French Christmas Market.

This weekend, two of my friends (Melina and Maria) and I went to what we were told was a French Christmas market. It was in the French quarter of Gangnam (yeah, they have one of those here, and no, there is no chinatown. You have to go north for that one).

I have to say I was pretty excited about being at a Christmas market. I really missed the ones in Germany where you could drink mulled wine, eat real German gingerbread and buy all manner of crafty Christmasy things. Boy was I disappointed. Though it was in the French quarter and run by French nationals, all that was authentically French about it was the contemptuous sneers. They had some books in French and a French bakery selling baked goods at outrageous prices ($6 for an eclair? Non merci), but everything else was just western things that they sell at Lotte Mart or E Mart gathered together.

Maria, who speaks French but has been slowly forgetting it in favor of Korean, was given the 'you, pathetic person, are not French' look by the guy we bought sausages from whom she tried to converse with. This only served to make her more nervous when she tried to speak to the next French person we saw. The next guy, luckily, was very kind and encouraging and got her talking despite her nervousness.

I bought some Gouda and some cute Christmas cards that have Korean themes done in a decidedly French style. We ended the rest of the day shopping at the underground shopping mall in Nambu Bus Terminal. Its surprising how much goes on underground here. It's part of the Korean efficiency thing. There isn't enough space for everything so they've found creative ways to make more room. Having shops and restaurants on the second or third floors (when is the last time you saw that in America?), having large, sprawling shopping complexes entirely under ground, next to the subway. I swear we walked forever and never saw the end of it.

I am, however, almost done with my Christmas shopping. Jealous?