Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Countdown!

The months of waiting are counting down now to just a few minutes.  We are dressed and ready to go pick up our daughter.  We will have her in our arms at last at 11am Korean time.  That's about 10pm Wednesday night for you east coasters.

We have spent the past 48 hours since first meeting Mia in relatively low key mode.  Carrie was having trouble sleeping with all the anticipation and was not feeling well after an adventurous afteroon on Tuesday.  We asked our front desk for recommendations on a Korean restaurant for lunch.  In their broken English they told us to head down the street about 3 minutes walk, look for a green sign and then they wrote down the resaurants name...in Korean!  We wanted to be polite but inside we were rolling our eyes thinking we would never find the place.

We walked a few minutes down the street, found a green building, no idea if it was the right place and went inside.  They led us to an elevator which took us to the third floor where we were greeted and seated in a private booth with a barbeque tray in the center of the table and an exhaust hood above.  The menu prices ranged from $100 to $25 per entree and all the photos showed pictures of raw meat.  We didn't know what to expect.  I suggested we just get up and leave but Carrie didn't want to offend them.

We tried to order an entree for me and a soup (less expensive) for Carrie.  They seemed to indicate we had to order two entrees.  After an extended discusssion, we finally got them to tell us the price for what they wanted us to order.  It was about $75...for lunch!  We said that was too much and finally they agreed to give us what we asked for.  The language barrier makes even simple exchanges complicated.

The meal came with a host of side dishes of various kimchi (korean pickled cabbage).  They brought out a tray of red hot coals and proceeded to cook my raw meat right in front of us.  The heat from the coals was almost overwhelming.  It would have been welcome in January, but on an 80 degree June afternoon it was a bit much.  Overall the meal was a bit of a disappointment, especially for the price but that's the chance you take when you take chances.

From there we decided to venture out again on our own to visit a popular tourist destination, the Seoul Tower, an observation tower on top of Namsan Mountain.  It offered panoramic views of the city and the Han River which bisecs the city.  We navigated through the subway system and then transfered to a bus but eventually made it.  It was quite an adventure.  Several locals stopped to help us as we looked lost to them I'm sure.

Yesterday we met a couple from North Carolina who had just adopted their second child, a baby boy.  It was helpful to talk with them and learn from their experiences.  Thanks for all your prayers.  The Lord answered one of them in an unexpedted way.  Carrie finally got some sleep last night thanks in part to some Advil PM provided by our new friends from Carolina.  

Well, we're out of time. The countdown's getting lower by the minute. Time to go get our daughter!


2 comments:

  1. How exciting!!! According to my clock you will have your new baby girl in your arms in 20 minutes!!! I am so excited for you and will be praying for you and Mia as you have your first night together tonight. <3

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  2. We will be praying for a peaceful and smooth first days. :)

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