Only One Kid?

Lately, I have found myself shaking my head as I set the table for dinner.  I've been used to having two kids at home rather than three kids, but lately, I've only had one kid at home.  I've caught myself grabbing silverware for four of us.  Such a minor thing, but I will need to get used to only having three of us around since my son will be off to college in the fall.  Two kids in college...wow, makes me feel so old!  Yet, I don't feel old, is 45 really considered 'old'?

We've had this discussion with my kids at the dinner table actually.  And according to my youngest, who's 14 years old, 45 is old...really...??  We came to the conclusion that when our youngest was 14, we were considered young parents, but now that she is 21, almost 22, and our son is 18 and going off to college too, We. Are. Old.  Guess that's final.

Karaoke Anyone?

Forgot to mention that our last night in Busan, we actually did some karaoke!  I've never done karaoke in my life so this was a new adventure for me.  I don't like to be in front of people, I like being invisible...I know, hard to believe but it's true.  I don't like to be center of attention, I like being a wallflower.

Anyway, in Korea, you can rent a little room for your group.  There was a u-shaped booth and table, two microphones, screen and disco light.  It took awhile for everyone to get warmed up and brave enough to sing in front of the group, but once we got started, we had a blast!

Good laughs, great memories and we all sang.  I even sang a few songs with someone else and each time, our voices didn't record for some reason and we didn't get rated...must have meant we scored a perfect score, right?  We sang Whitney Houston's, I'll Always Love You, Disney's, A Whole New World, and Grease's, Summer Loving.

This was a great way to have some good laughs, I think my cheeks were sore from smiling and laughing so much!  I know some of the songs were video taped by a few people, let's just hope they don't end up on youtube...scary!  Will I have a new career in singing?  No, but it was fun to let our hair down and sing like we didn't have a care in the world!  And I didn't even have to drink any alcohol to get brave to sing in front of everyone...who knew!  But then again, I don't want to even think how I would be drinking in public...we'll save that for another time!

What Day is It?

This jet lag is killing me.  I can't sleep thru the night, I'm tired after being awake 3 or 4 hours and end up snoozing.  Then I wake up feeling groggy.  I've been meaning to finish my posting of the final days in Korea, but my mind is so foggy, I can't remember what I even did on the last few days.

I'll talk about the final night and morning in Korea.  Our final night in Korea, we had a wonderful dinner at the 63 Building.  All the adoptees were in the traditional hanboks, beautiful colors and always a special night seeing all of them together.  Was nice sharing the night with Nikki and Kelsey too, as they have been at Ilsan volunteering.

As parents and adoptees shared their experiences with everyone, of course I needed my sunglasses but no, it was night time so I didn't have them with me.  Though two weeks in Korea seems like a long time, when it comes to the final night, I never want the trip to end.  I love everyone I meet and I know I will miss everyone and go thru group withdrawals.  Such a special trip and I feel so blessed to have shared in this journey with so many great people.

The morning we were to depart, I slept in, felt nice to relax and not hurry.  I did manage to do some power shopping and made a couple of major purchases.  One will be delivered to my house in about a month, can't wait to see it!

We then went to get some mandu for lunch, so yummy!  As I was eating my mandu in the hotel lobby, those that went to the Korean War Museum had come back and everyone else had started bringing down their luggage.

About 45 minutes before we were to load onto the bus, one of the dads came up to me looking for the tour leader...didn't sound good, he looked a little panicked...uh yeah, come to find out, he had lost his passport!!  He was with the group that went touring so it could have been anywhere...at the museum or somewhere in Itaewon...a needle in a haystack...

We had people calling left and right to start looking for the passport.  And it was time to load the luggage onto the truck.  Plan A:  The dad and the tour leader would stay behind, drive to the museum and Itaewon to look for the passport, then meet at the airport if it was found.  Plan B:  The dad would need to stay in Korea until Monday and go to the American Embassy to get an emergency passport then get a flight out, hopefully.  Thank goodness the tour leader was scheduled to stay in Korea for a few more days anyway...

Just as we were to load the bus to the airport, a call was received saying the passport was found at the McDonald's in Itaewon...what a miracle!!  The bus would stop along the way to pick up the passport...talk about a huge relief for EVERYONE!  Not the kind of excitement we wanted, but at least it all worked out.  Thank goodness the rest of the trip home was uneventful!

Now if I could just get my sleeping in order!

Final Days in Korea

I'm not sure if I can remember all that happened during my final days in Korea.  We were very busy, needless to say and I was tired!  But I loved every minute.  

We traveled further south to Busan.  The weather was beautiful and had time to spend on the beach, tho I did not swim...not going to be in my bikini in public, tho I was seen in Myrtle Beach...why not in Korea, amongst my own peeps?  I don't know, I'm shy sometimes...I could have caught some rays as I felt like my tan was fading, but yet, everyone kept telling me how dark I was...of course I was dark compared to everyone in Korea that love to be pale.

We went to visit an orphanage while in Busan, I had forgotten I had been to this one before.  I was in charge of the group, as one of the tour members got sick in the morning, so the tour leader had to stay with her to take her to the clinic.  Once we arrived at the orphanage, I remembered being there before. The Director of the orphanage was such a neat person, I admire him dearly.  He's 70's years old, he and his wife adopted a son, who is now 17 years old, but his wife passed away five months ago.  He has such a big heart and compassion for the children.  He advocated for the children to be able to keep them in his orphanage til the age of 18 rather than have them sent to another orphanage when they turned 6.

We had a chance to play with the kids for about an hour.  One boy, he had a play cell phone so I took mine out and pretended to talk to him.  He seemed to enjoy this game.  Then he was joined by another boy and I started chasing them and they would run into the room next door.  They would come back and I would continue to chase them.  Soon the two boys grew to four boys, then girls started to join in and I would count on my fingers to three and they would all scream and run away.  This continued for quite awhile, they were wearing me out and I was so hot!  I found a room with an a/c unit and stood in front of it but the kids kept coming and I would chase them.  Some of the boys would kick me and punch me, one even head butted me in the stomach, some threw the big lego blocks and toys at me...wow, they were active!!  But it was fun playing with them, they had skipped going to kindergarten because our group was there.

After the visit and lunch, we went back to the hotel.  I spent my time sitting under an umbrella on the beach with a couple of other adoptees.  Was beautiful sitting and people watching.  Soon others from the group joined us and was fun getting to know them better.

My night was frustrating dealing with my laptop not charging due to the cord being exposed from Beaner chewing on it!  I wanted to be able to chat with family and friends and it was touch and go with the battery going down...So many things we take for granted...

Tough Decisions

This morning was the visit to the unwed mother’s shelter.  What a wonderful facility available to these mothers that are in a tough situation and will make one of the most difficult decisions of their lives.  As a mother, it breaks my heart to see the heartache these women are facing, you can see how torn they are, what should they do?

The staff at this facility are so wonderful and caring, they make the facility a home for these mothers and babies and become each other’s families.  It amazes me that still, in today’s society, that these women have to be in the facility rather than with their families, but they are too afraid to be with their families because they are not married and some have already been turned away by their families because they are not married.

There is new Director of the facility, she had been there previously so knows the program well and getting to know her more personally at dinner last night, she has a great heart for the job.  I feel so blessed to know that these mothers have a staff that love and care about them as if they were their own children.  What a blessing for the care and education these mothers receive here.  I was here in December and have heard the updates of two of the mothers, happy endings so far.  I wish them well.

And yes, I needed my sunglasses....

We are now on our way to Gyeongju.  We will be staying at a hotel rather than the traditional Korean hut on my last trip there, good thing because it is pretty hot outside.

Excuse Me, is this Your Bra and Underwear?

Being in Korea for two weeks is s long time, so a few of us have the option of taking our clothes to a Korean laundromat and have it done overnight.  So a few of us did that prior to heading south.  With the schedule being so busy, I threw my clean laundry back into my room and off to dinner I went.  Another tour member came downstairs and asked if I was missing a bra and that her mom was missing a bra.  I looked at it, no, it wasn't mine.  I told her I would ask around to the others that had laundry done.

Yesterday, as I finally got on the bus in the morning and as I was making my way to the back of the bus, one of the other people that had laundry done gives me a little bag and says, "here, are these yours?"  So I look inside and there's a black bra and a pair of yellow panties in there.  I look at the black bra and I took it out and yep, they were mine, so everyone towards that part of the bus got to see my bra...oh well, made for a good laugh.  Then when I sat down, I looked at the panties, they were the brand I have, the size I wear, but I didn't own any yellow ones, pink yes, but not yellow, would they have changed color like that?  It's never happened at home!

Then last night, as I was preparing to go out to dinner, I took a look at the bra again because in my suitcase, there was my black bra.  So I took a closer look at the one I thought was mine from the bus...looked exactly like mine, but no labels were on it and all of mine have the labels on them.  

So today, I will have to ask people again, "Excuse me, is this your bra and underwear?"  Nothing like getting up close and personal with people in the group!

Whatever Day It is...

I’m not even sure what day/date it is anymore.  We keep this group moving!  It’s been fun tho, talking to everyone, getting to know them better, sharing stories, laughing.  This is the part I love the most.  Such a variety of people, adoptees in their teens, adoptees in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and even 50’s.  Parents and siblings, sharing in the wonderful experience.  I can see everyone trying to soak it all in, learning all there is to know about Korea and surprised to learn more about Holt and very pleased to learn more.  Makes them appreciate their families more.

I’m not sure where I even left off on my last post, everyday seems to blend into one another.  And now I’m trying to type all that has happened on our bus ride down to Daejeon.  Good way to make the three hour ride pass by quicker?  I think most of the people on the tour were exhausted last night and kind of catching up still this morning.

We toured the palace yesterday and it was pouring down rain.  Everyone had rain gear, but it really didn’t matter, we all got soaked.  Everyone was a good sport about it, but seeing the palace in the rain isn’t the same, you don’t really get to see or hear all about the history of it. 

After touring the palace, we went to Kimchi World, yes, that’s what it’s called.  We learned how to make kimchi, tho it was a shortened version since the cabbage was already wilted and the sauce was already prepared.  All we had to do was rub the sauce into the leaves of the cabbage and put it in the container.  I HAD to try mine first, because it looked so good and we were not going to be able to keep it since we were leaving Seoul the next day.  But I swear I could have eaten the whole container by the time we had to leave!  Instead, we were donating all the kimchi to the unwed mother’s shelter, 35 containers!  They wouldn’t have missed one, would they?  Oh well, it was going to a good cause.  Then we made dukboki, not even sure how the heck to spell that!  It’s tubes of rice cakes and strips of fish cakes cooked in a spicy bean paste sauce…now that was yummy too and spicy!

Off to lunch for beef soup.  I ate the beef and a lot of the kimchi, radish kimchi and cabbage kimchi…can you tell I love kimchi?!!  I really need to start making it at home but I know my family would not like it one bit, it would smell up the whole house and I would hear complaining all the time, would it even be worth it?

The rain had stopped by the time we had finished lunch so shopping at South Gate market was back on!  I swear tho, every time we are able to shop it is speed shopping!  One hour is not even enough time to do any good shopping.  But I did manage to buy the 50 pairs of socks my friend wanted for the Portland auction.  The vendor was so happy I bought so many pairs, she gave me 5 pairs free.  My youngest daughter should be able to use them.

Walking along the busy and crowded street, all of a sudden a guy comes rushing thru telling everyone to move aside, move aside!  An ambulance needed to get thru.  Wow, talk about amazing, all the vendors in the middle of the street had to move their carts.  Took some of them awhile to get them moved out of the way, then the ambulance drove down the very narrow street.

The day wasn’t over yet!  We had to go to the Korean theater to watch a Korean play.  It was very good, and incorporated the tradional Korean drums, farmer’s dance, and musical instruments along with the love story.

The plan for after the day’s events was to go to Itaewon with one family to get measured for custom suits, then the group got bigger as more people wanted to go since Paul was going to show everyone how to use the subway.  Funny, we all loaded up into a subway and Paul yells out, get out, this is the wrong one!  You would have thought I was leading the group!  I still can’t figure out the subway system, it really confuses me…still, after this being my eleventh trip here.  I don’t know, I must have some mental block when it comes to that and the learning the language, my brain just can’t function.

We finally got to Itaewon, some of the group went to Outback, some of the group went with Paul to look at jewelry, me and my group walked all the way down the street to the tailor’s and it’s closed!!  What?  After such a long day too…so I called the tailor and thank goodness he answered, he said he would be just a few minutes and to please stay.  We waited about 10 minutes and he finally came.  Thank goodness, I was about to leave, I was already so tired from the day and all the walking.

After finishing up with the suits, Paul and his small group met us and we were trying to decide where to eat.  Paul and I decided to go back to the hotel and get chicken delivered so we took a taxi back.  I’m glad we did that, I still had to pack my two suitcases and pack the overnight for four nights!  While I was waiting for my chicken, I began to pack and then chatted with my hubby, first on messenger, then after getting the chicken, we decided to try facetime.  Wow, that worked out so much better than me having to type and eat at the same time!  The chicken was so darn tasty too, hit the spot and I think it gave me a second wind.  It was nice being able to see my hubby while talking to too, thank goodness for technology!  It was so easy talking that way that it was past 11:00 by the time I said I had to go to bed!  Going to bed later, I still managed to wake up in the middle of the night, around 4:00am this time, guess that was appropriate since I was going to bed at 10:00pm and waking up around 3:00am.

Sunday morning, woke up at 6:30am, showered and chatted with my family as I was getting ready.  Once I was ‘presentable’, we all did video chat.  Was great seeing my kiddos!  Kora had to tell me she was darker than me, then Taylor chimed in and said he was darker, so they were all trying to squeeze in the little itouch screen and show me their arms…I couldn’t tell the difference with the coloring on the screen.  I loved seeing everyone tho!  How awesome was that this morning!  And I saw Beaner and all he would do is tilt his head when he heard my voice.  Then I had everyone figure out how to do the face time on the big Mac monitor so I wouldn’t get so motion sick with everyone moving the itouch!  I was able to see everyone at once if they all sat in a certain place in the office, loved it!!  Kora was excited to tell me she was spending the night at a friend’s house again…her third sleepover in a row…wow, dad really rates when mom is out of the country!  But glad she’s having fun, that’s what summers are for.  I can’t believe it is July 1^st here at least.  It’s always weird for me when I figure out what the date is when I’m in Korea, time seems to slip by me, but probably because we are always so darn busy and moving all the time.

I’m sitting at the back of the bus now too, feels like ‘home’ so that is why I’m able to be on my computer and type my thoughts.  I’m sure we will be stopping at a rest stop soon.  I’ll get my breaded corn thingies again, still not sure what they are called.

Darn it!  Couldn't find my bread corn things!  So disappointing!  But did have the tastey potatoes and the red bean pancake, pretty much everyone in the group tried those.