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As we ate and drank, we talked about the day’s events. Won and Jamie sat next to me, and intermittently, I translated into English what people said in Korean. We all agreed that it was a successful Jishinbalpgi, and we had raised several hundred dollars to donate to the North Korean food aid, even after deducting the expenses for the day. Kitae-hyung stood up to say that he was sorry he could not attend because he had to run his hardware store, but he was always happy and proud that, at least once a year, we could express and share our Korean culture even as we lived in the United States. The drummers and those who volunteered in the Jishinbalpgi expressed appreciation of the chance to engage in Korean culture through pungmul and how much fun it had all been. When it was time for me to speak, I was too tired to be articulate, but did manage to say that it had been a learning experience for me and that I had a lot of fun.
Sangmin-hyung took charge of dividing the in-kind gifts of fruit and packaged cookies given to us by the two supermarkets. A large portion of it was given to the folks who woke up before dawn to drive to Metropolis in time for the event. It was approaching 10 by the time we were done with dinner and debriefing. Some people wanted to go out afterwards to a noraebang, but our out-oftown guests declined the invitation, saying that they were driving back that night. After a round of hugs and goodbyes and let’s-keep-intouch’s, we went our separate ways. As soon as I returned to my apartment, I fell into bed and passed out exhilarated and exhausted by my first Jishinbalpgi experience.