Suiting Chris

We got up late. I did not bother watering the plants since it was raining again. I made and ate breakfast while reading e-mail. Chris pretty much did the same thing. I took a cold shower. Cold water is supposed to make you more energetic. It did not work that well. I got dressed while Chris took a shower. I cut a piece of my blue fabric in case I needed to match or complement it. I put some seed crackers in my purse. I took pics of one of Chris’ suits, but he told me not to bother. I put on my shoes and grabbed an umbrella. Chris took his and we were out the door. We walked out the front gate and into town. I called Jane at 10 to tell her we were going to be a few minutes late, but she did not answer. We hoofed it to McDonalds, where Jane was waiting. She said the bus had already gone by, but there would be another one in 10 minutes. So we waited inside while she went to the restroom and then went outside to the bus stop. We gave our bus fares to Chris and he bought the tickets. The bus came shortly and we all got on. It took a circuitous route to Busan, stopping often. But it was less than the 50 minutes Jane had predicted. We all disembarked at an island in the middle of the street. As a group, we proceeded over to the right side and descended into the subway system. Soon we were on the platform and then I had to visit the bathroom. So Jane and I came up one floor and she asked the guard to let us out, which he did. We went to the bathroom and came back. She had to ask him to let us through again so we wouldn’t have to pay again. Then we rejoined Chris on the platform. He said the train came 10 minutes ago, which surprised me since I did not think we were gone that long. But the next train showed up quickly. It was practically empty so we had seats all the way to Bumil-dong. We came out exit 1 and walked straight ahead several blocks until we hit the fabric market – marked by the aerial pedestrian crossings to the other side of the street. But we went behind the main building. We visited several places selling suit fabrics. With Jane interpreting, we looked through their selection and asked questions. But when we got to the place which Eliza recommended, we found the fabrics we wanted. It took some time to pick out five suit fabrics and one for a tux. We asked for two pairs of pants with each jacket. The man agreed to 4 of them, but said for the fifth fabric the factory would not allow a second pair of pants. We could not figure that out because he had plenty of fabric and he had a staff that did the cutting and sewing. He gave a price that Chris thought was good. So Chris got measured and they discussed style details and a fitting date that Jane could make as well. The man wanted half of the money up front. We did not have that much, so Chris asked for the nearest Woori bank. The wife took us there and Chris took out money from Michele’s account, up to the ATM limit. We went back and paid what we had. Did I mention that Jane took pics at every point of the process and had us or the wife take her pic, too?

Then Jane wanted to go to lunch but we had little money left. So she lent us $100. The three of us split a lunch for two. It was very good: soup and side dishes and rice. Chris paid. Then we went to the fabric market building. The tailor led us to the first place, but they did not have fabrics for ball gowns. Then Jane asked questions of people right and left. We found the place I had bought fabric before, and I picked out another set in green. We took a break to hit the restroom. We went back so I could pay for the fabric and pick it up. Then we searched for the ball gowns I had seen. Jane stopped every few booths to ask. We did find them, but we also heard about gowns on the 3rd floor. So we went up there. There were several and I stopped at one to try on a few. I thought they were too tight, but Chris wondered why I did not buy one. (Because we spent all our money on suits?) Jane took a pic and we got a business card. Then we walked back to the subway. We rode two stops to the hub and changed to another line. That train arrived quickly. Then we sat in the section for the old and disabled. As other seats became available, we moved to the next section. I was glad we had seats because we rode over 30 minutes. We got off at Hyundai Beach. Chris and Jane went to the restroom while I looked at a vendor selling fancy hosiery. Finally we walked up and out of the subway to a sunny beachy atmosphere. Our first order of business was to find the restaurant where Chris was to attend the Hail and Farewell ceremony. We had an hour, which seemed like way more than we needed, but in fact, it took 40 minutes to find the place. After Chris walked in, Jane and I walked the short distance to the beach. She stayed on the boardwalk, but I went down to the sand and removed my shoes. I walked into the water, marveling at how low the tide was. I could walk pretty far just getting my ankles wet. Or so I thought. Somehow, when I came back and scrubbed my feet with sand, I discovered that my rolled up pant legs were wet. I brushed off my feet and put on my shoes and joined Jane. She was contemplating her next photo opportunity. We walked along the beach, finding photo ops and taking each other’s pic or asking someone else to take our pic. It got to be a bit much, but she loved every minute of it. We stopped at a hotel to visit the restroom and cool off. I changed into the flowy pants I bought at the fabric market. We sat near the boardwalk to eat our snacks. The gulls (or pidgeons) were interested in my seed crackers. They would crowd around me and two little girls would scare them off. This happened several times while Jane was trying to photograph the gulls. Then they hopped into my hand looking for crumbs. Jane got very excited. She took my pic and then wanted my crumbs so she could have her pic with the gulls. But I guess she moved too much, because the gulls would not sit on her hand. But they came to me even though I was out of food. Then we walked to a grand hotel near the end. She hit the restroom again. We walked up the hill of what used to be an island. The path descended to the beach but I did not want to walk all the way down and have to come all the way back. So we only went half way. She took a pic and we came up and went back through the hotel. She asked the maitre’d how much the dinner was. It was over $80, so we left. We followed the beach back to where we had entered it, stopping to take more pics in more poses with landmarks and giant stones and such. The light waned. We walked back to the restaurant. I texted Chris to ask if we could ride back with the commander. We sat on the first floor and watched people come out. Jane recognized one man from years ago and we talked to him for a bit. He said that he would be Chris’ assistant come March. Interesting. We waited some more. Finally Chris came out and said we could come up. But I was too tired. So he went back up and later descended with the commander, and two other people. Chris introduced us to Hank Kim, the new chief of staff. He and Jane hit it off immediately. We had to drag her away to go home with the commander. I was so thrilled not to have to ride the subway back to the bus. Standing on the train for half an hour or more was out of the question. He had no trouble driving out of Busan, which was in contrast to his drive in (because of traffic). It was a relatively quick trip and we talked the whole way. He had read the Hornblower series but preferred the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. He dropped Jane off at Home Plus at her request. She took a bus home. Then we drove onto post and he dropped us off at our place. I assume he went home. I ate four figs with cinnamon and drank lots of water. Then I checked e-mail and wrote up my blog post while Chris read his e-mail. I saw a blouse pattern that I wanted to try, but it was in Polish. 'Google Translate' did it's best, but the result was not clear enough. Chris showed me how to download pics from my phone to my laptop without taking pics of each screen shot with my camera. Then it was time to post and go to bed.