Toy Alley

I met Andrea at the commissary. We called a taxi to go to Dongmyo, which cost us 8000 won. I was a little surprised. Dongmyo is the home of Toy Alley, where each store sells toys or stickers or kids books etc. Andrea wanted stickers and found them without too much trouble. Anne Marie called and wanted to meet us in Dongdaemun, which was 4 or 5 blocks away, past the shoe streets. The three of us looked at several kinds of fabric, jewelry findings, fur, towels, etc. Andrea wanted Minki for the backs of three baby quilts she is making. I am not sure that is what she ended up buying, but we had fun pantomiming the question "Is this washable?"
Andrea and I came back by subway, and took the on-post bus to our closest bus stops. It happened to be the bus carrying kids home from school, so Michele was on it and surprised to see me. We walked home together. Soon after we got home, Hyon came by for a quilting lesson. I wrote down all the steps she would do for making the block that she chose. But of course, nothing beats actually hands-on experience. So we got started with the cutting. She picked it up fairly well. We marked some diagonal sewing lines, but then the hour was over. Normally I wouldn't care, but I had to be at Commisskeys 40 minutes later to catch a bus to a Christmas party. So I dressed up for the party, walked to the nearest bus stop, and decided it would be faster to walk all the way than to wait for the bus. Luckily I was wearing flats. I arrived in time to see Chris waiting for me to get on the bus. It took a long time to get to the party location. But it was so beautifully decorated. We stood around talking and having appetizers until all three buses had arrived. Then we toasted with eggnog before we all lined up for the buffet tables. The food was reasonable, but nothing to blog about. I didn't eat much considering that I missed lunch. You'd have thought I would be ravenous, but I wasn't. There were the usual after-dinner speeches, and an ELF-Yourself video using the faces of our highest on-post officials. Very funny! Also, a five piece wind ensemble from the 8th Army Band played Christmas music. Then we boarded the buses back to post. Chris' coworker offered us a ride back to our apartment. BUT, Chris elected to leave the bus as it was entering post and walk back. Thanks, dear. It was COLD and my dress shoes were rubbing the backs of my heels. I am not bitter, but NEXT time he WILL accept a ride, or be walking back without me.