Day One

Well, we have just put in our first real day here in Seoul, South Korea. What an amazing day. To start we woke up at 5:30am - on our own due to jet lag, hand headed out for an early walk to get coffee, as mentioned in our earlier post. Liam and I shared a room with the Shutts (Leevi and Janet), and slept on the floor of a rather nice room. Surprisingly, the foam pads we used, were very comfortable.

After having a breakfast sandwich, we boarded the bus to begin touring. We visited the DMZ and then we were off to the Observatory where we could see North Korea. The weather was very hazy so it was difficult to really see anything. It is amazing how close the two countries are by way of distance, but how very different they are in many other ways.

We had a lovely lunch of cold noodles, and I mean COLD... they came in steal bowls, with ice cold water - we loved it! Liam too. He is doing very well with the Korean Cuisine.

Afterwards, we stopped at the bank to do some money exchanging... quite a task that was! ;o) After we had our official welcoming ceremony by the sponsoring company, we met our host families of whom we will share the next 4 nights (including tonight). Our host family had to travel back home today (a 10 hour drive), so we went to dinner with the Shutts and VanZwol host families. We are now here at our host family... and they do not speak any English! They have two grown children, thier son apparently a Gold Medalist in gymnastics (the rings?). They live on the 3rd floor, with no elevator. Needless to say, I think I will need my chiropractor when I get home.... lugging up all that luggage...LOL.

Liam and I are sharing a single bed to sleep on, but I think tomorrow he will get the padding on the floor ...lol! He did so well today with very little sleep. And if it is even possible, he is making me more proud of him, and he is really absorbing in the culture.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will hopefully meet his foster mother. We will visit the Korean Social Welfare, where Liam spent the first 2 months of his life, and his foster mom has been invited to join us, along with other foster mothers of the other adoptees. Liam's FM has a daughter in law that is expecting a baby - tomorrow of all days. So, assuming that she does not go into labour, Mrs. Hong should be able to meet with us. Fingers crossed that she does.

Anyhow, I am on our host families' computer, and the connection is really slow. We will post photos when we move to a location with high speed.

Hope everyone is doing well... time for me to go to sleep.

Take care,
Lisa and Liam