My Country 'Tis of Thee...

On Saturday we accompanied Henry, Nancy, Tom, Jackie, and Evan to the fabled Costco in Daegu. Daegu is the fourth largest city in South Korea, and it took us about an hour and-a-half to get there by bus. When we arrived at Costco, we immediately realized that, much like the U.S. consulate in Seoul, Costco is actually sovereign U.S. soil. The following photos should serve to illustrate my point.


Just like Costcos back home, this one had a concession area where you could buy hot dogs, pizza and ice cream. We ordered two pizzas which, as you can see, were quite large.



The building was almost exactly like any normal Costco in the States, except that there were two floors. Otherwise, the place was standard: a warehouse with pallets of over-sized bottles of condiments.


Giant containers of Cheese Balls. Like I said, sovereign U.S. soil.


I had actually never heard of "Rocky Mountain Marshmallows" before, but they're made in the U.S.A. (Okay, they're made in Illinois, but they still reminded me of Colorado).



Spotting a 2 lb. block of Kirkland Cheddar cheese simultaneously, Tom and I engaged in some initial disagreement about who should procure it. Shortly thereafter, we noticed a freezer case full of blocks. The unpleasantness was soon forgotten...




So, not everything was "American", strictly speaking. Yoshida's BBQ sauce is from Japan. "Howdy, gangstas! I'm average American cowboy!"


I also noticed this. As you'd expect, the meat department at the Daegu Costco is quite large, and contains a lot of beef. Read my previous post, and you'll understand the significance of an American wholesale chain selling "safe and clean" Australian beef.


As we made our way back to the bus station to head back to Changwon, I saw this group of old guys hanging out. I had to take a picture because they look like nearly every old guy I've seen in South Korea. I like their hats. The one with the sunglasses is wearing a white linen suit, traditional Korean summer attire.