We were invited by another couple who arrived here at the Guest House last night from Australia to come to their first meeting with their son and take photos and video. We did so gladly.
After that we went to Itaewon and got a bunch of things for the kids. Shhh don't tell them but here's what we got them:
~ we got each a name chop (a name stamp with their Korean name in the hangul)
~ Tae Hee got a jewelry box as well as Korean mask set, a norigae, and a Korean doll
~ Ryan got a norigae with a big Korean drum on it, and special video but we're not saying what it is because it will ruin the surprise
~ Katie got her cookies but we are still looking for a doll for her...we hope to find one that she'll like
I didn't pick up anything for ourselves since just being here and experiencing everything is absolutely priceless.
Oh dear brother if you're reading this I found something for you. I hope you'll like it.
Mom, sorry no necklaces like you wanted. We tried.
We hope to visit our children's birthplace this weekend and take some photos of that area before we have our meetings on Monday. And on Tuesday we're leaving. Seems like such a short time that we have been here. Gosh there are so many things I want to do here...National Museum of Korea, see Seoul Tower, go to Namdaemun market, see the DMZ (no I haven't done that due to all of the other emotions I have been having here and how much time you need to devout to it), and so much more.
With everything here in Seoul, you can spend a lifetime here and not see everything there is to see here. Angie, if you're reading this I think you would love it here.
Annyong!!
Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
Friday, November 16, 2007
2nd Meeting with Tae Hee
Annyong haseyo!!!
Our 2nd meeting with Tae Hee was yesterday. She looks like her older sister but seems to have some of the personality of her older brother. We had her alone for 30 minutes and more than half of that time she cried. We took her upstairs to our room for a bit and then back downstairs for a stroller walk outside. She calmed down a bit in the stroller but still wasn't happy.
Due to the difficulty of this meeting for her, we have another meeting scheduled on Monday afternoon. We are hoping that this goes better than the first two.
Annyong
Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
Our 2nd meeting with Tae Hee was yesterday. She looks like her older sister but seems to have some of the personality of her older brother. We had her alone for 30 minutes and more than half of that time she cried. We took her upstairs to our room for a bit and then back downstairs for a stroller walk outside. She calmed down a bit in the stroller but still wasn't happy.
Due to the difficulty of this meeting for her, we have another meeting scheduled on Monday afternoon. We are hoping that this goes better than the first two.
Annyong
Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
Meeting with Seong Tae's & Eun Seong's Foster Mom
Annyong haseyo!!
That's the romanization of hangul for 'hello'.
Yesterday we met with Seong Tae's (Ryan) and Eun Seong's (Katie) foster mom. I won't say much about it since most of the information is private and it is the kids information. If they want to share it with all of you when they are older, they can however I will say this...I KNOW the kids were very much loved by the entire family and by others as well. I am so grateful to their foster family for taking care of both kids.
KAMSA HAMNIDA!!!!
That's the romanization of the hangul to say 'thank you' to the foster family for taking such good care of Seong Tae and Eun Seong.
WE LOVE THEM VERY MUCH!!!
Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
That's the romanization of hangul for 'hello'.
Yesterday we met with Seong Tae's (Ryan) and Eun Seong's (Katie) foster mom. I won't say much about it since most of the information is private and it is the kids information. If they want to share it with all of you when they are older, they can however I will say this...I KNOW the kids were very much loved by the entire family and by others as well. I am so grateful to their foster family for taking care of both kids.
KAMSA HAMNIDA!!!!
That's the romanization of the hangul to say 'thank you' to the foster family for taking such good care of Seong Tae and Eun Seong.
WE LOVE THEM VERY MUCH!!!
Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Met with Tae Hee this Morning
We met Tae Hee this morning after finishing up the business stuff here.
Tae Hee cried alot but was happy with her foster mom who loved seeing pictures of Ryan and Katie. Tae Hee is a normally happy smiling baby. But we're new so it's not too surprising. She loves music just like her brother and sister.
The foster mom and social worker left her in the room with Jeff and I for about 15 minutes. She cried so much. I tried feeding her the bottle but Tae Hee wanted no part of it. We tried to get her involved with the mural on the wall but no luck again.
Due to her strong reaction, we (the social worker, foster mom, and us) decided on meeting again tomorrow afternoon. I didn't expect the first meeting to go smoothly. After our meeting, Tae Hee had a checkup and we got to see where the newborn babies are.
After all of our meetings we walked around Seoul and stumbled upon one of the palaces.
Well I'm exhausted so I'm heading to bed.
~Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
Tae Hee cried alot but was happy with her foster mom who loved seeing pictures of Ryan and Katie. Tae Hee is a normally happy smiling baby. But we're new so it's not too surprising. She loves music just like her brother and sister.
The foster mom and social worker left her in the room with Jeff and I for about 15 minutes. She cried so much. I tried feeding her the bottle but Tae Hee wanted no part of it. We tried to get her involved with the mural on the wall but no luck again.
Due to her strong reaction, we (the social worker, foster mom, and us) decided on meeting again tomorrow afternoon. I didn't expect the first meeting to go smoothly. After our meeting, Tae Hee had a checkup and we got to see where the newborn babies are.
After all of our meetings we walked around Seoul and stumbled upon one of the palaces.
Well I'm exhausted so I'm heading to bed.
~Jen reporting live from Seoul, South Korea
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Can't Sleep Anymore!!!
Well we went crashed at 8 pm last night and I woke up for the day at 4:30 this morning. I have never slept that long in a very long time. And it's not due to the excitement of meeting Tae Hee today either. It's more due to my body just staying "okay you've slept enough now WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!!!!!".
The room at Eastern's Guest House is your basic room. We have 2 twin beds, a TV with cable, and our own private bathroom. We can use the kitchen on our floor as well. Not too bad all things considered. We checked out a little of the building last night as well to see where we would be meeting today. I don't know if we are the only families in the building or not. Our room is on the 6th floor and the computer room is on the 2nd. The 6th floor only has a few rooms for the adoptive families and we haven't heard any other signs of life or seen anybody yet.
The computer room here is pretty cool. The keyboards are in hangul and English and I keep telling Jeff that I want one. So that when I learn hangul I'm all set with my keyboard!!
It's a good thing that I've brought over extra gifts since we are meeting a woman today who isn't on my list. Thanks Mom for making and giving me all of the scarves you knitted!!!!
Gotta go for now
~Jen reporting to you live from Seoul, South Korea
The room at Eastern's Guest House is your basic room. We have 2 twin beds, a TV with cable, and our own private bathroom. We can use the kitchen on our floor as well. Not too bad all things considered. We checked out a little of the building last night as well to see where we would be meeting today. I don't know if we are the only families in the building or not. Our room is on the 6th floor and the computer room is on the 2nd. The 6th floor only has a few rooms for the adoptive families and we haven't heard any other signs of life or seen anybody yet.
The computer room here is pretty cool. The keyboards are in hangul and English and I keep telling Jeff that I want one. So that when I learn hangul I'm all set with my keyboard!!
It's a good thing that I've brought over extra gifts since we are meeting a woman today who isn't on my list. Thanks Mom for making and giving me all of the scarves you knitted!!!!
Gotta go for now
~Jen reporting to you live from Seoul, South Korea
HELLO FROM SOUTH KOREA!!!
We landed at Incheon International Airport just fine this afternoon. If you tracked our flight, we went from Atlanta, Georgia up into Canadian, around Alaska, through Russia and finally to South Korea. We rode on a 777...huge aircraft by the way. I was so nervous that they would only feed us the one meal...boy was I ever wrong. I think we had 3 meals on the flight (none of them breakfast) and the last one was right before we were getting ready to land. I slept maybe 2-3 hours total of the flight and didn't sleep a wink on the flight to Atlanta.
We flew Delta Airlines and we were treated well by them. Let's hope the return trip is just as good.
We did have to call Eastern up to check on the driver situation. He was running late so we just hung out at the airport until he arrived. We didn't feel out of place at the airport...I'm not sure if it was just the lack of sleep or since we're around our kids so much that we didn't seem out of place in their world.
We learned this evening that we are meeting tomorrow morning at 9:50 and then meeting with Tae Hee later. I wasn't expecting this meeting so soon. OMG I get to see her tomorrow!!!!!!
Well I need to sign off since I'm tired out and I did promise two kids at home e-mails from Mommy and Daddy from Korea.
~Jen reporting to you live from Seoul, South Korea
We flew Delta Airlines and we were treated well by them. Let's hope the return trip is just as good.
We did have to call Eastern up to check on the driver situation. He was running late so we just hung out at the airport until he arrived. We didn't feel out of place at the airport...I'm not sure if it was just the lack of sleep or since we're around our kids so much that we didn't seem out of place in their world.
We learned this evening that we are meeting tomorrow morning at 9:50 and then meeting with Tae Hee later. I wasn't expecting this meeting so soon. OMG I get to see her tomorrow!!!!!!
Well I need to sign off since I'm tired out and I did promise two kids at home e-mails from Mommy and Daddy from Korea.
~Jen reporting to you live from Seoul, South Korea
Saturday, November 10, 2007
We're Leavin' On a Jet Plane...
OMG THIS IS IT!!!! We are leaving around 3 am early Monday morning to head to the airport. I'm freaking out but excited. We're flying to Atlanta and then catching a flight direct to Seoul from there. The weather there looks like it'll be between 30 and 40 degrees during the day and dropping from 40 degrees to the upper teens the night before we're going to leave. We might have a couple of days where the temp is in the mid 50s but either way it's winter jacket, gloves and a hat weather.
And okay if you ever saw me with chopsticks, I'm pretty bad. Most of you haven't just because I know that I'm that bad and didn't want to embarrass myself in front of you. I was thinking of taking the kids training chopsticks with me at one point this weekend if that gives you any indication on how nervous I am to use my chopstick skills in Korea. I have decided that I am going to embarrass myself in Korea but I will use regular adult chopsticks. I'm hoping that I'm too horrible in Korea and who knows maybe I'll get some pointers as to how to use them properly.
The kids are excited to see their new sister and can't wait to get e-mail from us from Korea. Ryan is scared since he "doesn't know what Tae Hee looks like". I keep telling him "yes you do...you have pictures of her". Then he gets a big smile on his face. The kids are going to have a grand time with Nana and Papa (my parents) and perhaps even have a scheduled playdate or two with friends.
The bags are packed (God I hope that I'm not missing anything important!!!). My parents have everything they're going to need (I hope). The dog has her food. Our kids hopefully will behave themselves for Nana and Papa while we're gone.
Next time I post, we'll be in Korea!!!
~Jen
And okay if you ever saw me with chopsticks, I'm pretty bad. Most of you haven't just because I know that I'm that bad and didn't want to embarrass myself in front of you. I was thinking of taking the kids training chopsticks with me at one point this weekend if that gives you any indication on how nervous I am to use my chopstick skills in Korea. I have decided that I am going to embarrass myself in Korea but I will use regular adult chopsticks. I'm hoping that I'm too horrible in Korea and who knows maybe I'll get some pointers as to how to use them properly.
The kids are excited to see their new sister and can't wait to get e-mail from us from Korea. Ryan is scared since he "doesn't know what Tae Hee looks like". I keep telling him "yes you do...you have pictures of her". Then he gets a big smile on his face. The kids are going to have a grand time with Nana and Papa (my parents) and perhaps even have a scheduled playdate or two with friends.
The bags are packed (God I hope that I'm not missing anything important!!!). My parents have everything they're going to need (I hope). The dog has her food. Our kids hopefully will behave themselves for Nana and Papa while we're gone.
Next time I post, we'll be in Korea!!!
~Jen
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