I listened to two interviews while I stretched and had breakfast. I washed up and got dressed. I put some seed crackers in a ziplock bag, which I left on the counter. I washed an apple and put it in a bag with a paper towel. I noticed that the air in the fridge was warm from the pork, not cold like usual. I poured fermented coconut water in a glass bottle, which I put in a plastic bag just in case. I put the apple and coconut water in my market bag. I put won in my wallet. I called Dynee to see if she was driving or walking to the commissary to meet the bus. Her husband was dropping her off on his way to work. She told me I should drive. So I did.
I got the keys and drove to the commissary, parking across the street. The bus was waiting, so I boarded it, with my rolling cart. Presently Myra joined us. There were only 6 of us. The driver then closed the door and we headed to Daegu. We chatted all the way. Lacee told us she had some projects that she would like to present to the sewing class. I was glad to hear that she would keep the class going after I left.
I sipped my coconut water during the trip, and near the end noticed that my market bag was soaked. I don't know how that happened, unless the plastic bag leaked, too.
When we got to the market, we all got off. We followed Ms. Chong down the long street to the fabric building. We all went to together to the fourth floor. There was a lady selling quilting cotton for $2 a yard. So we went through the piles of flat-folds. Lacee and I finished shopping first, so we wandered off. We found other places to shop, but none as good.
Finally we joined the others on the third floor, where a man was selling flat-folds for $2 a yard. But he also had some $1 fabric. I got some cotton and some nylon for hair cutting capes.
We got separated again, looking for batting. Between the third floor and the fourth floor there were three places to buy it. We got a volume discount on the fourth floor. Between four of us, we bought the whole roll of lightweight fusible batting. In fact, I was the last one, and I asked for 10 yards and only got 8.
The others were gone, so I went off by myself. I left the building and headed for the lace shop, knowing the underwear place was close by. But the construction made everything look different and I got turned around. I found one underwear place with a good price on panties but not bras. But eventually I found the other place and got 2 bras as well. I tried one of the new little alleyways, lined with tiny restaurants. But I turned around and went back when a shouting match broke out and I did not want to squeeze past the participants.
When I thought I had found the main street, I looked for a bathroom. I went into the nearest building. It was full of hanbok fabrics. I ran into Ms. Chong and Sue and Myra. But I lost them again when they left the building. I asked around for a bathroom, but no one seemed to understand the Korean word for bathroom. Then a man asked me in English what I wanted. Thankfully he knew the word 'toilet' and showed me the way. My friends were already in line! So I waited with them and soon we were ready to go.
We walked out and down the corridor. I heard a man saying 500 won in Korean. He was selling mini kimbaps so I bought two with my last 1000 won note. Ms. Chong then bought a whole plateful. Then we walked the long street to the place where we got off the bus. Dynee and Lacee were waiting for us. Ms. Chong passed out the mini-kimbaps she bought and also bought a fermented rice cake, which we shared. We chatted until the bus arrived, but it parked further down so we had to walk a little further. We got on and rode back to base, arriving about an hour and a half later. Lacee and Dynee got in my car and I dropped off Lacee at her house. I parked in my usual spot and Dynee and I walked to our houses. We remarked how her grass was longer than mine. I went inside to have a bite to eat and check e-mail. Then I went outside to water the plants. It was kind of a rainy day so they didn't need much. I used the gallon water jugs and added some epsom salts to each one. Before I finished, Dynee ran out of her house, late for something, and asked me to water her plants, too. So when I finished mine, I watered hers. Then I got out the lawn mower and mowed our front lawns. I put the mower away and went back inside. Soon she texted me that she needed white velcro and I said I had some. So they came back and she came over. I showed her what I had and she asked for a piece of the wide one, for her husband's new uniform. I gathered the tailor did not have any. Then I started listening to another audio. Presently Chris came home from work. I stopped the audio to talk to him. Then Ryan came over and gave Chris a plate of two hamburgers. Chris invited me to have one while he changed his suit. I put mustard on one and wrapped it in lettuce and ate it. It was quite good. Then he came out and ate the other one and the bun from mine. I continued to listen to the audio while I pulled out all my new fabrics. I clipped the corners and separated them into two piles; light and dark. I put the light pile in the washing machine along with my wet market bag. I started the machine and went back to my e-mail. When Chris was ready, he sat with me and we watched an episode until the washer finished. Then I moved it over to the dryer. We watched another episode. Then Chris pulled all the pork apart and put it back in the fridge. I pulled all the fabric from the dryer and folded it. I took my market bag back to be ironed. For some reason, it was still wet. I also looked for my triangle ruler so Lacee could borrow it. But I could not find it. Then Chris went to bed, but I stayed up to recount the events of the day.
* The mini-kimbap man *
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