shopping

with the amount of stress work has been giving me, i really did not want my parents to come visit me in korea.  not to mention my sister and my mom are the kind of tourists that need to be handheld through everything.  they have completely zero regard for the person hosting as they think they need to be taken care of at every turn.  leave early to pick them up at the airport.  they wont' take a cab ride home as it is my duty to drop them off even if it is out of the way.  i obviously should and have to pay for everything.   and even if i'm not shopping i need to accompany them.  it's not that they take it for granted, it's that they think its my duty.  and it's not that they empathize with what the host is doing, it's that they are just consumed in being taken care of.  it's a completely unorthodox style of tour guide foreigner stress that i had to deal with.  combine that with the fact that i too am a foreigner.  

on thursday, we had dinner.  on friday i sent them on a tour.  chinese people are not impressed by korean culture.  it's basically chinese.  but smaller.  and so they got the cultural part of the country out of the way.  what chinese people come to korea for is SHOPPING.  for HALLYU.  FOR FACE PRODUCTS.  FOR DONG DAE MUN...chinese people aren't that impressed by the food.  and for my sis and my mom, they didn't want to eat at all.  and so on saturday.  we ate.  went to do hair and nails.  then went shopping for 8 hours.  had dinner in the food court.  shopped some more.  and ate some 빙수.  and shopped some more. 

on sunday.  we had lunch.  went shopping.  ALL DAY.  they were not impressed with the street food.  so we went back to 논현 for dinner.  they didn't want anything spicy.  didn't want anything heavy.  and just wanted veges.  we ended up going to 고기집 anyways.  ordered extra veges.  talked loudly in chinese.  took a slight rest before haejung took us all to go midnight outlet shopping till 3am.  i sat in the car and slept.  complete disregard that i had to work the next day.

it's not that im not willing to do any of the things asked me.  but please with some sense.  let me drop you off at the shopping place and have me pick u up 5 hours later.  why have me sit there in misery waiting for you?  since when does that make any sense or mutual understanding?