Journey to Korea - Day 9 (Part 1)

Day 9 is Friday, June 1.  I am up early this morning.  Probably because I'm in a room with Gina and she is an early riser to say the least.  As I said in the last post, she woke up at 4:30 a.m.  She tried to lay in bed for an hour, but had to get on up.  She tried to sit in the small hallway to read her Bible, but the light is motion activated so that didn't last long.  She took her shower, flooded the bathroom and was fixing her hair when I woke up.  She had a busy morning.  :)

Gina's husband, Glenn called at 9:30 p.m. last night.  Gina and I were in a dead stupor and she answered the phone.  We thought it was the middle of the night.  Due to a text miscommunication, he thought was supposed to call at night instead of the morning.  When he said it was only 9:30 p.m., we were both surprised.  Well, Gina had been asleep for like three hours already so it practically was the middle of the night for her.

We ate breakfast in the hotel. While we were eating breakfast, the subject of how we slept came up. My mother informed me that she slept all night long. She didn't wake up once to read like she had with me every single night we had been in the same hotel room.  Interesting.

The breakfast buffet was just as nice of a buffet as at Hotel Seokyo.  It's all in the presentation!  They had eggs, bacon, bagels, salad, fruit, fish, rice and vegetables.

This was my breakfast, steamed rice topped with bean sprouts, green vegetables, a dumpling and a sesame rice cake.  The sesame rice cake was very good. It was one of those chewy rice cakes on the inside (the one my mom squirted across the lunch table) with a bread coating and rolled in sesame seeds.  Delicious.  Also they have these little yogurt drinks.  I drank one during my very first dinner in Korea.  They were very yummy.  Made me feel like a giant drinking them because they were so small.  I didn't even feel bad when I had four empty bottles sitting at on my placemat.

My mom said, "I'm very surprised you're eating Korean food for breakfast."  Since I'm not a big breakfast person, lunch for breakfast is perfect for me. 

We met a couple while eating breakfast, Eunice and her husband. They were from Toronto, Canada.  Her husband was here for business and she was just tagging along.  She told us to take public transportation any time we can.  They were very friendly and spoke English very well.

We took a taxi to the Illmagwon Orphange at 9:30 a.m.  When we arrived, we met Mr. Kim.  Mr. Kim runs the orphanage now.  His mother, Mrs. Park, is the woman who ran the orphanage while Gina and I were there.  Illmagwon used to be a babies home when we were there, housing babies to 4 year olds.  Now it is for older kids, 5 year olds to 18 year olds.  He took us into his office.

Mr. Kim said they have 70 kids:  20 girls and 50 boys.  It used to be  boys were more wanted than girls.  Now it has switched, girls are more desirable.  Mr. Kim said Koreans like to adopt babies.  Babies who have the same skin coloring as them.  They often don't tell the kids they are adopted.  There is one kindergartner and one university student and all the others are in between.  The orphanage receives money from the government.  The government also gives them money for activites for the kids.  The univeristy student who lives there does not have his college paid for; however, Mr. Kim can give him a place to stay and food to eat.  Once they are 18, they graduate out of the system and are own their own.  Mr. Kim said his objective is to get them to where they can live out on their own.

We told Mr. Kim our story.  My mom and her husband at the time were stationed at Gunsan Air Base.  They had wanted to adopt a baby.  Skyler, my adoptive dad, had chosen me because I would cry if he put me down.  My mother had chosen another baby.  However, in the end the choice was me.  The other baby went to another couple, but died shortly after.  They had also chosen Gina, who was very quiet and small.  My mom lived at the orphanage for a very short while when Skyler had to come back to the United States.  Having run out of money and not very healthy, my mom had to return to the United States.  They both returned and brought Gina and I back to the United States.  I was two years old and Gina was three.  My mom had told me it only cost $250 to adopt us.  We flew back on a military plane.

Mr. Kim brought out his huge baby books.  All the children who have come through the orphanage have a number assigned to them and pictures in an album.  It was surreal and amazing to see these pictures and other paperwork.  Gina was number 134.  I was number 141.  My mom was a little confused because at this time she lived at the orphanage.  I came to the orphanage first and then Gina did.  She said Gina was about close to two years old when she came.  However, in the baby book her number was lower indicating she arrived at the orphanage before I did.   Mr. Kim just said there could have been a mix up, it was so long ago.

My mom continued to look at through the photo books. She got very emotional while she was looking because she recognized some of the babies

Mr. Kim also pulled out what I would call "registration book".  The number in the photo book corresponded with the registration book.  If you looked up number 134, it was Gina's paperwork.  It said she was found on the streets.  She was brought to the Illmagwon orphanage.  Mr. Kim read the paperwork.  She was very weak, pratically only bones.  She had been abused.  The paperwork also said she weighed only 2 kilograms (4 pounds), but my mom is certain she was almost two when she arrived.  So there much be some kind of mix-up.  At the bottom of the page, it states she was "adopted to the United States."

Mr. Kim looked at my paperwork next.  I was number 141.  I was found on the steps of Myungsan police station and brought to Illmagwon in July of 1972.  I was very weak too.  Below is the picture of my actual registration paper.  At the bottom of my registration papers, it states I was also "adopted to the United States."

It was so interesting and surreal to be sitting there looking at it all.  God sent this 19 year old American girl to Korea with her husband.  They adopted two little Korean babies and brought them back to the United States.  38 years later, we are back in the very same place.  Hard to wrap my brain around it even now.

Mr. Kim gave us a tour of the orphanage.  We left his office and went right across the hall to the library.  They were having a staff meeting so there were about 15 people sitting around tables.  Speaking Korean, Mr. Kim quickly told them our story.  At the end, they all cheered and clapped.  It was funny.  The library is below.

computer room

recreational room

some of the kid's artwork

 

All of that was in the same building as the offices.  They are in the process of building new housing.  It will be six floors.  The top floor will be an apartment.  It will be for the older (high school) kids.  This is so the transition when they are out on their own is easier for them.  They will know what it's like to live in an apartment, cook their own food, and wash their own clothes.  Pretty smart.

 

This is what the orphanage will look like when it is complete.

This is a volunteer room.  The kids have Bible studies in here. This also where they go to have their haircut.  It seems like if someone is volunteering to do something such as haircuts for the kids, this is where it is done. 

The dining hall.  The kids come in and get their food and drinks.

They have their own kimchi refrigerator too.

 

We saw a boy's dorm.  As you walked into it, you saw shelves full of shoes and large lockers full of the boys' stuff.

I went into a room.  It had wardrobes along two walls.  There was nothing but a table in the middle of the room.  They all sleep on the floor as everyone else in Korea.  The wardrobes were filled with the boys stuff.  There were six boys who shared this particular room.

As we continued outside, I saw this.  I don't even know how many bicycles there were, but they were all lined up from large to small.  I can almost bet that there were close to 50 bikes parked there.

Mr. Kim took us to see the animals they have.  They are there for the children's education and enjoyment.  He says they are there for the children, but he said the adults enjoy taking care of them just as much.  I don't believe any of them are to eat - except maybe the eggs from the chickens or the chickens themselves.

I have no idea what this is.  Anyone?

Mr. Kim built this little pond in the shape of the Korean pennisula seven years ago.  It was beautiful.  This is where I filled the "Monster" bottle up with dirt for my cousin, Jamin.

They also had a garden.  Everything was labeled for the children's education.  There were kiwi trees, strawberries, onions, pumpkins, carrots and other fruits and vegetables.

After we finished our tour, we went to visit Mrs. Park.  She is 91 years old.  She was so cute. 

 

Mr. Kim interpreted for us.  We had forgotten a photo album of pictures of our families so Mistie went back to the office to get them while we went inside Mrs. Park's home.  

  

We sat down and started to talk with Mrs. Park.  Mr. Kim told Mrs. Park who we were.  My mom showed her pictures old pictures of herself and us while we had been in Korea.  She could not remember my mother at first.  She kept saying she was old and couldn't remember everything.  As my mom kept telling her story, some of it started to come back to Mrs. Park.  She had said, she didn't remember Gina or I and that we looked different.  My mom had a picture of herself and Mrs. Park back in 1972. Mrs. Park touched her hair, which has since turned gray, and said, "Oh I don't look the same either!"

Mrs. Park had said she was so happy to hear that we three girls loved God and were doing well.  Back in 1972, there were two ways to adopt babies from Illmagwon, the government or through Gunsan Air Base.  Only five babies had been adopted through Gunsan Air Base and Gina and I were two of them.  Another baby, Angela, has recently gotten into contact with my mom.  We are now facebook friends.  Angela's parents were there the same time as my mother.  My mom has old letter she had written her mother that mentioned Angela's parents.   In fact, the baby my mom had first chosen went to Angela's parents.  It had died and then they chose Angela.  It's a small world isn't it.  Mrs. Park has heard from one other person who was adopted though Gunsan Air Base. That leaves one other person Mrs. Park hasn't heard from.

Oh while we were visiting, a lady came in and gave us all juice boxes.  It had been hot outside so this would be refreshing.  I took a drink of it and then looked at the box.  It was pea juice, not apple juice or grape juice, pea juice.  It was like cold pea soup. 

Mistie make it back with the photo album and gave it to Mrs. Park to look through.  Mrs. Park looked at Mistie and said she was starting to remember my mom.  She said Mistie looked very much like my mom when she was younger, and it jogged her memory.  She remembered my mom staying at the orphanage and adopting two babies.  Mrs. Park said Mistie was a lot like my mom, not only do they look very similar, but over the last three years, Mistie has adopted three kids.  Indeed, they are.

She held onto my mom's arm for a long time.

Mrs. Park is a lady who loves God.  It's very apparent.  I believe if we would have stayed there, God would have still played a huge part in our lives.  We would have been shown God's love and taught about God's love. 

Mrs. Park was getting tired, so we took our pictures with her and said goodbye.  Mr. Kim took us back to our hotel.  When we got to the hotel, Mistie and my mom went to the Gunsan Air Base.  I only requested a bag of Doritos.  Gina and I went to a GS25 convenient store around the corner from the hotel for lunch.  Gina got a Sprite, Multigrain Pringles, and Ferrer Rocher for dessert.  I got a Coke and some kind of Korean corn chips. 

My mom and Mistie went to Gunsan Air Base.  They talked to the lady who was going to help us get a tour of the Moses Baby Home.  They also went to the commisary.  I don't think they took many pictures there.  Gina and I were checking our email when they texted us to say we were going to go to the baby home.  I think we were all excited about that.

We made it to the Moses Baby Home.  We were carrying our backpacks full of gifts.  Mistie was recording with her camcorder.  A lady came out to meet us. She spoke only Korean, not hardly any English.  Another lady came out too.  We tried to explain what we were doing there.  We just wanted to tour the place because we had been adopted from a baby home too.  Neither understood. I think because Mistie was holding the camera they might have been a little cautious.  My mom called her friend to have her explain why we were there.  It helped, but it was really hard to communicate with no interpretor with us.

When you walked in along the hallway were these cute pictures of the babies.  For Koreans, the first birthday (which isn't always when they are one years old) is a very important birthday.  The babies always get their pictures made when they turn one. 

The first room they took us into was the baby room.  One was sleeping in a crib.   

As we entered another room there were several ladies holding babies.  Behind the lady in the blue in the picture below was a baby that could not have been more than 2 months old.  She or he was very, very little.  We are not sure if these women were volunteer or workers.  Since we couldn't ask  any questions, it was hard to know.

My mom immedaitly sat down and help this little girl.  She was kind of off to the corner.  She was making a lot of noise and was being kind of ignored. 

I was busy taking pictures and Mistie was recording.  They tried to encourage us to pick one of the babies up.  Look at the cute baby Gina picked up.  

 

We were in there just a few minutes before we were shuffled out and onto the next room. It was a huge play area.  Again there were many younger people playing with the kids.  Unknown if they were workers or volunteers.  The kids just kind of stared at us.  They were so cute though.

Gina wanted to take this little girl home.  We loved the scarf around her next.  Of course, who wouldn't have loved to take her home.

We saw several babies who appeared to have Downs Syndrome.

My mom tried to pick up one of the little girls, but she started crying so she just sat down and took pictures.

I think the kids were intrigued by us, but they didn't really want us to touch them.  They seemed happy.

This sweet little girl was alsleep until we came in.  When the baby started crying that my mom tried to pick up she woke up.  

We would have loved to be able to hear these kids stories.  At one point, some older children came out from another room.  They were very excited because they had some candy.  It seemed like there were more girls than boys in this place.

We were only in the playroom for about 5 minutes also before we were shuffled out.  That's all of the orphanage we saw.  The kids seem to go from room to room with ease.  They all seemed pretty happy too.  One little boy was trying to learn to walk.

The lady in the pink was the director of the Moses Baby Home.

This is the lady who met us when we arrived. 

We went into their office and gave them all the gifts we brought.  Lotion, shampoo, books, coloring books, games, candy, and puzzles.  Mistie had brought two pairs of Spiderman pajamas.  They loved those.

We brought those books that talk when you push a button.  It was a Cars 2 book.  One little boy was quite taken with them.  Now his first words will be Tow Mater saying "Hey Dude!"

We left shortly after.  I think we were only there about 20 minutes in all.  It felt very rushed.  I think we would have all loved to stay there longer and learn more about the baby home and all the sweet babies inside.  Maybe it was for the best because I'm sure we would have all left in tears too.  Although the babies seemed to be very well taken care of and happy, it can only break your heart that they each don't have a mommy and daddy to love them. 

 

This is only half of Day 9.  There's just too much to pack into one post.   The next post will talk about when we went back to Illmagwon and the public market.

I know all my posts are long and full of details.  Sorry.  These posts are probably more for me so that when I'm old and my memory fails (which according to the officer will be next week when I turn 40), I will have these to read and remember. So thank you for taking this journey with me.