Wahe's World

Last Hours in Seoul

Dinner before the Show with our new friends

Michelle Here.
After our meeting with Michael on Thursday, we met up with another Adoptive Family who we met while at Eastern. They are bringing home their little girl. We decided to see the show “Jump”. It was a blast! Here’s the link, for any of you traveling:
http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_2_3.jsp?cid=313485

It was a great ending to our trip, spent with our new found friends.

The following day was our last day in Seoul. We were on a 6:45 pm flight, and had to be back at Eastern by 2 p.m. to catch their shuttle to the airport. We had just enough time to make it over to the National Korean Museum. We had our own personal tour from an English speaking guide, and learned soooo much about Korean history. In a nutshell, Koreans are incredibly resilient and resourceful; throughout their history, either China or Japan has been trying to conquer the peninsula of Korea. It’s also amazing that South Korea has been able to build itself up to one of the strongest economies in the world.

Having coffee at the National Museum of Korea

National Museum of Korea

Heading Home

We are heading to the airport in about 30 minutes. It’s been an absolutely, undescribably, amazing trip. We will post on our adventures and fun of our last day in Korea when we get home.
For now, we are saying goodbye to the country we’ve so fallen in love with. And we thank this country for giving us two beautiful sons.
Leaving will be incredibly difficult, as was saying goodbye to Michael yesterday.
Here’s to a quick return back to bring home our newest son, who we so adore.
So for now, we say goodbye.

Michael The Second Meeting

Today we got to meet Michael for the second time.  It was an amazing experience. The pictures say it all ….

Wednesday in Seoul

Michelle Here.

We spent the day in Seoul.    We took the subway to Insadong, and found a store we were looking for….they hand carve name chops out of marble.   We had one done for Alex, and one for Michael.   They carved their Korean name in it, with their American, and they turned out really cool!    The people were very sweet, and we also got a calligraphy piece with our Family name, and our individual names written in Hangul.

While we were waiting for our name chops to be completed, we walked over to Gyeongung (spelling?) Palace.   This was one of the most important palaces over the course of Korean history.    It was surreal, because it was quite a juxtaposition when entering this very old palace, right from the busy, compact streets of Seoul.    We got in with an English speaking tour, so we got to learn more of the history of Korea.

I have a side story on the Palace visit……OK…..we’re westerners:  blond tall, wearing tennis shoes.    The Palace had thousands of school kids taking a field trip.     Put the two together, and what do these westerners get?    S.p.e.c.t.a.c.l.e.    We were constantly being approached by very excited, adorable Korean kids saying “hello”, followed by a giggle.    We would play along, and wave, and say “hello”.   If they got really brave, they would say, “where are you from?”.   We would say “Chicago” (OK, I know we’re really not from Chicago, but doubt they know were Madison is).    This went on during our entire tour!   We were like rock stars.  They would come up to us while we were on our tour, and take photos of us too.     Then…to top it off….the Palace personnel asked us to pose for a promotional piece they are doing!!    So, we, representing the Western culture, followed the Palace personnel, and pretended to paint the Palace and actually had to tear off some Korean Paper that was adhered to the Palace.    Our guide said they wanted Westerners in the photo, so we were the token Westerners.   This, in itself, created quite the spectacle, which resulted in a crowd of people watching us.  So, in a nutshell, we came all the way to Korea to tear down the Ancient Palace……silly Americans.

After the Palace Tour, we visited the adjoining Korean Folk Museum which was great.    It had a ton of great displays, and we learned a lot about the history and culture as a result.   By this time, the school kids had gone home, so we enjoyed the museum in peace 🙂

Sunday in Seoul

Michelle Here.

Yes, Yes, I know.    I’m not going in cronological order.   We haven’t made a post on our first day in Seoul, so here it is.

We took Asiana Airlines, direct from Chicago to Seoul.    Asiana was nice….a lot like Korean Air.    We took Asiana this time, because tickets were $800 total cheaper than Korean Air.

We arrived at the airport at 4 a.m.   We caught a cab, and made our way to the Eastern Guesthouse.    We’re so very glad someone was working the front desk at 5:30 a.m., and they expected our arrival.   We were very, very ready to rest for awhile, and were grateful they could give us our room at that early hour.

We were able to sleep on the plane a little, so that made Sunday easier to get used to.

We have stayed at the guesthouse when we got Alex, so it was all comfortably familiar to us.    At about 9 am, with the day ahead of us, we decided we better get outside, soak in some sun, and get over this jet lag.

Locks @ N Seoul Tower

We took the subway over to North Seoul Tower.   This is near the center of Seoul, and is on a mountain in the middle of Seoul.    We took the cable car up, and the view was amazing.   This gave us a sense of how large Seoul really is.    There is an area there where you can bring padlocks and join them to the tower’s fence.   Traditionally, you can put a message on the lock, and leave it there for good wishes.    We brought our locks from the US, and paid homage to our new family.   We had one large lock with “Wahe” on it.   We then had one small lock for each of our 4 family members.   We included two more locks…one for Alex’s birthmother, and one for Michael’s birthmother.   We adjoined them all on the large “Wahe” lock, and put them on the fence facing East……facing in the direction of our home.   The locks will forever be overlooking Seoul, and pointing toward our home.

We then took a taxi to Iteawan, and walked around there for a few hours, killing time before we went to the DOOSAN BEARS Baseball game!

The game started at 5 pm, so we arrived at about 4 pm, and got to walk around the outside of the stadium a little.     Let me tell you, no bratwurst were sold in the food vendor carts.    Instead, there were vendors like KFC, Burger King, random Korean carts that I didn’t know what kind of food they were selling.   It was wild.

We got into the stadium, got a seat in this sold out game, and HAD A BLAST!    Koreans love their baseball.    The crowd was always chanting, singing, and cheering.    They had cheerleaders.   They had these blow-up baseball bats that you pounded together to make noise.   It was a ton of fun.    I enjoyed watching the game too, because they hit the ball!!    As you know, in US professional baseball, ‘walking’ the batter is common.   Not so much here.   Hitting the ball was the name of the game, so it was fun to watch the ball in action.

Michelle enjoying a Hite at the baseball game.

Passing the time …

Today Michelle and I took a day trip to Andong.  Andong is Michael’s birth city. We hired a guide (WOW Korea for all those who may be traveling to Korea) to drive and take us to the key sites around Andong. In Andong we visited   Byeongsan seowon, a Confucian academy that was founded in 1575 and was active until 1871.  Our tour guide, Elvis, gave us a brief overview of Confucianism while we sat in the outdoor lecture hall that overlooked a river running along the mountains.  It was very beautiful and peaceful. We then had traditional Korean lunch made up of kimchi, tofu soup, salted mackerel and much more. After lunch we visited a village called Hahoe.  This is a historic village set in 15/16 century.  This was kind of like visiting Colonial Williamsburg. The village is home to a 600 year old wishing tree.  You could write a wish and tie it to the rope around the tree.  We made a wish for our family and the birth-mothers of Michael and Alex. Since this was an educational site there were many school children visiting.  Michelle and I became exhibits of sorts since they do not see many Americans in person.  They wanted to know what famous people we have met.  When we told them that we met Barack Obama, they didn’t believe us.  I don’t blame them. The final stop on the tour took us to a paper factory.  This was a lot more interesting then you might think.  Andong was a major paper producer in Korea. They used traditional paper making processes using mulberry trees.  It makes very beautiful paper  (and yes, we are bringing some home for Michelle’s various projects). It was a long day but a great distraction while we wait to see Michael again on Thursday.  We do miss Alex a lot.  I think of him whenever I look at my watch and figure out what time it is at home.  I do know he is being well cared for by his grandparents.

Michelle and Stefan at Confucian School in Andong

Elvis and Stefan playing with mulberry pulp

We Met Michael!!!

We are so glad we had the great opportunity to meet Michael today.  It was amazing to be with him.  We spent our time at first observing how he interacted with his Foster Mom.  He kept an eye on use while he played with various toys.  He began interacting with us once Michelle brought out some treats.  He would take them from us and eat them while trying to figure us out.  We learned a lot about him: 22 pounds, likes to eat, doesn’t sleep much and that he is easy going.   

We will get to spend more time with him on Thursday.  We already miss him and can’t wait for our next meeting to arrive.

We will write more about our first meeting in the next day or so.

Following are some of the pictures from our play date:

Michael, Mom, Dad and Foster Mom

We’re Here!

We arrived in Seoul at 4:00 a.m. local time. We checked into the Eastern Guesthouse, and are settled in. It’s 9 am, and we have the whole day ahead of us to explore. We’re going to try to catch a professional baseball game tonight.
We meet Michael in 24 hours! yeah!

Getting Ready for the Trip

Stefan and I are finding it hard to believe that we will be meeting Michael in ONE WEEK! That’s right….on Sunday, April 19th at 8 PM (local Madison time) we will be in the same room with Michael and his wonderful Foster Mother! It’s hard for us to fathom.    This reminds me of the first time we met Alex.  I will never forget the first time I saw Alex. It was the most surreal feeling I have ever had. In a split second, I could see this child was Real! He was no longer a 2 dimensional photo that I carried around in my purse everyday. He was a real person. He was ours to hold. He was ours to look at, to smell, to play with, and most importantly……to love. At the time, the feeling overwhelmed me what a true miracle this child was, to come into our lives. We will have that same feeling in just a few short days. Simply amazing.

Alex gets to spend the week with his grandparents. They are switching off on their duties, and he so much adores his 4 grandparents. We are blessed.

Alex has been talking a lot about Michael. We started talking with him when we got our referral, so now he’s an everyday topic. Alex brings up questions about Michael all the time. (of course, in his own, 2 year old way). He will be playing with a truck, and he will stop, point to the truck, and say “Michael?”. He will point to the highchair in the corner of our dining room, and say “Michael?”. He will be playing in his sandbox, stop, point to the sand, and say “Michael?”. He will point to a small child, and say “Michael?” We will be in a store, shopping, and when I have a child’s shirt in my hand, he will point to it, and say “Michael?”. It’s amazing to us how much he comprehends, and how much his little brain is processing this notion of a little brother. He has his own pictures of Michael that he carries around the house. They are now crumpled up and well loved, and he’ll still stop us, and tell us who that is in the picture. I’m already getting to experience and witness the relationship between two brothers, and what an honor it is.

I’m not sure if we’ll be updating our blog before our trip, but thank you everyone for your support throughout this crazy journey. It means a lot to us. We WILL be updating while we are in Seoul.   Please send us your positive thoughts and prayers as we are away.   It’s a blessing to meet him, and will be bittersweet to leave him.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some photos of our soon-to-be big brother.

We tried to get a family photo for both kids' foster families. This was our favorite.

Hanging out at the top of the swing set.

Our little man.

Saying "Cheese!"

Alex has a lot of things to teach a little brother. Mama's in trouble.

More interested in seeing how the toilet works, than using it.

We are Traveling Early to meet Michael!

Many of you are probably wondering what the latest news is for our adoption of Michael.    We received updated photos of him about a month ago, so that was a wonderful surprise!   I just want to jump through my computer screen a pinch his cheeks, and give him a hug!

On a sadder note, the time line from referral (being matched to Michael) to our Travel call has grown longer than ever.   We are now being told to prepare for an 8 to 9 month wait.   That puts us potentially getting a travel call in July or August.   He will be 13-14 months old at that time.   The thought of waiting that long brings an emptiness in my heart.   I don’t want to go into the details of why it’s taking longer;  it just is.   We know he will come into our family at some time.   That time is just later than what Stefan and I would like.

Therefore, with a lot of discussion between us, Stefan and I have decided to take a trip to Seoul EARLY to meet Michael!   We are going to travel April 16-23.   We will  meet with him (and his foster mother) at least once, and hopefully twice.   We are taking a suitcase full of gifts, toys, cameras, and clothes for him.

Stefan and I have done a lot of soul-searching to determine whether this is the best thing for our family.   We certainly had the cost issue to discuss and work out.  We had the logistics of Stefan talking off work and teaching, and the logistics of child care for Alex.  When it comes right down to it, we have to GO.   We have the opportunity, and in many ways, we hope that will ease the wait just a little.  We talked to 4 other families who took the trip for similar reasons, and they all said “GO!”.   It will be heart-wrenching to leave Michael behind, and tears come to my eyes as I type this, but we feel it’s what we need to do.   We want to meet him while he’s a baby.   We want to show him (now, and in the future) and his foster mother, how much we already love him.   We want to kiss his pudgy cheeks, and we want to see if he has grown any hair.   We want to get a glimpse of his personality.   We want to see the real baby behind the few photos we have, that we so much cherish.

Most importantly, we simply want to hold him, even if it’s just for a little while.

Please send your positive thoughts and prayers our way to lift us up and keep us strong as we proceed on our journey.   We so much love our little boy already.

Here are the updated pics of Michael.   He’s about 6 months old in the photos.   Also—I can’t make a blog entry without including our handsome son, and soon to be “big brother”, Alex.

Michael holding the photo book we sent to him.

I want to kiss those pudgy cheeks!

Alex enjoying the snow–Feb., 2010