From Rusty to dusty

Rusty and Cinnamon are the names of MaryAnn's cats. Having hid under the cabinets, and in various other out-of-the-way places, their paws are now grey with dust. They got out a little bit last night. And this afternoon when Chris drove me to the gas station gate, he asked Michele to watch his sandwich until he got back - just in case they came out of hiding. From the gas station gate, I went to exit 2 of Noksapyong. I sat on a nearby bench until Julia arrived. Then we went looking for the Fermentation Festival. When we found it, there were two tables set up for signing people up. For 20,000 won, we got our tickets, which had a map showing the locations of the places which were giving out samples, and a spot for each place to punch our ticket. At the second table we each picked up two plastic cups and a spork. They were for collecting each sample of food or drink. Then the people in charge informed us that they had divided the list in half, and the first half would operate from 1 to 3 and the others from 3 to 5. Well, it was 2:30 when we got there so we didn't have much time for the first half. We tasted goat cheese, beer, makegoli, kambucha, kimchi, sausage, and salsa in the first half. We were so impressed with the local goat cheese, that we each bought a tub. Then we went for the second half. But it was swamped. So we decided to go to the last one and backtrack. A young man named Phil went along. When we finally got to place #18, which was at the top of a very steep climb, they didn't know what we were talking about. And the signs along the way indicated an afterhours party there. So we came back down the hill. We went to place #16 and Julia ordered a drink. They had fermented salsa. Across the street, they were handing out home brewed beer and selling burritos. It was really hot out, so I stopped at a convenience store for a bottle of water. Other places had samples of cheeses, fermented catsup, chicken on a stick, sauerkraut, vodka, fermented lemonade, etc. The pickle guy was a no-show. Oh, and hand-made organic soap. Some places had nothing because they had run out. It seemed that most of the attendees were English-speaking. It was nice to be among people I could talk to, and who appreciated fermented food.
Finally we had run the course, and Julia wanted to get her hair cut. So we parted ways. I called Chris to meet me at the gate, and I walked back. He arrived there just as I did. We went home. He had made chili, so three of us had a bowl. MaryAnn came over to visit her cats, and she had a bowl too. Cinnamon came out right away, but we had a hard time finding Rusty. We looked everywhere. Finally found him behind the couch. We had to move it to drag him out. She made the cats feel more comfortable and Cinnamon at least, was willing to be sociable with the rest of us. After she left, I got on my computer for a bit before going to bed.