Day 274: Costco Cruisin'

Today was a pretty mellow day, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Michael and I continued our weekend shopping habit, this time out looking for Christmas gifts for his family. We didn't have much luck in that department, but had some fun with buying stuff later on when we made a trip out to Costco.

This was my first visit to Costco since arriving in Korea, and it had the look, feel, atmosphere, and even the smell of one back home. Shopping carts large enough to carry home a Volvo, towering temporary-looking shelves (what's the point of having all that food up there if we can't reach it?) and even the requisite free food samples served by ladies who look like they're either one little sausage sample away from throwing themselves under the next passing forklift, or are so damn bloody friendly that their Joker-like smiles can only be justified by permanent Prozac pills shoved up their ass. Mmmmm....prozac pills....mmmmmm... ;-)

Shopping there was fun and I picked up a good collection of goodies - a giant box of granola bars, 12 boxes of Macaroni & Cheese, a jar of pickles that I swear is like 8 gallons, some big-ass muffins, and the big treat of the week - Veggie Burgers!!! I was particularly excited when I found those - anything veggie-oriented is few and far between here in The Rea (slang for Korea).

I would've bought more but decided to limit myself. Costco is fun but not very practical when almost all of the food that can be bought there can support families of fourteen or more. I mean cheap ketchup is great, but do I need enough to last a decade? Buying liquid soap in bulk is handy too, but unless I'm planning on personally cleaning every apartment this side of the Han River, there's no way I need that much. And what about flats of cinnamon buns? Very tasty, but not when I have enough to give one to every single one of my students at school....for the next 47 weeks!

I still feel like I made out like a bandit there...it's the small things that bring the most pleasure while here in Korea, and food definitely ranks high on that chart.