iPhone Fail

So I thought that I would have a phone by now, but unfortunately, there is a Verizon carrier lock on the sim card in my iPhone4S. So sad. I will see what I can do. Everything else would be fine if my new sim card would just work. Why Verizon?! I really hope they unlock it for me. For those of you who didn't know, you should unlock your phones at home first. Apparently, iPhones after the iPhone4 do not have country locks anymore. However, there is a carrier lock for both Verizon and AT&T. I'm not sure about the other carriers. So today was an iPhone fail. Getting a phone in Korea is tough.

I also tried to open a bank account today at Citibank since I have a Citibank account in the U.S. The lady there said it takes quite a long time because the American Citibank needs to verify my account, so I decided to go back later since my aunt had somewhere to go.

My aunts have been tremendously helpful. One of them got me my "one room" and the other bought me cooking supplies and food. She's also the one who helped me out today at the bank and Olleh (the cell phone store). Thank you 이모들! So in Korea, "aunt" is different for you mother's and father's side of the family. 이모/e-mo is for your aunt on your mother's side and 고모/gomo is aunt for your father's side. At restaurants and when you're shopping, it is normal to call the older ladies working 이모/e-mo. It's kind of endearing, especially when you're asking for a service. For example, when my friend was at Korean bbq, he called the older lady working there 이모/e-mo when we wanted more lettuce. Do not call them 아줌마/ajumma. They don't like it too much, and if you're shopping, you'll probably get ripped off.

So I'm pretty much done organizing my room! Almost. Not done yet though because I still have to go to a supermarket, which is not in the area and also not open on Monday (at least Lotte Mart is not). Speaking of, I found out about a very cool outdoor market near KU called 청량리 /Cheongryangli market (Spelling help from Rosie). There is so much fresh produce there along with various other things. It's a very traditional market. Buying produce at the Grand Mart near the 안암오거리/Anam Circle is quite expensive. It was about 13,000 Won for 3 peaches. That's just silly. Apparently peaches and mangos are very expensive here. But the market has lots of cheap produce.

When my aunt/이모/e-mo and I were trying to open my bank account and get a sim card for my phone today at 신설동역/Shin-sul-dong-yuk, we went to have lunch first. We went to this 순대/soondae restaurant called 병천순대/byungchunsoondae. 순대/soondae is essentially black sausage with noodles. I think that's the best way to describe it. I got the 얼큰순대국/ul-kun-soondae-guk, which was a spicy soup with 순대/soondae and other meats. It was okay, especially since we were hungry, but I don't think I'd search for that place again. They only put in 3 or 4 pieces of 순대/soondae. Here's a picture:

Outside of the restaurant was a very random statue that I took a picture of:

Random.

Also a random note: Children wander around by themselves in Korea. If this happened in the U.S., I would flip out and call security/police to find their parents, but in Korea, it's widespread. I see children everywhere without any supervision. I guess I'll get used to it? Except when little children cross the road by themselves without a care in the world. I don't think I can get used to that. It gives me a heart attack every time.

To end this post, here is a picture of my aunt's/이모's/e-mo's home-made 김치/kimchi:

If you don't know what that is, please look it up here. It's only the staple food of Korea. If you haven't had it before, then don't judge it on the first taste. It's an "acquired taste" according to my boyfriend, but then you absolutely love it.