Fish Market adventure

We were sleeping in Michele's apt. Chris had set his phone to ring at 7. Took me a while to get up. The bed was hard and it made my back stiff. We got dressed and walked to post to pick up Chris' car. We went to our apt to clean. The appliances were to be picked up between 9 and 11, and the landlord wanted to settle at 10. No, wait, it had been changed to tomorrow. But while we were cleaning, it was changed to 2pm this afternoon. So the rush to be finished was on. We had a ton of stuff to deal with also. To the thrift shop, to Michele, to garbage, to the airport? Chris took a shower and then helped me clean. I did one porch and he did the other. At 11 I left to meet Julia at Noryinjan fish market. She wasn't there, and I waited maybe 30 minutes. Then we explored the area. But it wasn't what she was expecting. So she called the dept of tourism. She also called a number of friends. Anyway, we found the big place. Many stands selling live seafood. I picked out what turned out to be sea squirts. She got a fish. The man scooped it out with a net and took it in the back to slice it up and take out the bones. Then he led us to a restaurant. The lady took my sea squirts and cut them up. There wasn't much left after she finished. As for Julia's fish, if you are squeamish, stop reading here. Or don't say I didn't warn you. The body was cut up, but the head was whole, and included the heart which was still beating. She took video of it and posted it on Youtube. That is how they show freshness in Korea. We ate the seafood raw. I liked the idea of it being raw and fresh, but can't say it tasted any better than if it was cooked. At 1:40 I looked at my watch and called Chris. He said he wanted me to be at the settlement, so I ran out to the main street to catch a cab. The first cabbie did not want to help me so he pretended not to know where I wanted to go. The second one had no trouble even though he spoke no English either. He took me to Ichon to the army base. I gave him a 10 even though the fare was only 4800. I ran to my car, drove to our gate, and hoofed it up to our apartment, wetting my pants on the way. I hadn't made it by two, but did arrive just after the landlord. He seemed pleased with how clean the apt was. He had three other people with him. When they were satisfied, we all went to the business office to count the money that was due back to us. It was in cash, in various denominations. Took quite a while to count, even with the machine. We high-tailed it to the bank. Chris ran in while I parked. He made it in time, but it took another 20 minutes for them to count it. Then, he got it back as a cashiers check. We went to his office where the suitcases were. He took the check to whereever, and I changed my clothing. I sat for a bit, until I realized that I could be working on Michele's quilt. I did not have my sewing machine, but I had pins and a rotary cutter. I trimmed the backing and folded it over to the top, pinning it in place. Monica offered me her office and I used it to finish. Chris came back and drove me to the SPC. I set up a machine and threaded it with the gray I saved from the packers. I was proceeding nicely when Rusty came by to get the key so she can open the place next Thursday night. Then I went back to sewing. Cathy and Rusty set up tables, and got more stuff out. I kept sewing. 6:30 came and went. Aimee came to show me what she wanted to work on, and later another lady came whose name I can't remember. When RuthAnn came in with my bag of scraps from last week, I found my samples, and did a short demo on strip-piecing a quilted block. Then everyone had something to do, even if it was their own project. We had a good time chatting and holding the lady's baby. Chris came by about 8:15 as we were packing up. He helped. I said goodbye to Mary, and Aimee, and Ruth Ann and Cathy. I am going to miss them all. Chris drove me to the gate to get my car. Then we went up to our room. Chris used his laptop to make hotel reservations in Alabama, and to read e-mail. I ate some cheese and found my laptop would not connect to the net from my spot on the bed. Chris took it over to the router, which connected it, but it was hardly better. Every action timed out. I played solitaire for a while, getting up the energy to move closer to the router which was above our door. Then I started posting to my blog. Forgive the lack of pictures. I took them but am too tired to load them now.