Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - ,, No comments

Drain Cleaner

I've been here for about a year and I've already had to use two bottles of this.


This is drain cleaner.  I had a hard time finding it at first.  I guess the tell tale sign is the curly S shape drainpipe on the bottle.  Sounds silly, but I wasn't really looking for that kind of detail when I was scouring the entire 2nd floor of Homeplus.  A few months later, I forgot all about Homplus when I discovered it here, just a short walk from my apartment.


The market is right on the corner.

Location: 712-3 Choji-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - No comments

A Knock at the Door

Every few months I get a knock at the door.  Usually, it will happen after 8 or 9pm.  The lady on the other side will yell something in Korean.  The next morning, I will find this yellow post-it on the door:


It's not easy to make sense of it, but it turns out that this is a request to inspect the gas pipes inside the apartment.  Apparently, since most Korean households have gas service and because people live so close together, the gas company does regular inspections.  

The problem is that they come without prior notice to perform a non-emergency service during extremely late hours.  

Even with the note on the door, there's typically no hint at when they will return.  Sometimes it's the following day, sometimes it's 3 days later. 

   

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - , No comments

Tips and Tricks for using English GMarket

English GMarket is the easiest online shopping site by a mile!


It's easy to set up an account because most of the instructions are in English.

Here are some tricks I've learned for getting the most out of English GMarket...

1.  Search GMarket, but also search Naver.
GMarket will sometimes offer a "Partnership Discount" to items that were clicked through from Naver.  Just visit Naver first, type the item into the search bar, then browse through their shopping list for items being sold at GMarket.

Go to Naver.com and enter your item.
In the section marked 쇼핑, click the view all option.

Scroll down and click on the first item listed by GMarket.

Check out the discount.

Same item, same seller, same ad, searched directly on GMarket.
No 20,000W+ discount.


2.  Don't expect to use your foreign MasterCard or Visa when you're ordering from inside Korea.


3.  Try searching for your item in Korean.
If your search results also include some Korean words in the titles, try searching with those too.The interface is in English, but there are many items that do not contain an English title.  Also, try specific part numbers.  This works well on styled clothing like shirts and underwear.  

More tips soon!!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Friday, September 14, 2012

Monday, September 3, 2012

Monday, September 03, 2012 - ,, 2 comments

Movie Theaters Showing Korean Movies with English Subtitles

The newest story on visitseoul.net covers some locations of movie theaters that show K-movies with English subtitles.

The article lists CGV theaters in Guro, Cheongdam-dong, and Yongsan, and Lotte Cinemas in Cheongnyangni, Myeong-dong, and near Hongik University

The subtitled films will be shown twice a week. The CGVs will offer subtitled movies at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and 5 p.m. on Sundays.  The Lotte cinemas will feature them every Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

Reservations can be made online here: www.cgv.co.kr and www.lottecinema.co.kr. 
Sorry, English hasn't quite made the leap to their websites just yet. ^^

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