Diplomatic party

I put out can of beer last night before I went to bed. When I woke up, it was raining again. Chris went to work early. I heard my phone ring. It was Nela, calling before 8 to see if I wanted to go walking. I declined and went back to bed. Later I got up to check e-mail and drink water. The cursor was acting up again and I had to reboot. I wrote a check and threw on some clothes so I could walk it to the mailbox. There was a lady standing in front of it all the time I was walking down the hill. It looked like she picked something from the ground and put it in the mailbox. Then she opened it and took the collection box out and picked a red envelop from it. I asked her what she was doing and then realized I had seen her behind the counter at the post office. I handed her my envelop and went home.
Not satisfied with the dress I’d made, I explored other options, but there just wasn’t time to make another dress. The top with peplum seemed like a good idea, but there was not enough fabric for the zipperless version and I could not find any zippers for the other versions. Finally I called the ladies to ask for their advice. They came by when they were back from their walk. I tried the dress on and Myra looked it over, then said it needed darts between my stomach and my chest. She put in some pins and it did help. They left and I obsessed over how to make the darts equal and equidistant. I skipped breakfast and lunch, though I had a little fermented coconut milk and some kimchi. I did not want to take a chance on eating something that might make my stomach puffy. I used a French curve to make a dart pattern. I noted how far one dart was from the side seam and upper dart, then recreated that distance on the other side. I basted the darts in by hand then tried on the dress. It fit ok, so I sewed them in by machine, one stitch at a time using the hand wheel, hoping to avoid pulled stitches. It did not work as well as I had hoped. Then Myra came over with some of her jewelry that she thought might work. I tried each piece on and we decided on a silver necklace with silver earrings. Then she had to go meet Nela. Chris came home for lunch, bringing me a package from Swanson’s. But the order was mixed up with someone else’s order so I had to report it to the company. Chris went back to work. The dress was a little sweaty from all the trying on. So I gathered a few other dresses from my closet and made a load of laundry. I checked e-mail while washing and drying. I also did today’s puzzle. Then I took a shower and got dressed. Myra said I should remove some of the extra chain from the necklace, so I did. I was composing a QOV reminder to the Facebook community when Chris came home and said we had to leave right away. I only had two sentences, but I hit ‘enter’, threw on my shoes and gave Chris my ID. I did not have the right purse for the event, so I did not take one. We got in the car and went to the office building. A van was waiting with the engine running. I got in as the CO and his wife arrived. They got in, too. Then we were on our way to Busan. The van gave me a headache, probably because the air vent was cooling one side of my face and the other side was warm. After an hour and a half, we arrived at a hotel. We took the escalator to the third floor ballroom. We had to sign in and wear purple wrist bands. Then we waited in line to enter. Each couple was greeted by the ambassador and their picture taken with him. Then we stood around as Chris introduced me to several men. There were tables of food, but it was all covered with plastic. The room filled. Then speeches were made, in English and Korean. National anthems were played and pics were taken. I did not get any because I hadn’t brought my camera or phone. Finally that was over. Anna came to get me so we could get food. I ate tiny octopi, kimbap, kimchi, mushrooms, watermelon, smoked salmon and japchai. I skipped the rolls and breaded foods. We sat along the wall to eat. A jazz band played on stage. I thought it was dance music, but no one was dancing. Eventually I went to find Chris. We talked to a few more people. He got a piece of cake, which turned out to be huge. I hit the meat table, scoring some ham and pork. Then we joined the CO and Anna. I got some fruit from the table over there. Finally it was time to meet our van. We said our goodbye’s to the Ambassador. Right outside the ballroom, the sign-in people were handing out baseballs to the guests. Then we went downstairs to meet the van. We rode back to Chinhae to the office building. Chris drove us home from there. I checked e-mail and saw that people on base reported feeling an earthquake while we were gone. Then we watched several episodes of Big Bang Theory. Chris went to bed. I stayed up to post to my blog, hoping I could remember it all.
* Note the baseball in my hand. *