A Day of Rest

View outside our room

Supper in Insa-dong

An afternoon treat

My birthday treat from Richmont Bakery

Close up of that fabulous waffle





Dried fish at the E-Mart




Spam! Yes, we did buy some!

Korean baby food...expensive stuff...each jar was around 4,000 won

Scott...another for you...."Crunky Nude"

Big Man by a little van

This post probably won't be too long or too interesting. After a full week of adventures and being gone for roughly 12 hours a day from the room, we decided that a day of rest is in order. We have only 1 day until we pick up Lily and I need to be prepared for some sleep deprivation and hard times...so rest it is. A lazy day in Korea.

A part of me feels horribly guilty for hanging around the room when there is more to see, more to do. We have barely scratched the surface of Seoul...and yet, my eyes feel like sand, my body feels like a truck has run over it a few times, and my feet...well....they are just heavy weights that my poor legs are trying to pull around. Yes, a day of rest if a must...whether I like it or not.

Jason and I ran out to the E-Mart this morning. We were out of eggs and bread. It was fun to wander the grocery store, looking at all the brands and different things they sell. We even looked over the baby food aisle. I remember at Ella's babyshower that we had to play the baby food game. We had to eat some unidentified baby food and try to figure out what it was. Some was... well...nasty tasting...and I vowed to never give my child any of it. While in the E-Mart, I ran across a jar of "porriage with young sardines." Mmmmm, doesn't that just make your mouth water? Okay, mine either. I'm sure they think our mac-n-cheese is gross.

We met another family here today who is from the DC area. They just flew in yesterday and are here without a guide book or even a city/subway map. How on earth anyone could find anything that way is beyond me. My map has become tattered just within a week of being here as it is a lifeline of security for us while out and about. The Seoul City GuideBook has many dog-eared pages that are ready to fall off. Luckily, I have a few extra maps so we paid it forward and gave them some necessities for their stay here.

Around 11:30am, my eyes felt so heavy, so I decided to lay down and relax a bit. I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew it was 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm sure I could have slept more, but I figured half the day had just passed me by so it was time to get up.

We met up with that family tonight for supper. We took them into the subway station and over to Insa-dong to our favorite mandu restaurant there. We were quite the spectacle..all 8 of us. Our table was amazing...there wasn't a bare spot on it...food everywhere. Little bowls of this and small plates of that. Jason and I shared a giant steaming bowl of spicy soup that consisited of mandu, noodles, mushrooms, bulgogi beef, and various other things. When we ordered she motioned with her fingers and said "little spice?" I nodded my head, pinched my fingers together, and said "yes....little, little spice." I have to say, my idea of "little" spice and their idea of "little" spice is completely different. If the amount of spice we had was "little"...I would seriously hate to see what "a lot" would be. I am pretty sure it would equate to fire shooting from your mouth and singeing everything within 5 feet of you. Needless to say, even though my mouth, throat, and stomach were all on fire, I loved what I had.

I am going to miss it here...no doubt about it.

Only 12 hours...

We are on the final 12 hour countdown until we get to receive Lily. I hope sleep won't be to elusive tonight....I'll try and post tomorrow.

Eastern Social Welfare Society

ESWS

The kitchen on the 6th floor where many a breakfast was made



Guest House entrance

Being so close to ESWS while visiting Hongik University made it impossible not to take the small walk over to go and see it. I am so glad that we were there...that we stopped by to take it all in. It was an experience that transported me to a different time.

I wasn't ready for the amount of emotions that would surface. I can't even explain the feeling I got as this particular building came into view. Jason and I walked up to it, stopped in front, and took a deep breath. Here, in front of us, was a structure that holds so many memories. My heart was pounding, my stomach jumping, and my emotions whirling. How could a building, a bunch of concrete mean so much? It's because of what it symbolizes, what occured in that building. What it brought to us.

Almost 3 years ago to the day, we landed in Korea to pick up our son. It was at this building that we arrived, spent 10 days, and met our baby boy.

We went around to the side door, the Guest House entrance. It was very surreal to walk in, see the elevator that we rode up and down on so many times, see the phone on which we called home to talk to family, saw the doorman's desk. I punched the elevator button and rode to the 6th floor...room 606. I stood there and stared at it, letting the memories flood in. It was in this room that we waited with anticipation for our first meeting with Ben and again in this room where we waited for the final meeting where he was officially ours. It was in this room that we spent our first 24 hours together as a family of 4. It was in this room where I fell in love with a little boy only four months old.

We walked down the steps, stopping on each floor, looking at all the pictures on the wall, recalling things we did, and the people we talked with. When we reached the 2nd floor, I had to fight back the tears. The amount of emotion that came rushing into my heart is unexplainable. This is the floor where we waiting with bated breath for Ben and his fostermother. It was where we spent our first hour getting to know our baby, holding him, feeding him, falling in love with him. I can remember it like it was yesterday...the colors on the wall, what I was wearing, the smell of the building. It's a memory that is burned into my heart and soul...and I will always remember it fondly. I remember the spot where Ben's fostermother handed him to me, where we cried and said our good-byes, where a new family was created.

I will forever hold Eastern in my heart. This building is indeed just a building...but, oh, the memories that were created inside it's walls. I am grateful to Dr. Kim and Korea for allowing us to come here for the sole purpose of adopting Ben...and now again for adopting Lily. Many people have said to me that it's so good for us to do this adoption thing...but the truth is this: It is Korea that is good for allowing us to parent these children...to have them in our lives everyday...to have them be a part of our family. We, Jason and I, are the blessed ones. We are the ones who reap all the rewards. What a priveldge it is to have the family we have.

Ben, you make me a better person. You make me a better mother. It is because of you, dear son, that I am who I am. You have taught me so much and challenged me in many ways. Ways that have caused me to grow and ways that have pushed me to succeed. You have taught me how to stay the course, how to work hard, how to keep pushing on even when it seems so much easier to quit. You have shown me how hard work can reap giant rewards. But most importantly, you have shown me a miracle. You have shown me how God can take a mommy and a daddy from the other side of the world and bring them together with an amazing little boy and make a family. Oh, I know a family isn't just "made"...it's not that simple. But it is through you, with God's amazing grace, that I have seen the miracle of love grow. It started off as a simple falling in love with you while in Korea and has grown to so much more. I love you more with each passing day. I love you more than I could have ever thought possible. You are my boy. You are my son. I have a love for you that is undeniably fierce and that will never change. We are forever a family and I will love you always!

Ben, you have given so much to me. I have had the priviledge of watching you grown. You are no longer my "baby", but instead you are turning into such a handsome boy. I can't get enough of those cheeks and I love the way your hair smells after a bath. I love holding you on my lap and taking it all in. But more handsome on the outside is how amazing you are on the inside. You can be so gentle, so caring, and so incredibly sweet. I will never tire of all times you say "I love you, Mommy", how you want to sit on my lap and snuggle, or how you love to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches only the way and mommy and a son can. You are my life, little boy. I am so blessed that God gave you to me, that I am allowed to be your mommy. It is me that is the "lucky" one...although we both know that luck had nothing to do with it. We have a heavenly Father who brought us together...that knew we would be perfect for each other.

I love you Ben...more that you will ever know. You'll always be my little JaeMinAh.

Love

Mommy

Beyonce's "Put a Ring on It

Kristina...Erin may have some competition...heeeheee

Hongik University and Dongdaemun

Dolsot Bibimbap in Stone Bowl

Mandu

9:00pm and just finally sitting down for supper


One of Dongdaemun's Malls

Snack at the underground "indian" restaurant

Wow, the amount of walking here is amazing. You walk everywhere. It's starting to take it's toll as Jason and I were pretty slow moving this morning. It felt great to be a bit lazy and just lay around the room. It sure is different without someone calling "mommy, mommy...where are you? What are you doing? I want you to play with me" every two seconds. Although I miss it, I'm grateful for the time I get to rest and recup. We spent most of the morning relaxing as we have been on excusions and adventures for around 12 hours each day. As soon as the hunger pangs started, we knew it was indeed time to get up and go out.

We had a quick bite to eat and then hopped on the subway for Hongik University. This area of Seoul is on the north side of the river and is very close to where we stayed when we were here 3 years ago. I was so excited to get there and take a look around. Once we got off the train, things started becoming familiar once again. It was such a wonderful feeling looking around. I suddenly felt a little more at home here.

We met a couple from Germany on the subway and got to talking with them. They are actually living here in Seoul for a year so they knew the lay of the land a little. We went to the Free Market. Hongik Univ. is a large art college and every Saturday a bunch of the students sell their wares. There was a little bit of everything. Jewelry, shirts, hats, paintings, etc. It was so fun to wander around and look at all of the talent there. It rained early this morning so once the sun came out, the humidity was just on the verge of unbearable to me. You didnt' even have to move a muscle in order to start sweating. The couple we met invited us to a cellar restaurant for something cool to drink. We walked down a flight of stairs to a little Indian restaurant hidden underground. It was such a crazy feeling, it was like we had been in Seoul one minute and India the next. We ordered some strawberry lassis (a yogurt drink) and a chai tea (don't know why Jason wanted hot tea...a mystery to me) as well as some lentel crackers and samosas. It was even complete with a Bollywood movie playing. Once we were done, we walked upstairs and once again we were back in Seoul. Jason and I both agree that is was such an experience. Apparently there are all sorts of hidden, underground restaurants that transport you to all sorts of places in the world. Who knew...hidden gems right there under our noses and we didn't have a clue.

We took a walk to the Richmont Bakery, stopped in for a birthday treat, and decided to trek on down to more of our old stomping grounds...time to visit Eastern. It was so wonderful seeing that building again.

After absorbing as much college culture as we could, we headed to Dongdaemun. Once we came out of the subway station, we realized that we were on the wrong side of the street. Some of the streets in Seoul are so wide across and impossible to walk across. Literally. You have to go back down the subway entrance and come up the other side. (Not a big deal until you see how many stairs you have to climb back up...in hot, humid weather, with thousands of other people crowded within inches of you.) Ugh...back down this side and back up the other. I was getting pretty slow by the time we reached the top...and then we noticed that we had come up the wrong side again! We were so deliriously hot and tired that we just started laughing our heads off. I could hardly catch my breath it struck me so funny. I'm sure to the average korean person, we looked like we should be in a mental hospital. Oh nuts! Back down again....as luck would have it, third time is a charm and we were finally where we needed to be...all be it hot and exhausted.

Dongdaemun is a huge market complete with giant malls. It amazes me how there is never a shortage of things to buy in this city. Malls with multiple floors all around. Each had their own outdoor stage and as night started to come, people started to perform. We guessed it must have been an open stage and that anyone could go up if they wanted. There were guys doing breakdancing, some popping and locking, some just singing. There were girl groups who had 3 or 4 songs in a row all cheoregraphed to a "t". There was even a group who did the whole music video to Beyonce's "Put a Ring on It". It was a lot of fun to watch. While we were there I saw a stand that had some deep fried onion petals. Um..I love those things so I decided we should grab some before we left. Much to my dismay, upon closer investigation, we realized that it was peanut butter fried squid. Somehow...that just wasn't the same. I just can't get over those suction cups.

As the night brought cooler weather, Jason and I decided to head back to one of our favorite spots...Insa-dong. We ate there as well as meandered through more shops. It is a more relaxed atmophere here and it was a wonderful way to spend the evening.

We finally arrived home to our room at 11:00pm. Full day as usual.

Korean Folk Village...Farmer's

Korean Folk Village ... Video