KOREA
If I sat down to type about my whole trip all at once it would take me forever. So I'll write it in parts.
We left the states 2 days after we graduated (daniel and I), accompanied by my Dad, his girlfriend Deb, and her son Eric (who is 17 and just graduated high school). We flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago to Tokyo to Seoul, absolutely the longest plane ride I've been on (the 13 hour one, that is!). I watched that silly movie Coach Carter about 9978646354 times before we landed. Felt like the longest day of my life.
We got to our hotels at about 8pm local Korean time. I was exhausted (it's very hard for me to sleep on a plane!) and just passed right out. The next morning we took our first tour. Armed with a camera, I tried to look as un-touristy as possible, but it just didn't work out. Everyone told me that when we got to Korea that the local people there would be able to easily tell that I was an American and that they wouldn't expect me to speak Han gul, but that just wasn't the case! Whenever my Dad/Deb would try to ask a question to someone, they would turn to me and bust out in the native language. I had to learn how to say "I don't speak korean" the first day I was there. I found Korean to sound worlds different than any other language I'd ever heard before.
So anyway, the first tour was to the Freedom bridge/demilitarize zone, which is just about as far north you can get in South Korea.
Me standing in front of the Freedom Bridge's gate. North and South Korea have been apart for years, and many people in South Korea have relatives living in the north whom they haven't seen/had any contact with for years and years. I believe that this bridge was opened perhaps a couple years ago? To allow contact between families. Since then, it has been shut, and taped to the gate behind me are letters from families to their respective members. (I have this uncanny ability to make a hideous face in every picture ever taken of me, so please disregard). Standing in front of that bridge, it seemed like I was in another world. You could feel the sadness hanging on that gate, having taken the form of letters and drawings from young children who will never meet their grandparents.
Barbed wire marking the Demilitarization Zone (just DMZ from now on, thanksverymuch) which, apparently North and South Korea agreed to stop active combat with this. It's a stretch of land between the lines of the 2 countries, marked by barbed wire on both sides, where no one is allowed to go.
There were so many landmarks, so much beauty crammed into a place that has seen so much sadness. It's easy to forget that other countries have historys that go back thousands and thousands of years. I believe Americans have the uncanny ability to think that we are the only country in the world, despite what we see on T.V. and read in Newspapers.
After we left the Freedom Bridge, our next stop was the 3rd Tunnel that the North Koreans tried to dig UNDER the DMZ to secretly attack Seoul, South Korea's Capital City. We couldn't take any pictures down there, but damn, that's pretty sneaky of them. Hah, the first tunnel they tried to complete was given up by a North Korean Defector, so it was never finished-and the 2nd was found out by an old man who complained to the military about the noise! He could hear the North Korean's digging and banging underground, and he thought the local military station's solider's were having a party every night. Strike 2, North Korea! The 3rd one was discovered by the South Korean Military, who unfortunately lost 7 soliders in a trap the North Koreans had set within the tunnel. So here's us walking into the building, about to go down into the tunnel. It was really long and steep, and that climb up was something else. Not for the claustraphobic, letmetellyathatmuch.
And here is my studly South Korean Solider #1. They were very polite and understanding about our touristy-ways.
Stop #3-the railroad station which South Korea hopes will once again open communication/trade between itself and North Korea. The construction is all done on the South side, but the North seems to keep finding excuses for keeping the trains from making thier maiden voyages. Hopefully someday soon the train will be up and running, and the 2 countries can develop a better relationship. Freaking historical. I was there, I saw it, and I hope to the heavens that someday it will help heal the rift between these 2 countries. There is so much hurt and betrayal here-it was almost like seeing a brother and sister who live next door to each other but have betrayed each other too many times to just be able to shake hands and be friends. This railroad is the first step, it's the brother knocking on his sister's door. Hopefully she'll open up and they can be friends again.
There was a stamp at the train station's desk that you could put in your passport to mark having been there. It was eerie, there were lots of tourists and soliders, but no trains running and no train ticketers. My dad and Deb getting their stamps.
...And me and studly solider #2.
And next....The Korea House!
The Korea House was a beautiful theater/restaurant. You eat and then you get to experience the traditional Korean dance. I'm only going to post pics of the dance.
and us with the dancers.
And now...DUM DUM DUM! My trip to the social welfare society that I was adopted out of.
It was a really small, old building (I suppose it'd have to be at least 22, wouldn't it now). We were met by a sweetheart of a lady, Miss Kang. She showed us around the building-including....THE BABIES!
There were so many babies. So many. I saw the newborns, but wasn't allowed to go near them...but once I washed my hands I could get close to the 2-month olds and up. 2 floors stuffed with little wailing babies with spikey hair, looking very much like I must have when I laid in that crib 21 years and 6 months ago. I was in love and hearbroken at the same time. I could barely walk out of that place without one-I can't imagine what all the birthmothers must have felt.
"Can I hold one? I've never held a baby before, not a REALLY little one!"
"I can?? OMFG what if I drop him??" There's that face again, dammit.
Holy beejebus christ that was a hard place to walk out of. I'm in love with babies. Especially little korean ones. Forget having my own, I want to bring home the little guy I was holding, who stretched and mewed and grabbed my finger and was softer then anything I'd ever touched before.
After they pried me away from the babies, Miss Kang pulled out my folder. Not too much that I didn't know already, except a thorough report on both my adoptive parents (a little too much TMI in those, letmetellya). The only new thing I found out was the names of my birthparents (which doesn't mean much, there aren't many different last names in korea, so many many people have the same name) and I found out their ages-they are both older then I originally thought.
Father: Jong Se PARK
Age: 28
Birthplace: Yokji-island in Choongmu
Education: High School
Religion: Buddhist
Siblings: Unkown
Mother: Bong Soon KIM
Age: 23
Birthplace: Chunwon-kun in Choongnam
Education: Elementary School
Religion: None
Siblings; Eldest of 6 children
So I have 5 uncles/aunts somewhere. There's more there, but it would be a lot to type-perhaps I'll scan it in later. Anyway, this was Korea part 1-I still have to tell you about my visit to Busan, where I got to see the place I was born!! Hold onto your hats! I'll have to write it later, I'm tired of typing.
I hope you all had a great 2 weeks.
We left the states 2 days after we graduated (daniel and I), accompanied by my Dad, his girlfriend Deb, and her son Eric (who is 17 and just graduated high school). We flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago to Tokyo to Seoul, absolutely the longest plane ride I've been on (the 13 hour one, that is!). I watched that silly movie Coach Carter about 9978646354 times before we landed. Felt like the longest day of my life.
We got to our hotels at about 8pm local Korean time. I was exhausted (it's very hard for me to sleep on a plane!) and just passed right out. The next morning we took our first tour. Armed with a camera, I tried to look as un-touristy as possible, but it just didn't work out. Everyone told me that when we got to Korea that the local people there would be able to easily tell that I was an American and that they wouldn't expect me to speak Han gul, but that just wasn't the case! Whenever my Dad/Deb would try to ask a question to someone, they would turn to me and bust out in the native language. I had to learn how to say "I don't speak korean" the first day I was there. I found Korean to sound worlds different than any other language I'd ever heard before.
So anyway, the first tour was to the Freedom bridge/demilitarize zone, which is just about as far north you can get in South Korea.
Me standing in front of the Freedom Bridge's gate. North and South Korea have been apart for years, and many people in South Korea have relatives living in the north whom they haven't seen/had any contact with for years and years. I believe that this bridge was opened perhaps a couple years ago? To allow contact between families. Since then, it has been shut, and taped to the gate behind me are letters from families to their respective members. (I have this uncanny ability to make a hideous face in every picture ever taken of me, so please disregard). Standing in front of that bridge, it seemed like I was in another world. You could feel the sadness hanging on that gate, having taken the form of letters and drawings from young children who will never meet their grandparents.
Barbed wire marking the Demilitarization Zone (just DMZ from now on, thanksverymuch) which, apparently North and South Korea agreed to stop active combat with this. It's a stretch of land between the lines of the 2 countries, marked by barbed wire on both sides, where no one is allowed to go.
There were so many landmarks, so much beauty crammed into a place that has seen so much sadness. It's easy to forget that other countries have historys that go back thousands and thousands of years. I believe Americans have the uncanny ability to think that we are the only country in the world, despite what we see on T.V. and read in Newspapers.
After we left the Freedom Bridge, our next stop was the 3rd Tunnel that the North Koreans tried to dig UNDER the DMZ to secretly attack Seoul, South Korea's Capital City. We couldn't take any pictures down there, but damn, that's pretty sneaky of them. Hah, the first tunnel they tried to complete was given up by a North Korean Defector, so it was never finished-and the 2nd was found out by an old man who complained to the military about the noise! He could hear the North Korean's digging and banging underground, and he thought the local military station's solider's were having a party every night. Strike 2, North Korea! The 3rd one was discovered by the South Korean Military, who unfortunately lost 7 soliders in a trap the North Koreans had set within the tunnel. So here's us walking into the building, about to go down into the tunnel. It was really long and steep, and that climb up was something else. Not for the claustraphobic, letmetellyathatmuch.
And here is my studly South Korean Solider #1. They were very polite and understanding about our touristy-ways.
Stop #3-the railroad station which South Korea hopes will once again open communication/trade between itself and North Korea. The construction is all done on the South side, but the North seems to keep finding excuses for keeping the trains from making thier maiden voyages. Hopefully someday soon the train will be up and running, and the 2 countries can develop a better relationship. Freaking historical. I was there, I saw it, and I hope to the heavens that someday it will help heal the rift between these 2 countries. There is so much hurt and betrayal here-it was almost like seeing a brother and sister who live next door to each other but have betrayed each other too many times to just be able to shake hands and be friends. This railroad is the first step, it's the brother knocking on his sister's door. Hopefully she'll open up and they can be friends again.
There was a stamp at the train station's desk that you could put in your passport to mark having been there. It was eerie, there were lots of tourists and soliders, but no trains running and no train ticketers. My dad and Deb getting their stamps.
...And me and studly solider #2.
And next....The Korea House!
The Korea House was a beautiful theater/restaurant. You eat and then you get to experience the traditional Korean dance. I'm only going to post pics of the dance.
and us with the dancers.
And now...DUM DUM DUM! My trip to the social welfare society that I was adopted out of.
It was a really small, old building (I suppose it'd have to be at least 22, wouldn't it now). We were met by a sweetheart of a lady, Miss Kang. She showed us around the building-including....THE BABIES!
There were so many babies. So many. I saw the newborns, but wasn't allowed to go near them...but once I washed my hands I could get close to the 2-month olds and up. 2 floors stuffed with little wailing babies with spikey hair, looking very much like I must have when I laid in that crib 21 years and 6 months ago. I was in love and hearbroken at the same time. I could barely walk out of that place without one-I can't imagine what all the birthmothers must have felt.
"Can I hold one? I've never held a baby before, not a REALLY little one!"
"I can?? OMFG what if I drop him??" There's that face again, dammit.
Holy beejebus christ that was a hard place to walk out of. I'm in love with babies. Especially little korean ones. Forget having my own, I want to bring home the little guy I was holding, who stretched and mewed and grabbed my finger and was softer then anything I'd ever touched before.
After they pried me away from the babies, Miss Kang pulled out my folder. Not too much that I didn't know already, except a thorough report on both my adoptive parents (a little too much TMI in those, letmetellya). The only new thing I found out was the names of my birthparents (which doesn't mean much, there aren't many different last names in korea, so many many people have the same name) and I found out their ages-they are both older then I originally thought.
Father: Jong Se PARK
Age: 28
Birthplace: Yokji-island in Choongmu
Education: High School
Religion: Buddhist
Siblings: Unkown
Mother: Bong Soon KIM
Age: 23
Birthplace: Chunwon-kun in Choongnam
Education: Elementary School
Religion: None
Siblings; Eldest of 6 children
So I have 5 uncles/aunts somewhere. There's more there, but it would be a lot to type-perhaps I'll scan it in later. Anyway, this was Korea part 1-I still have to tell you about my visit to Busan, where I got to see the place I was born!! Hold onto your hats! I'll have to write it later, I'm tired of typing.
I hope you all had a great 2 weeks.