Meeting Day!

  The clouds are hanging around but no rain today.  We even saw our shadows a couple times!  We had to meet with our Korean Caseworker today 1pm so we didn’t have much time for sight seeing.  We decided to go see another palace, Gyeongbokgung, and we were so glad we ventured out.  The structures were very similar, but we were lucky enough to catch the changing of the guards (actors but still fun to see) at the gate to the palace and to see the pavilion on a non-rainy day. 

Then we rushed back to the guesthouse to grab some lunch.  Today we discovered an entire underground mall at our metro stop that we had overlooked the last 2 days.  We ate at McDonald’s and it was awesome!  Now we are not usually ones to seek out American food when we are in another country, but the Korean flavors are proving to be a little strong for both our taste buds and our stomachs.  Then he had to almost sprint back to our rooms to get changed before meeting our caseworker to go meet Anderson and his foster mom.  The ride to his home felt like an eternity.  We were both nervous and anxious.  We learned that he does not actually live in Seoul, but in a province about 25 km east of Seoul. 

Our caseworker knocked on the door, and standing in the doorway was Anderson and his foster mom.  It was a surreal moment.  We have been waiting 21 months for this day to come.  We went in to the home and sat on the floor to talk while we played with Anderson.  Anderson’s foster mom does not speak English and we do not speak Korean, so the caseworker translated our questions and his foster mother’s answers for us.  We had a lot of time to ask questions, but by far the best part was playing with Anderson.  He was timid at first, but he stared at us almost constantly.  Then we started playing with one of his toy cars (the ones my mom and dad had sent over in our care package to him.)  Before long he used his foot to kick the car back to Andy, and then things progressed from there.  We moved from kicking a car back and forth to bouncing a ball.  Then we started packing and unpacking the bag of gifts the foster mother had given us. Books and clothes were handed back and forth nearly 100 times.

 

It was at this point that Anderson became interested in Andy’s head.  As Anderson curiosity grew he walked closer and closer to Andy.  I was lucky enough to capture that moment when he reached out his hands to touch Andy’s head.  It was at this point that Andy leaned in and got a kiss from Anderson.  Anderson didn’t draw back, but instead, he actually gave Andy 2 more kisses.  I am not going to say that I wasn’t jealous of all the affection that Andy was getting, but I was also so happy that he was opening up to us so quickly.  A little while after that, Anderson picked up the book and sat on Andy’s lap to look through the pages.  It was at this point that Andy hit his emotional breaking point, and the tears came.  As we reluctantly said goodbye, Andy was lucky enough to get a hug from Anderson.  We rode back to Seoul emotional drained.  We are going to meet Anderson and his foster mom again at 1pm on Tuesday, and then he is officially ours at 1pm on Wednesday.

Anderson's foster mom gave us a photo album with some baby pictures.  She got him when he was 6 months old, so these are the youngest pictures we have seen of him.

Later that evening, we meet up with Elizabeth and Justin, another student that Megan and Trey hosted while he was at Davidson.  We ate another traditional Korean meal.  We had an appetizer of fish fried in egg.  It is better than it sounds.  Then we each had a large bowl of noodle soup (white noodles in a beef broth with green onions and green peppers).  After dinner, we went and got dessert.  Once again, Elizabeth and Justin ordered for our.  We are overwhelmingly grateful for all that have done for us.  We would have never had such an authentic experience without their guidance.  Back to dessert- it was shaved ice with sweet milk poured over it and then topped with red beans.  Once again it was better than it sounded.  It was a good combination of salty and sweet.

By 10PM we were exhausted.  We headed off to bed.  To put it mildly, we are looking forward to meeting Anderson again tomorrow.