Day 4 (May 27th in Seoul)

We had a lighter day today.  It rained, so it was just as well.  It's easy enough to get around Seoul in the rain, but toting little kids is NOT!  Especially tired ones.

We had a 10:30 appointment at SWS to see Mrs. Kim, Jaemin's foster mother.  We got there about 15 minutes early and went to the adoption floor instead of post-adoption floor.  But, Mrs. Kim was on the adoption floor too and as soon as we got off the elevator she spotted Jaemin and scooped him up.  I forgot to ask if we were the first to come back to visit.  She hasn't fostered in over 3 years.  She had two more little ones after Jaemin and then it just got too hard to keep them so long and say goodbye (after the laws changed in Korea, babies are staying in foster care longer).  The social worker said it's now harder to find people willing to be foster parents.  I can imagine.

She said she still gets on the blog with her daughter sometimes and her daughter translates.  She was happy to see Jaemin growing up.  And I told her he is as happy as he seems.  He was a little standoffish, but Chelsi was the same way when we came back the last time.  It's just hard for them to understand all of this at such a young age.  Jaemin keeps reminding us that the hotel is not our home and reaffirm to him we are going back to our home.  He does enjoy it though.  He's very happy just to be in Korea.  The agency gave Jaemin some Pororo training chopsticks and Pororo colors.  Mrs. Kim said she felt bad she didn't have time to get Jaemin a gift, but she gave him Won to have a big meal in Korea.  The agency also gave us a set of 4 nice chopsticks to bring home.  Jaemin took us out to eat with his money tonight.  We had pajeon and galbi.  The pajeon had octopus in it and Cole really, really like that one.  The galbi was good, but I think I prefer the bulgogi we had the other night.  Jaemin was less than enthused.  But, he was tired.  We let Jaemin pay the bill.  And then they gave him the change.  He really loves having the money his foster mother gave him.  He thinks he is really big with money.  And he tells people kamsahamnida when they give him his change back.  I think we will take the rest of the money she gave him and let him find something in Namdaemun.  Mrs. Kim is so sweet and you could tell she loved and missed Jaemin.  She said his face hasn't changed since he was a baby.  I totally agree.  Mrs. Kim has not changed either.  She hugged all of us so firmly.  :)

After meeting with Mrs. Kim, we went to see the reception center.  This is where babies stay until they go to a foster home at about 5 or 6 months old.  There were probably 20 babies in there.  Jaemin had been in a reception center until he went to Mrs. Kim at about 5 months old. His reception center was in Gwangju where he was born, but I still wanted to see an SWS reception center.  There was one little baby in the older baby room that had hair that stood straight up about 2 inches or more and he was just as happy as can be bouncing away.  He was adorable!  The nannies brought tiny little babies to the glass for us to see.  Some were barely 2 weeks old and SO tiny. My babies were never that small.....even Cole and Chase at birth.  Jaemin's social worker kindly offered to take a picture of us in front of the baby's window and with Jaemin's foster mother.  You never know if it's the last time, so you want those memories.  Then, of course, I wanted a picture of Jaemin in front of the SWS sign.  That's HIS agency and I want him to be proud and know it.

After SWS, we hopped back on the subway for a quick ride to Coex Mall where Coex Aquarium is.  We were in Gangnam (yes as in the song Gangnam Style), and when you cross the river, it's just easier to do everything there.  We did the same yesterday when we went to the zoo.  We walked through the mall to the aquarium and went in.  It's pretty neat and pretty big considering it's inside the mall.  The kids thought it was really neat.  The boys, all 3, thoroughly enjoyed it.  Chase and Cole took pictures constantly.  Jaemin would just stop by the rays and sharks and watch for hours if he could.  They had interesting recycling use for aquariums.  It was fun and a good break from the rain.  We did run into a guy and his family (his wife was Korean) who talked about the Cardinals after seeing Jaemin's shirt.  I guess at one time he lived in St. Louis.  We took the long train ride back to our subway stop and Brian took the kids swimming for a bit before we went to eat.  The girls and I are enjoying buying snacks at 7-11, just to try things.  Note:  the Angry Birds snacks aren't too bad.  Cheetos are meat flavored, not cheese....kinda okay, but weird.  Kaelin loves her onion rings, but I'm not a fan.  Mountain Dew tastes the same,thank goodness.

Still need to get some shopping in this week.  I haven't been to Insadong or Namdaemun yet and need to find sunglasses and other gifts.  I found a pair of socks for Shawn and something special for Dash.

Tomorrow we're supposed to go to Suwon.  I'm a little worried how that's going to go since it's supposed to rain and it's all outside.

Chase took most of the pictures at the agency and did a pretty good job!

Oh yeah, we had Baskin Robbins on the way to the aquarium, in the mall.  I don't know what the deal is, but Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts put things on the menu that you can't actually order.  We tried to order a shake and other drink and BR and was told we couldn't, but he didn't speak enough English to tell us why.  Then, at Dunkin Donuts last night were were told we couldn't order any of the sandwiches on their menu, but again no reason why.  Weird.

 I finally saw an American I knew....on the wall in Coex....none other than Justin Timberlake.  :)

 Everytime I wanted a picture of the big boys, I could only find them trying to take pictures.  They really enjoyed it.

They humored me with one picture together.

Lisa

Day 3 (May 26th - Sunday)

A lot is closed on Sundays, so we had to find things to do that were open....which meant EVERYONE was doing those things.

We went to church at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral.  It's very, very old.  We were about 5 minutes late by the time we found it. It's common for people to stroll in as it moves on though, so we didn't feel bad.  It's like a little city outside the church with religious things for sale and the nuns walking everywhere.  It wasn't a whole lot different than our church.  A few of the prayers were slightly different and then instead of shaking hands you bow.  When they do collection, they just have individuals in two spots and people pass through the aisles like you're going to communion to tithe.  It had tv screens because it was so big you could not see the alter.  Then, it listed a number below which was the hymn.  There wasn't much group singing, but the choir was really nice.  It was done in 40 minutes which is shorter than our masses.

After that we came back to the hotel to grab our gear and make the 30 minute subway ride with a transfer to Seoul Grand Park Station to go to the Seoul Zoo.  Much like most zoos, but more places to stop so families can sit and rest.  More animals were outside and little more accessible to watch....or it seemed compared to our zoo.  The kids really liked the zoo, but they always like the zoo.  Coming back wasn't so great.  I thought we'd stop at Seoul Station to eat and that turned into a mess....it was so crowded.  We gave up and thought we'd walk to find Lotteria.  Well, it wasn't where I remembered, so we again gave up.  We just went to Paris Baguette and shared a sandwich (too hot to eat) and went back to the hotel.  We went back to 7-11 for ice cream and just snacked on the food we'd brought.  So glad we did bring food. We brought trail mix, peanuts, peanut better....it's all going over well now.

Tomorrow is Jaemin's foster family visit and Coex!

Day 3 (part 2)

Done for the day.  I can't take another activity.  We went to see Cookin' Nanta and then ate dinner.  The show was AWESOME!  So hilarious.  Definitely see it if you're in Seoul.  All 5 kids loved it.  The big boys even through balls back at the performers.  Very interactive and you do not have to know Korean to get it.  Then we went to a mom and pop restaurant and had bulgogi.  Very good, but halmoni just kept trying to feed us more and more.  Jaemin could just live on the little fish they had.  I think they were pickled and looked like anchovies, but not sure what kind.  He ate and ate and ate and very much pleased halmoni.

I just liked this first picture of Cole, Chase and Chelsi walking through Seoul.

Day 3 (Saturday May 25th)

Today,we enjoyed our usual HUGE breakfast.  Really starts the day off right!  Talked to a family at breakfast who just came in from Philly and we'll be going on a tour with them next week.  They had plans for the day as did we.

All of the guys stayed at the hotel to rest and swim.  They all are pretty tired even though they got quite a bit of sleep last night.  We woke up, but everyone else went back to sleep except me.  Jaemin was so impressed with himself because he stayed dry and he said "but, I left my pee alarm at home".  He said he doesn't need it anymore.  Don't know about that.  Us girls went to find Dongdaemun Market and the toy alley.  Wow!  We walked probably 4-6 miles today.  We finally found the toys after asking a police officer.  :)  We found a firetruck with Pororo for Jaemin and a Pororo camera for Jae and Pororo utensils for Jaemin.  Of course we got 3 little fans for the little kids.  They're only 1,000W and it does help keep you cool.  It was SO hot today.  Chelsi got some slippers and hair items, goggles and socks.  Kaelin got hair items and socks.  Then, we got some little insulated water bottle carriers so the little kids can carry their own water around.  We made our way back to the same subway exit and hopped over to the Hongdae area to find Hello Kitty Cafe.  The directions online stink and I forgot my little map, though, if I remember right, I don't think it would have helped.  We walked almost all of the area and it's a really happening place for young people so it was super packed!  We did not go to the free market....entirely too tired.  It took us finding 3 different people, asking for directions and playing charades until we found it.  The good thing was we found Etude House along the way.  So, I loaded up on my make up and we asked the ladies there and we were just down the street by then.  Then, we saw PINK!  We ordered frozen yogurt waffles.  It was just frozen yogurt on thick waffles covered in strawberry jelly.  It was really good.  We drank so much water when we go there too.  Hello Kitty is ALL pink and ALL Hello Kitty.  Had we gotten a latte or hot chocolate it would have had her face in the drink, but it was much too hot.  Our waffles were Hello Kitty shaped though.

By the time we got to the cafe we had no idea where we were and no idea where the exit we came out was, so we just started walking in a straight line and did find an exit to the same line, so we went back to the hotel from there.  Chelsi was carrying my camera on the subway, so she took some pictures on the way back.  The girls are finally getting the hang of swiping our prepaid subway cards.  We loaded some more money on them and went on our way.  And tonight we just have to go to the theatre and relax and watch Nanta!  Sounds good to me.  Then, more walking at the zoo (Seoul Grand Park) tomorrow.

Day 2 Part 2

We decided to go swimming.  The hotel has such a nice pool.  Brian said the locker room is even nicer so eventually he and Chase and Cole went to the sauna and whirlpool.  They relieved some muscles and had fun wearing themselves out in the pool.  It's 6pm here and poor Jaemin couldn't finish his supper.  He started falling off his chair at the table and we had to put him in bed.

We didn't feel like going out, so we just went behind the hotel to Cafe Mamas.  It's pretty good as all of the internet said.  Just sandwiches, but good.  Not cheap, but food isn't terrible cheap anyways.  Then, back to 7-11 for soda to bring back.

Our housekeeper came while we were in and just loved the kids.  She gave me a hug and thanked us.  So sweet, but we're the lucky ones.  She saw us again later and just loves to pat Jaemin.  I'll be taking a shower and going to bed soon.  The boys are content watching Discovery Channel.  One of the few in English.

On the flight here, I had some of the best compliments.  I had a compliment on my hair as we were walking back to our seats on the plain to Chicago and then twice was told what well behaved children we have.  So nice to hear from strangers!

I really do think everyone's enjoying themselves.