How Much Are You Willing To Pay?

This is the question of the hour. How much are you willing to pay? Random items in Korea are incredibly expensive. It makes little to no sense. Now, imported items are clearly going to be expensive. Therefore, magazines from the U.S. and English language books are a bit pricey. Not out of the range or people, but an Oprah magazine (Victoria reads them) costs about 7000 won (remember, there are 1000 won in a dollar roughly) here in Korea, and is under $4 in the U.S. Other pricey itmes, a deck of playing cards range from 6000-10,000 won ($6-10).

Nowhere are skyhigh prices seen more clearly than in the grocery store. Now, I understand the high price of beef. This country is 70% mountains. You can't raise cattle on a mountain, they won't get fat... too much exercise, not enough grazing. So, when you want beef, you have to pay for it... through the nose. A steak at Outback Steakhouse here costs between 30,000 and 50,000 won.

Fruit. This is the one I don't understand completely. I was in a grocery store in Cheonan. The fruit was astronomical. One mango... 12,300 won. 30 or so blueberries... 7056 won. An exotic apple... 8,500 won. And lastly, 2 cantaloupe melons... 35,000 won. Don't even think about making a fruit salad here. You'd have to mortgage your home, and sell some plasma.