Korea, Day 2 or 3...I don't really know.

blogging

I am so mixed up on my days. It is 5 am here in Seoul, we are wide awake. It is very rainy outside. So we decided to blog and upload some pictures and eat breakfast. I am pretty sure I am drinking orange juice made from mandarin oranges. Very odd.

Clay making breakfast in the guesthouse

lunch with Dr. Kim and other families

Yesterday morning I could not wake up. I felt drugged. I guess that was jet lag. Eventually I had to wake up because we were to meet with Dr. Kim for lunch. She is a very sweet lady. We met in her office and there was another couple there from Los Angeles who was adopting their third child. Dr. Kim had us watch a video on Eastern (oddly enough it was a video I had already found and watched on YouTube), and then we went to a lunch room type area and there was a table set up covered in Korean food. Also there was another couple there from New York and their two teenage children adopted from Korea. They had come back to visit Korea with their children. They were all very nice! The food was good and we got to talk and ask each other questions. When that was over Clay and I went back to our room to change and then we went to the nursery to see the babies!! That was my favorite part! I wish I could do that every day! We were not allowed to take pictures, but there are multiple rooms with rows and rows of babies. Some were just days old. At first  I was told to hold Chong Soo, a CUTE, sweet little 8 month old baby. He was the wiggliest baby I have ever held. While I was holding him one of the nursery staff ladies told me he had a family in America! He was being adopted! He will live in Colorado! Oh how I wish I could find his parents and tell them I got to hold him!! Then the lady told me to go in the next room and sit at a table with him. I was not sure why. Then suddenly there was this big entourage of people all dressed up. Turns out it was some famous Korean celebrity that had stopped by to donate some baby items and visit the babies! His name is Choi Soo Jong. Dr. Kim introduced him to Clay and a photographer took their picture! Amazing! Then they walked passed me sitting with Chong Soo at the table and took my picture with him! I wonder if these pictures will be in some Seoul newapaper or magainze! We will check today. http://www.askactor.com/actor/Choi_Soo_Jong/galleries/

Choi Soo Jong

After that Clay and I just walked around picking up babies every time they cried and rocking them. I hope they all get adopted, they are so precious. I learned that after the adoptive parents go home with their children, the foster mom can then go right upstairs to the nursery and pick out another baby to take home if they choose. There are just not enough foster parents for all the babies. Some of the babies upstairs are 3-4 months old and laying in that bed day after day is the only life they have known. I assume they go to a different baby home once they start becoming more mobile. Our foster mother chose our little Violet at 2 months old. I am so thankful she chose her.
We eventually pried ourselves away from the babies and we ventured out to try out the subway and try and find the toy market. Everyone has told us how extremely easy the subway is to use. Well, we could not figure out to buy a subway card! They had machines everywhere to buy a ticket for one stop, but we wanted to buy the pass that lets you go all you want (well at least as much as we would need while we are here). Finally, we found a subway worker and he took us into the "Information Office" and went to his desk drawer and pulled one out! I am not sure if everyone else had to do this to get a card, but I'm thinking that 11 million people in Seoul do not go to his desk for their card. There was this nice kid who spoke English and he helped us take it to the machine and put money on it. And he asked where we were from and we said "America" and he said "I like American dramas". (Earlier that day we were flipping through the channels in our room and I saw an advertisement for all the CSIs) So I said, "CSI?" and he smiled and said "yes!" LOL

Seoul at night

Subway

Seoul

What are you thinking Dusty Butt

Outdoor toy market

Outdoor market

So this was my first subway experience. I am sure it is nothing like American subways. Of course, all I know is what I see in movies - how they are dark, dangerous and smell like pee - but this subway was spotlessly clean and bright.
There are 11 million people in Seoul so there is never a second where you are totally alone, so you always feel very safe wherever you go. We arrived at our stop and arrived at the "toy market". Which is a long street that looks like an alleyway filled with an abundance of different stuff. That is something about Korea, there is so much stuff! It just overflows onto the sidewalks and streets everywhere. Bags and buckets and boxes full of stuff everywhere! We bought a few souvenirs for the kids, but we did not find any great deals (everything was so expensive! 30,000\ & 40,000\ for small plastic teething rings and dolls!) Hopefully we can find some better deals elsewhere today.

Toy store

Outdoor market

We started to get hungry and decided to head back. We saw an advertisement for Outback Steakhouse in the subway and a hamburger sounded pretty good so we decided to go there if we could find it. We got to a street corner (there are always people walking and waiting at crosswalks) and Clay asked a couple if they knew where Outback was (most Koreans speak at least some English) and they said they were headed to Outback too and we could follow them! We got there and wouldn't you know it, they only served hamburgers at lunch time! Not for dinner! So we had chicken, and it was good. Headed back to Eastern we got a little turned around and Clay asked another couple on the corner where the Renai building was and the man had a little Asian flush going on and he thought it was so funny we were talking to him and his wife and they did not speak any English and he started making motions with his hands about my umm, hourglass figure (I just figured he was calling me fat), and making motions to Clay about trading wives! His wife was laughing and we were all laughing and he started showing me his muscles and Clay was still asking where the Renai building was and they were still saying they didn't know English and his wife was laughing and saying "sorry, fine thank you!" like trying to tell me that was the only English she knew, and that made me laugh! "Sorry, fine thank you!"  Oh boy, that was a fun time...
We finally found our way back to Eastern and went straight to bed at about 9pm.
It's Friday morning here and I just talked on the phone with my mom and Aidan. Faith has gone to her first sleepover at her friend Aubrey's house. Mom said she is very excited! I hope she makes it through the night! Aidan had a good day at school. His GT class had Science Olympiad and Aidan won first place in aerodynamics (paper airplane making)! And his school won 2nd place overall! They all ate lunch at CiCis pizza and my mom and Faith went and ate with them! Sounds like they are having a great time and that is very comforting! I miss them and can't wait to see them!!
Today we get to see Violet again! I hope she is more comfortable with us today. More updates to come! Excuse the odd placement of pictures. It is very difficult to move pictures in Blogger for some reason!!
~Amanda

The subway was much easier to use than most U.S. cities. The stations are very large, so for transfers, getting from the street to the train, and from the train to the street there is a lot of walking.I did show my muscles to that man, but didn't show off my dancing abilities like that guy did. I wish I would have, I am such a great dancer! ;)

-Clay