Ken had told me before that several times a day at the shipyard, music comes on and everyone gets up to stretch. I thought it was a pretty good idea.
The other day at Tesco (the grocery store), I witnessed it for myself. I was in the meat area of the store when everyone came from behind their respective counters and started doing movements to the music. I don't know if there is a certain rhyme or reason to the motions or if the music was telling them what to do, but they all seemed to be doing pretty much the same motions. I was dying to take a picture but I was afraid they would either think it was strange or they might be offended. After all, I was standing in amongst all of them. I looked around to see if any of the other customers were joining in, but I didn't notice anyone else but the employees taking part. I was relieved to see that since I didn't know if I was supposed to join in. After all, I didn't know all the hand motions. Ha! Ha!
Incidentally, some of the music sounded like "The Hokey Pokey".
Showing posts with label Korean groceries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korean groceries. Show all posts
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
big weekend
My first Saturday here was quite eventful (considering my days so far have consisted of unpacking, walking, foraging for food and preparing it)! On Saturday morning, Ken and I went over to Goysomething which is the town next to us about 10 minutes away. They also have a shipyard there - the Samsung Shipyard. The town is larger than Okpo and has a Tesco there. Now, I remember Tesco from my Aberdeen days so I guess it is somehow related.
Ken said he had heard that we should get there before 10 a.m. since it can get very crowded. So we headed out (in a car, for once) after stopping at Dunkin Donuts for a doughnut to go. It is easy to find the building since it is on the main road but we had a little difficulty in understanding where to park so we parked in an open lot behind the building and walked around to the front entrance. The building is 4 stories and the top 3 house items like clothes, jewelry, appliances, etc. The bottom floor is the grocery part.
When we walked in, there was a greeter (just like WalMart, but a younger greeter with a sash on, not a vest, that bowed to you). I think we were one of the first ones to get there. We were in the store for 2 1/2 hours looking at everything and trying to fiqure out what some things where. And there is always someone there to help you. Right after you put some potatoes in a plastic bag, someone appears, takes it from you, weighs it and puts a sticker on it. They have mostly vegetables that I can recognize but also alot that I don't know. We stuck with bananas, potatoes, mushrooms, lettuce (they actually have iceberg here), tomatoes, onions and oranges.
The meat selection is not as plentiful as we know it. I did pick up a package of boneless chicken breast that cost alot for 6 small breasts. Pork is plentiful here and I also got some thin sliced kind of boneless pork chops. The ground beef is from Australia and is very lean. The rest of the beef is very expensive even though they do eat beef here.
I was hoping to find some frozen vegetables, but to no avail. I guess they just shop fresh. You do encounter some American food items at all of the grocery stores, some more expensive than others - like peanut butter, microwave popcorn, mustard, etc. They also have items that look like the packaging from the U.S. - like Ritz crackers, Oreos, some chips. However, not everything tastes the same. I bought some tomato juice that said it was Del Monte and it was awful. So I guess it will be trial and error with buying food.
When we finally left with our full basket, we realized that we didn't know how to get it to our car. So we trucked up to the floor we came in on to go out the front door. By that time, the floor was open and people were shopping. We realized that no one had a grocery cart. No sooner than Ken had said "I feel funny walking around with a grocery cart, no one else has one" , than a lady stopped us from going out the front door! So we made our way to the parking garage that we were supposed to park in and Ken went and got the car and picked me up in the garage. Quite the morning.
Ken said he had heard that we should get there before 10 a.m. since it can get very crowded. So we headed out (in a car, for once) after stopping at Dunkin Donuts for a doughnut to go. It is easy to find the building since it is on the main road but we had a little difficulty in understanding where to park so we parked in an open lot behind the building and walked around to the front entrance. The building is 4 stories and the top 3 house items like clothes, jewelry, appliances, etc. The bottom floor is the grocery part.
When we walked in, there was a greeter (just like WalMart, but a younger greeter with a sash on, not a vest, that bowed to you). I think we were one of the first ones to get there. We were in the store for 2 1/2 hours looking at everything and trying to fiqure out what some things where. And there is always someone there to help you. Right after you put some potatoes in a plastic bag, someone appears, takes it from you, weighs it and puts a sticker on it. They have mostly vegetables that I can recognize but also alot that I don't know. We stuck with bananas, potatoes, mushrooms, lettuce (they actually have iceberg here), tomatoes, onions and oranges.
The meat selection is not as plentiful as we know it. I did pick up a package of boneless chicken breast that cost alot for 6 small breasts. Pork is plentiful here and I also got some thin sliced kind of boneless pork chops. The ground beef is from Australia and is very lean. The rest of the beef is very expensive even though they do eat beef here.
I was hoping to find some frozen vegetables, but to no avail. I guess they just shop fresh. You do encounter some American food items at all of the grocery stores, some more expensive than others - like peanut butter, microwave popcorn, mustard, etc. They also have items that look like the packaging from the U.S. - like Ritz crackers, Oreos, some chips. However, not everything tastes the same. I bought some tomato juice that said it was Del Monte and it was awful. So I guess it will be trial and error with buying food.
When we finally left with our full basket, we realized that we didn't know how to get it to our car. So we trucked up to the floor we came in on to go out the front door. By that time, the floor was open and people were shopping. We realized that no one had a grocery cart. No sooner than Ken had said "I feel funny walking around with a grocery cart, no one else has one" , than a lady stopped us from going out the front door! So we made our way to the parking garage that we were supposed to park in and Ken went and got the car and picked me up in the garage. Quite the morning.
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