Saturday, April 14, 2018 - Sunday, April 15, 2018
This morning we packed up and left our house early for Evansville to fly out to Dallas. The long flight over was exhausting, but it was so exciting to finally arrive in Seoul a little after 4:30pm, the birth place of our daughter.
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| 15 hours on a plane stuck in the middle seat in between 2 men= me= tortured. |
Upon arrival, we went through immigration and then checked out our WiFi Egg from KTOtella, which we reserved ahead of time through a coupon from Klook for about $15 for the entirety of the trip. We also went ahead and exchanged some of our USD to Won. We then went downstairs under Terminal 1 and found a station to get a ticket on the AREX express train from Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station. It was W9,000 per person, and we did not have to wait long. We boarded the train, which took us straight to Seoul Station in about 45 minutes. When we arrived at Seoul Station, we stopped in a convenient store and bought our T-money cards, which we would use for transportation. Then, we found Exit 12, where we were meeting our host, Cho Yeon, through which we rented a studio apartment from AirB&B in Jung-gu. We walked to the Twin Residency about 4 minutes away from this exit and made our way upstairs to the 21st floor. She quickly explained procedures (including taking our shoes off before entering, how to take out the trash, and the ondol (heated flooring system)) in broken English, and things to do and then left us.
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| View out our bedroom window. |
We got settled in and went down the road to Seoul Station to try to find something to eat. We went to Seoga, the Original One Plate, restaurant at the bottom of Lotte Mart. We learned quickly regarding service in Korea. There is a button on the table that you are to push when you want someone to come over. They will not come and ask, and they will not return unless asked. We ordered bacon risotto and hamburger patties with salad. It was delicious with plenty left over. We also learned that meals are very big in Korea, and the food comes quickly. You do not tip your servers in Korea, but you take the ticket they leave on the table up to the counter and pay on your way out. Most places also take credit cards as well. After supper, we walked back to our AirB&B (about 15 minutes) and went to sleep for the night. Today, our little girl turned 17-months old.
Monday, April 16, 2018
After a very long day of traveling yesterday, we took the morning to sleep in. We then got ready for the day and stopped by Starbucks down the road for some breakfast. It is very difficult to find a lot of breakfast items here in Seoul in the early morning. Coffee shops (which did not open until 7am) or convenient stores were our best options. We grabbed some food and some fresh juice to go and caught the Metro line 5 to Yeouinaru in hopes of seeing some cherry blossom lined streets in the Yeouido Hangang Park south of Han River. We got out of the Metro at Exit 3, and we rented some bikes from a bike stall there around 9:30 for about W14,000 (about $14) for 3 hours of riding (#shouldhavewornathleticclothes). They kept our driver’s license as a deposit for when we returned. Helmets were provided, just make sure you get a comfortable one and be prepared not to look very cool (John Mark put his backpack in the front basket of his bike and felt like E.T. The whole time, and he said I looked like the Wicked Witch of the West with my coat tails flapping in the wind).
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| Riding over Mapo Bridge. |
We hopped on our cruisers and made a loop around the park for some adventuring and good laughs. The city has amazing bike paths, so it made it fairly easy once we found our way.
We cycled west out of the park across Mapo Bridge and headed down the ramp to the north side of the river heading west. We tried to stop at the Jeoldusan Martyrs’ Shrine, but as most things in Korea, it was closed on Mondays. So, we continued on to the Yanghwa Bridge and carried our bikes up the stairs to the path on the west side of the bridge. Halfway over the bridge, we stopped on an island there that used to be a water filtration plant: Seonyundo Park. Here we finally found some cherry blossoms in bloom. I think we were a week too late to see everything at its fullest, but they were still beautiful and there were some beautiful views of the Han River and the city from here. There is a cafe here as well, but it was closed today.
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| Seonyundo Park with Cherry Blossoms |
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| Riding by the National Assembly. |
Overall, it was a 20-mile bike ride, but the weather was absolutely beautiful, and it was a great way to see the city.
We then got back on the Subway and headed back towards Insadong with plans unsure. Everything seemed to be closed on Monday. I sat down next to a man on the subway with my guide book out, and he immediately started talking to us in perfect English. He had studied in England and was a professor of politics here in Seoul, Mei-Jei-Poong Moon. We told him we were wanting to eat, and he was going the same way we were, so he offered to show us a few options that were close to our next destinations. He recommended a traditional Korean restaurant that was by far our favorite place that we ate while we were in Korea. Unfortunately, we are not really sure how to get back there.
They brought out the most fabulous Kim Chi (spicy, fermented cabbage), that you had to cut up yourself with scissors (someone came over to show us because they felt sorry for us trying to shove this huge piece of Kim Chi in our mouths with our rusty chop stick skills), buckwheat dumplings filled with vegetables, rice, broth, and meat. They also served us rice wine that you drank out of a bowl. It was a great learning experience overall, and it was definitely more of a place for the locals, so I think we were genuine entertainment for the groups of elderly men that were enjoying their lunch there.
After lunch, we used our CityMapper app, to find our way to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Along the way, we saw a beautiful lantern festival. The colors were amazing. This was in celebration of Buddah's birthday, but regardless it was a sight to behold.
When we got to the palace, we took an English-speaking tour about 3:30pm, which was very interesting to hear about the current palace, which was only about 25% of its original size because the rest was destroyed, and the traditions of old and how the confusionist mindset influenced architecture, family, and government.
One of the beautiful aspects of the palace were the people as well. Most people (young and old) dressed up in Hanboks to tour the palace (traditional formal attire). It was a beautiful display of color and a step back in time. In hindsight, we should have jumped on the band wagon and stopped in one of the rental shops on the way in ourselves, but it was fun to watch all the other princesses running around taking pictures.
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| Girls dressed in Hanboks taking photos together. |
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| Inside the gates of the palace. |
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| The throne room. |
Following our visit to the palace, we lost power with our WiFi Egg, so our navigation was lost. We had to pull out the map and do things the old fashion way. We went to the Bukchon Hanok Village, which is an area around the palace with traditional buildings, streets, and shops.
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| Bukchon Hanok Village. |
We kept getting lost and turned around, however, in the maze of houses, so we decided to go ahead and head in a different direction towards Namsan Park hoping to make it up to North Seoul tower for a beautiful sunset.
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| Namsan Park |
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| Spring Blooms along the Way. |
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| The Geographical Center of Seoul. |
Before we headed down, we stopped at the place where you can leave a "Love Lock" on a wall. There were tons of locks with notes. We brought a lock along and already had written on it, but evidently you can buy them when they are there. We took pictures and kept the key, so if one day we go back with Abbi Grace, she can take off her love lock if she wants or keep it there forever.
It was then head back down and find some supper. We followed the city wall down, and we thought we could make it to Namdaemun Market since it was located at the end of our hiking journey. However, after walking for hours, by the time we arrived there, the stalls were closed up and we could not locate the correct gate. So, knowing that most things close early on week nights we hurried back to Seoul Station and found a Traditional Korean Noodles place and chicken. We were exhausted by this point and ready for bed.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Today is the day we have been waiting for. The day we were able to meet our daughter, Abbi Grace Harang, for the first time. We woke up and went up to the 29th floor for a quick workout and got ready to go. We gathered our gifts for the foster family and social worker, grabbed some breakfast, and headed towards the subway. The metro ride down to Gangnam took about 45 minutes in the morning commute. We got off a the Yeokum station and made our way up to the 7th floor of Social Welfare Society (SWS) a little early to wait to meet our baby girl.
We waited silently and patiently seated on the low, blue couch. Then, we heard the elevator ding, and our girl’s foster mom walks in with a look of joy to see us with Abbi Grace in tow in a carrier looking like she is half asleep. The foster mom said her nap was interrupted so she is sleepy right now. We immediately went in the play room at SWS and all sat down together on the floor. Our social worker was not in today, so Mrs. Lee helped us with the meeting. We just talked to her, tickled her feet, and gave her some of the new toys we brought, including some blocks with the boys’ faces on them and her bunny that we put in the videos that we sent. The foster mom and the case worker left us alone in the room for one hour to play. During that time, she sat in my lap very briefly and ate a piece of cheese, and we gave her some rice snacks. She is a very smiley baby, and she thought John Mark was pretty funny. In one of the videos, we sang “You are My Sunshine”, so I started singing it. She immediately recognized it, and she even acted like she was singing it towards the end. She, like most toddlers, went from one activity to the next.
It was amazing how we felt that she just fit with us. Not that it was super easy or she just took to us like nothing, but she just fit with us. We know the transition will be very difficult because she loves her foster mother and you can tell that she has been well taken care of and loved deeply.
When they returned to the room, we tag-teamed changed her diaper. It was an effort because they said she does not like diapers and she always fights them to put them on. She is still wearing 18-month clothing, so a lot of the clothes that we sent are still working fine. However, all the 2T clothes that we bought are still going to be too big, so it looks like we will have to do a little bit more shopping before the second trip.
That hour with her went by so very quickly. We quickly wrapped everything up and we had to leave from there. We went across the street to a Korean BBQ restaurant that was very good to just gather our thoughts on the whole experience and talk. It was such a strange place to be in, knowing that she is ours, but being unable to fully care for her as a parent would, knowing that she thinks of us as complete strangers but loving her so much. Overall, it went well and she did not cry. That is all that we can hope for at this moment. We can hold her to no expectations. All we can do is just look forward to tomorrow to see her again.
The Korean BBQ place was fantastic with wonderful meat that you wrapped in lettuce; although it was difficult to think much about the food. We also talked to the boys over FaceTime and they were super upset that we did not FaceTime them while we were with Abbi Grace. It really just was not possible. We wanted to spend that time just being with her. We are just so ready at this point for our whole family to be together.
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| Korean BBQ Place Across from SWS. |
After lunch, we went to the second of the big palaces in Seoul, Changdeokgung Palace, which was north of the river back around the other palace and Hanok village from yesterday. We were not able to make reservations to see the secret garden because our plans have been so fluid overall. We just walked around the palace and read the placards that told about the history. They also had a fire drill while we were there, which was an interesting experience, especially because we did not know it was a drill at first.
On to Myeong-dong for shopping we went following the palace. We found an OSulloc Tea House, where we found some unique teas from Jeju island and had a green tea tiramisu. This place was amazing.
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| Myeong-Dong. |
Myeong-dong was a super interesting place with street vendors, food vendors, and lots of shops along the way. We had not yet started our souvenir shopping and gift shopping, so we knocked out a few things here. After shopping, we met up with Jori and Zack from Tennessee who are in our court group. We walked down the street in Myeong-dong and found a restaurant. It was great Korean BBQ.
We then headed back to the room for some rest and relaxation.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Today, I feel more nervous about meeting Abbi Grace than I did yesterday. I have so many questions to ask and so many things I want to see and know about her, and I only have an hour to do all of this. We needed to get outside, pray, and clear our minds. After looking up great places to run in Seoul, Mt. Ansan popped up, so it was close and looked like it would be a nice path going around the base of the mountain. So, we took metro line 3 to Dongnimmum and got off at exit 5. We followed the signs to Mt. Ansan and quickly realized that this is more of a climb/hike instead of a run. Regardless, it was beautiful with paths lined with flowers and huge boulders. We could see N. Seoul Tower, the Seoul City Wall, and the other mountains that surrounded the city. There was also a stone beacon on the top of the mountain that was used to signal in times of distress.
We finally found our way back down and made our way quickly back to the hotel for showers. Grabbing some food on the go, we headed to SWS on another 45 minute metro ride to meet up with Mrs. Hwang for the meeting with our little one and her foster family. Little did we know, we would be in a taxi for 1 hour and 20 minutes, since they lived outside of Seoul (which was a little bit of a frightening ride accompanied by some mild car sickness through the mountainside). We took in every detail of the trip there, hoping to one day tell our Abbi Grace of this journey. We finally made it there and went up to their apartment. The foster mom, foster dad, and daughter (who is in 4th grade) were all present. The foster mom served sweet breads, tomatoes, and pears, and rice snacks on a low table where we all sat around on the floor. The foster family was sweet and kind. We were able to ask many questions of her habits and her daily routine. It was obvious that she loved food and definitely did not love if you took her food. Her favorite food is rice (thankfully that is easy enough I can fix). She played with her blocks, her bunny, and we brought a simple wind up bunny toy. She would smile and laugh. I got in her tent and tried to play with her, but she would only stand at the door and smile. I got some of the items that we sent her previously with our pictures on them and she looked at it and then touched my face, as if to say “that’s you.” We gave the foster family all their gifts, which they appreciated.
We learned that she takes 2 naps per day, still has 4 bottles a day, and eats other regular food. She still wakes up in the middle of the night to eat and sleeps on the floor with her foster mom.
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| We found this tent at one of the street markets and bought it for our house. It is one of her favorite places to play with her foster sister, so we thought it may bring her some comfort when she is home. |
One of the most comforting things of all, was the peace in their home. We saw a cross hanging on their wall, joy and love in their hearts, and we learned that they take her to church regularly. We also learned that 2 of their youngest daughters became a part of their family through adoption, so she knows too well the importance of these moments together.
At the end of our visit, Harang let me pick her up and hold her. Then, it was time to go, I had to hand her back. They walked us out and to the elevator. Her foster mom left us with a gift of bread to take back with us. As the elevator closed and we waved goodbye, I felt like my heart had been ripped out. 4 more weeks seemed like another eternity to wait yet again. I began to cry immediately and John Mark held my hand as began the silent journey back towards home.
When we returned to SWS, we took another 45 minute metro ride back north of the city. After having time to decompress, we went straight to Namdaemun Market for street food and shopping. We ate some fish cakes with chili sauce, Potato on a stick with onion powder, Pajeon (Seafood pancake), Rice pasta (I don’t really know what this is called), dumplings, and Hotteok filled with honey.
Back to the room for bed.
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Today is court day. We woke up and got ready to go. We headed to the metro station to go to SWS all dressed up and arrived there a little before 9:30am. We rode in a van with 2 other families from Canada to the court room where we were debriefed by Katie, our interpreter, on how the morning would go. We had 7 families in line and we waited outside the court room for permission to enter.
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| Waiting to go in. |
We entered the court room and sat down in 2 comfortable chairs facing the judge with the interpreter and the case worker to our right. He asked us to confirm our names, asked our motivation for adopting internationally since we already have 2 boys, asked how our visit went with our daughter, and then asked us if there was anything else we would like to add. The time inside the court room maybe lasted 5 minutes.
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| Success! |
Afterwards, families gathered to talk about their experiences inside the court room and talk about what is to come. It was so wonderful getting to meet so many people and go through everything together.
We then had to find our way back to Insadong from the court room. We changed clothes and headed out to find some lunch. We went to Dongdaemun History and Culture Park, where we saw some interesting architecture and sculptures.
We ate lunch at Doota (shopping mall) in the food court and then made our way through some of the alley ways of the shopping complex. We finally found “Toy Alley,” which had an amazing array of toys that the boys would enjoy. We finished up our shopping here and headed back towards our home where we got some “Take Out” and headed back to the room... exhausted.
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| Toy Alley. |
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| John Mark's favorite. |
Friday, April 20, 2018
Our flight was delayed 6 hours at this point (not leaving until 11:30pm tonight), so we had another day to do some exploring and Cho Yeon let us keep our bags in the room until 3pm. This morning, we went to Hangang Park north of the river for a quick, 4-mile run and headed back to the room to clean up and head to Itaewon.
Upon arriving, we explored some of the streets and stopped in an engraving shop to ask where we could get a Dojang (Name Stamp) made. They printed out some directions for us to a place close by. We went ahead to Vatos Urban Tacos before heading there. This is a Mexican restaurant with a Korean twist. It was good! Itaewon had a very different atmosphere and feel to it than other places we had been previously in the week. Because of the military base there, it was definitely more geared towards foreigners.
After lunch, we typed in the address in Korean to find the Stamp Shop where we found an elderly man down a small alley way alone in his shop. He was excited for us to be there and to share his craft with us. He helped us pick out a seal for Abbi Grace that said “Harang” in Korean with an engraving on it that means “to make everyday happy” in Chinese. He also made one that says Tyler in English and Korean. It was a beautiful and interesting process. We told him about our daughter and showed him a picture. He gave us a gift of pouches to put the Dojangs in and a stamp pad.
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| "Harang" in Korean. |
We then headed down the street to the Korean War Memorial. This was much larger than we had imagined. It was breathtaking the number of names and the the countries involved in the casualties of this war and all that were involved.
We headed back to the room to grab our luggage, headed to Seoul station, hopped on the AREX and headed back to Incheon International Airport. When we got off the train, we got our deposit back on our AREX ticket at the kiosk (W500), returned our WiFi Egg, and went to check in to our flight where we got vouchers for supper to use in the food court due to the delay. We were entertained by some ladies playing instruments in the court, and had plenty of time for JM to get some liquid nitrogen ice cream. So, here we are on the long flight home trying to stay awake in the middle of the night so that the jet lag is not so extreme when we get to Dallas. We are ready to get home to our boys and enjoy these next couple weeks with them until we can finally bring our little girl home.
Now to more planning for Trip Two and half unpacked bags!
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