Things

Things we should have brought:

  1. More umbrellas. It rained all day today.  I’ve never seen so many umbrellas in my life.  And at every entrance to a building is a convenient umbrella bag dispenser.  There is also this crazy practice of violently waving your umbrella to shake it dry.  It doesn’t seem to matter who you get wet as long as your umbrella gets dry.
  2. Patrick’s raincoat. We think it’s sitting next to the other jacket that didn’t seem to make it into the luggage.
  3. Raincover for stroller. Do you see a developing theme yet?  I actually have 2 raincovers for the stroller we have with us.  Why I had the presence of mind to pack raincoats and umbrellas for both kids but not the stroller raincover is beyond me.
  4. Shoes for Melissa. I packed flip-flops for everyday wear and running shoes in case I wanted to get some training in.  Then Patrick informs me once we get here that his etiquette book says it’s impolite to wear shoes without socks (especially sandals or flip flops) because there’s a lot of emphasis on clean feet over here.  So running shoes it was (with khakis, a nice shirt, and a scarf) when we had to go meet Ty’s foster mom today.

Thing we’ve seen:

  1. Hundreds of police men dressed in riot gear boarding police buses en masse.
  2. Nana and Grandma’s jet lag manifesting itself in frequent, teary-eyed, laughing fits over the littlest things.
  3. An elderly, non-English speaking receptionist who looked like he might have a heart attack when 5 of us with dripping umbrellas, shoes, a rolling zebra print carry-on, and a water-logged stroller entered the Holt guest house.
  4. An elderly business man bump his head on the low ceiling of the authentic restaurant at which we ate lunch today.
  5. Grandma bump her head three times at the above restaurant.
  6. Melissa come seriously close to clotheslining herself on the edge of the low ceiling at the aforementioned restaurant.
  7. A waiter who was seriously confused after Patrick asked for the check after only the first round of our traditional, full course lunch.  Who knew that there would be more after they brought out at least 12 plates of food to share that was enough to feed an army?  We were already beyond full when he brought out the same amount for the second course.
  8. Hundreds of paper lanterns lining the streets.  Last night I was actually wondering if they were really paper.  Today I know they’re not because they still look as good as new even after 13 hours of rain.
  9. These cool raised, coded walkways, that lead the blind to accessible ramps, bathrooms, and elevators.
  10. This really cool outdoor, multi-level market.  You only had to walk up one set of stairs.  Then you were on a ramp of stores that circled around and led you 3 stories up without ever climbing another stair.  Brilliant.
  11. Koreans who drive on the right side of the road but walk on the left side of the sidewalk, subway stairway, etc.
  12. A cool energy saving system in our hotel that requires you to leave your key in a slot to activate the power in your room.  This would be brilliant unless you have 2 rooms which each have a separate key slot for power and only 2 room keys.  If one person leaves and wants to take a key to get back in, the rest of us have to sit in half darkness.
  13. An elevator with doors at 90 degrees to each other.
  14. Motorcyclists that drive recklessly on the sidewalks…at least they wear helmets.
  15. Koreans have the ability to sleep anywhere (including standing on the subway).  I knew I came by this trait honestly.
  16. A washing machine that doubles as a dryer.
  17. Dunkin Donuts, Subway, Outback, Quiznos, Costco…
  18. An omelet chef who is easier to understand in Spanish than English.
  19. These really cool drains in the bathroom floors that allow you to use the shower to just hose down the bathroom.  I need one of these.
  20. Traffic lights that turn yellow before they turn red AND before they turn green.

Things we learned about Ty:

  1. He’s very busy, curious, and ALL BOY.
  2. He needs a haircut beyond his bangs.
  3. We will need to childproof for him like we never childproofed for the other two.
  4. He can be stubborn and bossy.
  5. Mia learned he likes to pull hair.

**The 2009Korea Album has been updated with pictures from our meeting with Ty**

Posted in Adoption and Orphan Care, Our Adoption Adventure and tagged .

3 Comments

  1. Wow what a time you are having!! Can’t wait to see photos of when you are finally home at last! You are in our prayers for the flight back home!

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