Shopping, Culture, Dining and Protests?

I think we walked all over central Seoul yesterday, but activity is such a good way to combat the monkey mind.  Right Dad?  I think yesterday can be divided into roughly 4 sections.  First, we went to Itaewan which is a shopping district near the US army base.  It serves tourists and the military so they speak some English.  Since I promised all of the kids in the neighborhood souvenirs, we thought this might be a good place to start.  Plus, the free shuttle from the hotel went there and we got a nice ride through the city.  In addition to the classic souvenir and knock-off stores, this turns out to be an extremely diverse neighborhood.  It reminded me alot of Devon Ave.   There is a beautiful mosque here (when you look past the power lines) as well as Catholic and Protestant churches.  

From there we took the shuttle to Deoksugung Palace which dates back to the 16th century.  It has been actively used as home to the king or emperor until the early 20th century.  It is a nice oasis in the middle of the city and is only 1,000 wan to get in ($1).  We had to remind ourselves that these buildings were not replicas.  It was also really cool to look up and see the modern skyscrapers behind these old buildings.  While we were enjoying our oasis, however, we could hear protesters outside in the square in front of City Hall.  They have been protesting the importing of American beef all weekend.

After a trip to Citibank to get more money, we went to Namdaemun Market which is where many of the locals shop.  There are tons of restaurants and stalls in the streets selling fresh fruit, T-shirts, clothing, meat, fabric, and other things.  Very crowded.  We passed by tables full of seafood and meat ready to be cooked for the customer, but none of it seemed to be refrigerated.   Although, i was tempted to stop and try the eel, Mr. Daddy advised against it.  

After that we were exhausted.  We walked back toward the spot to pick up the shuttle and found a Vietnamese restaurant on the way.   In addition to all of the traditional Korea restaurants, American restaurants (McD, BK, KFC, Bennigans, etc), there are a ton of other Asian restaurants including Japanese, Chinese and Thai.  Very cool since we are fans of all.  We had a great meal (the restaurant was also air conditioned and did not smell like raw meat) and listen to the protesters in the square.  We weren't sure what they were saying but they sounded very angry.  

A few words about the general Seoul experience.  It was very humid yesterday and we drank lots of water.  All of the signs are in English as well as Korean so it is pretty easy to get around.  There are also lots of maps that use pictures of the major buildings so we could verify our location.  

Today we go to the Welfare Society.  I feel like . . . I'm not really sure.  Excited and anxious but also somewhat numb.  it doesn't seem real.  Yesterday, we could trick ourselves into thinking we are tourists, but not today.  We will let you know what happens and i hope to be able to download some more pics tonight.  

Dr. Mommy, signing off for now.

Itaewan

Deoksugung Palace

6 Hours of This

As Dr. Mommy said, we had a slight "delay" in Atlanta. For a long time, the closest to Korea that it looked like we were getting was this. For a flight that seriously had 1/5 (75 of the 350 on the plane) of the flight fighting to hit their connection in Seoul for Bangkok, Delta really made it less fun than it needed to. That said, we got to eat lots of crappy airport food! :)

We're Here!

After a 5 hour delay at the Atlanta airport, we finally arrived in Seoul last night at 8:30 PM on Saturday.  It is 6:11AM on Sunday here at the Grand Hilton Seoul but this note should be getting to you all while you are still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  You may be wondering, "why are you up at 6:11AM after a 15 hour flight Dr. Mommy?"  There is no good reason, I just couldn't sleep any more. 

During our first few hours in Seoul, it seemed like we could have been any where.  Everyone at the airport, on the shuttle and at the hotel speak English and most of the signs have been in Korean, Chinese and English.  Everyone has been very nice and helpful.  we keep trying to saying "Thank you" in Korean but we don't seem to be getting in quite right.

So today we will go out and see the city.  Some things are closed on Sundays as there are many Protestant Koreans, but we will see what there is to see.

Tomorrow we go to Eastern Welfare Society.  Apparently, this is more of a "meet and greet" and we may or may not get to see Jackson.  I just wanted to prepare you in case this is true.  We are still excited to go but hope at least to meet him, even if we can't take him home.

I want to give a couple of shouts outs to special people at home.  Congratulations to Eden S. who was called to the Torah today (Saturday).  I hope that your Bat Mitzvah was all that you hoped.  I also want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Violet A. who turns the big 3 tomorrow (Sunday).  I hope that you get all of the Barbie/princess/pink toys your little heart desires.

New Pics!

We just got new pictures of Jackson!!!  OMG!!!!  

We are off to Korea!!

It hasn't really sunk in yet that we are leaving for Seoul on Friday.  Wow.  We will leave the US on Friday and arrive in Seoul on Saturday.  We will do some site-seeing on Sunday (i.e. find Buddhist and Confucian temples) and then I think we can get Jackson on Monday.  The welfare agency has been busy with Heritage tours, adoptees who return to learn more about Korea, so that could be interesting.   We will fly home (direct) on Thursday.  

Thanks to all of the neighbors and friends who provided new and gently used clothes and baby equipment.  It looks like we will finally get to use it!

Please check back after Friday as we hope to post pictures and details of our exciting new adventure.