Buying bedding in Korea

I had been putting it off for a while but finally I decided to get some new sheets and blankets for my bed. It was a very different experience to what you would normally expect back home. But I've now learnt that sometimes, living abroad, you've just gotta go with the flow and more often than not you will find that the differences aren't all that bad after all.

So after my Korean lesson last week I stopped in at the bedding shop I pass on the way to work every day. It's impossible to miss. The Post Office is right next to it but someone had to point that out to me because the bedding shop - brightly lit, music blaring from speakers and a colourful array of blankets, pillows, carpets and cushions on display outside, converging on the footpath and no doubt collecting the dirt and dust - simply absorbs any attention you might otherwise give to anything else in its vicinity.

I walk in and am soon greeted by the friendly shop assistant who, incidentally, speaks English fairly well.

"I'm looking for some sheets,"

"Single size, double size or king size?"

"Single."

He proceeds to leads me to a large stack of sheets. He takes a sheet from the pile, unravels it and with a nonchalant flick of his wrists, spreads it out before me. The 'sheet' was in fact not unlike a thin blanket - not a single thin piece of fabric but slightly quilted. Not exactly what I was after, but when in Rome...

I then asked about a blanket. He lead me across to the other side of the shop to another stack of linen of varying colours. After inquiring as to what colour I would like he took a dark blue blanket from the pack and performed his customary flick, laying out the 'blanket.' To my surprise, this blanket was almost identical to the bed sheet he had earlier showed me. I hesitated momentarily but agreed to the purchase after gaining a 5000 won discount.

Living in a foreign land is like jumping in a river. Sometimes you will find yourself wanting to swim against the current, trying to avoid a strange, difficult, or unpleasant situation. Invariably though, if you do this, it will get tiresome and eventually you will run out of puff and be looking at airfares for your return home.

T.A.D
Incheon, South Korea