2x the fun at the festival

I got up about 7:20 to see what time it was. I went back to bed and put a heating pad on my stomach. It was just after 8 when I started my day. I drank water and read e-mail. I got dressed for my skype call. Then I looked up Burkina Faso because Chris saw a job opening there with the Peace Corps.
My tapping buddy called a little early. We worked on her issues and she seemed to find resolution.
I saw that Amber had texted me last night asking if I had ribbon in pink, green or blue. She wanted it for tying up baked goods for the bake sale tomorrow. I offered her the pink because I got it locally. She said then that she would go buy some for herself.
I called Myra to get Kim's number. I wanted to pick up trash on base in anticipation of Open Base day, and Kim had offered to help me. Myra said Kim had to work today and invited me to come over for a hair cut. So I went over, taking my tote bag and fanny pack just in case. She rolled up her rug and set out a chair. She put a cape on me and trimmed my locks, but not by much. She called it shaping. Then she got out the vacuum and cleaned up the hair.
She wanted to walk in town so we headed out. People were coming back from the parade and said it was going onto the ROK base. So we headed over there. We walked down the main street. City buses were bringing tourists in to take pictures. It was hard to believe that for the festival they were letting just anyone on their base. There were guards stationed along the road to make sure that people did not walk into off-limits areas. We walked as far as we were allowed, and then walked back to our base. We stopped at the FFTC center to use the restroom, and then went out our front gate.
We walked to Admiral Yi circle and up, then over to the Rotary circle. I wanted stuffed squid and Terri had said one tent restaurant had good food. They all looked alike, but just one was across the street from a pantyhose vendor. I asked how much the squid were. I think she said 2 for $15, but I could not eat two. So she wanted $10 for one. A different place had quoted me $7 earlier in the week, so I offered her 7 and she accepted. Myra wanted no part of stuffed squid or any food prepared in the festival by people who were not washing their hands often. That described most of them. I ate the squid, relishing every bite. She even brought me some broth to go with it.

Myra got a Chilsing to drink. Then we looked at the vendor booths. I got another coconut, drinking the water and saving the shell for later. Eventually we found ourselves by the stadium. Something was going on, but we could not tell what and not many people were there, so we just headed back to the base. Along the way, we walked to the center of Admiral Yi circle to see all the new stuff they built there. Walking up the mountain toward home, we picked up trash along the route the Koreans will walk tomorrow. We threw it in trashcans along the way. It wasn't quite as thorough a job as I wanted, but we did not have bags to put stuff in. I went home and laid down.
Myra called to say we had walked 6.75 miles. I restarted my practice nap. I was not able to fall asleep before the 20 minute alarm rang.
I checked the latest kombucha batch. For some reason it tasted faintly of coffee. The scoby was very large and very frilly on top. I tore the scoby apart, put the best parts back in the jar, put the worst parts in the jar of previous kombucha, and ate the moderate parts.
I listened to some interviews while making breakfast. Chris came home.
I had just finished eating breakfast and was listening to a video by Norm Shealy on pain management when Myra called. She said she and Scott were going walking in town to see the festival at night and would we like to go along? I asked Chris and he said yes, so we got ready and walked down to their parking lot. The four of us headed out the front gate. Chris and Scott talked shop for awhile. They were so good together that I had the feeling that between them they could solve any problem. We walked down to the canal and headed left. We looked at the light displays on the road and in the canal. The entrances to the canal itself were closed. All the bridges over the canal had been hastily reinforced due to the weight of all the people trying to take pictures. When we got to the end of the lighted displays, we headed back. We saw a store full of handmade items, that was only open for the festival. A lady there would make a custom necklace for me if I brought a picture of the dress. Myra bought a necklace and earrings there. I got a lighted cherry blossom headband at one stand. I had seen many variations of the headbands and liked this one the best. Myra took our pic by one of the lighted arches. I took their pic in return. Scott looked for the drink-in-a-bag man.

(He sells drinks in a ziplock bag so you can put it in your pocket until you are ready to drink it.) But we could not find him. He must have sold out.
Then we passed a place roasting a pig. The men bought a portion of pork. We sat on a bench and they shared it. An older Korean man (who might have been tipsy) sat nearby and spoke to us. When the men had finished, we walked some more, ending up at the tower. But the tram wasn't working and I did not feel like going up all the steps.
On the way back, we passed near the massage place. I stopped to take pics for Terri. Then we walked down the main street to the big circle and turned right toward the base. We passed a place called We Love Shrimp. I had heard other people rave about it. So for 9,000 won, I got 8 pieces of big shrimp and 4 pieces of toasted bread. We had a nice chat with the shrimp man. As we walked home, I ate some shrimp and gave the bread to Chris.
When we got home, I finished the shrimp. I turned off my lighted cherry blossom headband. I downloaded all my pics, and deleted all the not-so-good ones. I recreated my day, trying to remember what all I did and in what order. I paused to give the broccoli seeds their evening soak. Chris was on his laptop. I finished writing up my blog post and went to bed.
* a plate of sliced stuffed squid, Admiral Yi in his new habitat, Chris and me with a lighted cherry blossom headband. *

Rainy day

When I went to bed after my skype call, Chris was on my side of the bed. So I crawled in on his side. It was not as comfortable since my knee pillow was not there and his head pillow is harder than mine. When he got up to go to the bathroom, I went over to my side. Later he got ready for work and left. When I got up, it was almost 9. I soaked my broccoli seeds. I drank a quart of water and listened to audios. I did some yoga stretches. I created a photo album on my Facebook page for cherry blossom pics. I loaded it with all the pics and then deleted the ones that weren't so good. Beverly 'liked' each one immediately. We texted back and forth. I got dressed just in case Myra came over after Bible study. I made up a new mixture of flax and chia seed.
Dynee called to ask me to come over and help her figure out the backing and binding for her quilt. I went over and helped her figure out the dimensions. I also showed her how to sew the binding together. She asked for some paper towel tubes and I went home and put some in a bag for her.
I texted Terri to see if she wanted to go with me to the massage place, but she didn't. She asked me to take a pic of the place and get the address. I called Myra to see if she wanted to walk out in town with me, but she did not since it was rainy. We had a long chat instead.
I cleaned up my cutting room instead of going for a massage. I sorted all my homemade pattern pieces and put them in bags. I made a pattern from a shrug that Myra lent me. I also tried on a lacy top that she gave me and it fit. I started on my sewing room, but it was a bigger mess.
I made a cucumber kimchi smoothie. I ran outside to take the daily pic of the cherry tree outside my house. I read an article on meditation and tried it. Chris came home from work.
I did Sudoku puzzles while Chris ate supper. I listened to an audio. Then I cleaned in the kitchen and soaked broccoli seeds until he was ready to watch TV. We watched 2 episodes. Then he went to bed. I stayed up to finish a puzzle and post to my blog.

Baskets are popular among all age groups

I got up, saw it was only 7am and went back to bed. I got up again at 7:35. I collated the recyclables and took them to the curb. I rinsed the broccoli seeds from last night. I oiled my hair. I drank my quart of water while reading e-mail. I put my 15” ruler in my class bag. I threw the pink ribbon in with it. I tried to write up the instructions for the project while listening to an interview, but I could not do both. I ate some seed crackers and a kimchi smoothie. I boiled the beans that soaked overnight and made a batch of seed crackers. Myra called to say she'd pick me up at 11 to move the stuff for sewing class. But I got her to agree to 11:30 because I had stuff in the oven. I took a shower and had to wash my hair three times to get the oil out. I got dressed. I turned the beans off, wondering why they were not getting soft. I printed out the instructions for the Easter basket project. The first copy had weird numbering on it so I turned off the numbering and printed it again. I wished the word processing software wasn't so 'helpful'. Ms. Sung from the chapel called to say the people using Classroom 2 were breaking for lunch so she had moved all our stuff to the other classroom. I called Myra to tell her, but she still wanted to go early. So I went out to wait and she was just driving up. She parked in back of the FFTC. We walked into the chapel and saw Dynee waiting. She followed us to Classroom 1. Our stuff was sitting on the table, so we set up the machines and the iron and arranged the tables to suit our purpose. The large cutting mat was not there. So we kept an eye on the people in Classroom 2 and as soon as they broke up, we asked Chief Hewett to get us a large mat. He brought two, which was good. Myra and Dynee picked out the fabrics likely to make the best baskets, and put the rest under the table to make space. Other ladies came in as I helped Dynee get started on hers. I spent about two hours just cutting 15” squares and sets of stabilizer. One lady brought her own fabric and ribbon, which was really nice. She also brought three kids and made three baskets, plus pieces for two more. Ms. Chung came, and Maria and Eileen and So Young. So all together, 10 baskets – our most popular project yet. The kids were really happy with the baskets they helped to make. And the two sets of instructions I had went home with other people. Everyone had a good time. Some people left early so they put some of our stuff away. In hindsight, it might not have been the best thing because those bins were not properly packed. Once everyone was gone, Myra and I were left to pick up all the toys the kids left on the floor, plus all the threads and leftover pieces, and had to put the tables and chairs back.
On the way out, Ms. Sung wanted to show me a stool that she wanted recovered. She had already shown Myra who said it would be easy. But I did not, because the fabric has to be stretched just right to be smooth and look good. I am glad I thought to ask how many. She said 30. Apparently these 'stools' are kneelers for the Catholic service and she wants them recovered in a different color. Myra and I both said it was too big a job for us.
We walked to the FFTC to get her car, then decided to walk up to the third floor to sign up for the trip to Daegu. As we were entering the building, we saw Chris walking up with Mr. Kim, the new Dan. So the four of us had a chat. Then Myra and I went upstairs to talk to Brittany. We told her we needed more rulers, cutters and fabric for the class. Then we tried to sign up at the front desk. Myra used her credit card and it took three people to get that straight. So I handed the man cash and waited and waited. But he told me to come back tomorrow since his transaction card wasn't working. We got in Myra's car and she took me home. I checked e-mail, then tried a 20 minute nap. I still did not fall asleep, but came closer than before. I played an audio while printing out another set of project instructions and the bean cake recipe. I played a second audio while working on the cake. The recipe called for a food processor, but the closest thing I had was a blender. So I blended. The mixture sat while I melted coconut oil. That should have been easy and I don't know why it took so long. Chris came home from work. I asked him about the kneelers. I found out then, that the kneelers are brand new, intended for use with chairs which were purchased to replace the pews. That set me aback. The pews are getting replaced? The whole chapel is new, just over a year old and now he is replacing the pews with chairs? Thinking about it, I decided pews were inclusive and chairs were exclusive. Since the chapel already did not seem much like church, chairs would just exacerbate the feeling. I thought it might just be the straw that breaks the camel's back for me.
I poured the cake batter (mostly eggs and beans – no wheat flour or sugar) into a lined glass dish. Then Chris helped me move it to a smaller glass baking dish. I put it in the oven at 325 and set the timer. Chris made himself supper while I made myself breakfast. I ate it while reading e-mail. I drank some sugar cane 'tea', made from sugar cane fiber soaking in the tea pot. After the cake came out of the oven, I jotted notes for my blog while it cooled. I practiced my trombone briefly, then I drank the rest of the sugar cane tea and took my supplements. We watched two episodes. Chris helped me wrap the cake and put it in the fridge. Then he went to bed. I stayed up to post to my blog. I thought I was going to bed, but then my tapping buddy called, so....

Blossoms, blossoms, everywhere

I got up about 8:15. I might have gotten the food waste out in time but did not think of it until later. I drank a quart of water while reading e-mail. I played an interview on dealing with pain and trauma while I cleaned my half of the kitchen since I did not get it done yesterday. I washed the large pot in the sink. I juiced some celery and blended it with some cucumber kimchi. I also dustmopped the floor. I looked up the recipe for vanilla bean cake. Chris came home for lunch just after 11. I asked him if we had the 6 eggs needed for the cake and he said yes. He put several cups of white beans in a pot to soak for tomorrow. I listened to the interview again. I figured out a Sudoku puzzle that I wasn't able to solve previously. I made breakfast and was eating it when Dynee texted me that she wanted to walk to Office Depot. So I finished eating and got dressed for walking. As we walked past Myra's place, I called her. She was getting up from a nap and needed 10 minutes to get ready. So we talked to some ladies passing by for a bit. They were gone by the time Myra came out. Then the three of us walked into town. When we passed The Foot Shop, which had taken down all their signs, their door was open. Curiosity got the best of us and we walked in and up the steps. It was full of ladies sitting around. A lady came forward to speak to me. I tried to explain that I was American and did not speak Korean. She indicated a shelf full of Doterra products (essential oils). I asked about massages and she gave me the 'no' sign. She rubbed orange essential oil on three business cards and gave them to us. She also put some on our wrists. We thanked her and left. We found Aritaum, a place Dynee wanted to check out. But they were not having the sale she hoped for. Then we went to Office Depot. I selected several colors of ribbon and bought three yards of each for class tomorrow. Dynee got some packages of ribbon and I'm not sure what Myra got. We walked across the street to the little place that sells home sewn items. We got some fabric there. Then we went to the rotary circle to the booth that sells sugar cane. I asked how much and he said $3. I handed him that much, and he gave me three sticks of sugar cane. Myra gave me a bag and I used my other bag to completely cover the sticks. Then we went back. When we got to the corner market, we bought pineapples. From there, we walked on base to the commissary. I got honey and garlic. As I came out, Myra was driving up, so I stopped to tell her I was going to walk home. We got into a conversation, and then she went to the commissary while I walked home.
I put the food away. I tried to take a 20 minute nap. I read e-mail and saw that Akia needed boxes. So I messaged her and she came right over. I gave her 4 from the shed and some advice on her pack-out.

Then I went back to e-mail. Chris came home from work while I was watering the peas, lettuce and pansies. He changed his clothes and made supper. I put a bowl of bean soup in the toaster oven. I listened to an audio until the timer rang. Then I ate it outside. When I came in, I asked Chris if the leftover bean soup smelled ok and it sparked an argument. After it was over, I went back to reading e-mail. I tried on the blossom headband that I made. Then I got a piece of sugar cane from the fridge and washed it really well. Chris plugged my laptop into the TV and we watched two episodes. I chewed on the sugar cane and it made a fibrous mess. Then Chris went to bed. I changed into my night gown and stayed up to clear more e-mail and to write to my blog. (and to look up a better way to eat sugar cane. )
* Blossoms, blossoms, in my hair. *

To post or not to post...

I did some mental programming again, but did not feel like getting up. I waited for my cortisol to rise and it did, just about 7:50. I drank my quart of water, then swished. I drybrushed, rebounded, and exercised. I boiled water for coffee. I tapped and meditated. About 10:30 I started cleaning. I cleaned both bathrooms, then started on the kitchen. I had just cleaned the stove top when Chris came home. He made his sandwich on the stove and I had to wipe it again. I cleaned his side of the kitchen.
As I started on my side of the kitchen, my phone rang. It was Anna. She was ready early to help me post a photo album to the community page for the sewing group. She wanted to come over, so I said ok. I ran to my bedroom to get dressed and she knocked on the door. She must have called from my front yard! Chris answered the door. When she didn't see me, she asked him if I was in my sewing room and he said yes, so she went back there. Pulling on the first shirt and pants I found, I greeted her there. I showed her the project for this week.
Then we sat on the couch and she recommended that I put all the pictures for the album in one folder on my hard drive. We worked on that for awhile, until she had to go pick up her sons. After she left, I continued to look for sewing class pics on my laptops and desktop. I had to search through the pics from before my old laptop crashed. I assembled as much as I could without going back to double-check.
Myra called to say she was available to walk at 2. Terri wanted to walk, too, so I texted her to meet us there. I clicked on 'create an album' and threw the pics in there. I hit 'post', then went to meet them. We walked out in town to the canal and then to the rotary circle. We saw a man selling sugar cane. I was curious but did not buy one. Terri showed us a cute little restaurant she and her husband found. She also showed us the tent where they got the best food. She bought some silk scarves at a little stand. Then we went back to post, stopping at the corner market. It looked like watermelons were on sale for $3 so we each got one. But when Terri checked out, they charged her $15. So the cashier went to check, and there was another sign we hadn't seen. When we pointed out the one for $3, someone took it down. So no watermelons for us.
We walked onto base and up to Housing. They went in and I went home. I watered my peas, lettuce and pansies. I had just gotten back inside, when Terri knocked on my door. She wanted to borrow a vacuum cleaner. I was going to lend her the Kirby but could not find it, so I lent her the Windtunnel. I grabbed the car keys and drove her home with it. She promised to return it in a week. I went back home. I drank some kombucha, and then some more. Finally I realized it had alcohol. What a rush! I reverted to the fermented coconut water. I mixed up some breakfast.
I started making a floral headband. It is a very popular item at the festival, but I would rather make one than buy one. So I took one of my brown vinyl headbands and backed it with a piece of red ribbon. Then I cut small squares of pale tissue paper. I wrapped two around the end of a marker and dipped it in glue, then pressed it through a hole in the headband onto the ribbon. I did that several times, then left it to dry before doing more. I ate breakfast. I saw that my photo album had not posted. I tried again, but it didn't work. So I posted it to my own page and had no problem. I found a photo album of old quilts on my home page. I checked my Pinterest page to see if they were also there, but some were not. I downloaded them to the laptop and cropped them. But, inexplicably, Pinterest would not let me load most of them. A lot of the pics were really out of focus, probably because they were digital pics taken of old photographs. I wondered what had happened to those early works of art.
Chris came home from work and made his usual supper. I stuck a few more blossoms on my headband. I texted Anna to see what I had done wrong with the posting, but she agreed that it must be a authorization thing. She said Elizabeth could help. So I texted Elizabeth. She created an album for me. I selected all the pics from the sewing file and added them to the album. Chris sat down with me to watch TV. After the first episode, I checked on the posting. The pictures had uploaded, so I hit 'post'. After the second episode, I checked again. Only 26 pictures had posted. So I went through the file, renaming each picture that posted with an x prefix so it would go to the end of the file. Then I selected the remaining photos and posted them. This time they all went. Success! I saw that my friends were commenting on the file as posted to my home page. There is something very gratifying about hearing from them so far away. I tried responding, but for some reason it wasn't working. But bedtime was at hand, so I stuck a few more blossoms on my headband, posted to my blog and went to bed.
* a lovely picture of the rotary circle - if only you could see it through the cherry blossoms. *

Mental programming pays off

I did some mental programming and got up probably around 8. I drank water while reading an article about Ghandi who said vaccination was a barbarous and violent practice.
Chris went to church. I read e-mail, then took a shower and got dressed. Chris came to get me. I drove the car to the FFTC parking lot and walked to the chapel while Chris drove home. I sat in my usual seat. We sang a new praise song and two I had heard before. The fill-in chaplain gave the sermon and it felt like a sermon, not like a history/culture talk. Afterward, Chris came back. We went to the commissary for groceries, then took them home.
I changed my clothes and helped put the food away. Chris made onion soup and put the sheets in the wash. I made breakfast and ate it while reading e-mail and doing Sudoku puzzles. Chris had gotten the third blanket in the packing box. I helped hold it shut while he taped it up. I was very hopeful that the blankets will finally get mailed!
I listened to an audio. I planted the peas, then watered them and the lettuce and pansies. I weeded along the front of the flowerbed.
It was such a nice day that we went for a walk by the canal. It was teaming with tourists and vendors. We shared a cob of corn as we walked. We walked all the way down one side of the canal. Coming back on the other side, we saw a vendor selling cuddle fish and squid. So Chris bought me an order of that. The lady heated it for me and ran it through the slicer. It was very tasty. The ambient temp was falling, so we hurried back. We ran into Mr. Song who works at the commissary. I showed him my leftover cuddlefish which I was taking home to reheat. He thought I was offering him some so he took a piece. He acted like he didn't know what it was or maybe had never eaten it before.
When we got back home, I read e-mail, and did another Sudoku puzzle while Chris went to movie. I tried to sleep for 20 minutes, but the timer rang before I could fall asleep. I ate some onion soup. I washed out the reed difuser bottle and made new solution of sleep-inducing essential oils. I was surprised to see that the old reeds were moldy.
I listened to an hour-long tapping and visualization audio. I practiced my trombone. I looked at sewing project ideas on Weallsew.

Chris came back from the movie. We watched two episodes of Once Upon a Time. Chris put clean sheets on the bed while I wrote my blog and downloaded the pictures from the festival.
* This lady is preparing the next cuddlefish order. *

Fireworks on the pier

We stayed in bed late. I got up at 9. I drank a quart of lemon water and deleted e-mail. I made up a new batch of supplements, and ordered more. I made and ate breakfast. I did a Sudoku puzzle while listening to an audio. I cleared some older e-mails. I did some meditating and visualization. Then I got dressed to take my daily pic of the cherry tree in front of our house, but with a great roll of thunder, the skies opened up and hard rain hit. I took some pics from the front porch. Chris started the laundry. I read through the mantra statements that I typed into a file yesterday. I tried to put sleeves in a dress, over and over, each time finding a tuck somewhere in the seam. Chris came back to tell me that the sun came out, so I went out to take the daily picture. Then I listened to the praise songs for Sunday.
I worked again on the Easter dress until Chris said it was time to get ready. Then I put on nice slacks, warm socks, and a long sleeved shirt. I called Dynee to see if they wanted to ride with us. Then I put on my lined rain boots and a long coat and scarf. We met them outside and walked to our car. Chris drove us to meet the van, but when we got there, he did not have his phone. Since no one was there yet, we went back for it. The van arrived while we were gone. The others were standing around. We all piled in the van. There were no extra seats. The CO had his wife and both kids and Bernie brought Janelle. The driver knew where to go. Shortly we arrived at a pier. I remember the trip taking a lot longer last year. We all got out and stood around until Ms. Pae arrived. The activity did not start for over an hour. There was seating, but we were afraid it would fill up. Then we walked down the pier until we found street food. Anna bought some and shared it, but I did not have any. Then we stopped at a convenience store for hot drinks. I just stood in line to use the bathroom. When I came out, only Chris was left.

We walked back to the seating area where everyone was waiting. Ms. Pae spoke to someone, and we were allowed to sit in a section covered by yellow tape. Other people wanted to sit, too, but they were chased off. I was thankful to have a seat. I was warm enough except for my hands. I put them in my pockets or around my neck to keep warm. At 7:50, other people were seated around us and in front. Then at 8, the presentation began. There was a group of me with torches. They did some kind of dance. I could not see it because of all the heads in the way, but a man standing to my left was filming it with his cell phone on a selfie stick. I could actually watch his screen to some extent. Then a dance team did a song that sounded like something from the 50's, and then one from the 80's. There were speeches (in Korean). Several men were introduced (in Korean). Then the music started again, this time with fireworks. There was singing. For the next number, three guys standing on water flyboards were weaving around in the air. They had lights on their suits and fireworks above their heads. I can't remember if the next number had the dragon swooshing overhead. I guess it was remote controlled. Again, I had to watch the man's screen to see all that was going on. Near the end, Chris asked me to trade seats with him so I could see better. But by the time we did, it was over. We spoke to the lady next to him who was from the Indian embassy I Seoul. Then we found our group, ready to go home. We climbed in the van, sitting wherever we ended up filling the van from back to front. I was sitting next to little Terrie. He did not want to sit in his seat or wear his seatbelt. I was glad he wasn't mine. The trip back was not long. We got out our ID's at the front gate, but the guard did not check them. When the van stopped at our cars, we got out and Chris drove the 4 of us home. I was glad to get into our warm house. We changed clothes, and then watched two episodes. Chris went to bed and I stayed up to blog.
* See the phone screen to the left of the first picture? In the second picture, the two men are on flyboards. *