something new every day

I went to a coffee shop today with a friend in the middle of Seoul. We got there, ordered our coffee, and sat and talked for a while, then they turned the lights off, closed the blinds, rolled down a hidden video screen from the ceiling, and rolled up the coffee pictures into the ceiling to reveal lit up liquor cabinets. It was so weird! The coffee shop changed itself into a bar as we were sitting there.

Last night, I went to see Kingdom of Heaven. After the movie, us girls were visiting the bathroom and I noticed something called an etiquette bell on the wall of the stall. I'd seen these before but never wondered what they were. I'm in the habit of reading everything around me, partly because I'm curious and partly to practice Korean since I can understand more after 15 weeks of intensive classes. So, I read the instructions on the etiquette bell. It will make the sound of running water and then turn off automatically. I thought it was nice for them to install something to help you pee faster, and I mentioned it to my Korean friend outside that I thought it was funny. She said, no, those are so that other people don't have to hear us pee. That just made me laugh...Isn't that one of the main reasons to go into a bathroom stall?

One of the current crazes in Korea is well-being. In Korean, they pronounce it as well-bing. They have well-bing burgers, well-bing ice cream, all sorts of stuff. Yesterday, I was looking around a stationery shop and I saw a well-bing pencil case! It had some plastic pockets on the front that held a selection of sealed rice and beans. I'm sure that would impact how you study, if you're able to have some whole grains next to you. That's not the best example of the craze, though. On the subway yesterday, I noticed an ad for a popular underwear company. It was advertising a new well-bing double up bra.