t.i.r.e.d. part two

After we left Insadong, we found a cab to take us to the War Museum. THANK GOD FOR INTERNET!! We were able to pull up the website map and show it to the taxi driver. Apparently it is better known as the War Memorial. Either way, we made it and the driver was very nice!

The Korean War Memorial Museum has the history of wars back hundreds of years. We could have spent an entire day here!! On the outside they have all kinds of military equipment that the kids (and adults) could climb over.  Thank you ROBIN for the awesome suggestion! Everyone enjoyed the museum!

 My Navy man had fun on this ship with the boys. The red marks are actual bullets holes. Stacy said that on the inside of the ship, that had marks where some of the bullets had gone 3/4 of the way through the ship!!

 This tank was one of my personal favorites. Notice the "soldiers" driving the monstrous machine. The whole thing would randomly start up and the gun would turn and "fire" and the tracks would move. It just makes me cringe to think about the Land of the Morning Calm being awaken by these machines. When they would fire the gun it was so loud and I know it had to be NOTHING compared to what the real thing sounded like. Hyeon su did NOT like this!

 This loud speaker had been placed on the DMZ...until

This speaker had been placed on the DMZ to be used as Operational Propaganda against the North. They could broadcast 15 KM!!! They were used...until 2004! I just love this sweet face!!!

On this wing were bronzed plaques with all of the names of the Korean soldiers who were killed in the Korean War. It was extremely touching to see the thousands and thousands of names.

 On this wing they had plaques for all the UN forces who were killed during the Korean War. The United States plaques were separated by state.

 Two of my favoritest people in the whole wide world!! I was hoping to get something in the museum gift shop, but all the books were in Korean. :)

 The dragon boat was super cool!!! As we were walking out there was a man with all sorts of cameras so we asked him to take our picture. SUPER happy with the results!! My new scarf was given to me Hyeon su's omma and it sure did come in handy yesterday!!!

I have so much more to that I feel like I need to say about this day. It was so full and so fun! I will have to post the swimming pictures later though because we are off to take in a palace and whatever else life leads us. Sharing the computer with two other people...one of them being a teenager...is really cramping my style!! :)

T.i.r.e.d.

We were up bright and early. Well, it wasn't bright because nobody sleeps much past 4am, but it WAS early. We ventured out in the opposite direction than we normally go. We wanted to catch a different subway line to get close to Insadong. It is a major shopping area in Seoul has been around for hundreds of years. At one point it was an art district and still contains many art galleries. There are also antique stores, souvenir shops, and many many restaurants.

 From the maps we looked at, it looked like a simple route straight off the subway line...so of course we went the wrong way!! It turned into a happy accident though as we came across a park that was the first "modern" park in Korea.

 

I would like to say that it was a nice place to walk around and admire the pagodas, but the kids were NOT having any of it! We tried to enjoy as much as possible and still laugh.

Another fun part of having Elizabeth with us is that we can have family pictures taken at any time. She did a fantastic job, but Hyeon su must have been pouting the whole time because he looks like this in every picture. It is very odd because I have SO many vacation pictures of my family that are JUST like this. Mom taking the picture, me and Dad smiling and my brother pouting off to the side. Ahh...such great memories!
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We finally made it to Insadong and immediately ran into the Dragon Candy makers. They do this whole song and dance while they make the candy. The take a solid *chunk* of honey and dip it in the rice flour and pull, stretch and twist it into 16,000 strands!!! It is a show by itself!

We had to make the obligatory stop at Starbucks. I've heard that this is the only Starbucks in the world that has the name written in the country's native language. Stacy was searching for wifi so we could look the address to the Beautiful Tea House.

We had just gotten the boys a little snack and some water to drink in Starbucks and when we turned around, we found THIS:

 And I did a little happy dance!!! This little discs are called hoddeuk. They are a mix between a donut and a cinnamon sticky bun. Hot gooey bits of heaven!! We had them at a picnic once so we knew what traditional ones are supposed to taste like. I buy a box mix at the Korean market and Stacy makes some that are pretty darn tasty, but there really isn't anything like buying one fresh off the grill on the streets of Seoul. They make people do this:

We had another round after lunch!!! Speaking of lunch. Where should people go when surrounded by wonderful traditional restaurants? Why McDonalds of course!!! 

What can I say? It made the little people VERY happy and Stacy & I ate bulgogi burgers!! It was actually rather tasty, much to my surprise. I'm not sure what they do differently here, but even the fries didn't taste like chemical laden bits of glop. Oops. Did that come out out loud? I hate McDonalds and go as little as possible, but this was fairly edible.

We had to have an after lunch treat. We had seen the men at this shop doing a song and dance move with ice-cream, so the boys ordered their own ice-cream. Little did they realize, but they would have to WORK for it!!!

Every time the kids would reach for the cone, the man would FLIP it out of the way. Notice how nobody is really watching in the background? It got better. As soon as they WOULD get ahold of the cone, he would pull the stick back WITH the ice cream still on it. So when they would go to eat the ice cream, there wouldn't be anything there!!

 Well, my Hyeon su is a smart little thing...and GRABBED the whole stick so he could get the cone. I thought the man was going to bust out laughing at this point!! From behind me, I heard: now that is a smart kid! I was seriously about to wet myself at this point!!

I'm really not sure how long we were there for this whole song and dance but it really could not have been that long...but notice the CROWD that had gathered around us!

 FINALLY!!! SUCCESS!!!

As we were walking out of the area we could hear a band of some sorts playing. We quickly found the source of the noise and got to witness a very interesting presentation. Can you see the white strings that look like they are floating in the breeze? They were attached to their HATS!!! It was amazing to watch them all sway in unison!!! Beautiful!

 This is a slightly better view of one of the ribbons off of his hat. It was simply amazing to watch.

I wish I knew what kind of dance troupe this was. It kind of makes me think of shaman, but I'm really not sure. This woman was beautiful and doing a very interesting dance while she was playing the drum. I do love the shoes! They had an odd little point on the toes.

See? I'm so tired that I can only blog about the first HALF of our day! I will try to finish the other half before we head out in the morning. Time for b.e.d.

 

I almost forgot to post about what we did after we got back from Islan. After walking up the 132 stairs from City Hall Station, we hit the Paris Baguette for our nightly supper and breakfast treats. Once we ate, we headed down to the hotel swimming pool. My children learned how to freely jump off the side of the pool and into the water by themselves...in SEOUL!!! To say that I am one proud momma would be an understatement!!! I'm going to make sure to take the camera down with us tonight. The boys both woke up asking if we could go swimming!!!

Korea Day 2

Let me just start by saying that when I bought this bag of Cheetos for the boys, THIS was not what I was expecting to come out of the bag!!! Thankfully, they are still pretty tasty. I'm guessing they are supposed to be some kind of "meat" flavor based on the picture on the side.

Harry and Bertha started the adoption agency in Korea and in the US. They had 6 biological children and adopted 8 toddlers...at the SAME TIME! They are simply amazing people who followed God's will for them by helping children. Their daughter, Molly, has carried on the tradition for over 50 years. I really have no words to describe how wonderful Molly is or describe what an honor it was to spend a large portion of our day with her!  We were able to meet some of the sweet residents who live at Ilsan. Most are very mental or physically handicapped and they receive amazing care and love. Residents range in ages from babies to older adults.

We had the pleasure of taking Molly out for lunch and were VERY pleased to have Galbi again! We had pork yesterday so we decided to have beef today. It was LA Galbi which means the meat is sliced thinly with the bone still attached. And it is still cooked on the grill in the table. YUM!!!

 Harry and Bertha are both buried here.

After lunch we were able to tour the grounds. It is very easy to tell why Harry picked this place to build. It is on the side of a hill and is beautiful. We were able to tour the Memorial Hall which is very neat. They had a video that talked about all the services that they provide in Korea. It is certainly not limited to foster care and adoption! I did not realize all the social services that they provide!  Molly said that when they started building here it was really only rice paddies around the grounds. You can tell from the views at the top of the hill that there are high rise apartment buildings all around. It is like Seoul has come out to meet them.

Oh- I must mention that we took a subway from the hotel and then took a bus for the 45 minute ride. I told you that there were a LOT of steps at the City Hall station. I counted this morning. From street level to the platform is 132 stairs. That is a LOT of stairs for little legs!!!

It could be part of the reason he PASSED OUT on the bus ride!!

Omma

I'm going to attempt to make this a sensible post, but I make no promises. When you adopt a child who has lived with another family for months, and then you take that child away from them, it is really the most bittersweet thing you can imagine. I'm still kind of crying as I type this, so please forgive me. 

We had the supreme blessing of seeing BOTH boys' foster mothers today. We were ushered up to the 4th floor...but you had to push #5 in the elevator. I still don't understand, but whatever it takes, I suppose. We met in a small room with both women and to our surprise, they had a volunteer translator who came for our visit!! It was an amazing and wonderful surprise. Hannah (the translator) helped us to communicate with both women.

Jeong hui's foster mom asked us what religion we were. I found it kind of interesting, but when we told her that we were Christian and learned that she was too. Then she actually prayed over my son. The same son that she had fed, bathed and loved. To say that I was impressed with myself for not turning into a blubbering idiot would be an understatement!! Jeong hui's foster mom has been fostering babies for 25 or 26 years...she thought. She currently has a little girl living with her now. She is one of the most humble and amazing women I have ever met. He wanted to show her the pictures in the album we brought her.

Hyeon su - always the flirt was in great form today! (THANKFULLY) At 5am this morning, I was a little concerned!! He was telling his Omma who were in the pictures and she would talk to him in Korean and he would just smile and yes. He was the center of attention and played it up as much as possible!!


We met at 11am with the HOPES of being able to take both ladies out to lunch. They both were free!!!  AND Hannah was able to go with us!! When they asked if we liked Galbi, I think I heard Stacy giggle like a little girl. YES, we LOVE Galbi!!! It is a very thinly sliced cut of meat that is cooked over a bed of hot coals. The waitress cuts it up with kitchen shears, which REALLY worried Hyeon su!

Does life get any sweeter than this?

And then we had a FEAST!!!

Korean food is always served with several different side dishes that are called banchan. Kimchi is always one (or more) of the side dishes. We were given the choice of noodles or rice (bap). I thought it was amusing that every person at the table picked bap!

I'm not sure if you noticed, but both boys were only in shirts and sweaters when we walked to the restaurant. It is really rather nice here with temps in the upper 40s to low 50s. The breeze can get a little chilly, but if you do get chilled, all you have to do is step inside a building because I'm pretty sure they must keep their thermostats set about 80 degrees. I'm NOT joking. Well, in true Korean fashion, both ommas ended up giving our boys their scarves because they were convinced they were both too cold. I could feel the love!

And then as quickly as it began, our time was over. But nobody really wanted to leave. It brought back so many memories of taking my sweet boy home 4 years ago. And we all kind of stood there and cried.

But we couldn't linger because we had more "work" to do!! Hannah helped us find our way over to the agency offices. All the donations had arrived safely and we were able to retrieve the 2 suitcases we had used. To say that they were happy would be an understatement! Mrs Shin wanted to make sure that we THANKED everyone who helped make this possible. She said it would help a LOT of babies!!

Then we FINALLY get to ride the subway "train" which made Jeong hui VERY happy!!! The boys wanted to show you were to stand while you are waiting for the subway.

Once we were inside, a woman GOT up so my cuties could have her seat. I'm telling you, Koreans LOVE kids!  That would be her rubbing his head. :)

Elizabeth's first experience with the Seoul subway!!!  But of course, I had forgotten how many stinking stairs there were at the City Hall exit...and a quick reminder as to why Koreans are so skinny! Thanks for reading if you've actually made it this far! We're going to eat our food from Paris Baguette and then head to Namdaemun Market!!!

Donations for babies

When we knew that we were coming to Korea, I immediately knew that I wanted to take as many donations as possible for our adoption agency. I don't have the full number of donations in front of me, but you can see that God answered my prayers for getting as many donations as possible!!! And the fact that we got through security and customs AND made it here with EVERY bag has been a blessing from heaven!

I must admit that I was a little concerned when the phone rang this morning. But it was the person I had been working with at our adoption agency. He thought that the hotel had our donations. Nope...they are safely tucked into our room!!!

I came to the realization this morning that we are going to be able to have FAMILY pictures while we are on this trip!! I'm never IN any pictures because I'm the one taking them. Having Elizabeth with us is already paying off!!!