E-Mart

**April 21, 2011**

Thursday

Taking this trip down memory lane has been so much fun. Although it's been a year, in some regards, the memories are so vivid that it feels like it was just a few months ago. When I let my mind drift back to those days, I can feel my breath quicken, my heart pound, and I find myself right back there once again.

Thursday, April 21 will forever be etched on my heart. This was the day, the official day, that we received Cora Jihee. She became ours. It was the day I had been waiting for...all that paperwork, all those notory signatures, all the fingerprints, all the moments spent staring at her pictures...it was all leading up to this moment.

My emotions were high that morning...with so many things running through my head.

Before our 1:00pm appointment at SWS, we ran to the E-Mart to grab a few things. The E-Mart is sort of like a small Wal-mart of sorts. It has all sorts of household items on the first floor and the basement is a grocery store. It's fun to wander around, looking at all the korean items.

This is all sorts of pastes...red pepper paste, soybean paste, etc, etc.

I can't imagine buying this big of a container of red pepper paste. And although I didn't have any idea how we could eat so much of the stuff, I sort of wanted to buy it anyway.


We bought the kids more things, some staples in case things didn't go well that night (and we didn't have the time or the energy to go out to get food), and a beautiful, artisan cake for Cora's fosterfamily as one last "thank-you" for all they had done.

We spent way too long in there, bought bags and bags of items, and then had the long trek back to the Renassiance Hotel to get ready to leave for SWS. We booked it back...and I mean "booked it".

I was so hungry, and due to our shopping extravaganza, we had forgotten to figure out what to do for lunch...and I still had to get cleaned up and ready for our appointment. And now that I was sweating from walking so fast with all those packages, which mean "cleaning up" was going to take a bit longer. I was completely stressing out. I couldn't believe that the planner in me had failed at such a crucial moment. This meeting was going to be hard enough with all the good-byes that were going to take place, that I really didn't need any added stress. Jason decided to stop at a pizza place and grab something while I continued on to the hotel.

Can you believe he found a Dominos Pizza in the middle of Seoul?!?

This is a picture of bulgogi pizza...and broccoli. Unfortunately, we only got some chicken strips (spicy, cause I think that's the only kind they make in all of Korea), and some breadsticks due to our time constraint.

By the time he got to the hotel, I was so nervous, stressed, and frustrated with myself for not planning better, that I could hardly eat a bite. My stomach was doing flips...no, make that back flips...from 50 feet up in the air...with a blind-fold on.

We managed to leave the hotel close to on time and we were forced to speed-walk the entire way to SWS.

Whew! What a morning it had turned out to be.