All together now

Mom... check

Dad... check

Boy... check

Girl... check

Dog... check

Camera with a timer... check


First picture of the entire family...
priceless.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we made it back to Madison. Our flight was on time, comfortable, and the kids managed to get some sleep. Customs and Immigration were no big deal, and we made it to Madison by 3 PM. We'll spend the next few days snoozing, unpacking, and opening mail while Lily explores here new digs.

It was an awesome trip, but we're glad to be home.

Insadong

We did a lot of shopping today in Insadong district. This is an artsy kind of area. We shopped and shopped and the kids were just as patient as can be. The highlight of today was our dinner with Mr. Choi, at Sanchon restaurant which specializes in "temple food" -- the owner and chef was a Buddhist monk for eighteen years. The food was excellent, and there was entertainment! Traditional dancing and drumming. Max had a ball dancing along, and Lily was entrhalled by the whole thing, including the seasonal porridge.

The movie clips are of the final drumming performance.

Part 1


Part 2

216 Bows

Mike and Mr. Choi spent September 6-7 at the Baekryunsa Buddhist temple outside of Seoul where Mike did the 108 bows of anguish... twice. Many of the Buddhist temples here are opening themselves for overnight stays, providing city dwellers a respite from the hectic pace of contemporary Korean life. There are four monks practicing at Baekryunsa, and they were gracious in teaching the etiquette and meanings of their rituals to us. It was an enlightening experience in more ways than one.

The dragonfly in the first photo is the Buddha. We saw Buddha many times in our hike in the mountains. The second photo we are assisting another Buddha in guarding the souls of the dead. The third is in the main temple where we participated in the ceremonies.

Gyeonbokgung

Our main trip today was to Gyeongbokgung, the main palace of the Loseon Dyasty. It was built in 1395 by King Taejo, destroyed by the Japanese in 1592, then rebuilt in 1868 by King Gojong. It was really cool. Every hour they change the guard...

Getting to Know You

We spent most of today hanging around and eating crackers... a good way of getting to know each other. That and tummy rides.

Lily Time

In addition to meeting Max's foster parents, Miya reviewing her own file, we also took Lily into our care. Pretty jam-packed day when that's the third thing on the list of things to do, but the timing made sense and all went well... she's back in Professor Choi's apartment and we're napping and munching and learning how to be a foursome. Indeed, she's already been mourning her own loss, and our best will be to ease the transition. It will be a challenge, but Lily seems a pretty calm person, so hopefully she'll help us through it.

Here's a picture of Lily with her foster mother (left) and case worker.

Miya's return

Miya got a chance today to review her file at SWS. It's an amazing the coincidence that it was this very agency that handled her case. They were gracious to accommodate all questions and requests, yet there was no really new information. Yet, she was able to get the original photo of her at the reception home in 1968.

Max's return

SWS arranged a meeting with Max's second foster family, with whom he stayed from age two to six months. We have become quite familiar with Mrs. Lee's face, as one of the referral pictures of her and Max graces the front of our refrigerator back home. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are wonderful people to whom we are grateful for caring for and lovig him during that critical time in his life. Mr. Lee took the day off work to meet him again, and they picked up where they left off, laughing and playing naturally together.

Rays of Light

Woke up to this double rainbow this morning... we're flying back to Seoul today.

Jungman city

We started today with rain. But we had a delicious breakfast at the Hyatt in Jungman, where we are staying until Tuesday. There are many tourists here from all over the world, including U.S. military stationed in Korea who are on furlough. We met a group from Chicago, one of whom plays in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. We met some oceanographers from Penn State University who helped us learn about the shuttle schedules to the airport. So there is much help speaking English right now.

After a walk over the Cheonjeyeon Popko foot bridge and to the waterfalls, we had a delicious lunch of kal-bi (barbecued ribs). Max took a long nap, and Mike went to the beach, after the weather cleared. We are pampering ourselves now to regain our strength for next week.

Pictures are of Cheonjeyeon area. It is beautiful here.