14 March 2001

We had planned on going to the Kyobo book store today but we never got there. When we came out of the subway near the book store there were lines of police crossing the road towards us. Certainly not a sight we're used to seeing in South Australia. They then lined up outside the subway enterance. We had been warned about getting away from areas where police were dressed in riot gear by an entry in the guest book at the guest house. I was ready to leave but Adrian assurred me the police weren't in riot gear. We started walking towards the Kyobo building but just before we reached it there was a large crowd and this time police were in riot gear so we decided to try going to Kyobo another day. Decided then to go to Dongdaemun markets. There were rows upon rows of shoe sellers. Most seemed to be selling exactly the same shoes so we wondered how they managed to keep in business. There were other venders there but we didn't stay long because there was a lot of shouting and men dressed in"costume"in the middle of the street and I was still feeling a bit nervous. However when we went back into the subway we found a group of shops selling Hanboks!! We bought a boys hanbok for Zachary and a princess style hanbok for Kaitlyn. We managed to get the petticoat and headpiece for free as we had bought quite a few things. (we were actually starting to get used to bartering) Talking to people back at the guest house some others had also come across demonstrations today. (* it was actually the only day we experienced demonstrations all week)

We made sure we only ate Korean today. For luch we had a some sort of steamed dumplings. That's what we saw the guy cooking so we pointed to them and said we'll have those. For tea we found a place that advertised it's meals by picture on the wall outside. Unfortunately when we pointed to a picture the person taking our order shook their head so we presummed they didn't have that. Luckily a customer who spoke very little english asked us what we wanted and he ordere for us. Have absolutely no idea what it was except it had meat and rice and was very spicey. At least we're getting to experience new things!!

15 March 2001

We met with Dr Kim Duk Whang and his son Dr Kim Young Bok today. We saw a video on all the projects Eastern social welfare is involved with. It gave us an appreciation of the hard work the people at Eastern do. We heard an amazing story from Dr Kim Duk Whang on his life in Korea and how he came to found the Eastern social welfare society. We came away with a deeper respect for Dr Kim Duk Whang. After our meetings we then joined both Dr Kims and some American couples for lunch. We had bipmbop. (Absolutely no idea how to spell it but it's very nice and we ordered it again later in the week)

After lunch we had our second visit with Josiah. Unfortunately we were unable to go to Josiah's foster mum's house so instead we met in the observation room. The observation room is at the agency and is fairly big with lots of toys. This was great because even though Josiah hadn't quite turned 5 months he was able to pull himself along on his tummy. A suprise for us was that our social worker and foster mum left us alone with Josiah for almost an hour!! It was a very special time for us and probably the beginning of our bonding process. Mrs Chae (Josiah's foster mum) gave Josiah some wonderful presents. She gave him a 1st year hanbok and a purse with new money in it. We had asked through our agency if we could have a photo of Josiah at his 100 days. We were overwhelmed when Mrs Chae showed us a blown up and framed photo of Josiah for his 100 days. She also gave us some photo's of Josiah at her house which I think will be great for Josiah to see as he gets older.

After saying goodbye to Josiah (for the last time) we went the Itáewon shopping district. It's near the American military base so there were a lot of Americans there and a bit more touristy than the other markets we had seen. However we did a lot of bartering there and I think we got a few bargains. (prices we were happy with at least) Decided we would try to get to the Kyobo book store again. This time everything was quiet. We bought some Korean folk stories that had english subtitles. Bought pizza from pizza hut for tea. One pizza cost the equivalent of 3 pizza's in Australia but we didn't mind. We just wanted something we knew the name of.

16 March 2001

We were very lucky today. There was an American family staying at the guest house who had older children they had adopted from Korea and were adopting their third child. One of their older children's foster father told them he would take them to the Korean folk village and we were invited to go with them!! He drove a small Hyundai so it was a bit of a squash fitting 5 adults and 2 children into the car. (I've heard Korea doesn't have as strict seatbelt laws) It was a lovely day and the American family knew quite a bit of Korean history so became our tour guides. We saw farmers dances, girls jumping on sea saws, a tight rope walker and a traditional wedding. We tried ginseng tea, bits of ginger, rice lollies and tasted Korean wine. We had to take our shoes off for lunch and sit on a platform. We played traditional games such as throwing bamboo sticks into a cylinder and standing on swings. Apparently the swings and see saws were a way for the children from higher class families to see over the high walls to see what the children from lower class families were doing as they weren't allowed to associate with them.

17 March 2001

Saw our social worker today who gave us a bag for travelling with that held things like bottles, wipes, nappies, formula etc. We were also given a sling to put Josiah in which I was told to try on right then so I could be "fitted". Also got an update form of all Josiah's habits, height and weight etc. We did all this today because the agency is shut tomorrow and we're leaving early on Monday.

For lunch we decided we would go to the "Outback Steakhouse"!! They are quite popular in Korea and there is usually a queue to get in. We just had to give it a go. Apparently they are popular in America as well. We asked some of the American families at the guest house what was served there and one person replied "You should know, it's what you eat". The food was really nice and we had a Korean waiter called "Jack" serve us. It was all so cliche that we laughed a lot and gave "Jack" a stick pin of a kangaroo. (We had told him we were from Australia but we aren't sure if he understood)

Headed for the national museum. I think because we didn't use the subway yesterday our legs got slack because boy did we feel it walking up and down the stairs today!! At the museum we bought a translater phone which we soon found we didn't need because most tags were written in english. Went to kyongbokgung palace which we weren't that impressed with but later found out we could have gotten into the folk museum which apparently is very good. (oh well...perhaps next time....) Found insadong markets and bought some pottery. (apparently it's THE place to buy pottery) We had just about run out of money so didn't spend too long there. Spent the evening sterilizing bottles and packing and repacking our suitcases.

18 March 2001

Our last full day in Korea. It's amazing to think a week has gone so quickly. I'm feeling torn about wanting to stay but at the same time wanting to get Josiah home and wanting to see Kaitlyn and Zachary. At last another Australian couple have arrived. It was funny at first to hear another Australian accent. We found the American accent to be very strong and almost took on a few American words. However we reacclimatised quickly and inundated them with information on Korea. Another reason we were glad to see them was duty free had given us the wrong adaptor for the power points so we hadn't been able to recharge the battery for our video camera and it had gone flat. (* there are Korean and American power points in the guest house)

Did some last minute shopping and tried to get to walk to Seoul tower but got lost and gave up. Spent the evening with the other couples at the guest house and boiled water for Josiah's bottles.

19 March 2001

Did some last minute rearranging of our suitcases then made it downstairs for 8:30am. Dr Kim Duk Whang always says a prayer before the babies leave. So that was a wonderfully calm moment in a day of excitment and hecticness. From the moment we first met Mrs Chae we felt she was a great foster mum for Josiah. Today confirmed that for us. She stayed strong for Josiah and although she was emotional she tried to be happy around Josiah. We think she is an incredible person and are so thankful she was our sons foster mum.

Josiah fell asleep in the "love mobile" van on the way to the airport. We had some precious moments in the first few hours with Josiah. I felt Josiah and I had our "bonding moment" in Kimpo airport. We had sat near a waterfall display that had a tape of bird sounds playing. I gave him a bottle and started singing to him. (a song I sing to all my children) and Josiah just stared into my eyes and seemed to be taking everything in, he knew what was happening and he was trusting us. It was a moment I will never forget.

We had many people come up to us to say how handsome Josiah was. We had a male guard tell me we'd dressed Josiah too cold. (he had 2 layers of clothes on and a blanket wrapped round the sling. I was sweating!!) We had a Korean flight attendant fall in love with Josiah and kept taking him for walks and showing him off. At one point she got very serious with me and made me promise that I would always love him and do the best for him. She talked about the shame her country felt having international adoption but understood why it happened.

Josiah was very good on the plane. He slept most of the way from Kuala Lumpar to Adelaide!