Friday 7-19, Saturday 7-20 Taekwondo and Ettiquette

Today we started doing taekwondo... It's like Korea's way if doing karate, we will continue this tomorrow 7-20. We received our own custom made uniforms. the uniform had our national flag on one sleeve and the Korean flag on the opposing sleeve. The teacher Deoksoo Jeon was a Korean adoptee as well. His adoption was domestic though and this made him a wiser man. He has been helping teach taekwondo for this camp now for three years and he is recently married. I am thankful to him for sharing his story and his journey of adoption and the struggles he faced.
We started the day off with warm-up drills of running, flexibility, and stretching... I never realized how out of shape I am till taking this class. We practiced kicking; round kicks, straight kicks and punching with our fists.
The instructor gave us a challenge to break a board the next day to receive a prize. No one's failed yet...
Then we got back onto the red tour bus and went back to the hotel took quick showers and then ate lunch; Korean McDonald's food and tried on the traditional Korean clothes hanbok.

After that we went back onto the bus to go to the Myung Won Cultural Foundation. It was an etiquette class where we were going to learn  how to bow properly make green tea and pour it properly. Sadly, this art form is slowly dying in Korea.The tea was really good. We also did the coming of age ceremony which is when a child turns 20 they receive an adult name. We received our adult names and their meanings with great gratitude.

At the tea ceremony place dinner was served, it was delicious! 

Then we had free time so I went with a group to norae bong or karaoke place called Rock Q.

I also was able to go shopping so I picked up a few things.

7/20~ We woke up to attend taekwondo again. The challenge was becoming a reality, everyone broke their board and we received our prize. It was a black belt with our Korean name engraved on it. For lunch we ate chicken again and we celebrated our Norwegian friend's Tove birthday by eating banana bread.

Thursday 7-18- Korean class, Calligraphy and FOOD...

Today we finished Korean class with Hannah Madeline. She teaches in Hong Kong now. We learned the two number systems; Korean and Sino-Korean. Then we went to Holt post adoption services(PAS to look at the babies and play with them. They were grateful to see the males since they only generally have female interaction throughout the day. We went in three separate groups, my group went first but, most of the babies were sleeping so... sadly I only got to play with one baby. Sadly, these babies cannot be adopted. 
Then we ate lunch... It was chicken today! :) It's a dish called "samgyetang" a ginseng chicken soup. It is very commonly eaten in the summertime. It is a chicken that is filled with rice, ginseng, jujubes, garlic, and ginger. It is closed shut and cooked in broth.
After lunch it was time to head off to calligraphy class. We learned about calligraphy by a famous calligrapher here in S. Korea, Byung In Kang.He has created designs for all sorts of products such as soju and he plans to make a statue like the Eiffel tower in Paris so that others can see the beauty of Korea.
 He gave us all gifts of a notebook and we did calligraphy on traditional Korean fans.When painting on the traditional Korean fans we were able to use different mediums such as sticks, sponges, forks, dowels, and pencils. He also wrote our Korean names on paper and signed it for us.

For the rest of the night we have free time...

Most of us went to eat pork belly for dinner and then we went to a cool stream in Seoul and we saw two statues General Lee and King Sejeong. King Sejeong is on the 10,000 dollar won and is famous for creating the Korean language/alphabet.

Some people are still out but a few of us wanted to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day...

7/17/2013 Cooking memories in recipes

Today we had Korean class and learned about the alphabet and a few phrases that would be useful. For lunch we ate at a local Korean restaurant. It was a type of soup. Then, we had Korean cooking class at the Soodoo Cooking Institute. We were greeting by chef and teacher Bo-Kyung Park the 3rd generation to own and teach at the institute. They opened the institute in 1965 and it is still family owned and operated. She taught us how to cook two traditional Korean dishes Bulgogi( a beef dish) and Jap Chae(a clear noodle and veggie dish). This was our dinner for the night, we worked in groups of three at cooking stations that had woks, stove tops, a counter and sinks to clean our hands and the food. After dinner some of us went shopping in Myeong-dong. I bought 2 new tops from a popular clothing store called uniqlo .
We all rushed after shopping to try to catch the rainbow fountain off the Banpo bridge above the Han river. Unfortunately, it wasn't running today,disappointment set in but due to the rain that had occurred earlier that day and a flood that occurred near by it wasn't running.

Then came back to the hotel to get some rest. Some others chose to go to the Gangnam district (a wealthy district about a half hour away from Seoul by bus)  but this time I chose to go back to the hotel.

7/16 Holt Visit...

Today we learned about Holt and its founders Harry and Bertha Holt. We got to meet there daughter Molly who continues the legacy. Sadly, Molly is suffering from *breast* cancer right now.

We visited 2 Holt centers- Ilsan and Seoul... the Illsan center is a facility for disabled children and adults. It was pioneered in 1961 to help families that could not care for their children due to their disabilities such as cerebral palsy, down syndrome and emotional and mental difficulties. The Holt's gave these children a chance for a normal life with the care and love of a family. 
After visiting the Illsan center we went to the main Holt building in Seoul for orientation. It was here that the ground rules for camp were laid out for us.  For lunch we ate westernized Korean food a sort of fusion. For dinner we ate at Bulgogi brothers... a very nice place where they served rice last. Then we had free time... Some of us went bowling this night and unfortunately for me I lost track of the time. Before I knew it I was tired and had no way back to the hotel. Everyone else had already left for the night after sightseeing or they wanted to stay out later. To make a long story short, the house mother YuJin had to help me get a cab at midnight or slightly before midnight which was a nightmare... It's quite difficult to get a cab until after midnight because their rates go up.
    Luckily, she was able to call a cab for me but I was unaware that I would be taking the cab back to the hotel by myself. This was an interesting start to the trip... I felt horrible afterwards though because she was missing out on all the fun that others were participating in, they all went to a bar in hongdae.

    I came here to learn Korean  and the culture and become more familiar with words, but I was also here to seek out my birth parents.
I had  to remind myself why I had come on this trip in the first place...the whole reason for being here is happy trail camp... I have to become more independent and understanding of the other participants and not be afraid to go back to the hotel if I am tired.
Pondering and reflecting...

7/14 to 7/15~ Arriving at the Hotel and meeting participants

          In Seoul Korea now... Woke up at 3:00AM on 7/15 to call my parents. I figured I hadn't talked to them for two days and that it would be wise to talk to them to let them know I landed in Incheon safely and had arrived at the hotel. It was rather lonely without them to talk to. My phone card didn't work so I got charged for the quick phone call. My parents were grateful for the call though since it was now 4pm back in the states. They were glad I had arrived safely and slept through the night.

        After talking to my parents, I went back to sleep and woke up again at about 11AM in Korea. I watched some television mainly cartoons and some Korean drama that I can't recall. It was kinda fun to watch cartoons like Sponge-bob in another language. I also was watching "Sex in the City". 

        After all this going on on 7/14 till 7/15 I packed up my belongings  from the main hotel building by about 1:30PM and headed  down the hill to Suite A where I would spend the majority of my time in Seoul.
   I unpacked  all my belongings and ventured out of the room to get to know the other participants. It's muggy and hot here... It isn't raining today thankfully. There's 17 of us!!!

Participants are from USA, Denmark, Belgium, France and Norway. US participants are from Chicago, LA- California, Seattle and Oregon. We all ate chicken for dinner with kimchi. We played an ice breaker game to get to know each other by stating our name, where we were from and a descriptor of ourselves. My word was short/vertically challenged. 

  After dinner about 2/3rds of us went to explore Seoul.. We all sang at a norae bong called Prince Edward. I bought face wash here as well, skin food brand since I accidentally left mine at home... I also talked with Ms. Seol my social worker today and found out the sad news that it is not possible to meet my foster mother now in Seoul... It turns out for a short time ,I had a foster mother in Taegu as well. A new law was passed just last August that you can only have contact with the foster parent if Holt still has them working for them. Another social worker Esther was telling us of this new law earlier in the day and was rather bothered by it.

I also discovered for a brief time I was hospitalized in an incubator in Partima OB/GYN because I was born 2 months early.

The silver lining... My birth mother and father are both still alive...A telegram was sent to them but no word on a verdict yet. The root search and meeting takes place on the 22nd of July...
Everyone here seems pretty awesome. The women outnumber the men...I found this to be an interesting demographic. There were five men and eleven women.
Another interesting note about the participants is that a large sum of us are teachers or in the field of education.
I get a camp t-shirt, a badge with my name on it and I was measured for a hanbok... We all will receive a hanbok to bring home with us. :)

Seoul Korea 7/13 and 7/14 airport jive

US travel date was 7/13. I left Dulles Airport(IAD) at 1:55PM only to arrive at the Incheon International Airport (ICN) fourteen hours later. For the plane ride I spend the majority of my time watching movies on the little television screen in front of me and sleeping. I watched four movies "Pride and Prejudice", "The Admission", "Up" and "Chicago". I took three naps all of which were two hour increments. Once I arrived at the airport I had forgotten to fill out the paperwork that was to be given on the plane ride over so I went to get through customs and realized I needed to fill out the paperwork. I quickly gathered my belongings and went to get the paperwork in front of the customs line. I filled out the visitor and customs paperwork and returned into the line to check in. I then proceeded through the customs line quickly and went to pick-up my bags from baggage claim. I then headed down to gate 5B to catch the 6005 bus to the Grand Hilton Seoul. This night I was staying in the main hotel building since the program for Holt doesn't start till 7/15. The bus ride was about 50 minutes long and I was tired. I ordered room service for dinner and then went to sleep. Check-out the next day was by noon but the hotel extended my check-out till 3pm. I left the main building by 2pm. 

The adventure begins...

So... The adventure begins... This trip has been on my mind for the past four years... It all started for me in 2009 when I went abroad to to birth country to teach English. I was born in Taegu, South Korea... This story is a difficult one to write but, one that must be shared in hopes of understanding myself more deeply.

I never had felt so out of place in my life... I looked like all those around me and yet I just didn't fit in... Most of my life was spent as a "distant outsider". You see growing up in hoco or Howard county made this identity crisis more of an issue. Especially in high school where the populations of Koreans was about 40%.

I was and still am known as a Twinkie or banana to all those born in Korea and raised in Korea kids that immigrated to the US. 

Anyways... I have always had questions... So many questions and four years ago some of those questions were answered. Now I am curious is there new information or missing information. I am very blessed to be going on this journey and the weight of wanting to meet my foster and birth mother weighs on me everyday. I am hoping to make a few dreams of mine  reality but I know my faith will carry me through it all. I put my trust in god and believe everything happens for a reason...so now four years later I am embarking deeper into this search and looking for some closure and peace of mind. 

A journey becoming a reality and a trip that will change my life drastically. I am excited, nervous and excited some more... I thank god everyday for what he has given me and am thankful to work with catholic charities. The social worker there is phenomenal and very helpful. She helped me begin this process four years ago. Last year I had the opportunity to take this trip but was shut out. They only accept 20 applicants as I stated in an earlier blog post. This year is different I was accepted into the program and my feelings are the same. Mostly I just want to know basic stuff but, especially medical history. I like the programs name"happy trail" it leads me to believe the ending will be a happy one.

Anyhow... I'll be in Seoul,Korea in just 3 days! Peace out till I reach my destination.