Money, a Won and a Two and a...

Today I picked up my Korean money from the bank. I have no idea what kind of buying power I have now. Nevertheless, it is tucked safely away and hiding from the bandits and pirates waiting to rob me as I travel overseas. I am a little afraid that if I hide it in various locations I will forget where it is, thus decreasing my buying power all the more.

All I know at the present time is that it sure looks like a lot of money. But this money is just very unfamiliar looking and doesn't hit me the same way as, say, Benjamin Franklin does when he is peeking out of my wallet.

I also made a stop at ShopKo before heading home after work. I was thinking it would be a good idea to pick up some of those pill organizers; three weeks worth. This will ensure that I'll be free of all those prescription bottles filled with the ingredients that make me the woman I am today. I headed directly for the pharmacy to get them. I knew where they were because of all the times I have stood, mind numbingly bored in line, focusing on those many items hanging by the counter for impulse buyers, or bored people. Of course, the little plastic pill apartments are not in the pharmacy anymore. Resigned to knowing that I would never find them on my own, a sympathetic clerk took me my the hand and led me like a child to the most logical place for plastic pill organizers...right between the roll-on deodorant and the odor eaters.

It made more sense to find pill organizers in the pharmacy. Pills, pharmacy, pill organizers, all related and part of the same family. Right? I am an American, and a gifted shopper, however, this bewilders me. Who makes decisions to put things like this - little plastic non-consumables that minimize the need for me to think about my prescription drugs - between underarms and stinky feet?

If I were in Korea, I might expect to find things that I just don't understand. I would think that it is just my ignorance of the Korean culture. But today I decided that the person who made the administrative decision to put anything related to pills in the deodorant isle really needs to rethink that arrangement. Even the candy isle makes more sense, next to the Jelly Beans.

One thing I learned last year when I went to Japan, it isn't humid, it is a SAUNA in that part of the world in June! It was a great lesson in humility to give up trying to wear makeup. My makeup was somewhere close to my ankles by 11:30 A.M. anyway. What little bit of coloration I had placed on my face that survived the sweat got wiped off by my handkerchiefs and bandannas. I did not feel attractive.

I shopped for some new bandannas while in ShopKo today. You will never guess where I found THOSE! Go ahead. Guess.