One of the many things we love about the Korean agency that we are going through is that they are not completely focused on shuffling kids around. They have a wide ranged ministry helping people with special needs and educating single mothers who have chosen to parent their child rather than choosing adoption or abortion. The café that we went to this morning is part of that support that the agency provides to these women. The women can work at the café for extra money and the proceeds go toward educating the women so that they can parent well and obtain higher paying jobs to support them and their child.
Seoul Tower
After breakfast we maneuvered the subway system to central Seoul (we are in the southwest part of Seoul) in order to see North Seoul Tower and then go to the Namdaemun Market. North Seoul Tower is on top of Namsam Mountain and is the geographical center of Seoul.
The Seoul tower is known as the tower of "love". Many people from all over the world come to put their "lock of love" at the tower. I don't fully understand the tradition, but - hey - we're here, so we might as well join in.
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| Tree made out of "locks of love" |
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| Our lock... |
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| Reese standing on the exact center of Seoul |
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| Carter - this one's for you, Buddy! Grampy Whiskers climbed to the top with us! |
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| The rest of the "guys" that climbed to the top with us. |
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| Reese snapped this picture... I don't know how long these woman stood like this, but they were standing like this when we got there, and they were there when we left. It was a looooong time. |
Namdaemun Market
After a few hours, we walked to Namdaemun Market, which is basically like an outdoor flea market with anything you can think of. It was so fascinating - it is a fast paced market with a lot of bargaining - though I hate to admit it, Ron and I just paid full price for everything. Bargaining in Hangul is not a skill I posses at this point, and, honestly, it was already reasonably priced. We were able to pick up a few gifts, souvenirs for ourselves (including a beautiful tea set that I was hoping to get while I was here!), and a few fun things for Reese's class.
Because we had walked to Namdaemun from Seoul Tower, we decided to take a different subway line back to our guest house since it was closer than the line we went on originally. Well... hmm... speaking more Korean would have been helpful at this point! We kept looking at the map, walking in circles, thinking the station had to be close! Well, it was - It was seriously right next to us for about 30 minutes. We've lost our marbles! The hustle and bustle of the subway system on the way back a little crazy, so we were thankful to make it back to the guest house a little after 7pm.
Tomorrow we are back to focusing on the real reason we are here... we get to spend part of the day with Hyun. Will you all pray with me about our time together with him and his foster mom? I feel like I could gleam so much information from her, but our translator we had last time really struggled. She had to look several things up on her phone to try and translate properly. It was just a little painful for all involved. I of course have a lot of questions for her about Hyun but am hesitant to ask because I'm not sure that it's coming across right, and it's taking up a lot of the time that we have with Hyun.
Many families are staying at the guest house with us now, so it has been nice to connect with several other families who have gone through the same process as us. We were also able to meet an adult adoptee who is here to adopt now that she is married.
My brain is so full of amazing memories. Thanks for sharing in all of this with us. We really appreciate all the comments, love and support.
I'm praying for your time with Hyuncand his Fostef Mom. It has been so much fun following along through your blog. What a trip!
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