Chusok - Korean Thanksgiving

I asked Chris to set the alarm for 7 so I could get up and read. But when it came time to get up, I stayed in bed. It was almost 8 when I arose to make breakfast. I read a little e-mail, but there wasn't much. I showered and headed to post. Cathy was already at the SPC when I arrived, which was good since she has a key to the building which is closed for Chusok. She had a new pattern for baby quilts that is easier to cut and easier to sew than the checkerboard style that we use now. It is basically a large, elongated 9-patch. If you cut three coordinating fabrics at once and swap pieces, you get three kits, each slightly different. So we pulled out a lot of fabric packets and started cutting kits. We made several just to see it in action. Quick and easy. I guess I should have taken a picture. At 11:30 Chris picked me up. We went to Ichon station and took the train to Chungmuro, and line 3 to Gyongbukgang palace station. We were to meet Jin Joo at exit 1. We were early so we looked for the restroom. Unfortunately there was only one, and it was behind the turnstile where you pay to go in. Chris got a text changing the exit to #5. So we walked back through the station to exit 5, passing through two art galleries. Art galleries in a subway station? Ok. Jin Joo was waiting for us. I had visions of walking through a park, but she took us through the palace museum which was open and free today (at least it had a bathroom). She was able to explain all the Korean writing next to the displays. From there, we went outside. We walked north to a park, but ended up spending most of that time sitting on a bench talking. As we walked back, we passed a statue of a phoenix and some people. Jin took us on a walk to find an open restaurant which was no easy task. Finally we took the subway to Sindorim to D-Cube mall. She said it just opened last week. We went to the 4th or 5th floor to a Korean restaurant. She ordered the chicken stew. I would not describe it as spicy, but there were a few peppers that definitely qualified. The meal opened with a water kimchi that was cold and refreshing (mostly flavored water with a few pieces of radish floating in it). We also had bowls of rice. She insisted on paying. Then she took us into the basement to see the organic market and the Food court. It was very interesting. There was a station set up for making tofu, but no one was demonstrating the process. There was a self-serve sushi bar. The organic market had lots of imported foods, probably expensive. All of the department stores I saw were labeled in English or French. Everything was shiny and new. When it was time for her to go home, she escorted us to the subway and we parted company. We took line 1 to Seoul station, and line 4 to Ichon. We got my car and parked it in the lot by our gate. We stopped at a shoppette and bought a bottle of wine as a Chusok gift for Mr. Kang and a case of beer for Chris. When we got home, Michele wanted to know why there were pictures of us on Facebook in places she hadn't seen. Jin had uploaded her already! I sat on the couch and slowly fell asleep. It was after 9 when I roused myself to post to this blog. I hope the pictures are in order, but now that Blogger doesn't give me the html when I load pics, I have less control over where the pictures go.