Second week, the Freudenburgs do Seoul 2013

Monday October 14 - Seoul Grand Park

We spent the entire day in a giant zoo, we took a tram from the gate up to the actual zoo (that is how big this place is, and worth the extra Won). It was a little overwhelming where to start, we quickly realized we were not going to get to everything in one day. For those future travelers we probably spent $20 for the entire trip to the Park (Ev was free). 

Started slow with the flamingos and went from there to giarraffes, it is an interesting layout!  

You can imagine how much our snake-loving 3 year old enjoyed this. Now can you imagine how much this momma didn't love it, especially when said 3 year old grabbed its head!?!

Not the best photo but that is a dolphin the background, watched the dolphin and seal show, all in Korean but totally with it (free with admission). Loved the seals!

This is a view from the high-flying chair lift we finished the zoo with. (It was probably a15-20 minute ride)

This last one is how Ev usually finishes each outing, passed out in the stroller. 

We watched tons of monkeys, gorillas (Bimo was our fave and had tried to play with us a little through the glass). We hunted for the hippos for awhile, in the meantime witnessed tons of different animals frolicking around. 

Tuesday October 15 - Family Court Appearance

Ahh the infamous day. Let me tell you we looked sharp!  I can say that because I forgot to get a photo. We met two other families at the agency at 9am (I may have looked a little less sharp from the near jog in heels in the rain several blocks from our apartment to the agency, normally a 20 min walk). From there we rode together to the court house and waited and waited and waited. The other two families were first time parents and also new to adoption so for once I had all kinds of things I thought they should know, they were polite and probably wondered if I would ever stop talking. Our family was last to appear and with a sigh of relief we saw our judge. We had been warned on our forums and such which judges asked what kind of questions and which ones were "nice" and which were "all-business". We were blessed with kind but all-business. Some questions were whether we enjoyed our jobs, specifically if I thought it was difficult being a peds icu RN. I answered best I could, have no idea how it translated. But mostly the questions were centered around our parenting of Evan and did we support our children looking for their birth family if they desired. I expected ,more questions specific to our home study and our marriage but I guess she thought our marriage has survived Evan's adoption process we must be in it for the long haul!  We were then whisked away back to the agency where we said our good-byes to new friends and headed home in the rain (again).  Spent most of the day vegging out at the apartment. One of those gloomy days you just want to curl up with Mocha and read a book. We really miss Mocha. 

 

Wednesday October 16 - Mrs Choi

We made our way to the Hongdae/Mapo area of the city to explore a little before our afternoon meeting with Mrs Choi. We found a playground in the middle of an artsy university area. Then ate lunch at a western type restaurant and both got some yummy bibimbop. Dan tried some water that he said tasted like mildew socks, I opted to go without. We found our way back to Eastern Social Welfare Services building where we first met Evan. I was a bit emotional at the whole thing. We were rounding the corner inside the building, Evan in front of course and all of a sudden this tiny tornado of a woman scooped Ev up and spun him around and clobbered him him hugs and kisses over and over. I'm not going to lie I saw a look of panic but figured he would get through it. We had a great visit with Mrs Choi and her grand daughter, who helped care for Evan. It was so sweet, I felt like I was holding back tears the whole time. Evan was a bit hyper, needed a nap in a bad way. She showered him with love and us with fruit, this woman is a saint!

 

 

 

 

 

 Somehow the extra large bottle of women's centrum silver and anti-aging skin care and shutterfly book of Evan didn't seem like enough, not by a mile. I was overwhelmed by her generosity.   

We spent the next 40 min on the subway with again hyper Evan and a heavy box of fruit, totally worth it. We spent the evening exploring the neighbor a few further out in hopes of finding a market, needed a few staples. I should have taken photos of that experience. I finally found butter at $7 a package, opted for olive oil but couldn't find that either so we got soybean oil (I think) I have a feeling it isn't the best for you. Dan found sweet potatoes, we think, tasted different but we had brought some brown sugar for his morning oatmeal so thought it would work. Note for next time, brown sugar is easy to find and not expensive!

Thursday October 17 -Seoul Children's Museum

Like each day we start out with the subway so thought I would throw a photo in. 

 

We ventured back to the Seoul Children's Grand Park (future travelers keep this in mind, it's free). Just past the entrance to the park is the museum. We happened to be there with about a thousand toddlers and elementary school aged children. Each school group was wearing there own uniform so it was pretty easy to figure out who belong to who. This museum was $4/person, under 36 months free. Again worth so much more! It is fantastic! We spent the entire day there with a quick lunch in the park. 

Ev loves turtles, glad we found this shell to play in. 

 

This was an incredible maze. I didn't see the sign stating for 5 year olds and older until he was too far and there were some panics when he couldn't figure it out but with some coaching from the outside we eventually got it figured out. 

 

 

Beth, this is for you, Ev was checking the seal's ears with the little otoscope- all was good he said. 

  

That is my kid giving the seal and turtle their vaccines. Love it!

Our future chef. 

"Master of Housekeeping"

Lots of water play

Friday October 18 - National Children's Library and Visit with Elleigh

Dan and Ev spent the morning at the library which was something we would do at home, it happens to be in our neighborhood. After Dan presented his passport he received a library card ans they explored the giant library including "foreign books". 

Later that day we had the pleasure of seeing our baby girl again. This time we took a 10 minute walk to the playground and spent about 30 minutes playing with E&E. 

Forget MMs, I was armed with processed cheese, this was a winner. 

Ev loved getting to help push El in the stroller (helped him get over the fact he didn't get to ride)

She actually reached to give Apa(Dan) a hug good-bye, I couldn't believe I held it together emotionally enough to get a photo. 

Saturday October 19

We tried something new today, this momma enforced a scheduled nap time, yeah!!!

We spent the morning back at Seoul Forest because it has a great playground and we get a little subway ride out of it for Ev. 

Then there was precious nap time! Dan got to go explore the Samsung Electronics display and this momma read a book (and wrote some of this blog). P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S.

We had a great evening with new friends, from Minneapolis, of all places! We had a play date with their 3 year old Ethan and then wonderful Mexican dinner with Jill and Ross! They are also here to take custody of their second child! We are so excited for them!  And they live near us in Gangnam!

Sunday October 20

Sad to say we spent all morning looking for this market our friends told us about, let's not discuss that failure. But we found the playground that is tricky to find, a huge plus. 

Again NAP time

Then we explore the neighborhood outside Gangnam exit 7, found playgrounds for later and ate yummy BBQ pizza. 

Do you sense a theme in our trip? Playgrounds. A very different theme than last year. 

Our First Week in Seoul 2013

Monday, October 7 - Rochester

Do you think it a bad sign that when we unloaded our luggage at the airport we realized we forgot a key ingredient to our luggage set, the stroller?  Thanks to my insistence we arrive way too early to the airport and Beth's taxi service we were quickly reunited, glad we didn't opt for the MSP airport, that 20 min ride to the airport would have been more like 90 min.

Our flights went about well as expected, you know the short flight to Chicago was late, we burned every ounce of energy running with Evan and carry-ons though the international terminal and security again. We love Korean Air and will plug them at every opportunity, they saw us coming with toddler in tow (or maybe my panicked sweaty self frightened them) but they escorted us to the front of the line and onto the plane immediately. It was the first time in a year and a half that Evan was suddenly surrounded by Korean faces and he just stopped and momentarily grounded right there in the middle of the aisle (you know that person in front of the enormous line of passengers waiting to get on  the plane and someone just stops, people love that). After a quick bark from this loving momma we found our seats and Evan immediately said something I have now lost track of the number times, "I need a snack". Evan loved his seat, he quickly had his multitude of snacks and found headphones and movies all before the emergency landing lecture. 

Tuesday, October 8 -Seoul 

About a million miles later we landed at almost 5pm to to find that our biggest piece of luggage did not join us on our journey, but it is so hard to be upset because those beautiful KA flight personnel are so nice. The bus ride from airport to our apartment that E had been looking forward to for months was slept through, all 80 min. Glad someone got some shut eye. Dan best described the drop off like: the bus pulled over (no shoulder mind you) while driving down what could compare to Michigan Ave in Chicago and plopped our luggage on the street and left us there. The sidewalk was blocked by shrubbery and traffic was crazy, oh and that sleepy toddler was deliriously crying. Lets just say not an experience I wish to repeat. we found a sidewalk and a crosswalk a block up, crossed our 8 lanes of busy traffic, eventually found the apartment. Our apartment manager scolded us upon entering the apartment because we didn't immediately take off our shoes. Did I mention the sobbing toddler, my haggered look (also wearing boots) carrying too much luggage and you want me to stop everything in the hallway?? A real treasure. 

Wednesday October 8 - National Hangul Day (alphabet/language)

To tell the truth I expected some festivals or dancing in the streets, since the adoption agency is closed there had better be something exciting to make up for that!  We spent day the walking around our neighborhood and locating the adoption agency. Hard to believe that even without map or directions with us we found the agency first attempt- okay I had read those directions about a million times in the past few months but still impressive with the sleep deprivation.  I can honestly say I do not remember the rest of the day

Thursday October 9 - meeting with Elleigh Bom

We found a Korean/Chinese restaurant close to the  agency that looked not only affordable but had photos (this is very important when you don't know the language and your silly translator app requires wifi). Dan had a octopus soup with a side of noodles and black bean paste. I had a rice and black bean with sweet and sour 'meat' (no clue). Evan had most of what he attempted on his nice shirt.

 We met at the agency and was whisked away by a driver and social worker into a van that took us to Elleigh's foster family's home about 45 min away. As we pulled into the apartment complex there is a huge playground and Dan and I found her immediately. She didn't want to leave the playground is an understatement but I think she was promised a snack which like Evan will make the world go round. While Mrs Lee (foster mom) fixed some fruit and yogurt for all of us we attempted a meet and greet with our daughter. Evan was pretty excited and forced several hugs. Elleigh kept a good distance until she needed someone to open her cheese slice, I jumped at this opportunity. 

When we all sat on the floor to chat we learned that this girl can eat, we hope Evan can learn something from her. She is a good sleeper and spends most of her day at the playground. (This may be a probelm with winter in Minnesota). We learned she adores her foster dad and later witnessed this, as we were saying our goodbyes he arrived home and she was so excited, ran over and bowed repeatedly so enthusiastically she tipped over face first. When we were leaving the apartment Mrs Lee told her they were going to the playground, she immediately ran over to stuff her chubby feet into her shoes and grabbed Evans hand and pulled him outside, she was running best she could and we could hear Evan say "whoaaa slow down Elleigh Bom".  Melt. my. heart. 

 Friday October 11

We spent the day exploring the Gangnam area. We started out at the Gangnam Vistors Information building. While Dan and I poured over maps and brochures Evan ate snacks and played games on the iPhone (big surprise this is what he spends the majority of his days asking to do) 

We visited the upstairs museum of Korean Pop and Drama. (It was free and something to do) 

Evan dressed up like a drama star that he is. 

We roamed through some neighborhoods until we found a playground, Evan desperately needed to run off some energy it probably looked a little odd the three of us walking through apartment complex parking lots on the hunt for playground equipment. We dined at the same Korean/Chinese restaurant near the agency and visited with Elleigh for another hour. 

We were armed with MMs, snacks, books,toys. . . No luck, still really hestitent of us and only wanted the cheese her foster mom had brought. We were left in the agency playroom for about 45 min to try to win some sort of affection or at least dispell some distrust. 

Unfortunately she could still see her foster parents just outside the room so there was a lot of crying out for Apa (dad). Although we know this is going to be difficult and heartbreaking we know she has learned to form attachments which is so important at this stage. 

Saturday October 12 - Children's Grand Park

We spent our Saturday at a large children's park/zoo. Let's start with its free! Dan compared it to a more spread out version in Como Park, in the Twin Cities. We started with polar bears and marine animals. Then Evan fed the zebras, longhorns, mules, deer, llamas, and goats. Then our favorites: jaguars, cheetahs, lions, tigers, elephants. Then all kinds of monkeys then snakes!  We watched camels give rides and found the giant playground. Evan had his first of many emotional breakdowns when two little girls starting chatting him up while building a sand castle. I think the fact he couldn't understand and they couldn't understand him. He just lost it. Poor kid. 

  

 

 

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Sunday October 13 - Seoul Forest

We spent Sunday with another family in the adoption process who also have a 3 year old. It is a beautiful area with tons of walking/bike trails. A few deer to feed, a few great playgrounds. We walked along the Han River (got a little lost) but found our way back!