Our First Trip to Korea & Court Date

Let me first say I am so impressed by those of you who blogged throughout your trips to Korea, I loved reading them and I honestly don't know how you did it. When I had free time in the room I spent it sleeping!
Anyway Korea!! We left from our town early on the morning of Saturday, December 6 (and left ATL for ICN at noon that day) and we arrived in Korea the next evening. The flight was 15 hours long and they are 14 hours ahead. The flight wasn't too bad and Olivia didn't act up at all! Once we arrived we took a van cab (too much luggage for a normal one) to our hotel. We stayed at The Gand Intercontinental Parnas (which is connected to the Intercontinental Coex by the underground Coex mall which there is an elevetor to in our hotel). The mall just reopened and is great but not cheap. I said yes to buying a small stuffed animal (made in France) for Olivia before I realized it was $70us. There is a nice food court (think delicatessen not like a US mall food court) that had very good Korean and Western options.

DAY 1 in Korea

We woke up VERY early, around 4am. We decided to do something fun for Olivia so we took the subway to Pororo (pronounced Pololo) Park. There was one two stops away, on the very easy to navigate subway, at Lotte World. Olivia loved it though it is more suited to children 18 month to 3.5 years old. She is four. It has a massive ball pit, a play area, a small kiddy train, a bounce area, a cafe and a baby area just for very small toddlers/babies. It is a little pricey for what it is and the ticket only lets you in for two hours. It was worth it though for her to have a fun time!

DAY 2 in Korea

This was the day we had been waiting for, we got to meet our son! He is 17 months old, adorable and extremely attached to his foster mother. It is going to be such a tough transition for him! We are with SWS and the first visit is always at the foster mother's home. It is such an incredible opportunity to see exactly where and how your child is living. I am so glad we had this opportunity and wish that the trip was longer with more mandated visits since I think they will only help the child in their transition. He was shy at first but eventually opened up to us and especially my husband.

DAY 3 in Korea

Another early wake up! After we woke up we went to Coex Aquarium (conveniently located in the mall attached to our hotel. I was actually very surprised by how large and cool the aquarium was. But you may want to take my recommendation with a grain of salt as the aquarium in my town isn't that amazing.  After the aquarium Olivia and I took a nap and then we headed out to the Namdaemun markets. They were pretty neat, similar to outdoor markets in Hong Kong. It was so cold though so we didn't stay long. The picture above is of the market.

Day 4 in Korea

We had our second visit with Garum (pronounced Callum which I wish we would have known before choosing his English first name). Today the visit was in the SWS playroom. Garum seemed to like me less but still liked my husband. Before the visit we got to see the SWS baby reception center, where the children live before they are found foster homes. It was sweet and sad to see the children there.

Day 5 in Korea

Court date! This was the day I had been dreading. We had the Friday female judge, Judge Kim. We had heard horror stories but she was nice and kind to us. She asked some fairly tough questions but it was quick and relatively painless. My daughter behaved and that is what I was most worried about. After court we went out to a nice lunch with three other couples who were at court with us and who we had been chatting to on Facebook for months. It was really nice to meet them all in person and hang out with people going through exactly what we are. After lunch we crashed out at the hotel. I got food poisoning and was ill that night/the next morning. We flew home the next day and since I was up all night the night before I slept most of the flight home.

I am happy to be home but would be even happier to get a call telling me to get back on a plane tomorrow to pick up my son!