DMZ Tour and Itaewon

Had a very interesting day today learning about a lot of (recent) Korean history and the predominant political issue here (namely, North Korea), as Laura and I went on a guided tour to the DMZ, or demilitarized zone. This is the border between North and South Korea, and the tension between the two sides was palpable. You are not allowed to take pictures in several of the areas, but one of the highlights of the day was the trip into a tunnel that the North Koreans had secretly dug under the border. The tunnel was big enough that 10,000 soldiers could go through in an hour to start a surprise attack on South Korea, but it was discovered somewhat by chance and blocked off. 4 such tunnels have been found to date, and our guide speculated that there are maybe 15 more. Anyway, there were several monuments to the US soldiers that died during the Korean conflict, one of which Laura and I posed in front of.

The next picture is as close as you can get to taking a picture of North Korea. I stood behind a line and held my camera up as high as I could reach. It is hazy, but those mountains in the distance are part of North Korea.

Laura posed between two South Korean soldiers for the next picture, which was taken at the "last station", the end of the train line.

After the tour, we headed to Itaewon, which was a shopping district that focused mainly on clothes and leather goods. We had fun going in and out of some souvenir shops and along the way ended up talking to four Americans (separately) that we met. What was funny is that they happened to be from Minnesota. There must be some Minnesota-Seoul pipeline that we don't know about.

The bottom photo was taken in front of a park in Itaewon. The fall colors are really out here, especially the Japanese red maple trees. This is the peak tourism season here from what we have heard.

We are planning to go to one of the royal palaces and the art district tomorrow to kill time before we get to go and pick up Owen (which will be at 3pm). That should be an exciting and emotional time for us and his foster family alike.

Photos from an incredible day!

We met Owen!

Owen hitches a ride on his foster Mom's back The view from the N Seoul Tower
Laura navigates the market

Unforgettable, our day.

At 9:30am, after a lovely breakfast buffet (nearly as good as the ones we've had in Vegas, I might add) at the Renaissance Hotel, Chip and I walked to the SWS office in a state of nervous excitement (=nausea). We headed to the 7th floor and met our social worker there, who loaded us into a mini van and told us we'd have a 30 minute drive to meet our baby at his foster family's apartment. After about 7 minutes, we were there. (Note: as some of you may recall, this is precisely what happened to us when we met our girls in China. We were told to prepare for a 30 minute drive, and we got there in minutes. The second time around didn't make it any easier. I still felt like vomiting.)

The foster family lives in a large apartment building that is clean and bright and surrounded by tennis courts and playground equipment. We took the elevator up to room #908, and before we knew it, the social worker had knocked on the door and Mrs. Kim (the foster mother) had opened it, with Owen strapped to her back. All we saw at first was his head of profuse peach fuzz, but then he lifted up his precious face -- and it was him, the baby we have stared and stared at in the photos. I started to cry, but my tears lasted only seconds, because then we were ushered into the apartment, removed our shoes as is local custom, and were seated on the floor in one of the apartment's three small rooms. Owen was set in front of us. We didn't know what to do (hug him? kiss him? etc.), so Chip rubbed his back and I rubbed his little foot. It seemed like the right thing to do as we didn't want to scare him.

He is such a happy, mild-mannered, curious baby! No stranger anxiety at all, thankfully. He had this smile on his face while he checked out Chip and me; he was definitely interested in us, and he listened to our English words with a look that seemed to indicate he was giving us a chance. We offered him a rattle we brought, and he loved it. No teeth in that little mouth yet, but with the drool and the chewing on everything in sight (he especially wanted our cameras), Chip announced that a tooth would soon be on its way. (No matter where we are in the world, it's always about teeth...)

We feasted our eyes on our baby and talked to Mrs. Kim through our social worker, who told us about his eating and sleeping (and pooping) schedules. I couldn't get enough. It was incredible to see where he has lived for so long, and meet the woman who has loved and cared for him. She even passed on to us a photo album of pictures she has taken of him over the months, which is invaluable to us.

Owen is a healthy, robust baby who apparently weighs 22 pounds. Like in China, the Koreans dress babies in layer after layer, so I'm not sure what was clothing and what was actually him! Mrs. Kim did take off his socks at one point, and there were his fat little toes that I wanted to kiss right then and there, but I managed to contain myself.

So. the great news is that we get to have Owen forever on Thursday at 3pm! We will meet Mrs. Kim and our social worker at SWS and the "hand-off" will occur. Like this entire experience, we have no idea what to expect but are going into it with an open mind and high hopes. We are ecstatic that we will have him to ourselves in our hotel room for two nights before leaving on Saturday to come home. This is a real gift for us in the bonding and attaching process.

After an hour at the apartment, it was time for Owen to have a nap, so we said our thanks and quietly left. It was a glorious, glorious experience.

We didn't quite know what to do with ourselves afterward, so we ended up taking the subway (which, incidentally, is the cleanest and nicest mode of public transportation I have ever ridden) up to N Seoul Tower, which is a tall structure similar to the Seattle Space Needle, that overlooks Seoul from high atop a mountain. We took a cable car up the mountain, and then took an elevator to the top of the tower. It was exhilirating to look down on this gorgeous city and see buildings, hills and mountains (and great fall foliage just reaching its peak) for miles and miles.

Afterward, we walked through a crazy mishmash of tiny streets known as the Naemendong Market, which is where locals go to buy everything from Q-tips to octopus tentacles to roasted chestnuts to pajamas. Spectacular spectacular!

Dinner was Italian for us (there are Italian restaurants everywhere here), followed by ice cream at Cold Stone (yes, there are Cold Stones everywhere here, too). We're exhausted and will soon be fast asleep in bed after a long and satisfying day. Tomorrow, we will be taking a day trip to the Demilitarized Zone between N. and S. Korea, which sounds fabulous.

Thanks as always for your great love and support during this exciting time. Love to all!

A great first day

We had a great first day in Seoul and love the city so far. We spent a lot of time walking, and Chip posted pictures directly below of our trip to the COEX mall and the Hyundai Department Store. We had heard these places were incredible; we can confirm that they are.

The people here are beautiful -- literally. They wear lovely clothes and are all done up with shoes/makeup/cool hair, etc. Very dressy and cosmopolitan -- great people watching. (Emily, you would be blown away by all the good-looking businessmen in their suits and groovy haircuts.)

We had a delicious dinner of noodles and vegetables and meat tonight (thankfully no eels or other small items with eyes), and then took a soak in the hot tub at the Ritz. (We were disappointed initially that we couldn't get a room at the Social Welfare Services Guesthouse, where most adopting parents stay, but now we're pretty pleased with our fate.)

Tomorrow at 9:30am we will be meeting our social worker at SWS and going to Owen's foster family's home. I have to say that I can barely wrap my head around this right now. I start getting butterflies in my stomach and have to take some deep breaths. I'm sure we'll have some stories to share afterward.

Off to bed for us, while you all back home are just starting your day. Love to all. Thanks for your prayers tomorrow on what promises to be an unforgettable experience for us.

Some pics of our day

Here is the view from our hotel room. We are staying in the Gangnam district, not too far south of the Han River.



We figured out the subway system without too many problems. It was quite crowded but very orderly, something we have found to be true of Seoul itself.

We ate a traditional Korean lunch of bulgogi, kimchee, a seaweed salad that had small eels in it (we didn't realize that's what they were until we were almost done with it), miso soup and a beef with rice dish. Tasty stuff, and check out that Coke can.

Made It!

We are happily in our room at the Ritz-Carlton Seoul, which by the way is an awesome hotel. A hot shower, a small rest, and some water went a long way to rejuvenating us after a long flight over here. The flight itself was as good as it could be, with good food and great service. It was just a long grind without much quality sleep, though.

We are heading out soon for a day of shopping/exploring, and we get to meet Owen at his foster parents' house tomorrow morning, so of course that has gotten us excited as well. No word as of yet when we actually "get" him, but it will likely either be Friday or Saturday morning from what we have heard thus far.

Looking forward to checking Seoul out-- it seems to be a very large but clean city. People everywhere have been very friendly and we have enjoyed good service. Hope to post some pictures later today.

At The Airport

Greetings from Gate M13 at O'Hare! Chip and I got here safely and are now staring out the windows at the Asiana Air plane that will soon take us to Seoul -- and to our son.

We enjoyed dinner tonight in Wauwatosa at the Merritt's house, and by a stroke of good fortune, every one of my three sisters was visiting from out of town, which meant that my entire immediate family was able to see us off. (Not a dry eye in the house.) Jane and Caroline and Mookie will be in good hands, traveling back and forth between Wauwatosa and Madison with their Grammie.

We've had a lot of time to get ready for this trip, but nothing quite prepares you for the feeling you get when you park your car in the O'Hare lot and think to yourself, "My God, next time we get in this car, our little baby boy will be with us."

Owen, here we come!

Finally, Travel Approval!

We were very excited to get "the call" this morning from our social worker Julie that Owen's travel paperwork was all complete and we are able to go get him anytime now!

Today was spent in a whirlwind of making last-second travel plans since we are leaving late Saturday night (actually 1a.m. Sunday morning). That's only like 48 hours from now, but we wanted to go as soon as possible.

We will be in Seoul until Saturday, November 3rd and will fly back into O'Hare then. We are taking Asiana airlines, #235 on the way there and #236 on the way home. We will be able to check email there since we are bringing a laptop, and hope to update this page daily. Check back often, and we will tell you about our adventure to bring Owen home!

One Encouraging Sign

We were very happy to see some more progress on our journey to adopt Owen on Wednesday (Owen's 8-month birthday). We got word from the US government that his visa has been approved and was sent to Seuol on October 1st. This means that his U.S. visa will now be issued and his South Korean passport as well; when the two are finished, then we'll get our travel call to go over and pick him up. We are hoping of course that this occurs within the next two weeks.

It's getting close now, and hopefully our next post here will be with our travel plans!