Today, we will meet our son Jae Joon Hwi (pronounced Joon He) for the very first time. At 2 p.m., we will go to his foster family's apartment and spend an hour or so with them. We are very nervous and excited.
We are greatly enjoying our time in Seoul. It's such a great place. Yesterday, we had an absolutely magical day full of all sorts of auspicious moments.
We woke up at about 5 and waited for breakfast. Then, we had a fantastic breakfast on the 23rd floor of our hotel. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. The food is delicious and unique. I'm not sure what they put in the cream for the coffee, but someone told me it's some berry from Southeast Asia. Usually, I don't like anyone messing with my coffee, but this stuff is delicious. I can't tell you what I eat for breakfast, but it's got to be in the oatmeal family.
At 9, we headed out to find the hotel where much of "My Girl" was filmed. (My Girl was a Korean soap opera we watched.) We took a cab, instead of the subway. The subway is really easy and cheap, and worked well for us yesterday. However, the cabs are quite cheap, too, and quicker. We went to the hotel, and sadly, the lobby had been renovated since they filmed the drama. Waaaaaaa! Not to be deterred, we set out to find the steps in Olympic Park where some important scenes took place. We got to Olympic Park, and it was beautiful. Everyone there was roller speed skating. And, as it turned out, you can rent a surrey (you know those bicycle-type things with canopies on them you can rent at the Jersey Shore.) to ride around the park. What a blast!! By 11, we met our tour guide. It was really fun, and we found the steps from the soap opera.
At 11, we met a private tour guide that arranged. We hired this woman independently so that we could really get a feel for daily live in Seoul. She was just fantastic. She is very smart and has great perspective on things. We went to the National Museum of Korea, stood there, and chatted politics for about an hour (not seeing any of the exhibits). We talked about international politics, the international adoption situation in Seoul, views of Americans, and America, etc. She didn't just give "her" opinion. She said, "many older folks think this, but younger folks think that, etc." We really just hit it off instantly. We had a long discussion about the Korean war and Korean attitudes about Americans still having a base in Seoul. When it became clear that we were all more interested in the political history of Korea, she said, "let's get out of here. I'm going to take you somewhere else.
She took us so Seoul's national monument to the Korean war. It is an amazing place It's probably 50 acres, and has all sorts of statues and exhibits that you would expect. But, it also has military tanks, planes, and boats from Korea and and all the allied forces who helped them. There was another exhibit that names every single foreign soldier who died fighting on Korean soil. The American wall was, of course, the biggest. It separated the 34,000 American names by state, and each state was headed up by its name and state flag. I was blown away at how respectful the whole thing was. Sue (our tour guide) explained that older people in Korea have a great respect for America and what is has done for them. (And for what it is doing protection-wise from North Korea) Younger Koreans don't want the American presence anymore, and say that Korea has "grown up" and doesn't need a big brother.
We also just happened to have some discussions about Zen Buddhism in Korea, and some Zen Buddhist beliefs. We were on the bus downtown, and Sueturned to us and asked us if we wanted to go see this world-known
American Zen Monk give his weekly dharma talk. Of course! So, we headed through the mountains to this 13th century Buddhist temple, and heard his talk and chanting. I could tell this was a 100% deep and meaningful experience for Mike. I, on the other hand, worked really really hard not to throw up because I had terrible motion sickness from the bumpy and lurching ride through the mountain road to get there!
But, upon further discussion (and my nausea passing) Mike, Sue, and I talked a lot about how meaningful all this was for our upcoming adoption. Believe me, if I explained it to you, you'd think I was a total flake.
We came back to our hotel and had our nightly room service delivery of a club sandwhich, which seems to be the only thing our overtired bodies can handle chewing at that hour. I'll try to post pictures later. I hope you are all well.
