Letter to Derek and Mommy

Hi Derek and Mom!

This Alex and Dad here. We like visiting Korea and we are having a great time. This morning Dad woke up just after 6 a.m. and didn't wake up at 1 a.m., in the middle fo the night, so had a good sleep.

First we want to ask you Derek how your graduation ceremony went. Papa and I hope that you did well, had lots of fun, and are very happy with your FIRST graduation! Papa and I are really proud of you and wish we could have been there to see you. Hope Mama took lots of photos. We miss you both!

WE LOVE YOOOOOUUUUU !!!!!!!!!!!

DAY 3 - Home-Stay Family, Seoul Tower, Palace, School fo Etiquette - June 17, 2009

The schedule here is always very busy and gives us maybe 15-30 minutes to look through a souvenir shop, and evenings are busy also with the host family. The family we are staying with is great. It is a family of five - 9 and 13-year old boys and a 16-year old girl who is the only one that speaks English well enough to have a normal conversation with. The mother speaks with some English words and gestures and so do the boys. We only saw the father one time at his work (he is a firefighter-took some nice photos there) and another time when our family hosted a dinner (kalbi bbq). The family is very traditional with respect to food and education. The house is on a hillside overlooking a part of Seoul with lots of greenery around. The family just adores Alex and bought him a box of 84 walnut cakes, each walnut cake separately wrapped. Also bought him a bag full of seasoned dired seaweed and Korean books. I will have to see how I am going to get all this home?

Today we visited the Seoul Tower, a palace, and a old school of etiquette where we learned how to bow and drink tea. It was a tight schedule. Tomorrow should be a bit more relaxed. We are going to make Korean paper and see some dances and other folklore things in the area around SWS (Social Welfar Society,or adoption agency).

We have to get ready now to take the morning bus to our group meeting place because driving in rush hour takes too long and buses have reserved lanes. The mother always accompanies us on the bus and at the meeting place until the group is together. Tomorrow they will take us to a seafood restaurant (our last night with them).

WILLEM'S LATER ADDITION + PICS: Had a wonderful day at Etiquette School (Sung Kyun Kwan Propriety School) Learned about tea ceremony. Kids loved it and were all well behaved despite the seriousness of the whole affair! This was the day that I had to walk out to answer Mom's call from home (our first call). The children were all into the tea ceremony, as the bowing ceremony.

Next stop was the Changdeokgung Palace (palace where all royal families used to live). It was a guided tour and the woman didn't speak English very clearly, but the buildings were fantastic (Mom adding a "photographer's dream" as read somewhere else). Alex likes looking at the buildings, especially the dark holes and small doors. I think the kids would have liked to do the tour on their own with lots of free running. It was also a very hot day.

Next we went up the Seoul Tower. They changed things there since we last visited it. The totem poles are gone, including the one that was somewhat shocking in the souvernir shop. Of course, Alex liked the elevator ride to the top and the sites from the top of the tower. It was hazy and hot and could not see very far. Down from the tower along a fence were thousands and thousands of locks. Couples say their promise of love to each other put a lock on the fence and throw away the key. There were also preformances of ribbon dances and tightrope dancers.

Mommy's day...so far - June 17, 2009

Awoke at 05:45 with Derek and started the day by changing his sheets, comforter, mattress cover and "blankie" for 3rd morning in a row. Soon after wrestled with his bedroom door knob while he was in time-out for having such a tantrum (and being sincerely devastated) that Lyn had made him a scrambled, rather than sunny-side up egg - with our last egg. Received Geri dropping off videocam to tape Derek's school show today, then left for WalMart to get tape for it on way to Derek's dentist appt. Had time to drop by mall to get hair mousse and Tim Horton's for snack, before arriving early for his show at 11:00, giving me time to drop off my urine sample at lab across the street. Now that's multi-tasking, Willem!;)
Will tell you about Derek's show with pics later, but again Ms. Jilska asked that I tape the show for her. 10 minutes into it, was running out of battery power even though Geri said she had charged it night prior (maybe took too much video of inside camera bag again!;). Found an outlet in back of room, at floor level, to continue taping with 1 m long extension cord. I was in a pretty contorted position trying to tape over the top of heads with full zoom so will be an awfully shaky video!;).
Derek then topped things off by refusing to take a photo with me after the show.
So dropped he and Lyn off at house, then went to stock house with some Coolers!;) So deliriously tired that I don't even mind this being public and am now going off into my afternoon coma/nap.
Someone asked if things seemed quieter with you and Alex gone - how little they know our family!;). Mom (yes, I'll delete this eventually...)

Spoke to Dad by phone!

Finally was able to call Dad with correct telephone no. late June 16th here, and June 17th there.
Had to be a quick conversation as Dad and Alex were in middle of "bowing ceremony"!
Willem feeling fine with time change, Alex shoud be okay in another day Dad says (his body still wants to fall alseep at 18:00 and awake at 04:00)
Their home-stay family is awesome, even including co-travellers parents travelling singly Lisa (with Liam) and Janet (with Leevi) for dinners and whose blogs are included in our blog (I check their blogs too to get more details about the trip!;). the home-stay family have 3 children of their own that Alex is having much fun with, aged 10, 14, and 17 in Korean years (substract about 2 years for actual years since birth). The 17-year old speaks English very well, making their stay that much more meaningful, I'm sure. With Korean homes being traditionally much smaller due to their great population (10 million in Seoul, 18 million counting greater Seoul area), I don't know how they managed to fit extra guests!? Dad and Alex sleep together in single bed in daughter's bedroom, even though there is a traditional Korean floor mattress/pad for one of them.
The trio singly travelling parents and boys (Liam and Leevi being 8-years old) are apparently together all the time. I'll have to think of a knickname for them!;)
All have battery chargers that won't work well (See Leevi's blog about how Mom practically burned host's house down. Ha, ha! Pics of her black hand to follow soon!?;). Nintendo DS's are going down. See, you can have fun without those addictive gadgets!;)
Thanks to followers and your comments, Julie. Makes the blog more interesting - whenever Dad and Alex can get to theri blog more!;)
Written by Mom

DAY 2 - Cooking class and Foster Family reunion - June 16, 2009

I'm connected but just by a hair signal... It is 11pm and am now trying to get a msg out to you.
Alex met his foster mother today, and Derek's foster mother and father!
We first met the social worker assigned to us, then we bumped into the social worker we had when we were in Korea to get Alex! That was a nice reunion, as well as meeting the doorman (Han?) at the guesthouse again.
On the main floor of the office building, there were nice private rooms for visiting with the foster mothers. We had to wait a while for the foster mothers and during that time we received some gifts from the Social Welfare Society - chopsticks, and for each Alex and Derek a box with 2 traditional ceramic dolls.
Then Derek's foster parents arrived and it was very pleasant. They brought gifts for Derek -an outfit and a pair of silver running shoes with flashy lights on it! We gave them our gifts to them which they opened in front of us and were very pleased with them. Derek's foster parents are really nice and asked a lot of questions. Alex was nervous a the beginning but when the camera came out, he was posing with Derek foster parents for photos .
Then Alex's foster mother arrived. She didn't change at all since the last time we saw her. Alex was very shy with her and also exhausted from the day. She seemed very happy to see Alex and gave him a hug. Cameras were out so Alex went along with that. He opened his gift which consisted of an embroided key chain, metal chopsticks and a pencil holder. The key chain became his favourite.
Lot of questions were asked about the two brothers, sports, school etc., mostly by Derek's foster mom. Alex showed photos of him and Derek on the camera to both foster mothers and a lot of photos and video were taken as well. In short, a very successfully meeting with both foster parents. BTW, the business cards with our e-mail stayed with both foster mothers.
The schedule is very busy with tour and social gatherings with home-stay families that there is very little time to get on the computer. I will try to write on the bus tomorrow, but probably will catch-up more when we are in a hotel again where evenings will be more free (I hope).

I love DEREK xoxoxoxoxo
I love you Mommy xoxoxoxo

What Derek did while you were in the air

Hi Alex and Papa! I know you are always curious about what Derek is doing when you are not with him - I think you worry that you may be missing out on something good! Maybe this time you will be too interested in your wonderful experiences to even think about that. Anyway, Mom is trying to make this time special for Derek too since you get to be on a trip with Daddy - but the summer is still ahead of us and we can do all kinds of things again when you return!
While you were travelling by airplane, Derek and Lyn went to WindReach Farm which was celebrating its 20 year anniversary. Mom rested, then went to get them for dinner and Derek pouted and grunted the whole way home as he wanted to stay there. We did go back there after supper as Mom had reserved a free hot air balloon ride, just going up and down, for the 3 of us. But it ended up being too windy and the sky was strange being both white and black clouded. We never even saw the hot air balloon, but we did see a rainbow on the way home.
Hugs and kisses to you from all of us! Derek says "I miss you Alex"! Mom

Happy as a pig ....

DAY 1 - DMZ & Welcome Ceremony - Monday, June 15, 2009

Here we are in Korea. Alex loved the plane and the landing. We are a little tired because of the 12 hour time change. Alex is doing fine and had several hours good sleep on the plane. We had to drop off our suitcases quite quickly because we all are going out for dinner in a Kalbi (Korean style BBQ) place. Alex is still having some jetlag and therefore awoke at 2:30am (that's like mid afternoon for him).
On Monday we are going to the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone between South & North Korea) and the opening cermony for our trip. After that we will go to the homestay.

Hi Derek and Mom!