They are! Sean seems to be adjusting really well-- he's happy, he's eating, he's pooping, he's sleeping. He babbles and laughs and "dances" by swinging his arms back and forth like some sort of weird calisthenics movie clip from the 1920s. He likes the car seat, he likes the stroller. We've only been home for 48 hours and he's already successfully had trips to Shop Rite, Carter's, Babies R Us. He also survived an afternoon enveloped in the chaos of a family gathering, and even took a nap while he was there. He cries some, but it comes and goes like the clouds passing in front of the sun. I'm actually crying more than he is, because this kid is seriously cutting into my Internet surfing and tv watching time. Good thing he's as cute as he is. I shudder to think if the Fates had chosen to give me an unattractive kid.
Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy every second of this, but you know, Sean's and my concepts of "fun" are pretty far apart at this juncture. I look forward to the day we can play Wii together and maybe watch a horror movie he really shouldn't be watching, huddled together on the couch under a blanket to duck for the really scary parts. Sean's current idea of a good time is hurling things; Chloe has quickly learned to duck and cover.
Speaking of Chloe, she's being really great. When Sean cries in his crib she parks herself on the floor in front of him and watches him like a guard dog. She only wants to go over to him and lick him and love him, but he screams and tries to draw his arms and legs up into himself like a hermit crab. She somehow knows not to jump on him, a rule that doesn't apply to anyone else (except maybe my father.) He watches her with interest until she comes too close. He hasn't yet figured out he can entertain himself by throwing his food down to her. I'm sure she's trying to mind-meld with him to get him to do it, so it's only a matter of time.
We have a trip to the park planned for tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have some more good pics to post.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Killing time...In the lobby, during more rain
Ok, first i want to say that typing on sn iPad kind of blows. Second, I did write an update yesterday and I'm sorry for not posting it on Facebook. Take some initiative peopler, I can only take care of one baby at a time. :)
We are sitting in the lobby, waiting for 1.30pm to come. We had to check out at noon and the van to the airport isn't coming until 1:30. Luckily there's wireless down here--this is the happiest I've felt in days. I will not do well during the apocalypse, I need my instant all access all the time Internet.
Sean skipped him morning nap and is now sleeping in his umbrella stroller (thanks Coleen!) I wheeled him around until he nodded off. We gave him a bath last night and let him have his empty bottle in his mouth, there was significantly less screaming. He even splashed around a little and played with some toys. All hell broke loose when it was shampoo time though. I need to finesse that. Imagine I'd dislike water being dumped in my hesd too.
Sean slept in a crib last night, which was exciting, since his foster mother had him on the floor on some sort of mattress or something. And we'd had him on the floor for two nights too. He was playing with his feet, bottle in mouth for a while, but we didn't care what he did in there as long as he wasn't crying. I guess he may have fallen asleep at 8.30 or so and didn't wake up until 6:15. Yeah, I know, we hit the baby jackpot. All of you with your dire warnings about me and Wade never sleeping again can suck it. (the upcoming plane rides not withstanding, I'm not expecting to sleep at all, and didn't really on the way here either. I don't do well on planes.)
I'm not sure what else to say. The plane ride will be what it will be. I'm fully expecting to to suck, and if it doesn't, well then i'll be pleasantly surprised. This will literally be the longest day of my life --- it's 1:00pm here on Friday, I have about 15 hours of flying ahead of me, with a couple of hours in San Fran to stop over and we're landing at 10:30pm, still Friday. I just want to come home. I've had enough of letters I can't read and money with too many zeros on the end. I miss Chloe. She is just going eat Sean up. Um, not literally though. I saud Chloe, not Shelby. :)
We are sitting in the lobby, waiting for 1.30pm to come. We had to check out at noon and the van to the airport isn't coming until 1:30. Luckily there's wireless down here--this is the happiest I've felt in days. I will not do well during the apocalypse, I need my instant all access all the time Internet.
Sean skipped him morning nap and is now sleeping in his umbrella stroller (thanks Coleen!) I wheeled him around until he nodded off. We gave him a bath last night and let him have his empty bottle in his mouth, there was significantly less screaming. He even splashed around a little and played with some toys. All hell broke loose when it was shampoo time though. I need to finesse that. Imagine I'd dislike water being dumped in my hesd too.
Sean slept in a crib last night, which was exciting, since his foster mother had him on the floor on some sort of mattress or something. And we'd had him on the floor for two nights too. He was playing with his feet, bottle in mouth for a while, but we didn't care what he did in there as long as he wasn't crying. I guess he may have fallen asleep at 8.30 or so and didn't wake up until 6:15. Yeah, I know, we hit the baby jackpot. All of you with your dire warnings about me and Wade never sleeping again can suck it. (the upcoming plane rides not withstanding, I'm not expecting to sleep at all, and didn't really on the way here either. I don't do well on planes.)
I'm not sure what else to say. The plane ride will be what it will be. I'm fully expecting to to suck, and if it doesn't, well then i'll be pleasantly surprised. This will literally be the longest day of my life --- it's 1:00pm here on Friday, I have about 15 hours of flying ahead of me, with a couple of hours in San Fran to stop over and we're landing at 10:30pm, still Friday. I just want to come home. I've had enough of letters I can't read and money with too many zeros on the end. I miss Chloe. She is just going eat Sean up. Um, not literally though. I saud Chloe, not Shelby. :)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The First 24 Hours
Things are going really well. (Note, this will be a boring post for those of you not interested in the mundane details of taking care of a baby. In fact, posting this might even put me to sleep. I'm only interested because it's happening to me. And even that... ) Sean seems to have taken to us right away (especially Wade, heheheh).
They said to leave him in his clothes for a while since it was a familiar smell, which we did. But we also wanted to get him out of his little suit with suspenders outfit, complete with dickey. Koreans dress in layers I'm told. This did seem to be the case when we changed him, because there were lots of clothes to undo-- the pants with the suspenders, the button down shirt, the elastic dickey/bow tie thing, and underneath was like another set of white cotton shorts. Americans don't have time for that, unless they live in Alaska. Or Utah, and I think those extra undergarments are considered magic anyway. The clothes we brought for him aren't fitting so good. I thought these pjs fit him, but I guess they might be too loose. My sister says that kids' pjs are supposed to be tight. Either that, or she just liked my nephew running around like a gay superhero. (Sorry, Jaim, I couldn't resist.) They were size 24 months. But this morning, when I put on some size 18 months shorts, they were too big. They fell off him when he stood up and the poor kid spent most of the afternoon pantless in a too big tee shirt. Maybe he's not as big as I think he is. He's just kind of solid, I guess.
We're trying to sort out his cues and quirks and it's getting better. He hates being put down flat on his back on a bed. So he screams bloody murder while changing his diaper or his clothes (refer back to comment above about removing his Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit) . He also does not like taking a bath. He needed one though, so I was just like, suck it up, kid and dumped water on top of his head to wash his hair. Thank God I had watched Jaimie bathe Matty and Kaelyn enough times to know how to do it. You think this baby care shit comes naturally? I'm missing part of that gene if so. It was a very quick bath. If this doesn't improve, all baths will be really quick ones.
His foster mother said he was a good sleeper, which he is. After he napped for two hours yesterday afternoon, we got him to bed at about 8:30pm. We figured out quickly that no matter what, he likes to fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth, even if it's empty. He slept nearly straight through to 6am, getting up once at about 12:30am to kvetch a bit for about 5 minutes, but he went back to sleep. I wish I had slept as well. We had the AC off so we could hear him and also left a light on in the kitchen-- both things I hate. Not only was it hot, I need the white noise of the AC to sleep. So I look kind of tired even though he slept great.
Breakfast this morning went fantastically. He cried a little when we first put him into the high chair, but we put a bottle in front of him (empty-- it doesn't seem to matter. He won't take a pacifier though, so don't bother suggesting it.) and some toys and he stopped. That kid can eat! I have no idea if it's ok to give scrambled eggs to a 1 year old, but I did. He had some eggs, pancakes, yogurt, bread, scraped apple, grilled pumpkin (seriously-- there are some interesting things at the breakfast buffet here), seafood porridge-- I'm not kidding. (And you know I had some grilled pumpkin and seafood porridge at breakfast too.)
He's drooling like a maniac. It's kind of gross. Teeth are coming in. My nephew Matty was the same way, it just poured out of him. I'm concerned because he still hasn't pooped yet. I want him to poop. Preferably before we get on the plane tomorrow. Trying to change him on a bed isn't fun, trying to change him and balance him and clean an enormous poopy diaper ass in a plane.... I'm starting to cry just thinking about it.
We were going to take him out today, do some more shopping and site seeing, buy some souvenirs. But it's been raining most of the day. We don't have an umbrella or a raincoat for him. So Wade trekked out alone to the Lotte Mart for diapers, baby food, more bottles-- he's my hero. He took the subway and did the shopping all by himself. He's the best! But no one is getting any souvenirs from Seoul, I'm sorry. The timing and the weather didn't cooperate. We didn't even buy anything for ourselves! I'm a bad daughter/sister/aunt. Sean will have to be the souvenir.
That's about it. He's sleeping again now. I want to come home so badly, but I start crying with dread when I think about the plane ride home tomorrow. I feel like there aren't enough drugs in the world to make this go well. (I meant drugs for me, not for the baby!) I guess it's like Sean in the bath last night: suck it up, kid.
They said to leave him in his clothes for a while since it was a familiar smell, which we did. But we also wanted to get him out of his little suit with suspenders outfit, complete with dickey. Koreans dress in layers I'm told. This did seem to be the case when we changed him, because there were lots of clothes to undo-- the pants with the suspenders, the button down shirt, the elastic dickey/bow tie thing, and underneath was like another set of white cotton shorts. Americans don't have time for that, unless they live in Alaska. Or Utah, and I think those extra undergarments are considered magic anyway. The clothes we brought for him aren't fitting so good. I thought these pjs fit him, but I guess they might be too loose. My sister says that kids' pjs are supposed to be tight. Either that, or she just liked my nephew running around like a gay superhero. (Sorry, Jaim, I couldn't resist.) They were size 24 months. But this morning, when I put on some size 18 months shorts, they were too big. They fell off him when he stood up and the poor kid spent most of the afternoon pantless in a too big tee shirt. Maybe he's not as big as I think he is. He's just kind of solid, I guess.
We're trying to sort out his cues and quirks and it's getting better. He hates being put down flat on his back on a bed. So he screams bloody murder while changing his diaper or his clothes (refer back to comment above about removing his Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit) . He also does not like taking a bath. He needed one though, so I was just like, suck it up, kid and dumped water on top of his head to wash his hair. Thank God I had watched Jaimie bathe Matty and Kaelyn enough times to know how to do it. You think this baby care shit comes naturally? I'm missing part of that gene if so. It was a very quick bath. If this doesn't improve, all baths will be really quick ones.
His foster mother said he was a good sleeper, which he is. After he napped for two hours yesterday afternoon, we got him to bed at about 8:30pm. We figured out quickly that no matter what, he likes to fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth, even if it's empty. He slept nearly straight through to 6am, getting up once at about 12:30am to kvetch a bit for about 5 minutes, but he went back to sleep. I wish I had slept as well. We had the AC off so we could hear him and also left a light on in the kitchen-- both things I hate. Not only was it hot, I need the white noise of the AC to sleep. So I look kind of tired even though he slept great.
Breakfast this morning went fantastically. He cried a little when we first put him into the high chair, but we put a bottle in front of him (empty-- it doesn't seem to matter. He won't take a pacifier though, so don't bother suggesting it.) and some toys and he stopped. That kid can eat! I have no idea if it's ok to give scrambled eggs to a 1 year old, but I did. He had some eggs, pancakes, yogurt, bread, scraped apple, grilled pumpkin (seriously-- there are some interesting things at the breakfast buffet here), seafood porridge-- I'm not kidding. (And you know I had some grilled pumpkin and seafood porridge at breakfast too.)
He's drooling like a maniac. It's kind of gross. Teeth are coming in. My nephew Matty was the same way, it just poured out of him. I'm concerned because he still hasn't pooped yet. I want him to poop. Preferably before we get on the plane tomorrow. Trying to change him on a bed isn't fun, trying to change him and balance him and clean an enormous poopy diaper ass in a plane.... I'm starting to cry just thinking about it.
We were going to take him out today, do some more shopping and site seeing, buy some souvenirs. But it's been raining most of the day. We don't have an umbrella or a raincoat for him. So Wade trekked out alone to the Lotte Mart for diapers, baby food, more bottles-- he's my hero. He took the subway and did the shopping all by himself. He's the best! But no one is getting any souvenirs from Seoul, I'm sorry. The timing and the weather didn't cooperate. We didn't even buy anything for ourselves! I'm a bad daughter/sister/aunt. Sean will have to be the souvenir.
That's about it. He's sleeping again now. I want to come home so badly, but I start crying with dread when I think about the plane ride home tomorrow. I feel like there aren't enough drugs in the world to make this go well. (I meant drugs for me, not for the baby!) I guess it's like Sean in the bath last night: suck it up, kid.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Gotcha, Sean! (or Um, Someone Just Gave us a Baby)
So yeah, we are now a family of three! Sean is sleeping right now. Out like a light. He's on the floor (on a down comforter that has been folded over three or four times)in the second bedroom of our hotel suite with the blinds drawn. His foster mother said he sleeps on the floor, so we figured what the hell. But let me back up a bit so you can have the details...
We arrived at the Holt offices about a half hour early and paced up and down the street for fifteen minutes, because we didn't know what else to do with ourselves. At 1:15pm we decided we had enough and headed in to the building.
We went into the building, to the second floor, which I admit was a little bit more drab than I thought it was going to be. Did that sound snobby? Sorry, I'm not sure what I was expecting. We ran into DJ You in the hall and she led us in to the meeting room. Greeting room? Something like that. DJ brought us some water and told us to take a seat. Before she closed the door, we thought we saw Sean being carried by on his foster mother's back, but I think now that it was another baby. That one was much too small.
We waited in there for another 10-15 minutes and there was a knock on the door. In walked DJ and Sean's foster mom carrying Sean! After looking at his picture every day since mid-April, there he was, in the flesh. She handed him to me. He was bigger than I expected. The kid is solid. Brick shit-house. (I never really understood that expression. I guess because I've never seen one.) I now don't know if the clothes we brought with us are even going to fit. He cried a bit when I sat down with him on my lap, and DJ asked if we had brought any toys with us. Yes, we had, only we left them all in the hotel room. Why would we bring toys to go pick up a baby? Duhh. They had some toys there which we gave him and he immediately quieted down. Wade and I passed him back and forth while we asked questions and the foster mom offered information, all translated by DJ.
We found out all of the following from the foster mom: Sean is a good sleeper. He goes to bed early and wakes up early (7pm to 4am she said. Hoping we can shift that by an hour.) She said that he doesn't sleep in the bed with her, but rather on the floor in their room. He also takes a morning and an afternoon nap for about an hour and a half. He still gets formula every four hours, which seems a little fucking weird to me since he's over 1 now. He poops twice a day, is generally a happy baby, and does not like taking baths. She aid he's not walking yet, but takes two steps and falls down. Maybe that's good thing until we get home. In addition to formula, apparently the foster mom makes some kind of home made porridge (it actually says "gruel" on the medical forms, I kid you not. How very Oliver Twist.) with meat and veggies or something. Whatever. I'm American. We make that shit instant and out of a box. He also eats yogurt and cheese and rice and bread-- she actually said there's nothing he doesn't like. Apparently. Which is good, he fits in with us well. It's hard to remember what else was said right now. She had gifts for us-- a beautiful giant framed picture of Sean in a traditional Hanbok on his first birthday. It's in a beautiful double-frame with his Korean name and some letters. It's amazing. Only, I'm not sure how the fuck we're going to get that thing home. I don't even know if it will fit in the luggage let alone not break on the way. And I'm going to have enough carry ons to worry about. It was an awesome thing to do, but really, not terribly travel friendly. She gave us a hanbok and two of his favorite toys in a little backpack. There was a stack of pictures taken by both foster moms (he had two) and a couple of outfits, one of which was the Rutgers onesie we had sent. The other things we had sent, including the book (which I guess she wanted to keep??) and the soft stuffed doggie and the pajamas were nowhere to be found. Maybe he grew out of them? Holt gave us bottles and diapers and formula and a Korean-style baby bjorn-ish carrier. I'm hoping not to use it, or my back is going to hurt.
When we ran out of questions we went downstairs for his final medical checkup to see if he was ok to travel. This comprehensive medical review consisted of taking his temperature, listening to his heart, and checking his tushy. Apparently that was all fine. I had read on some blogs that some of the foster moms wanted some alone time to say goodbye, but she was just kind of like, here you go, see ya. She was very, um, efficient. And at one point she was soothing him and pounding on his back really hard-- I guess it's a cultural thing. We met the foster father outside who was waiting to pick up the foster mom and we all had our picture taken together on the front steps.
Then we got into the cab, she handed him off to me, and we were gone. I think Wade had to sign one single paper. This whole thing was just so weird.
Sean did really well on the cab ride home, which was long because of traffic. He didn't cry for a long time and we kept him busy with his books and we discovered that he claps his hands, and if you say "Yayyyy!!!!" and clap your hands back he actually squeals with laughter. Towards the end of the cab ride, he started screaming though. We think it was because it was past his nap time, and not so much part of the grieving process. After about 10 minutes of showing us the power of his lungs, he finally shut his eyes and fell asleep on my shoulder. He woke up a few times on the way up to the hotel room, but he's still sleeping on the floor and it's an hour and a half later.
I'm thinking we should wake him up. Right? We should wake him up? Or else he won't go to sleep tonight? Right? I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. If we do wake him up, that's mostly when he'll freak, because he'll be looking for his foster mother. Well, wish us luck, so far so good...
We arrived at the Holt offices about a half hour early and paced up and down the street for fifteen minutes, because we didn't know what else to do with ourselves. At 1:15pm we decided we had enough and headed in to the building.
We went into the building, to the second floor, which I admit was a little bit more drab than I thought it was going to be. Did that sound snobby? Sorry, I'm not sure what I was expecting. We ran into DJ You in the hall and she led us in to the meeting room. Greeting room? Something like that. DJ brought us some water and told us to take a seat. Before she closed the door, we thought we saw Sean being carried by on his foster mother's back, but I think now that it was another baby. That one was much too small.
We waited in there for another 10-15 minutes and there was a knock on the door. In walked DJ and Sean's foster mom carrying Sean! After looking at his picture every day since mid-April, there he was, in the flesh. She handed him to me. He was bigger than I expected. The kid is solid. Brick shit-house. (I never really understood that expression. I guess because I've never seen one.) I now don't know if the clothes we brought with us are even going to fit. He cried a bit when I sat down with him on my lap, and DJ asked if we had brought any toys with us. Yes, we had, only we left them all in the hotel room. Why would we bring toys to go pick up a baby? Duhh. They had some toys there which we gave him and he immediately quieted down. Wade and I passed him back and forth while we asked questions and the foster mom offered information, all translated by DJ.
We found out all of the following from the foster mom: Sean is a good sleeper. He goes to bed early and wakes up early (7pm to 4am she said. Hoping we can shift that by an hour.) She said that he doesn't sleep in the bed with her, but rather on the floor in their room. He also takes a morning and an afternoon nap for about an hour and a half. He still gets formula every four hours, which seems a little fucking weird to me since he's over 1 now. He poops twice a day, is generally a happy baby, and does not like taking baths. She aid he's not walking yet, but takes two steps and falls down. Maybe that's good thing until we get home. In addition to formula, apparently the foster mom makes some kind of home made porridge (it actually says "gruel" on the medical forms, I kid you not. How very Oliver Twist.) with meat and veggies or something. Whatever. I'm American. We make that shit instant and out of a box. He also eats yogurt and cheese and rice and bread-- she actually said there's nothing he doesn't like. Apparently. Which is good, he fits in with us well. It's hard to remember what else was said right now. She had gifts for us-- a beautiful giant framed picture of Sean in a traditional Hanbok on his first birthday. It's in a beautiful double-frame with his Korean name and some letters. It's amazing. Only, I'm not sure how the fuck we're going to get that thing home. I don't even know if it will fit in the luggage let alone not break on the way. And I'm going to have enough carry ons to worry about. It was an awesome thing to do, but really, not terribly travel friendly. She gave us a hanbok and two of his favorite toys in a little backpack. There was a stack of pictures taken by both foster moms (he had two) and a couple of outfits, one of which was the Rutgers onesie we had sent. The other things we had sent, including the book (which I guess she wanted to keep??) and the soft stuffed doggie and the pajamas were nowhere to be found. Maybe he grew out of them? Holt gave us bottles and diapers and formula and a Korean-style baby bjorn-ish carrier. I'm hoping not to use it, or my back is going to hurt.
When we ran out of questions we went downstairs for his final medical checkup to see if he was ok to travel. This comprehensive medical review consisted of taking his temperature, listening to his heart, and checking his tushy. Apparently that was all fine. I had read on some blogs that some of the foster moms wanted some alone time to say goodbye, but she was just kind of like, here you go, see ya. She was very, um, efficient. And at one point she was soothing him and pounding on his back really hard-- I guess it's a cultural thing. We met the foster father outside who was waiting to pick up the foster mom and we all had our picture taken together on the front steps.
Then we got into the cab, she handed him off to me, and we were gone. I think Wade had to sign one single paper. This whole thing was just so weird.
Sean did really well on the cab ride home, which was long because of traffic. He didn't cry for a long time and we kept him busy with his books and we discovered that he claps his hands, and if you say "Yayyyy!!!!" and clap your hands back he actually squeals with laughter. Towards the end of the cab ride, he started screaming though. We think it was because it was past his nap time, and not so much part of the grieving process. After about 10 minutes of showing us the power of his lungs, he finally shut his eyes and fell asleep on my shoulder. He woke up a few times on the way up to the hotel room, but he's still sleeping on the floor and it's an hour and a half later.
I'm thinking we should wake him up. Right? We should wake him up? Or else he won't go to sleep tonight? Right? I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. If we do wake him up, that's mostly when he'll freak, because he'll be looking for his foster mother. Well, wish us luck, so far so good...
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Seoul Subway Outing
Wade is the man. He carefully read reviews and studied maps. He initially found some sort of crazy-ass mega complex electronics store complex spread out in a compound of something like 1000+ stores. It was the biggest one in Asia. Kind of overkill though for a USB to ethernet adapter. So he discovered the smaller (but still pretty huge) Techno Mart and we decided to give it a go. All so that I could sit in our hotel room on our bed surfing. Either he really loves me, or he just can't stand to hear my continuous pissing and moaning. Likely it's both.
We found the metro station nearest our hotel and ventured down. The cleanliness was astounding. My house isn't as clean as this subway station was. The metro card machines and the maps all have English with the Korean. It took us a little while to figure out the best route and where we needed to transfer to a new line and we got our cards and off we went.
The ride was pretty long, probably 15 stops or so each way. It seemed long. The inside of the cars were as clean, if not cleaner, than the station. There's TV screens with information and ads playing in all the cars and there's a little tune that plays when the car stops. On the way back, the car had a light up subway map that glowed to indicate which stop you were at and had little lit-up arrows indicating the direction in between stops. Nothing like NYC. I am now convinced that foreign visitors to NYC who attempt the subway are the bravest people ever. If I was used to a transit system like this, and I went to New York, I would be utterly skeeved. Terrified possibly. Dank and full of unidentifiable smells and screeching of the brakes. I know New Yorkers are proud of their grit, but it's kinda gross. Seriously. You should be embarrassed. It doesn't have to be that way, clearly.
Anyway, we made it to Techno Mart at the Ganbyeon Station stop. We walked the wrong way out of the station at first and some nice man tried to give us directions in hand motions, but we eventually found the building. It was 8+ giant floors of shopping, heavy on the electronics from phones and computers to TVs and appliances but there were also clothes and accessories too. It was like Jersey Gardens but much taller and crammed full of even more shit. Wade, having done his homework knew which floor to go on to and we even found a seller who spoke English. We bought the adapter and a longer ethernet cable and a connector. Which is how I'm sitting on the bed typing this to you now.
On the upper floor of the building is a food court of sorts, except it's not a court and it's more like a labyrinth of tiny shops and yummy smells. We ended up having some dumplings at a place that had some English on the menu, but no one in there spoke any. We ordered by pointing. They brought out some banchan just like at a Korean bbq and I was managing fine with the metal chopsticks, but when I tried to eat the dumpling with it, the woman came over and took a spoon and cut up my dumpling with it and spooned broth and sauce over it. I don't know if she felt bad for me, or if she was upset that I wasn't eating it right. Regardless, they were very yummy.
So here we are. It's ten to eight here and I'm trying to keep my eyes open. Hopefully I can blame this on still having jet lag and not that I'm tired and I suck. If I fall asleep at 8pm, it will probably be a good thing, since we have a Very Big Day ahead of us tomorrow. Maybe the biggest day ever.
We found the metro station nearest our hotel and ventured down. The cleanliness was astounding. My house isn't as clean as this subway station was. The metro card machines and the maps all have English with the Korean. It took us a little while to figure out the best route and where we needed to transfer to a new line and we got our cards and off we went.
 |
| Me and the Soul Metro map |
The ride was pretty long, probably 15 stops or so each way. It seemed long. The inside of the cars were as clean, if not cleaner, than the station. There's TV screens with information and ads playing in all the cars and there's a little tune that plays when the car stops. On the way back, the car had a light up subway map that glowed to indicate which stop you were at and had little lit-up arrows indicating the direction in between stops. Nothing like NYC. I am now convinced that foreign visitors to NYC who attempt the subway are the bravest people ever. If I was used to a transit system like this, and I went to New York, I would be utterly skeeved. Terrified possibly. Dank and full of unidentifiable smells and screeching of the brakes. I know New Yorkers are proud of their grit, but it's kinda gross. Seriously. You should be embarrassed. It doesn't have to be that way, clearly.
Anyway, we made it to Techno Mart at the Ganbyeon Station stop. We walked the wrong way out of the station at first and some nice man tried to give us directions in hand motions, but we eventually found the building. It was 8+ giant floors of shopping, heavy on the electronics from phones and computers to TVs and appliances but there were also clothes and accessories too. It was like Jersey Gardens but much taller and crammed full of even more shit. Wade, having done his homework knew which floor to go on to and we even found a seller who spoke English. We bought the adapter and a longer ethernet cable and a connector. Which is how I'm sitting on the bed typing this to you now.
 |
| Techno Mart |
On the upper floor of the building is a food court of sorts, except it's not a court and it's more like a labyrinth of tiny shops and yummy smells. We ended up having some dumplings at a place that had some English on the menu, but no one in there spoke any. We ordered by pointing. They brought out some banchan just like at a Korean bbq and I was managing fine with the metal chopsticks, but when I tried to eat the dumpling with it, the woman came over and took a spoon and cut up my dumpling with it and spooned broth and sauce over it. I don't know if she felt bad for me, or if she was upset that I wasn't eating it right. Regardless, they were very yummy.
So here we are. It's ten to eight here and I'm trying to keep my eyes open. Hopefully I can blame this on still having jet lag and not that I'm tired and I suck. If I fall asleep at 8pm, it will probably be a good thing, since we have a Very Big Day ahead of us tomorrow. Maybe the biggest day ever.
Seoul City Tour
We had our City Tour this morning. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but it was good and helped us get our bearings. Our tour guide, Kim, kept saying her English wasn't that good, but we thought it was very good. She did say that she wasn't very knowledgeable about history, which was kind of a bummer since she didn't tell us very much about the places we were going and seeing. Kim was very, very sweet and she did her best, but I think Wade and I were both under the impression that this was going to be slightly more of a formal informational tour. Still, it was good to walk around with a local.
First we went to Deoksu Palace. Kim told us that there were 5 or 6 palaces still within Seoul. The one closest to our hotel, and the biggest of them all I believe, is closed on Tuesdays. Maybe we can stroll around with Sean on Thursday. Anyway, since Kim wasn't confident in her English or History skills, we waited for the English language tour. I enjoyed it, we got a lot of information. Mostly that the Japanese were aggressive, conquer-crazed jerk-offs. Who knew? The palace tour guide was so good with her English that she punctuated her sentences with "like," just like every native speaking American teen. What was kind of bummer was that all these buildings were maybe only 100 years old. I thought they were really old, like 15th century old, but apparently the Korea's building material of choice was wood. And wood burns. A lot. Especially if you are constantly being attacked by asshole Japanese who want dominion over all of Asia. Russians too. So I was disappointed that the buildings were rebuilt replicas, but they were still pretty and we were on the palace grounds. Although this was apparently only a temporary palace, used when the real palace(s) were being renovated (after burning to the ground numerous times?) As we finished the tour, we got to see the changing of the guard, which was colorful. And noisy.
From there we went to Namdaemun Market which was a giant outdoor flea market in twisty turning alleys and small streets. It was busy and colorful and vibrant, but most of the stores seemed to be selling the kind of schlocky knockoffs you could get on any street corner from a vendor in NYC. There were some food carts that I would've approached (one of which was selling cooked pig legs--maybe not that one) out of curiosity but the tour was kind of awkward and weird and I didn't feel like I could really stop for some reason. I don't feel the need to go back there. I'm not much a flea market shopper anyway. Not my scene.
We took a taxi back to Insadong which is right by our hotel and we didn't even know it. Now we're talking. Cute little shops, it reminded me of New Hope. We stopped at Starbucks (quaintly written in hangul, which is interesting since all the others we had seen had the English letters on the sign.) I made a mental note to definitely get back there for some shopping. (I've since seen the area described thusly by National Geographic"This pedestrian-friendly arts and crafts district also is known for traditional food and drink." Like I said. much more my speed.) From there we walked back to the hotel, gave Kim her gift, thanked her and headed in to the AC.
Right now we're still on a quest to get something to make the Internet connection happen in our room. It will be time to head home by the time we figure this out.
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| Wade and King Sejong |
First we went to Deoksu Palace. Kim told us that there were 5 or 6 palaces still within Seoul. The one closest to our hotel, and the biggest of them all I believe, is closed on Tuesdays. Maybe we can stroll around with Sean on Thursday. Anyway, since Kim wasn't confident in her English or History skills, we waited for the English language tour. I enjoyed it, we got a lot of information. Mostly that the Japanese were aggressive, conquer-crazed jerk-offs. Who knew? The palace tour guide was so good with her English that she punctuated her sentences with "like," just like every native speaking American teen. What was kind of bummer was that all these buildings were maybe only 100 years old. I thought they were really old, like 15th century old, but apparently the Korea's building material of choice was wood. And wood burns. A lot. Especially if you are constantly being attacked by asshole Japanese who want dominion over all of Asia. Russians too. So I was disappointed that the buildings were rebuilt replicas, but they were still pretty and we were on the palace grounds. Although this was apparently only a temporary palace, used when the real palace(s) were being renovated (after burning to the ground numerous times?) As we finished the tour, we got to see the changing of the guard, which was colorful. And noisy.
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| Us outside the entrance gate to Deoksu Palace |
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| Detail of building on Deoksu Palace Grounds |
From there we went to Namdaemun Market which was a giant outdoor flea market in twisty turning alleys and small streets. It was busy and colorful and vibrant, but most of the stores seemed to be selling the kind of schlocky knockoffs you could get on any street corner from a vendor in NYC. There were some food carts that I would've approached (one of which was selling cooked pig legs--maybe not that one) out of curiosity but the tour was kind of awkward and weird and I didn't feel like I could really stop for some reason. I don't feel the need to go back there. I'm not much a flea market shopper anyway. Not my scene.
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| Namdaemung Market |
We took a taxi back to Insadong which is right by our hotel and we didn't even know it. Now we're talking. Cute little shops, it reminded me of New Hope. We stopped at Starbucks (quaintly written in hangul, which is interesting since all the others we had seen had the English letters on the sign.) I made a mental note to definitely get back there for some shopping. (I've since seen the area described thusly by National Geographic"This pedestrian-friendly arts and crafts district also is known for traditional food and drink." Like I said. much more my speed.) From there we walked back to the hotel, gave Kim her gift, thanked her and headed in to the AC.
Right now we're still on a quest to get something to make the Internet connection happen in our room. It will be time to head home by the time we figure this out.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Arrival in Korea
Wow. Well, we’re here! We made it. The flight was impossibly long. I really can’t sleep on planes. I even took a few Tylenol PMs and it did nothing. We had taken off from SFO almost an hour late because of some sort of mechanical issue. Nothing like starting out an 11.5 hour flight with an hour of sitting on the tarmac. I guess I'm spoiled by JetBlue and was a bit shocked an put out to see that we didn't all have our own TVs to watch on the seatback in front of us. A flight that long and you're going to force the whole plane to watch Jennifer Lopez in The Backup Plan?
When we finally made it to ICN, we had to wait an hour for our bags, apparently there was a broken belt on the carousel thingy. Which was still marginally better than sitting on the plane. We finally got our luggage, declared nothing in Customs and because we were late, decided to head out to see if our van driver was still actually waiting for us, instead of standing in line to exchange some cash for won. He was, and he found us quickly. The humidity outside the airport was intense, like NJ on the worst days of August.
The ride from the hotel was longer than I expected, but my sense of time by that point had been seriously warmped. Seoul looks a lot like California to me, particularly the Hollywood Hills area. At one point on the ride to the hotel, we could've been on the Jersey Turnpike. Not a compliment perhaps, but just stating fact.
Our hotel is nice, the room is kind of like being in a condo.
My biggest complaint is that there is no wireless in the room. I thought there was going to be. There's wireless in the lobby and in the "resident's lounge" but it's not the same. So much for my shiny new iPad. Additionally, the netbook we borrowed from my dad because it was so compact doesn't have an ethernet port, so the in-room wired connection we do have to the internet is useless right now. I realize these should not be important things since we are really just here to pick up our son, but I'm really kind of freaking out a bit. Wade said he would fix the problem while we were out today. I really wanted to post pictures of our trip as we went along. Especially tomorrow when we get Sean!
We were so exhausted by this point that we grabbed some sandwiches from the store downstairs (after using our ATM card for some won) and were in bed by 8:30pm Seoul time. This money situation here is a problem for me. I'm not good at math to begin with and seeing so many fucking zeros after everything makes me freak out. One US dollar is like 1175 won. So I just stand there like a deer in the headlights. The sandwiches we got were something like 16,000 won, which is about $13 and change. But I handed him a bill for 10,000 won and he sat there waiting for the rest of it, and I was like, uhhhh.... what?? And Wade nudged me and was like, you need another one. I hate feeling like this. Anyone who is mean to foreigners or tourists has clearly never been out of the country.
I'm typing this as a draft in Word since, as we discussed, I currently have no fucking internet. There's nothing on TV either, unless I have an urge to watch Al Jezera for some reason, which I do not. Wade is still sleeping, and I just watched the sun come up. The laptop says it's 5:35pm, which means it's 6:35am here, on Tuesday. Too bad I can't give you last night's winning lottery numbers, since I'm living in the future now.
Anyway, our city tour is at 9:00am or 9:30am, depending on which piece of paper we are led to believe. The alarm should go off in 20 minutes or so, so maybe I'll just make some tea and watch the sun reflect off the windows and the hillsides and contemplate how few quiet mornings I probably have left to me.
When we finally made it to ICN, we had to wait an hour for our bags, apparently there was a broken belt on the carousel thingy. Which was still marginally better than sitting on the plane. We finally got our luggage, declared nothing in Customs and because we were late, decided to head out to see if our van driver was still actually waiting for us, instead of standing in line to exchange some cash for won. He was, and he found us quickly. The humidity outside the airport was intense, like NJ on the worst days of August.
The ride from the hotel was longer than I expected, but my sense of time by that point had been seriously warmped. Seoul looks a lot like California to me, particularly the Hollywood Hills area. At one point on the ride to the hotel, we could've been on the Jersey Turnpike. Not a compliment perhaps, but just stating fact.
Our hotel is nice, the room is kind of like being in a condo.
My biggest complaint is that there is no wireless in the room. I thought there was going to be. There's wireless in the lobby and in the "resident's lounge" but it's not the same. So much for my shiny new iPad. Additionally, the netbook we borrowed from my dad because it was so compact doesn't have an ethernet port, so the in-room wired connection we do have to the internet is useless right now. I realize these should not be important things since we are really just here to pick up our son, but I'm really kind of freaking out a bit. Wade said he would fix the problem while we were out today. I really wanted to post pictures of our trip as we went along. Especially tomorrow when we get Sean!
We were so exhausted by this point that we grabbed some sandwiches from the store downstairs (after using our ATM card for some won) and were in bed by 8:30pm Seoul time. This money situation here is a problem for me. I'm not good at math to begin with and seeing so many fucking zeros after everything makes me freak out. One US dollar is like 1175 won. So I just stand there like a deer in the headlights. The sandwiches we got were something like 16,000 won, which is about $13 and change. But I handed him a bill for 10,000 won and he sat there waiting for the rest of it, and I was like, uhhhh.... what?? And Wade nudged me and was like, you need another one. I hate feeling like this. Anyone who is mean to foreigners or tourists has clearly never been out of the country.
I'm typing this as a draft in Word since, as we discussed, I currently have no fucking internet. There's nothing on TV either, unless I have an urge to watch Al Jezera for some reason, which I do not. Wade is still sleeping, and I just watched the sun come up. The laptop says it's 5:35pm, which means it's 6:35am here, on Tuesday. Too bad I can't give you last night's winning lottery numbers, since I'm living in the future now.
Anyway, our city tour is at 9:00am or 9:30am, depending on which piece of paper we are led to believe. The alarm should go off in 20 minutes or so, so maybe I'll just make some tea and watch the sun reflect off the windows and the hillsides and contemplate how few quiet mornings I probably have left to me.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Have I Packed an Effing Thing? Nope.
We leave tomorrow. Tomorrow. In 24 hours from now, we should be one hour in to our flight to SFO. My brain wants me to start panicking. It wants to fill my blood with stress hormones and make me run around like a crazy bitch, throwing things in suitcases, screaming at everyone to get the hell out of my way and generally being miserable to everyone. And I keep feeling the urge welling up inside me, like a tiny Bubble of Nasty, but then it pops and I think, no, it's ok, we don't need to pack that much, it's really only 3 full days that don't involve travel, it will be fine, be cool, whatever we forget, we'll just buy there. Thank you, pharmaceutical industry!
I slept really great last night. (And for the Greek Chorus out there snickering that it will be my last night ever for that, to you I grandly say, "Go fuck yourselves.") You may very well be right. But I also know that my experiences are never the same as everyone tells me they're going to be, so we'll just wait and see. I took Chloe for a nice, long Zen Morning Walk at 6am and we watched the sky brighten and chased quite a few bunnies and squirrels away from their breakfasts. I thought that I likely wouldn't be taking her for her morning walk again until next Sunday. We also apparently ran into The Situation and a slightly preppier friend strolling down the middle of my otherwise silent street nowhere near the shore, smoking, and talking about some girls they met. The Sitch of Sayrewoods South looked as fresh and sparkling as if he had just gotten out of the shower and gotten cologned and dressed into his carefully ripped jeans and snug black Ed Hardy tee, which impressed me, because I assumed they must still have been up from last night. Chloe enthusiastically wagged her tail and I looked over to say hey, but they ignored us. And I thought, I wonder what the clueless, trendy assholes are going to be wearing when Sean is their age. I just pray that he's not one of them.
Wade is still sleeping. I know I have to start getting shit together, charging electronics, and packing for a person who I haven't even met yet. But I still just want to sit here at the computer a little longer, reveling in the peace and quiet and solitude that is sure to elude me for the next 17 years or so.
The start of the adventure can wait another hour...
I slept really great last night. (And for the Greek Chorus out there snickering that it will be my last night ever for that, to you I grandly say, "Go fuck yourselves.") You may very well be right. But I also know that my experiences are never the same as everyone tells me they're going to be, so we'll just wait and see. I took Chloe for a nice, long Zen Morning Walk at 6am and we watched the sky brighten and chased quite a few bunnies and squirrels away from their breakfasts. I thought that I likely wouldn't be taking her for her morning walk again until next Sunday. We also apparently ran into The Situation and a slightly preppier friend strolling down the middle of my otherwise silent street nowhere near the shore, smoking, and talking about some girls they met. The Sitch of Sayrewoods South looked as fresh and sparkling as if he had just gotten out of the shower and gotten cologned and dressed into his carefully ripped jeans and snug black Ed Hardy tee, which impressed me, because I assumed they must still have been up from last night. Chloe enthusiastically wagged her tail and I looked over to say hey, but they ignored us. And I thought, I wonder what the clueless, trendy assholes are going to be wearing when Sean is their age. I just pray that he's not one of them.
Wade is still sleeping. I know I have to start getting shit together, charging electronics, and packing for a person who I haven't even met yet. But I still just want to sit here at the computer a little longer, reveling in the peace and quiet and solitude that is sure to elude me for the next 17 years or so.
The start of the adventure can wait another hour...
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Travel Call!!!!
On Friday at about 12:18pm we received our travel call!! Sean is ready to come home!!!This was particularly auspicious as it was Sean's 1st birthday. I have to say, I remained fairly calm, possibly because I was in my office. Or more likely, because I was in my office, lots of noise and screaming and excitement would've caused my co-workers to come running, and then I wouldn't have gotten anything done. Well, I probably would've rudely shut my office door in their faces if need be (sorry guys) but I had to call my husband first!
The dilemma though, was that I knew Wade was at lunch with a co-worker, and I also knew that the first travel call was basically our East Coast office telling me that Sean was ready, and that I had to call the West Coast office to get details. I debated briefly calling the West Coast office before calling Wade so I'd have more information to give him, but then I nixed that idea. So I called Wade. He, like I was, tried very hard to keep it in check in the middle of a crowded restaurant. I said he should go back to lunch and I'd get more details and we'd talk later.
So I called the West Coast office and got a ton of information. Basically, we have 10 days to get our butts to Seoul. The first day there, we chill out, the second is our city tour, the third we pick up Sean (!!), the fourth we can chill and get adjusted, and the fifth day we come home. (Of course, we can stay longer to soak up our son's homeland, but I imagine I'll be ready to head home by then.)
I started pricing out flights using their recommended travel agency. Although I've gotten plenty of air fares myself on line, I figured that maybe I would want to let the experts handle this. I was extremely disheartened by the prices-- we're kind of getting screwed by the approaching Labor Day holiday. Grrrrr. In fact, if we were leaving in the middle of September, the fares would be about $600 cheaper, if you can believe that. One of the options we were looking at was $1500 cheaper than the others, but that requires stopovers in Tokyo and San Fran before heading back to NYC. With a 1 year old we just met?? I don't know... I suppose there is something to be said for being able to get out and stretch your legs a bit, but we'd be increasing the entire trip by how many hours? It's already a 14 hour flight! (Maybe 12 on the way back, actually, but still...) I think we're just going to suck it up and get the more expensive flight back that is the most direct. Besides, from everything I read the stewardesses on Korean Air (besides being stunningly beautiful) are extremely helpful with babies who are coming back to the States. We'll figure this out tomorrow and get everything booked. The itinerary we liked best leaves next Sunday. I thought I needed a week to get my head together, but now I feel like I just want to go already!
The dilemma though, was that I knew Wade was at lunch with a co-worker, and I also knew that the first travel call was basically our East Coast office telling me that Sean was ready, and that I had to call the West Coast office to get details. I debated briefly calling the West Coast office before calling Wade so I'd have more information to give him, but then I nixed that idea. So I called Wade. He, like I was, tried very hard to keep it in check in the middle of a crowded restaurant. I said he should go back to lunch and I'd get more details and we'd talk later.
So I called the West Coast office and got a ton of information. Basically, we have 10 days to get our butts to Seoul. The first day there, we chill out, the second is our city tour, the third we pick up Sean (!!), the fourth we can chill and get adjusted, and the fifth day we come home. (Of course, we can stay longer to soak up our son's homeland, but I imagine I'll be ready to head home by then.)
I started pricing out flights using their recommended travel agency. Although I've gotten plenty of air fares myself on line, I figured that maybe I would want to let the experts handle this. I was extremely disheartened by the prices-- we're kind of getting screwed by the approaching Labor Day holiday. Grrrrr. In fact, if we were leaving in the middle of September, the fares would be about $600 cheaper, if you can believe that. One of the options we were looking at was $1500 cheaper than the others, but that requires stopovers in Tokyo and San Fran before heading back to NYC. With a 1 year old we just met?? I don't know... I suppose there is something to be said for being able to get out and stretch your legs a bit, but we'd be increasing the entire trip by how many hours? It's already a 14 hour flight! (Maybe 12 on the way back, actually, but still...) I think we're just going to suck it up and get the more expensive flight back that is the most direct. Besides, from everything I read the stewardesses on Korean Air (besides being stunningly beautiful) are extremely helpful with babies who are coming back to the States. We'll figure this out tomorrow and get everything booked. The itinerary we liked best leaves next Sunday. I thought I needed a week to get my head together, but now I feel like I just want to go already!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Another Incremental Update, It's Getting CLOSE!
I again called the National Visa Center in DC this morning. As you know, Sean was checked in and then out of the National Visa Center last Monday, Aug 9. The information was then sent to the US embassy in Seoul. The embassy sends a packet of info called P3 to the adoption agency with some instructions. I now know that the P3 was sent from the embassy to the adoption agency on Friday, Aug. 13. The agency complies with whatever instructions are included in the packet, I don't even know the details, but they then send the P3 back to the embassy. Once the P3 is back at the embassy, Sean's Visa Interview will be scheduled. The travel call is generally received the same or next day as the Visa Interview.
It's gonna be soon, everyone!
It's gonna be soon, everyone!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Another Step Closer...
You know, I take a break for a few days to regroup and recover from a hangover and a cold and then, whoosh! My life starts zooming by again.
We had our toddler shower on Saturday-- you know, open some gifts, play some beer pong, polish off a keg. This wasn't your average baby shower, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. (All the pics are here: I only put a handful--a large handful-- on Facebook) Thank you to everyone who was able to make it; I'm sorry I wasn't able to invite the entire world, all my Facebook friends, but there's only so much room in the house. People are just so excited about the adoption and really seem genuinely interested, the outpouring of love, support and goodwill we've received has been amazing. I wish everyone could've been there (and not just for the presents!)
Anyway, after getting our I600 approval notification on Friday (effective July 31) I noticed that there was an incorrect date on the form. So stupid. It's the expiration date for Wade's fingerprints-- it's listed that they expire in October 2010 while mine expire in October 2011. We just had them done last month, so obviously 2011 is the correct year. Such a stupid, stupid clerical error. So frustrating. We weren't sure if this would cause a problem or not, but I decided to call the National Visa Center today. In the meantime, Wade got back in touch with our USCIS officer about the typo.
I found out that Sean's case has been checked IN and OUT of the National Visa Center! That's another step done!! All the paperwork now gets sent to the embassy in Seoul. They will then issue instructions to our adoption agency, and a packet of information called the P3 will be sent back and forth (or something like that, it's such a long, drawn-out tedious process) and then Sean will be scheduled for his Visa Interview at the embassy. (It's a formality. They are not going to question a 1 year old about his political leanings and try to figure out if he's a terrorist or something.) After the Visa Interview, we get our travel call, and we're on our way!
Based on our agency's message board postings, there's a number in DC I can call to check and see when Sean's Visa Interview has been scheduled. I figured it was too soon, but I called anyway. It was too soon. The packet has been just sent, it hasn't even gotten to Korea yet. The nice woman on the phone told me this next part of the process could take a couple of weeks or a month. (But people posting on the message boards have much shorter time frames, so who knows?)
In the meantime, our USCIS officer got back to Wade and seemed upset about the date mix up and said it had to be fixed and she'd take care of it right away. Ok, but if it's such a problem, then how did we already clear the National Visa Center? And what sort of holdup is this now going to cause??
That's all I got for now. It's enough, no?
We had our toddler shower on Saturday-- you know, open some gifts, play some beer pong, polish off a keg. This wasn't your average baby shower, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. (All the pics are here: I only put a handful--a large handful-- on Facebook) Thank you to everyone who was able to make it; I'm sorry I wasn't able to invite the entire world, all my Facebook friends, but there's only so much room in the house. People are just so excited about the adoption and really seem genuinely interested, the outpouring of love, support and goodwill we've received has been amazing. I wish everyone could've been there (and not just for the presents!)
Anyway, after getting our I600 approval notification on Friday (effective July 31) I noticed that there was an incorrect date on the form. So stupid. It's the expiration date for Wade's fingerprints-- it's listed that they expire in October 2010 while mine expire in October 2011. We just had them done last month, so obviously 2011 is the correct year. Such a stupid, stupid clerical error. So frustrating. We weren't sure if this would cause a problem or not, but I decided to call the National Visa Center today. In the meantime, Wade got back in touch with our USCIS officer about the typo.
I found out that Sean's case has been checked IN and OUT of the National Visa Center! That's another step done!! All the paperwork now gets sent to the embassy in Seoul. They will then issue instructions to our adoption agency, and a packet of information called the P3 will be sent back and forth (or something like that, it's such a long, drawn-out tedious process) and then Sean will be scheduled for his Visa Interview at the embassy. (It's a formality. They are not going to question a 1 year old about his political leanings and try to figure out if he's a terrorist or something.) After the Visa Interview, we get our travel call, and we're on our way!
Based on our agency's message board postings, there's a number in DC I can call to check and see when Sean's Visa Interview has been scheduled. I figured it was too soon, but I called anyway. It was too soon. The packet has been just sent, it hasn't even gotten to Korea yet. The nice woman on the phone told me this next part of the process could take a couple of weeks or a month. (But people posting on the message boards have much shorter time frames, so who knows?)
In the meantime, our USCIS officer got back to Wade and seemed upset about the date mix up and said it had to be fixed and she'd take care of it right away. Ok, but if it's such a problem, then how did we already clear the National Visa Center? And what sort of holdup is this now going to cause??
That's all I got for now. It's enough, no?
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Sheepish
Naturally, after slightly ranting a bit in my last post, I came home to find an envelope from USCIS. We are I600 approved! This means they have approved our "Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative." It means that our paperwork passed, including those that indicated that Sean is indeed an orphan, relinquished under the proper, legal circumstances and that we are in good standing with all our paperwork, from our fingerprints, to our medical records, to our home study-- everything--to become his adoptive parents.
Now everything gets sent to the National Visa Center. You're supposed to be able to check the status of your paperwork, but the number from the I600 approval form isn't coming up as a valid case number. So either it's not that number, or we haven't been checked in yet. Our I600 approval is dated July 31, but we didn't find out until today. I guess we'll get another letter from the Visa Center with the case number via snail mail that takes a week to get to us. Hello, U.S. Government! Internet! You may want to try it out, give it a whirl. Information gets passed along instantly, it's really quite amazing.
Either way, we still don't know when we're going to Korea to get Sean, so my previous post stands. Now leave me the fuck alone. ;)
(I can hear my mom's voice in my head saying, "You're such a joy.")
Now everything gets sent to the National Visa Center. You're supposed to be able to check the status of your paperwork, but the number from the I600 approval form isn't coming up as a valid case number. So either it's not that number, or we haven't been checked in yet. Our I600 approval is dated July 31, but we didn't find out until today. I guess we'll get another letter from the Visa Center with the case number via snail mail that takes a week to get to us. Hello, U.S. Government! Internet! You may want to try it out, give it a whirl. Information gets passed along instantly, it's really quite amazing.
Either way, we still don't know when we're going to Korea to get Sean, so my previous post stands. Now leave me the fuck alone. ;)
(I can hear my mom's voice in my head saying, "You're such a joy.")
The Waiting
Everyone keep asking me what's going on, when is Sean coming home, when are we going to Korea... don't you think if we knew, that you'd know too!? I'm not keeping a big secret here. We honestly don't know. And believe me, we'd really like to know. It's so hard to plan things, schedule things, go to work, do any of that when you know you're suddenly going to have to spring into action and jet off on a 14 hour flight to pick up your new baby! I try not to get mad at people for asking, but it usually doesn't work out so well. I guess I kind of feel like, if you know me at all, if you know me even a little bit, then think about what you're asking-- if we knew, you'd know!!! I'm a pretty good broadcaster about the minutiae of my life, so it stands to reason that something this BIG would be made public pretty damn fast. Trust me, as soon as we know, you'll know. Now stop annoying the shit out of me, ok?
What we do know is that Sean was scheduled for his visa physical yesterday in Korea. That's pretty much the last step in the Korean paperwork process. We're waiting for the U.S. to catch up. Two weeks ago tomorrow we went for our re-do fingerprints for our I600. We know our case worker at USCIS received the results of the fingerprints, and she told us that if she needed anything else, she would let us know. We haven't heard anything-- so can we assume she doesn't need anything else? Did she approve our I600? Was our packet sent to the National Visa Center? Could maybe someone let us know, communicate with us? An email, a phone call? Do we really have to sit around waiting for some snail mail to get to us? So frustrating. Just so, so frustrating.
So with that, with no news, no updates, and NO WE DON'T KNOW WHEN WE'RE GOING TO GET SEAN YET, I'm going to start my weekend a day early. Big happenings this weekend-- baby shower/kegger at our place!
What we do know is that Sean was scheduled for his visa physical yesterday in Korea. That's pretty much the last step in the Korean paperwork process. We're waiting for the U.S. to catch up. Two weeks ago tomorrow we went for our re-do fingerprints for our I600. We know our case worker at USCIS received the results of the fingerprints, and she told us that if she needed anything else, she would let us know. We haven't heard anything-- so can we assume she doesn't need anything else? Did she approve our I600? Was our packet sent to the National Visa Center? Could maybe someone let us know, communicate with us? An email, a phone call? Do we really have to sit around waiting for some snail mail to get to us? So frustrating. Just so, so frustrating.
So with that, with no news, no updates, and NO WE DON'T KNOW WHEN WE'RE GOING TO GET SEAN YET, I'm going to start my weekend a day early. Big happenings this weekend-- baby shower/kegger at our place!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Fingerprints Do-Over and New WBC
Yesterday we ventured to beautiful, scenic Elizabeth, NJ to have our fingerprints re-done at the Immigration offices. We originally had these done in June '09 (because I just looked that up), but our ever-diligent immigration officer assigned to our case made us go again because they were going to expire. I think they may be good for 18 months, I'm not even sure. If they are good for 18 months, then we just went 5 months early. I don't know, that seems.... Maybe they are only good for 14 months or something. I want to look this up. She's been holding up Sean's paperwork though for our fingerprint do-over. Hopefully things will start to move again now. Because while we're sitting here twiddling our thumbs, wondering if our immigration officer has just chosen our paperwork to take out some latent aggression and bust some balls, Sean is growing and learning new things in Korea.
I know this for a fact, because we finally received this month's well baby check! It was dated July 5, but why it took so long to be emailed to us is the same sort of mystery along the lines of why this is taking so long, and why our immigration officer is being over-zealous with our paperwork. Sean grew a centimeter from last month (they use the metric system over there) and is now 30.4 inches tall. His weight stayed the same though, at 21.3 lbs. It says he is walking by holding on to furniture and now waves bye-bye. Hopefully, with a little luck, we will travel to go get him and he will soon by waving bye-bye to Korea.
I know this for a fact, because we finally received this month's well baby check! It was dated July 5, but why it took so long to be emailed to us is the same sort of mystery along the lines of why this is taking so long, and why our immigration officer is being over-zealous with our paperwork. Sean grew a centimeter from last month (they use the metric system over there) and is now 30.4 inches tall. His weight stayed the same though, at 21.3 lbs. It says he is walking by holding on to furniture and now waves bye-bye. Hopefully, with a little luck, we will travel to go get him and he will soon by waving bye-bye to Korea.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
New Picture of Sean! He Got the Gifts We Sent!!!!!
Ok, ok, I am freaking the fuck out right now!! We just, just JUST got a new picture of our adorable son, Sean, in Korea with the items we sent in the care package last month. He's holding the photo book we made for him, open to the page with our picture. Look! It's almost our first picture together as a family!!! But let's cut to the chase people-- HOW FREAKING CUTE IS MY KID!!!!????????? I am losing my effing mind here.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
E.P. Phone Home
Yesterday we received the surprising news that Sean had received his EP, or Emigration Permit. This came as a surprise to us, even though when I looked at our potential timeline of steps in the adoption process, it turned out to be about right, timing-wise. I think what is throwing us off is that we were anticipating some things to be more chronological than they are turning out to be. For instance, we thought USCIS would have approved our I600 form by now (Petition to Classify a Foreign Orphan as An Immediate Relative). This form establishes Sean as an orphan being adopted by U.S. citizens and also is required to apply for his visa. But that's been delayed by a request for more information about the birth mother's relinquishment and also a missing copy of our updated home study. (You can read more about that in a previous post.)
I was completely sent into a tailspin by the receipt of the EP. Guidelines say that you can expect to travel within 3 weeks to two months of receipt of EP. Three weeks? Three weeks!? It really started hitting home how soon this was happening. I suppose most normal people would be overwhelmed with excitement about this, but I just completely started to panic and freak out about all the stuff I still wanted to get done before Sean came home. I didn't think there would be any possibility we'd be traveling in late July/early August.
But today, we heard again from our officer at USCIS. My husband had sent an email asking about fingerprints-- we were told our fingerprints from two years ago were going to expire, and we were scheduled to have them redone. But, we were also led to believe that if our I600 was approved before they expired, we wouldn't need to get them re-done. Today we're hearing that because our fingerprints are going to expire, we now need to get them re-done before our I600 is approved. Huh? This is the complete opposite of what we were told previously, but I guess why would I think anything would go smoothly or make sense when dealing with the US Government and its bureaucracy and red tape? So, my immediate panic from yesterday has quelled slightly, since our fingerprints aren't scheduled until July 23. And as of today, our I600 won't be approved until our new fingerprints are done. This bought me two weeks. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I want a little more time.
I was completely sent into a tailspin by the receipt of the EP. Guidelines say that you can expect to travel within 3 weeks to two months of receipt of EP. Three weeks? Three weeks!? It really started hitting home how soon this was happening. I suppose most normal people would be overwhelmed with excitement about this, but I just completely started to panic and freak out about all the stuff I still wanted to get done before Sean came home. I didn't think there would be any possibility we'd be traveling in late July/early August.
But today, we heard again from our officer at USCIS. My husband had sent an email asking about fingerprints-- we were told our fingerprints from two years ago were going to expire, and we were scheduled to have them redone. But, we were also led to believe that if our I600 was approved before they expired, we wouldn't need to get them re-done. Today we're hearing that because our fingerprints are going to expire, we now need to get them re-done before our I600 is approved. Huh? This is the complete opposite of what we were told previously, but I guess why would I think anything would go smoothly or make sense when dealing with the US Government and its bureaucracy and red tape? So, my immediate panic from yesterday has quelled slightly, since our fingerprints aren't scheduled until July 23. And as of today, our I600 won't be approved until our new fingerprints are done. This bought me two weeks. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I want a little more time.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Sean's Furniture Arrived!
The delivery men just left, and the furniture looks great!
Unfortunately, the delivery guys, as per company policy (which I found out about after I called to complain), left all the packing materials in two giant boxes on our driveway. We spent about half an hour sorting out the giant, squeaky pieces of Styrofoam from the cardboard, and breaking both down into contractor bags and a single box. We were furious over this. We only get to throw out as much will fit in our lone garbage can in this township, and one bag of bulky, non-flexible Styrofoam pretty much takes up the whole thing. And, of course, with the holiday this weekend we're missing garbage. Compound that with the fact that our recycling just went out and now we have to wait another nearly two weeks with these big giant box full of smaller boxes on the side of our house... we're just livid about this. We've gotten furniture before, and never have we been left with the detritus. I will think twice before ever shopping at this place again. This is bad, bad customer service. Think twice about ordering from Bedroom Galleries! You may want to think about garbage in your town and the level of inconvenience you want to deal with.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Minor Annoyances, Potential Delays
I'm going to try to explain this in the most un-convoluted way possible, but I may not succeed. We have a Case Officer at USCIS (Immigration) who has to make sure everything is in order with all the forms and paperwork we've done so far. I believe this includes everything from our fingerprints to our homestudy to all the adoption acceptance paperwork.
A few weeks ago our USCIS Officer contacted us and requested additional proof of relinquishment from the birth mother. This was no big deal, as our agency had already contacted us and said basically, look, if you're asked to supply more information about the birth mother's relinquishment, don't worry, just let us know, and we'll send it. They have it, they just view it as a privacy issue, and don't give it up unless they are asked. What bugs me is that if they know that adoptive families have been getting routinely asked for this information, why not just supply it outright as part of the packet? Anyway, we took care of that (and in less time than originally projected) but there still seems to be a lingering issue of our missing home study addendum.
Our Officer had also mentioned that she couldn't find our home study addendum (which we had to have done when we moved). I had sent it myself in February, and have proof of delivery and all that. Because the Officer said she didn't have it, we requested last week that our agency send another copy of the addendum, which they said they would take care of for us.
But now, the letter we received yesterday seems to imply that our Officer needs a whole home study, not with a separate addendum. Huh? I'm confused. She needs them combined into a single document? Why? Since when? I mean, obviously our agency didn't think it was a problem to send the original home study and then an addendum when we moved. But now it is? Wade is going to get in touch with Holt today and see if he can clarify what needs to be sent to our USCIS Officer. All I know is that we bounded through the potential delay the relinquishment paperwork posed, only to get potentially stalled again by our home study, which was originally completed in January 2008!
I've heard people in the international adoption process complain about the paperwork. We haven't had a problem with the paperwork, it has been straightforward and relatively simple. What we do have a problem with is the bullshit red tape and bureaucracy that is making it difficult to comply with changes to procedures or whatever is going on here. All I know is that this is delaying the approval of our I-600 form and the issuing of our I-171. Which is then holding up our travel call to go and bring Sean home.
A few weeks ago our USCIS Officer contacted us and requested additional proof of relinquishment from the birth mother. This was no big deal, as our agency had already contacted us and said basically, look, if you're asked to supply more information about the birth mother's relinquishment, don't worry, just let us know, and we'll send it. They have it, they just view it as a privacy issue, and don't give it up unless they are asked. What bugs me is that if they know that adoptive families have been getting routinely asked for this information, why not just supply it outright as part of the packet? Anyway, we took care of that (and in less time than originally projected) but there still seems to be a lingering issue of our missing home study addendum.
Our Officer had also mentioned that she couldn't find our home study addendum (which we had to have done when we moved). I had sent it myself in February, and have proof of delivery and all that. Because the Officer said she didn't have it, we requested last week that our agency send another copy of the addendum, which they said they would take care of for us.
But now, the letter we received yesterday seems to imply that our Officer needs a whole home study, not with a separate addendum. Huh? I'm confused. She needs them combined into a single document? Why? Since when? I mean, obviously our agency didn't think it was a problem to send the original home study and then an addendum when we moved. But now it is? Wade is going to get in touch with Holt today and see if he can clarify what needs to be sent to our USCIS Officer. All I know is that we bounded through the potential delay the relinquishment paperwork posed, only to get potentially stalled again by our home study, which was originally completed in January 2008!
I've heard people in the international adoption process complain about the paperwork. We haven't had a problem with the paperwork, it has been straightforward and relatively simple. What we do have a problem with is the bullshit red tape and bureaucracy that is making it difficult to comply with changes to procedures or whatever is going on here. All I know is that this is delaying the approval of our I-600 form and the issuing of our I-171. Which is then holding up our travel call to go and bring Sean home.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
We Should Be Given a Time Out
Well, I can only say I hope our parenting skills are better than our blogging ones. This blog has sat idle for a year and a half. And what a year and a half it's been. Bad, bad bloggers!
When Wade posted the last update below on Jan. 4, 2009, our beloved Shelby Doggs was still alive (but I was on the verge of one of the worst weeks of my life), his mother was still alive, Stacey was our social worker, we still resided in a townhouse in South Brunswick, and, oh yeah, we didn't have a son in Korea! I also think I was 20lbs thinner, but let's not get into that. Now sadly Shelby and Bette are no longer with us, but Chloe Doggs is; we are single-family-detached-homeowners in lovely and scenic OBNJ; Social Worker Stacey left our agency and put us in the good hands of Social Worker Lisa; and Sean Seok-min Olsson is with his foster family in Seoul waiting for us to travel to get him. I'm torn between back-filling and back-dating the information to keep a better record, or just blurting it all out here and now...
Well, if you've stumbled upon this blog, and while reading this entry, you've noticed that there are quite a lot of entries between June 30, 2010 and January 4, 2009, you'll know that I've simply gone in and back-filled. Or, maybe I'll just delete this entry, and you'll be none the wiser about what horrible bloggers we actually are. :)
When Wade posted the last update below on Jan. 4, 2009, our beloved Shelby Doggs was still alive (but I was on the verge of one of the worst weeks of my life), his mother was still alive, Stacey was our social worker, we still resided in a townhouse in South Brunswick, and, oh yeah, we didn't have a son in Korea! I also think I was 20lbs thinner, but let's not get into that. Now sadly Shelby and Bette are no longer with us, but Chloe Doggs is; we are single-family-detached-homeowners in lovely and scenic OBNJ; Social Worker Stacey left our agency and put us in the good hands of Social Worker Lisa; and Sean Seok-min Olsson is with his foster family in Seoul waiting for us to travel to get him. I'm torn between back-filling and back-dating the information to keep a better record, or just blurting it all out here and now...
Well, if you've stumbled upon this blog, and while reading this entry, you've noticed that there are quite a lot of entries between June 30, 2010 and January 4, 2009, you'll know that I've simply gone in and back-filled. Or, maybe I'll just delete this entry, and you'll be none the wiser about what horrible bloggers we actually are. :)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Painting Sean's Room
My awesome sisters bought me the bedding set we picked out for Sean's room, and I used it to match paints. (I really hope this kid likes dogs. And I don't mean, you know, for dinner.) The set came with a border though, so I thought we shouldn't have to settle on a single color. I measured as best as I could on the bumpy walls that have probably seen about 20 coats of paint over the last 40 years and using the laser level, sectioned off the walls about midway between. Painting the ceiling sucked, but then it always does. Then it was time to start on the walls. Light green went on top:
Then the dark blue went on the bottom:
And the we added the border:
I'll take more pics when the furniture is in and everything is all set up.
Then the dark blue went on the bottom:
And the we added the border:
I'll take more pics when the furniture is in and everything is all set up.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Illicit Package
It's weird knowing that your child is somewhere very, very far away and even though you haven't met them yet, there is a very strong need to somehow try to connect with them. From the message board groups we'd been on, and even in the classes we had to attend, we were told that it was quite normal for parents to send a small package of goodies overseas to their child.
After the acceptance paperwork was taken care of, I contacted the staff at our agency and asked for the address and any information they could give me with regards to sending the package. They pretty much flat out told us not to send anything. I won't quote directly from the correspondence, but the gist of it was that they can't guarantee the package would even get to the correct child, and that the workers in their Seoul office have much better things to do than to hand-deliver hundreds of care packages to children who have shown up at the offices for the well baby visits with their foster moms.
We were a little shocked and surprised. I had spent quite a long time working on a photo book to send. I included pictures of the immediate family with the words for each family member printed below the photos in Hangul and their first names in English. (You can view the whole book here.) I figured I'd make a few copies of the book, send one over and hope for the best, and then bring one with us when we traveled (and also have one at home in case something happened to the first two). Now we were being told not to send anything? Because they couldn't guarantee that he would get it, or return home with it? Who cares!!? Don't they understand that we had to at least try!?
Someone nameless, and off record, basically told us to just go ahead and send a small package anyway. But do so knowing it may never get to him. We bought a small stuffed dog, two pairs of pajamas with dogs on them, and a Rutgers University onesie. I stuffed all this into a gallon zippie, got the address of the Seoul office from a nice person on a message board (thanks again!!) and sent it on its way. Here is what everything looked like before I crammed it into the plastic bag:
We knew it probably wouldn't make it in time for this month's well baby checkup, so we are setting our sites on the one for early July. Keep your fingers crossed for us that he gets it!
After the acceptance paperwork was taken care of, I contacted the staff at our agency and asked for the address and any information they could give me with regards to sending the package. They pretty much flat out told us not to send anything. I won't quote directly from the correspondence, but the gist of it was that they can't guarantee the package would even get to the correct child, and that the workers in their Seoul office have much better things to do than to hand-deliver hundreds of care packages to children who have shown up at the offices for the well baby visits with their foster moms.
We were a little shocked and surprised. I had spent quite a long time working on a photo book to send. I included pictures of the immediate family with the words for each family member printed below the photos in Hangul and their first names in English. (You can view the whole book here.) I figured I'd make a few copies of the book, send one over and hope for the best, and then bring one with us when we traveled (and also have one at home in case something happened to the first two). Now we were being told not to send anything? Because they couldn't guarantee that he would get it, or return home with it? Who cares!!? Don't they understand that we had to at least try!?
Someone nameless, and off record, basically told us to just go ahead and send a small package anyway. But do so knowing it may never get to him. We bought a small stuffed dog, two pairs of pajamas with dogs on them, and a Rutgers University onesie. I stuffed all this into a gallon zippie, got the address of the Seoul office from a nice person on a message board (thanks again!!) and sent it on its way. Here is what everything looked like before I crammed it into the plastic bag:
We knew it probably wouldn't make it in time for this month's well baby checkup, so we are setting our sites on the one for early July. Keep your fingers crossed for us that he gets it!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
More Pictures of Sean!
Almost immediately after we completed the acceptance paperwork, we were sent a new medical report, and more importantly, new photos! (I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Of course the health of the child is more important than the way he looks.)
Sean is about 8 months old in these:
So much happier now that we have more recent pictures! Everyone just wants to pinch those cheeks! We can't wait to be able to do it in person.
Sean is about 8 months old in these:
So much happier now that we have more recent pictures! Everyone just wants to pinch those cheeks! We can't wait to be able to do it in person.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
It's A Boy!!!!!
Last night when the phone rang, I knew. I just knew. Our social worker, Lisa, called with the most wonderful news-- we have a son! Bak Seok-min was born August, 27, 2009 outside of Seoul, and Lisa was going on and on about how cute he was, and about his height and his weight and percentile of this and it was all I could do not to scream "Shut up and email us a picture!!!! Send the picture!!! Where's the picture!!!?"
And here it is:
He's pretty cute-- even for a newborn, which I always think are hideous and look like creepy aliens, except in very rare instances. Stop making that face at the computer screen, you know it's true. Everyone pretends that they are adorable, but in reality they usually look like something that was plucked from Area 51. Well, not my son. I think the hair helps a great deal.
It's so exciting and overwhelming and exhilarating!!! But also seems quite surreal. The plan is to change his first name to Sean and leave Seok-min as his middle name. For a long while we were leaning towards Julian, but I decided I didn't want him getting beat up on playgrounds. So we went with the second Lennon son. This way, when people ask who he's named after, I can say "Shelby." (Tradition in Jewish families, at least mine and the ones I know, is to take the first letter of the name someone who has died and use that letter to choose the child's name. So yes, I'm honoring my dog. I love following rules.)
And here it is:
It's so exciting and overwhelming and exhilarating!!! But also seems quite surreal. The plan is to change his first name to Sean and leave Seok-min as his middle name. For a long while we were leaning towards Julian, but I decided I didn't want him getting beat up on playgrounds. So we went with the second Lennon son. This way, when people ask who he's named after, I can say "Shelby." (Tradition in Jewish families, at least mine and the ones I know, is to take the first letter of the name someone who has died and use that letter to choose the child's name. So yes, I'm honoring my dog. I love following rules.)
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