Young Jin, Soo Mi, Sang Hoon, Yong Hoon, Il Nam, Won Chan…
I’m going to Korea. Two weeks and the countdown has begun. The gifts have been purchased, made and assembled. The packing still needs to be done. A good friend just moved her entire home, surely, I can pack our life for a ten day trip! I’m nervous, excited, anxious and really hoping that everyone will enjoy this trip. The boys will be old enough to remember and make memories of their own. I hope the seed of good will be planted so they will want to make this exodus again and again.
This trip was made possible by a cooking contest run by Also-Known-As. Who knew my culinary skills in Korean fare would win me a ticket to Korea?! I am pleased to inform that I have mastered yet another great dish since then but all the while creating a list of food I want to eat in Korea. Another adoptee I haven’t seen in over a decade just recently asked me, what’s on my list of things to eat? Very important question. A chuckle came over me because inside, I knew, only another adoptee would ask such a question. Of course it was all street food, poor man’s food, I like to call it. I want to eat my way through Seoul.
A casual remark by George reminded me that I am going back to Korea 20 years from the time I first went alone, with two large suitcases, to my orphanage to do some “good work” and came back a changed person permanently. It has been 20 years since I last saw some of the people I mentioned above, my orphanage siblings – children then. Some of them have stayed in touch, others I will see for the first time since we last said goodbye. Some married, had children, some not yet. All of them, grown ups. None are connected to their first families and are connected to each other like family with their shared experience of being an “orphanage kid.” As is the usual case, I call one and then what follows is a series of phone calls or emails from others. This time, Kakaotalk is the medium and Hangul the language of choice. 20 years has made my Korean much more user friendly and I can’t wait to see them all, their spouses and their children. The central point of meeting is the Lotte Hotel. I am anticipating many late night lobby gatherings.
My Umma will be with me. She is coming to stay with us while we are in Seoul. I got the biggest room possible for all of us to be together. It has been over three years since I last saw her. I call her pretty regularly now. She is retired from working at the hospital as an aide and depends on my brother financially and they remain just the two together. She takes aquatic classes, watches a ton of TV, sees some friends and goes to church. She says she is well. I will see for myself. She got a phone line in her apartment now, so I am guessing things are looking up. It strikes me funny that this reads like I know her now. What an ordinary list of things to say about one’s mother, right? Well…then, there is this thought too – I will not be visiting her home, I will not get to see her living arrangements. I never do. So yes, we are still working on our relationship 19 years later. It will be good to see Umma. But, I am anxious to see my brother. I can’t wait really. I just want a big hug from him.
Truth is, since I won that free ticket to Korea, I have been planning for this trip. Months and months of thinking about and preparing for just 10 days. The anticipation is at fever pitch right now. Trying to tamp down my expectations but really really happy all at once. I am going to Korea to see family, my family. This is a family reunion.
I am seriously hoping Umma will babysit the boys so that George and I can take in Korea for some evening fun. I don’t easily associate Korea with “fun.” I have never gone to just be in Korea. So, I guess what I am looking forward to the most is to walk around and be ALL IN. This time, there is no reason in the world for me to be anywhere else.
