Sucessful Shopping Spree

Today we had a pretty lazy day. We slept in a little and made yesterday's pictures into a blog post. We finally left the room at about noon to take a shopping trip. Our first stop was the COEX Mall, because it is very close to our guest house. We didn't spend a lot of time there, because this mall is so glossy and modern that it could be found in any city around the world and we were in search of some very traditional Korean articles.

Our next stop today was Insadong, an artsy district filled with galleries, tea shops and lots of traditional Korean crafts. Strolling through Insadong is apparently a very popular Sunday afternoon activity in Seoul, as you can see by the crowd. We could see people making crafts and snacks by hand in the street and lots of people strolling around enjoying the warm spring weather.

The lady that sold us a Hanbok for Naomi was so excited that we had adopted two Korean children that she took extra care wrapping our package in the shape of a flower. Then she gave us a discount and a special gift.
We were able to find:

• A Hanbok - a traditional Korean dress
• A chop - a name stamp
• A Celadon Tea Set - Celadon is a green glazed pottery developed in Korea hundreds of years ago
• Wedding ducks
• We bought the masks from my 90 year old friend in Itaewon, but they helped fill in the picture.

Wedding Ducks are a traditional gift given by the family of bride at her wedding. A couple should display them prominently in their home. When the married couple is happy the ducks will be facing each other nose to nose. If the couple is fighting, the ducks will be facing away from each other. This will help the couple remember their happy wedding day and make up.