At 9:10 a.m. we met the social worker at the children’s hospital and she took us to the foster family’s home. It was about an hour drive from where we were staying in Seoul. We met Jaden’s foster mother and foster brother, and of course, Jaden. It was a very emotionally exhausting day. We were warned by the agency that Wednesday – the day we pick Jaden up at the hopsital –  would be the day for emotions, so I’m not sure we were fully prepared for the level of emotions today.

There are new pictures posted to the “First visit” tab. Jaden is more adorable than ever! He is definitely well taken care of – he is a little roly-poly. He has such big hands and a big smile to go with them. He loves to put his feet in his mouth. He is on a very regular sleeping and eating schedule, and unfortunately we were visiting right in the middle of nap time, but he handled it like a champ. 

His foster mom gave us a hanbok, which is traditional dress for special occasions. The first birthday of a Korean child is a very special occasion, so we will dress him in his handbok for his birthday and hopefully we will have the foster family’s address to send them pictures. 

His foster brother and foster mom were very sad. It is the first time they had a foster child and they have grown very attached to Jaden. The foster mom said that she is very sad that he will be leaving but she is also happy that he will be our son. It made me so sad for them, but it really was wonderful to see how much they love him, and how well he was cared for while living with them.

The social worker spent some time asking the foster mom a ton of questions about Jaden so that she could put a report together to give us on Wednesday when we pick him up – what he is eating, how much he sleeps and when, what he likes to do, etc. We didn’t get a new weight or height yet, but we will get that on Wednesday. I have a feeling he’ll be well into 12 month clothes by now! The agency told us that “Korean babies are fed well” and we see the proof of that in Jaden’s adorable cheeks and his heart-warming smile.

After we left the foster family’s home and made our way back to the Guesthouse, we were able to go to see the children’s reception home, which is in the same building as the Guesthouse. The social worker took us in to see where the babies are cared for until they are around 4-5 months old and a foster family is identified. It is where Jaden spent the first 5 months of his life. There were so many babies – all so tiny – and all crying for their bottles and to be held. I was surprised at how many babies were in the reception home. 

After that, we went to our room and just about crashed. We later met up with my colleague who is originally from Korea, and is now spending 6 months in Korea, teaching here at a university on a grant. His hospitality was indicative of his Korean heritage. He took us to a palace in the northern section of Seoul, where the last king lived. It is close to the president’s “Blue House.” The intricate paint work on the palace was incredible. We have many pictures to share, and once we get a chance to load them in we’ll include them here.

We went to another traditional Korean restaurant for dinner – this time a popular one for the locals. We learned that kimchi is actually a generic name for fermented food and it doesn’t have to be spicy. Sometimes it is not spicy at all (which made Dad very happy)!

We are ready to crash, and they are starting a game of bananagrams which I can’t miss due to my bananagram addiction (I think I need BAA- LOL), so I’m signing off for now. I guess it is Monday morning there…..have a great week!!!

Yesterday we were fortunate to have a tour of Seoul and experience a variety of traditional Korean foods. Neville’s colleague’s brother-in-law, Mr. Lee, picked us up around 1:00 and first took us to “Korean Restaurant Chil-Ryang.” There we met his two adorable daughters and his beautiful wife. His daughters are ages 9 and 10 in Korean years, which is ages 8 and 9 in U.S. years (in Korea you are considered a year old the day you are born). They were all so friendly and hospitable even though we had met him only on Saturday when he picked us up from the aiport. They made us feel like we were old friends reuniting after many years. They presented both Neville and I, and Mom and Dad with pottery; two exquisite, handmade cups. It is something we will cherish from our visit, and I am sure Jaden will too as it serves as a remembrance of our trip to Seoul to pick him up.

Mr. Lee’s daughters go to International School and spent 4 years in Canada, so their English is excellent. There were no communication problems whatsoever, and we managed to learn a lot about the Korean culture, foods, and lifestyle. Unfortunately I cannot tell you everything we ate since all the names were Korean, and for we American’s it is difficult to remember all of the syllables -(I’m still trying to get ‘please,’ Pu-di, and ‘thank you,’ kam-sa-ham-ni-da, down pat) – but I can tell you we had two types of kimchi. One was soup-style and the other was traditional kimchi. It was very, very delicious and very, very SPICY.

The restaurant’s brochure says “Traditional Korean Formal Cuisine with Celadon and Dishes.” The restaurant is also a ‘pottery restaurant’, selling master pottery pieces of Mr. Chung, Yoon-Seok and his son Young-Kyun. From the brochure: “The meisters are handy crafting potteries with natural enamel by Traditional way in Chilryang-Myun, Kangjin-Kun located in Southern peninsula.” They ferment all the different types of food in the pottery, which “develops a rich and deep taste.” There was some gorgeous pottery there, and we were able to take pictures of the pieces in our private dinner room.

Speaking of pictures… we took most of the pictures yesterday with Dad’s camera, and didn’t realize until we returned to the room last night that he does not have a cord to download the pictures to the computer. This afternoon our job is to find the subway, take it to the CO-EX mall, and try to find a cord. In the meantime the rest of the pictures we will take with my camera since I have the connector. We’ll post the pics from yesterday as soon as we can find the connector.

Our experience yesterday did not end with lunch (which consisted of so much food it really turned out to be like an early dinner). After we ate, our hosts took us to the north side of the River Han. We drove past the President’s house, which is known as the ‘blue house’ because of the blue roof. We weren’t able to stop there because there is no parking, and there was so much traffic in the area that we would have had to walk miles from where we finally found a parking spot. We did get to go to the Insadong shopping area, which consists of tons of shops, restaurants, tea houses and coffee houses. It is famous for its antiques, travel clothing, art galleries, and Koryeo Celandon pottery. We could not believe the sheer volume of people there, both in the local area and walking throughout the Insadong shops.

Mr. Lee also took us to a tea house to have some traditional Korean tea. It was outstanding. I want to go back for more. I may get the chance- we hope to get to the Insadong area again before we go home since there were so many great shops to buy souvenirs, and we’d really like to pick up some items to have for Jaden as he gets older, until we can plan another trip back to his home country.

It seems no one slept well last night. Either it was the jet-lag, or the excitement over going to visit Jaden’s foster home this morning. We have a 9:10 a.m. appointment with the social worker at SWS. I best get ready before they all leave without me. I hope to have time for another update later today (Monday morning in NY) with pictures of our visit to the foster home.