The boys absolutely L-O-V-E going to the market. When I say market, you may be envisioning something different than what it actually is, so let me try my best to explain it to you. This outdoor market is a long road with booth after booth offering many items you may need from meat to shoes, octopuses to umbrellas, crabs to finger nail polish, fruits to vegetables, ice cream to medicine, and a seamstress to a buffet where everyone stands at the booth and eats together from the same bowls.
The smell is something I can't even begin to describe, but I have to say that I'm really kind of use to it now, unless a big wind blows through and smashes the scent into my face.
I try to walk the boys through the market at least once a week so they can see the fish, eels, crab, and octopus and to pick up some fresh oranges. This is how the conversation usually goes...
Me: Connar, do you want to go on a walk?
Connar: Yes. (as he nods his head emphatically)
Me: Where do you want to go? This part is fun for me because I know what he's going to say and how excited he's going to get! :)
Connar: To the market.
Me: Okay, we'll go to the market.
Connar: no words....mouth drops open with a huge grin like he's so surprised he gets to go to the market
When we get there, Connar begs me to "go cwoser" to the tanks with the stroller as Parker sits up straight to see better. We walk through the market so often that we see the same people in their booths, and they recognize the boys. Connar has a favorite place to go see crabs, because he knows the man will take the crabs out of the tank for him. Parker even said "crab" for the first time at the market.
I took some pictures as we strolled through there this week, but this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what can be seen and bought there. It's definitely something that has to be experienced in person.
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| Scooters zip through here like nobody's business. You seriously have to watch out for them delivering items to and fro. |
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| This is a little side street off the main market street...same idea, just more narrow than the long market street. |
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| These booths are so deep and seem to just keep going and going. They are completely filled with stuff too. It's amazing to me how much stuff they can fit in a small space. |
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| This lady saw Parker from a booth across the street and quickly walked over before we left. |
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| This man takes a crab out of the tank every time we stop by his booth to stare at the crabs. |
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| He almost always teases the boys about touching the claws. No sir! |
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| Connar was saying, "Put the crab back in there!", because he was concerned about its pinchers. |
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| It is not uncommon at all to see little old ladies carting around a bunch of stuff. Such hard workers. |
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| This is the man who I buy oranges from. When we there to buy two bundles of them last time, he handed us back half of our money and only made us pay for one. We don't speak Korean and he doesn't speak English, but I think he was being generous because I come to his booth every week. How nice was that?! :) |
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As the boys were looking at the eels in this tank, this lady decided they probably wanted to see one out of the tank (and she was right...Connar had just told me he wanted her to take it out).
Look at Parker looking back at Connar. He's thinking either, "This is one crazy lady!" or "Is this okay for her to be doing this??" I thought it was cute the way he was looking at his big brother for some reassurance. |
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| While she was holding it up, all I could think was, "Please don't let that gooey stuff land on Parker's shoes!" |
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| Little old ladies and men sit in their booths peeling apart vegetables and cutting fish. Every now and then, you'll see one actually laying down and sleeping. :) |
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| You can stand at this booth, elbow to elbow with others, and chow down. |
