Soggy Seoul

There was a VERY small window to take the picture before someone walked in front of it. I clearly wasn't ready. Oh well. Do I look wet, or what?

The Rain. Oh, and there is Dondaemun in the background. :)
One of the gates blocking you out of the palace.
This is the Dongdaemun Palace which is called the Great East Gate. Located right in the heart of traffic and chaos. You can see my umbrella and how hard it was raining. :)
Must be a church. Loved seeing a cross.
The off-the-beaten-path outdoor soggy mall where I found some shoes for Joye.


Wow. Remember I said that it was raining yesterday before we went out? Yeah, well when it rains here, it DUMPS. I mean when it rains in Colorado, it rains but it REALLY gets after it here. Puddles everywhere. I noticed when we first got here that there were drains everywhere and I couldn't figure out what they were for. Now I know. Rain. And lots of it. We were soaked to the bone when we got back to the hotel. I got an umbrella when we first left and I was SO glad that I did. Chad was soaked through. Our shoes were soaked. If you didn't look out, you would step in about a million puddles. Which we all did, many times.

The rain didn't seem to bother the locals. High heels and shoes with a few galoshes were the norm.

We ventured off the beaten path and found a gold mine in shopping. TONS of shoes. I bought three pairs of shoes for Joye. They are SO cute. Pretty cheap too. Then my favorite part was this street vendor that had bedding sets. For those who don't know, Koreans don't typically sleep in beds. Their 'mattresses' are just like a thin quilt and then they sleep on a heated floor. Then they cover up with a puffy comforter. Anyways - I had to buy a quilt-like blanket here. So we found one and they are SO beautiful. I thought it was going to be like 70,000-100,000 won. So we asked and it was 25,000 won! What a steal! I was SO excited. I want to go back and get the comforter and maybe a pillow and have a whole set.

So we tried to find the Seoul City Bus Tour and asked someone to help us and never did find it. Oh well. Today we are going to Lotte World. It's about at 20 minute ride on the Subway. We plan to spend most of the day there. It's still kind of rainy. Looks like it might clear up though.

The sun looks like it's trying to shine. It will be nice and muggy. Better than the rain though. Well we're off. Tomorrow we meet our little princess again, and that will be another highlight. Can't wait!

Random thoughts

We finally got the subway thing figured out. I think. :) You have to remember, we are from a VERY small town. This was all of our first time in a subway. It's pretty easy to navigate, though. You just have to pay attention.

We LOVE our Hotel. It's the Eastgate Tower Hotel and it's right next to the Dongdaemun Shopping Center and the Doota mall. These mall's beat the American malls. Most of them are 7-9 stories high. They go on FOREVER. Then you go to a different mall and the same thing!

We had Korean Bulgogi last night and it was DELICIOUS! The only thing, is that we were clueless on how it all went down. So the owner/server in the restaurant finally just took over and helped us. She cut it all up with scissors. It was really cool. Then she told us what to put in it and was really helpful. YUM.

The hotel is really nice. A few observations: The key to the room is a card that you press flat to the door knob and then it opens. Really cool. Then you ditch your shoes at the door. One funny thing that happened. I have to share. When we checked in and came up to our room it was REALLY hot in here. There was no power and we couldn't get the A/C to work. No lights, it was weird. So we called the front desk (which we have done MANY times, and they are so gracious to help us). They rang the doorbell, yeah no knocking, each room has a doorbell. And he said the door key/card goes in this little dock-like thing at the door. THAT powers the lights, A/C and stuff. Totally cool. Then Chad decided to take a shower. NO hot water. We looked around a little and found that you have to turn on the ondol heated flooring heater to get hot water. And it's fluctuates, it doesn't stay hot. It goes from warm to hot throughout your entire shower. And the bathroom floor floods. Because the shower floor drain, toilet and everything are in the same room. If you don't wear the shower booties you'll have REALLY wet socks.

The beds are really comfortable. Hard, but not to bad. There are no top sheets or tons of blankets. Just one really nice comforter. Pillows are soft and comfy. So far NO complaints there.

It's raining right now and so we aren't sure what we are going to do today. Maybe the Seoul City Bus Tour.

We have an American-style breakfast here and it's pretty good. I have been adventurous and tried the porridge both mornings. Yesterday was a rice porridge and it was pretty bland. I notice that their morning stuff is pretty bland. Then this morning I tried the crab meat porridge and it was REALLY good. Not as bland as yesterday.

The money system it super easy. If you ask how much something is, they show you on a calculator. They have the same numeric characters as us. Another thing is there is ALOT of stuff in English. Everywhere you look, there is billboards and stuff in English. We saw Pierce Brosnan on a BIG billboard as we got into the Incheon Airport. My BIL was like "hey, I know that guy!" It is really easy to buy stuff and it's really simple to use. Easier than the American money system. There are no pennies, dimes nickels and stuff like that. Everything is even. 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 Won all in bills. You'll get a half won back every now and then, but it's really easy to figure out. Seoul is very user-friendly. If you can use that term with a city. It just takes a little while to figure it out.

Well, it looks like we are heading out for the day. Hope all is well back home.

Love to you all.

Looks like we made it!

Me and my sweet girl!
We got to feed her and we both were in heaven.

Daddy and his girl.

Here we are listening to our Social Worker translating our questions. (Love her by the way)


So here are the details:
First of all, I am SO sorry that it has taken me this long to post. Let me tell you why it has been impossible. First we left our house at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, then we flew from a small town near us to Denver. Landed in Denver at 7ish and then took off to San Francisco THIRTY minutes later. Yeah, tight connection. Then we hung-out on the tarmak while experiencing a "technical malfunction." Meanwhile back at the ranch our connect window for our flight to Seoul was narrowing.

We then landed in San Francisco and were let off the plane first because there were 40 passengers that had to make the same plane we did. So then we booked it to the international terminal and followed an "angel" who appeared out of nowhere and helped us to the gate. She yelled "Incheon" and we followed her. I honestly don't think we would have made it if it wasn't for her. She had been to Korea before and taught English here. Anyway - we barely made it on the plane before it took off. Then it was 11 hours on the plane.

When we landed in Seoul, it took AN HOUR to get through immigration. Yeah, AN HOUR. The luggage people were paging us to pick up our luggage, it took so long. So we picked up our luggage and found our (fast) driver. He took us to our hotel and once we arrived we had been up for a full 24 hours. Little sleep. Then we proceeded to *try* to find the subway station. What a disaster. We were totally lost. Exhausted. Hungry and ready for bed. We decided just to get a Taxi reservation for our meeting at Eastern this morning. So we left our hotel at 8:30 and arrived at Eastern right as they opened. I pictured Eastern really huge and tons of people. It's actually not that big. So we met our Social Worker and then went through the paperwork of bringing her home.

Then we waited for a little while, and then . . . our SW came in and said our little SeoYeon was here. We left the room and walked out into the hallway . . . and there she was. I recognized her right away. We then all piled into the meeting room and started our meeting.

She is SO beautiful. She didn't really have much to do with us at first. She had a little bit of a boogery nose. Then we sarted engaging her with toys and talking to her. She was immediately interested in toys. Then we started asking questions and communicating with Foster Mom. Then our SW said to pick her up. You don't have to tell me twice!! She was fine in my arms. She looked at me intently and studied me. Then Chad interacted with her and we played with her for a while. Foster Mom got out a doll stroller and put her in it. She loved it. She's really little. She fit into the doll stroller fine! Then Chad pushed her around and she just loved it. She is such a delight! Happy, easy going, just an absolute doll! Foster Mom then left and she never cried or flipped out. She looked for her, but we tried to distract her. FM left the room quite a few times, I think to see what SeoYeon would do. She NEVER cried. FM even waved goodbye to her and said "goodbye" and she never flinched.

Let me just say something here. She is completely attached to FM, but she's not clingy toward her. She was a little clingy at the very beginning, but that was it. I have NO doubt that Joye will grieve and miss FM. Since THE DAY that we saw Joye's picture I have prayed for her transition. Prayed for her little heart and the loss that she will experience soon. Joye is pretty comfortable with us and is very easy-going. Even FM said that. But I think the glory goes to God when it comes to our meeting this morning. It was better than I ever expected. I wasn't as nervous as I thought that I would be. It was AWESOME! Are we still up for hard times? You bet, I am not trying to sugar-coat anything. ALOT of prayer has gone into this whole thing and I am feeling it's benefits.

About Seoul, we were a little overwhelmed last night. Running on literally NO sleep and trying to find the Subway. Not a good combo. Seoul is beautiful and HUGE. After taking the taxi, we got a little more comfortable with asking things and just being adventurous. We are now starting to enjoy ourselves. It takes just getting out there and exploring. Remembering landmarks and buildings help. The people are SO VERY nice. Really nice. I didn't expect them NOT to be, but they are so willing to help. We get stared at alot. That's probably how Joye will feel in our community. It's great to experience that.

We meet Joye on Monday and do our tour and meet the Director at Eastern. We will also move all of our junk (luggage) over to the guesthouse to stay. So far we are having alot of fun and are on an emotional high with meeting our girl for the first time. She is just so beautiful and we are so much in love.

Please continue to pray for her transition and for sweet Foster Mother. She is SUCH a sweet lady and my heart just breaks for her. Joye is her 14th Foster child, so she knows full well what to expect. It doesn't make it hurt less, though. We're not sure what the weekend holds, and I will try to post more often. :)

Lots of love from Seoul.

WHEW!

After getting the email from our agency saying that we had the Guesthouse for the last couple days of our trip, I began to research some hotels. That was Friday. I booked the one that I had been looking into, on Saturday morning and then went on my merry way. Whew, big relief. Hotel, all done. Flights, done. We're good!

Then Sunday evening I decided to check my email. Received an email (from the hotel guy) stating that the booking wasn't a confirmation, and that the hotel I wanted was BOOKED. I'm sorry, say that again!? Yeah, panic! So then I called up the said hotel guy and asked him to help me find a hotel in the area near Eastern and this was his response: "It's too late. I will try but there is a wait list for people that are trying to book a hotel for those dates, in that area." Excuse me? WHAT?!?! Ummmm, we're leaving WEDNESDAY and you're telling me that it's too late?!!! Really, how is that possible? In a city as big a Seoul, there are NO hotel rooms available in the vicinity of Eastern?

So . . . I hopped on the internet and found us a place. Relatively near Eastern. The pickin' was slim, but not impossible. Thanks, but no thanks, pal. I mean, this should have been done last week, and I get that, but it's too late?! Sheeesh!

Crisis avoided and we are on our way to get our daughter. Insert massive smiley face here. Bags are (almost) packed. Maps are (semi) memorized.

We will meet her on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. Which will be Thursday night @ 7:00 your time. Well, Colorado time (I think). My little Abram will be playing T-Ball when we meet baby sister. Weird. Then the rest is up to our Social Worker (in Korea) and Foster Mom.

We will keep you all posted and please continue to pray for little Joye (and us). Her world is going to change BIG TIME. We pray that the Holy Spirit will be with us all.

Super Junior

I was looking a while back to see if CD's from Korea can be played on our players here in the US. Because DVD's have regions and if they are from Korea they won't play here. (Sorry if you already knew that) Anyway-upon finding that CD's are typically region-free, I found this little ditty and I thought I would share. Among KDrama's we are also totally addicted to music videos of Korean groups. Our FAVE is Super Junior. LOVE THEM! We also love SHINee and many others. Here's our favorite song right now from Super Junior. I am hoping to cash in on many CD's while we are over there. Because it's essentially FREE SHIPPING! HA!

Some Details

Well, I just booked our flights! YAY! We are leaving NEXT Wednesday (a week from tomorrow). I thought it was going to be a little cheaper because we have a week between, ummmm . . . not so much! Oh well, we live 5 hours from Denver so we sprung for a little extra to fly there instead of driving. I REALLY wanted to fly Korean Air, Singapore Air or Aisana and it just wasn't possible. Kinda bummed about that, but in the grand scheme of things it's meaningless, really.

I still need to book the hotel, and see if the Eastern Guesthouse is available. Once I receive our flight conformation I will get to that. Otherwise I am just getting the "last minute things" done.

I can't believe that we will be in Seoul in a little over a week!

SO EXCITED!

Gimmie a T!

And gimmie a C! Just got our Travel Call this morning! YAY! We are going to Seoul! I need to make a bazillion phone calls and then I will update with Travel info.

We're comin' baby girl!!!