to ride my bike to run some errands at Costco and E-Mart (the Wal-Mart of Korea). Ariel told me that the stores were close to the bike path, so I assumed it would be easy enough to find them. I have been to these stores many times, but not taking this route. The bike paths in Korea are great. They run along rivers and streams. On a Sunday, you can expect to see families, badminton games without a net, and people enjoying their one day a week off. It's fall in Korea, so the weather is crisp and the leaves are glorious shades of orange, red and yellow. The fallen leaves on the ground make that wonderful crunching sound when you ride your bike over them. I enjoyed the few hours that I spent riding around, getting lost, backtracking, getting more lost and riding around in circles.

The first excitement was right when I got to the bike path. Something was going on. Something was not normal. Under the bridge, there were hundreds of people in costumes. I have seen this before, but I don't have any clue why it happens. There are just hundreds of people dressed up, and people with big, nice cameras take pictures of them posing. I can't figure out if it's some sort of festival or what they are celebrating. The costumes don't have any uniting theme. People wear elaborate costumes with wigs. There are space age outfits, traditional Korean outfits, wedding dresses, pirates, people with swords, a person in a fuzzy cat outfit, etc. Of course, I didn't have a camera, so I can't show the wierdness of it all. When will I learn to carry a camera everywhere in Korea?

I rode my bike at a nice leisurely pace looking for the stores. At one point, I thought the path was coming to an end, so I went to the street. After looking around lost for a while, I turned back. Later, I thought I could see the building I wanted to go to, but again, I went the wrong way. Eventually I made my way close to the store. I could see it, but I was on a lower bike path and couldn't find a way up to the street. Instead, the bike path went under the road. I followed the bike path for a while though the sketchiest areas I have seen in Seoul. As I went though the tunnels, I imagined that this is where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would live or maybe just the only serial killer in Korea. It was dark and creepy and I was happy to get out. I was less happy when I realized that I had come to a dead end and had to go back though the tunnels. For a fleeting moment, I thought of climbing up to the street, but then I remembered that I would also have to drag my bike up. I backtracked and when back to the main trail, thinking that there must be a more obvious way to get there. As I went along the bike path, I spotted a cool Alice in Wonderland Park and a community swimming pool (drained of all its water). You find such interesting things when you get lost. After a while, I decided that I went too far and I tried to find my way on the sidewalk. It turned out the be a semi-non-existent sidewalk which went past a lot of scary looking gardening stores. I had not yet seen such a dilapidated part of town. Finally I found my way to the store. I bought my catfood and contact solution and got the hell out of there. Stores are crazy on Sundays. Thankfully, I found a much easier and less sketchy way home.

Right now, it's 6:45 p.m. on Sunday night. Is it acceptable to go to bed yet? I am such an old woman.....