- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- iparenting adoption articles
- iparenting adoption q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Seoul in Two Days
The Trip that Changes Your Life By Julie Laatsch-Kitchen
Because we arrived on a Sunday night and we left on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., we were able to meet with our son Jacob Jin and his foster mother on Monday at 10:30 a.m. and pick him up at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. If you travel, it is very important that you schedule your flight out in the early morning so you can bond with your baby the night before prior to getting on that long flight home. Our agency would not allow us to pick up the baby the night before unless we had a flight out in the morning. Otherwise, we could only pick up our baby a few hours prior to the flight.
With only two days in the city we decided early on to see and do as much as we could. We were in Seoul in the summer, so it was very hot and humid almost unbearable. The first morning, we set out early so we could get to the agency for our first meeting with Jacob. We walked about three miles that morning, through the Namdeamun Markets, where most of the shops weren't open yet. There were many street vendors selling food, and the streets were just beginning to get crowded. We walked past the Chinese Embassy, the Myung-Dong Cathedral, City Hall and many parks. We also stopped at the Song Je Myo (shrine), but it was closed that day. After about three hours of walking in the heat, we were ready to take an air-conditioned taxi to met our son.
We arrived at the agency to meet Jacob about 35 minutes early. We were told that punctuality is generally not valued in Korea, but Jacob's foster mother was already waiting in the meeting room with our son.
Words will never describe how I felt when I first saw our son. Even before I saw his photo, I held him in my heart, and when I finally saw him and held him, I knew he was our son. I tried hard not to cry, as did Jim, because we had a lot of questions to ask the foster mother in a little bit of time.
The foster mother was very young and pretty. She did not speak English, so the social worker, Ms. Chen, translated for us. Jacob's foster mother was very attached to him, and you could tell he was very loved and well taken care of. The foster mother was so happy that we came to pick him up so she could meet us. The other two babies she took care of prior to Jacob were escorted home, and she wished she had met their parents.