I dressed in warm clothes. I debated whether or not to bring my new cart, and/or umbrella. I decided no on both. Nela called to see if I was still coming. So I quickly rounded up my carrying bag and some gloves and a hat. I walked down toward the gate and they were waiting for me. It was cold and I felt a few drops of sleet. Myra had her umbrella so I figured it would not rain. We walked out the gate and down the main street to the bus station. We waited for bus 751 for some time. But seating was plentiful and we had a nice ride to Changwon. Nela knew where to get off and we followed her. I would swear that is where Jane had us catch a bus to Jinhae from the Chrysanthemum Festival. But when we looked at a nearby map, there was no clearing nearby large enough for such an event. As it was cold and I needed a bathroom, we walked quickly to E-Mart. We had a good time looking around at all the merchandise. I got something decorative to stick up by the fireplace, and some castile soap. Then we went to Lotte Mart next door. We saw a sweet potato stand where they were selling hot roasted sweet potatoes three for $5. They smelled really good. We saw a display of pianos and guitars and violins. I asked about sheet music and they did not have it. We saw displays of the most ornate clocks I have ever seen. I wondered who buys them and what kind of décor compliments them. We also saw fountains for home use. But they were several hundred dollars. Finally we walked through a tunnel to the Lotte Mart department store to have lunch in the basement. There was a place where shelves of very realistic plastic food showed what was available and each one had a number. We looked at all the little places and came back to the big place with its plastic food. We each chose a number and ordered at the register. We were each given a buzzer to carry. When a buzzer lit up, that person looked around to see which stand had their meal waiting and picked it up. Mine was last and it did not look like what I ordered. So I compared it with the display model. A young man explained as best he could that that name of that meal matched the name of my meal. We determined that that meal had squid but mine did not. He seemed at a loss so I asked if I could have some squid. He went to the stand and came back saying they did not have 'skid' and he refunded my money. I then ordered the kimbap which Myra had gotten and looked like a good safe choice. While waiting for it, I ate the broth and the little veggie pieces in the first meal, leaving the pile of noodles untouched. Then I picked up the kimbap and ate that. We returned our trays to their respective stands. Then we went looking through the merchandise there in the basement. The ladies pushing gift sets of tea gave us samples. But the tea was much too expensive to even consider. We also looked through the food section. Nela and I had bought packets of turmeric in E-Mart. But there in the basement, they had 500g packages for $10. So we got that, too. I also found a good sized package of sunflower seeds. Eventually we got really tired. Walking back through the tunnel, we stopped to take photos with pictures on the walls. I guess it was set up for that, what with the color-changing lights. Then we found our way back to the bus stop. It took awhile, but finally the bus we wanted showed up. In the mean time we wondered if it were the only bus going to Jinhae or if we could have taken some orange bus that showed up sooner. Anyway, we got back to Jinhae around 5:25. We were practically running back to base to catch the commissary before it closed. Chris called my phone to tell me he had the grocery list and wanted me to meet him at the commissary. That made my task much easier. So we all went to the commissary. Nela invited us over for Thanksgiving lunch. Then we shopped individually, but ended up together again at checkout. I thanked them for a wonderful trip and we carried our groceries home. I laid on the couch while Chris fixed himself a burrito. When I had the energy, I ate the nuts from breakfast, and some persimmons. I read some e-mail. I worked two cryptograms. Then we watched several episodes of Castle, finishing the DVD. I posted to my blog as best I could remember the events of the day. Then we went to bed.
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