take me out to the ballgame ...

Today we went back to Insa-dong, which is by far our favorite neighborhood in Seoul.  We wanted to go back to make some purchases and check out a restaurant in the area ... we both wanted more of that Bibimbap! 

I'm gonna get me some Bibimbap!

 

Bibim-YUM!

can't get it in fast enough! 

 

Insa-dong

  

After our fabulous meal, we decided to observe the holiday going on in Minnesota (remember, that even though it was April 13th here in Seoul, it was still April 12th in MN).  What holiday, you ask?  Well actually there were 2 holidays in MN on April 12th:  my birthday and the MN Twins opener at the new Target Field stadium!!!  So we decided to take in a Korean baseball game!   We discovered that the Koreans have a team called the Twins whose uniforms are fashioned after that of our beloved MN Twins!!!  The Korean Baseball Org (KBO) has 8 teams and 6 of them have logos/uniforms similar to baseball and football teams in the US.  We went to an evening game to see the LG Twins play the Samsung Lions. 

When we got to Jamsil Stadium (near the Olympic Stadium from the 1988 Seoul Olympics) we found ourselves surrounded by a scene similar to any game in the US:  vendors outside the stadium selling team logo merchandise and food.  However, the food is unlike the Schweigert hotdogs sold at Target Field - we found rice cakes, squid and kimbap (sushi), among other local foods.

Inside the stadium you can find KFC and Burger King, among other vendors, in the event that the appetizers found outside the stadium didn't fill you up.  And of course there were vendors walking the stands selling snack items too (aka, the Korean version of "Wally the Beer Man").   

 

We saw more people wearing MLB hats than KBO hats, but many donned their local team's jerseys. And of course we had to get LG Twins jerseys too!

And another unique twist to the Korean baseball experience:  cheerleaders and thunder sticks galore!!  Each team had a cheerleading team and all the fans were clapping their thundersticks in support of their team.

Overall, I would say the Korean baseball game experience is more similar to a St. Paul Saints game than that of a MN Twins game because of all the extra things going on to keep you entertained.  We are glad we went, it was a fun way to get another taste of  Korean culture!

heading back "home"

After the game, we had to move out of the guesthouse at the agency and into a hotel (long story to be told later), so it was a late night.  We both fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow and began dreaming of tomorrow's 2nd meeting with the littlest prince ... :)

happy birthday to me ... a 3D JD!

I woke up early ... like 3 am early.  Guess I was a bit excited.  We spent the morning getting dressed; prepping our gifts for the foster family, social worker and agency director; and going over our list of questions we wanted to ask his foster mother.  We were instructed to go down to "Office 101" at 9:50 am, so we could complete some paperwork.  Then we'd meet JD at 10am.  I was calm, cool and collected until 9:48am.  Then I started freaking out ... for real.  Just ask David :)

After the paperwork, we walked, with our social worker Bo, to a room filled with toys.  There was another family just exiting that room and a line of about 10 foster mothers with children waiting for their turn to go into the room for the "1st meeting".  Bo beckoned to one of the women and she popped out of line ... and THERE HE WAS, the littlest prince!!   WOW!!  It's so funny because I cried before our meeting, and I'm crying as I'm typing this blog, but I didn't cry during our one hour visit with him.  I was just so filled with joy and wanted to enjoy every second that it didn't even cross my mind.  Plus I didn't want to scare the little bugger!

JD did so well.  He never cried and didn't really show any stranger anxiety.  He just stared at us intently at first, then started playing with toys.  Initially, when we tried to play with him, he would just stare at us with a "who the heck are you guys?" kind of look. 

here's the "who the heck are you guys" look

In the beginning, JD stayed fairly close to his foster mother.  We kept playing with him and didn't get too "in his face".  We used this opportunity to ask his foster mother questions about his likes/dislikes (Bo translated for us)

FM is telling us what, and how, he likes to eat   

Then, finally, we had the breakthrough smile, while playing with a wire/block toy, and it was all downhill from there. 

look at that smile!

We got tons of smiles after that and lots of fun playtime.  He seems pretty easygoing and he loves to move around and check things out.  And he even danced for us a few times.  For a while he was more interested in a vacuum cleaner in the corner of the room than he was in the toys.  He went over to it a couple of times and made vacuum cleaner noises (hmm, this mama thinks she may have a little helper for the housework)! 

He smelled absolutely yummy - David commented on it a number of times after our meeting on what a wonderful "baby" smell JD had.  And of course he had the cutest little nugget of a butt :)   

he liked the cookie eating noises I made

 

 playtime with daddy 

 "D" is soaking up that yummy baby smell :)

 

 

  

... and he let me hold him at the end of our visit

At the end of our visit, we were told our 2nd visit with JD will be Wednesday afternoon at 2pm. Yay!  We then went to meet with the agency director at Eastern, Dr. Kim.  Our visit with her was shared with 2 other families:  a woman from MN picking up her 2nd child (she lives not far from us, she gave us her contact info) and a family of 4 from CA who were there to visit their adopted son's (10 yr old) birth country and his foster mother.  Dr Kim told us the history of Eastern and of adoption in Korea, as well as a bit on the social history of Korea since the Korean War. 

We were then invited to have lunch with her (something we thought wouldn't happen until Thurs, if at all).  We went up to the lunchroom and it was filled with other people.  We shared a table with the CA family and another couple from WY who were there adopting their child.  It was a lovely lunch and the food was delicious.  My favorite?  Bibimbap (rice, veggies, might have been a little meat).  We spent well over an hour with these people and had a wonderful conversation.

By the time we were done it was 2pm.  We headed out to check out Itaewon area in hopes of finding some gifts for JD - no luck there in our gift hunt :(   We then walked over to Namsan Park, which is right in the middle of the city and HUGE.  It is a beautiful, very well maintained nature area with hiking trails and walking paths.  It reminds me a little of Muir Woods outside of San Fran.  This park is also where the N Seoul tower is (picture a Seattle space needle type bldg).  We took a cable car up to the tower so we could enjoy the view from the observation deck.  WOW, this city is so much bigger than we realized ... not sure why I'm surprise as it has one of the top 5 largest populations in the world.  Seeing it from up here really gives you a feel for just HOW big it is.

Namsan park from the air

What an AWESOME birthday!!!   JD is no longer just these one dimensional pictures that I've been looking at since last August.  He's now my JD in 3D:  an adorable, huggable, snuggly, squirmy, totally mobile and laughing little 13 month old.  And he's ours :)

our quest for blossoms leads us to another surprise ...

It's Sunday and this morning we took the subway (under the Hangang River) over to Yeouido Island.  Ryan, the american we met on the subway yesterday, told us this is the place to see the cherry blossoms.  When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find an expansive park system along the river, as well as in the middle of this island, which has both walking and biking paths.  Many people (and caterpillars) were outside enjoying this warm and sunny spring day!!   

We were thrilled when we found an old man renting bikes - we decided to tour around on wheels!  We had a great time (we loooove biking) and this is truly an amazing island park:  generous trails that lead off this "island" and back onto the mainland up/down the Hangang River ... we could have gone for hours and hours.  Very well kept land and amazing views of Seoul across the river.  It truly was a delightful surprise.

 view of Hangang River and Seoul, from Yeouido Island  

 pedal power

As for the cherry blossoms?  Well, I'm guessing they'll be at peak by the end of this week.  But right now there were many trees with small buds, but few with actual flowers.  However, with the number of trees lining the streets and paths of Yeouido, I bet it's a spectacular sight!  We may head over here again on Thursday, if time allows, to sneak a peak before we leave later in that day.

many trees just waiting to pop with blossoms!

a truly gorgeous and clean park system

After about 3 hours on Yeouido, we took the subway (Janet, everytime I hear the subway music I smile and think of you) to the Myeong-dong neighborhood.  It was crazy busy there, as there is a huge dept store called Lotte ... and let me tell you there were a "lotta" people there!  :)   We sat and watched a continous stream of people coming of the subway.  Continuous.  All.  Day.  Whoever owns Lotte must be making a lotta money (sorry, couldn't help myself).  Anyway, I wonder if it's always this busy or if this was just because it was a Sunday. 

Speaking of Sunday, there is a cathedral in this neighborhood called Myeongdong Cathedral, which is the Korean Catholic headquarters.    

Myeongdong Cathedral

Myeong-dong area

Tomorrow comes the MOST DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE EVER!  The first time I get to see my JD in 3D!  Since getting the travel call, I've said that for months I've only had these one-dimensional pictures of my little nugget and can't wait until I get to see the 3D version!  :)  Well tomorrow is that day.  I'm so excited and emotional ... my eyes are welling up with tears as I write this.  All I've done is wait and wait for so, so long.  It almost doesn't seem real that the day is here ... but it is!!  It's going to be such a memorable day, such a special birthday ... my 3D JD!

So hang tight for the best pictures of our entire trip ...

minneapolis + 747 + 18 hours = seoul!!

It's Saturday, April 10th and we're here!  Our flight left at about 4pm from MSP, about a 12 hour journey to Tokyo (Narita), and from there we flew into Seoul (Incheon).  The Delta flight was great, we had BusinessElite seats (with the help of a miles upgrade).  We had those amazing "pod" seats that reclined into various positions, including flat for sleeping.  And the service was GREAT!  All that being said, it was still a looooong flight.  We had a layover in Narita, Japan:  probably the cleanest, nicest airport I've ever been in!  I don't know if all their bathrooms are like this, but we got to use the Delta Sky Club lounge while waiting for our flight, and the toilet seats were heated!!  Not even kidding!   We need that in Minnesota during January :)

Check out those bags ... not my luggage, under my eyes!  The result of a week of sleep deprivation!

Our flight arrived in Seoul at 11pm on Friday, April 9th (which would have been 9am in MSP - remember, Seoul is 14 hours ahead).  We had a driver from the agency pick us up at the airport in Seoul, and arrived at the guesthouse around midnight.   Bed mattress is super hard - but at this point, who cares.  We unpacked and crashed. 

firm mattress that felt surprisingly good after a loooooong flight

each floor of the guesthouse (4 floors) had a shared kitchen area

Saturday morning we woke up early in need of coffee and the desire to explore - plan was to go to Insa-dong, which is a neighborhood with streets/alleys of shops, art galleries, food vendors and restaurants.  We tried to get directions to the subway station from agency staff, but didn't have the best of luck.  We walked out the door of the agency and took a chance heading in one direction.  Wrong choice.  We eventually turned around and made our way back, confused since the map we were provided wasn't detailed by street.  We walked the path that the driver had taken when driving us the night before, in hopes we'd recognize something and ... voilà, we found the subway station!  In addition, we found the super cool, Hongik University area - it's an art college and there were many hip restaurants and shops and ... a STARBUCKS!!  Yay, coffee! :)

Starbucks!

After grabbing coffee and walking around the Hongik neighborhood, we took the subway to Insadong.  The subway system is great:  clean and easy to use!  Insadong was nice - we enjoyed steamed potstickers, had a korean pastry from a street vendor, made some purchases for JD (our goal is to leave Korea w/gifts for each of his first 18 birthdays).  The weather was overcast and cool - much cooler than it has been in Minnesota, and I didn't pack accordingly - was wishing I had brought a warmer jacket. 

Insa-dong

alley in Insa-dong

we bought a custom hand-carved name stamp for JD (in his Korean name) from this woman & man

street performers

How could I resist him?

But that problem was solved when we took the subway back to Hongik University area and I found a suuuuper cool jacket at a store called "Volkwagon" (thought of you, Mary Beth) ... had to get it and now I'm warm.

toasty warm in her cool new jacket!

Hongbik University area

this building was our "landmark" to help find our way back to the guesthouse

On the subway, we met an American named Ryan who is living in Seoul and teaches english at a public school.  He gave us some ideas and directions on places to see - he was very nice and couldn't help but tell us that he was very much in love with a local Korean girl whom he had moved to Korea to be near :)

Tomorrow is Sunday and, among other adventures, we plan to check out a Cherry Blossom Festival along the river ...

-S