This time, a very informal one. MyeongHee’s hair-shop friends, a gaggle of women who gather, gossip and snack at her hair shop came over over today. We’ve talked about having another housewarming for her friends, but just talk. Today, they all came to pick MyeongHee up on their way to Pohang to pick raspberries. They dropped off this pyramid of toilet paper.

This is a very traditional Korean housewarming gift. No, it isn’t because we crap a lot or need to wipe our booties or noses more than usual. The toilet paper, with its endlessly long spool of paper, represents long life, long happiness and everything else good that one would want to last a long time.

Judging from the pile of paper we have now, we’ll have lots of happiness. We’ll also have paper for many many months.

Although quite a bit different from gifts westerners might buy for housewarming, TP is certainly useful. Koreans use toilet paper for dinner napkins, too.  We have a spool just next to our table and dish rack.