Korea Trip Day 10: JungSun Meets MyeongSun

We started early today to take a taxi, then a train to Busan, then two subway trains to the Holt office. There we met Maria's birthmother. Her name is MyeongSun, which rhymes with Maria's Korean name JungSun. She looks so much like Maria and has many of the same mannerisms and interests. We talked with a translator for two and a half hours.

First meeting. We were all overcome with emotion. 

They exchanged matching necklaces. 

Those shoes look just like Maria would wear!

Then we went to lunch with MyeongSun and her best friend SooJin. We had no translator, but we made do with charades and translation apps. 

The food was the best we'd had in Korea. 

After the group photo it was so hard to say goodbye.

We exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch.

We headed to the Busan Aquarium for a while. 

We took a look at Haeundae Beach before heading back to our hotel in Gueongju - subway, train, taxi.

Whew! What an amazing day.

Korea Trip Day 09: Gyeongju

We started our day visiting some cultural sites in downtown Gyeongju. Here are some pics at the Daereungwon Tombs, where Silla royalty from the third century were buried. It really was a lovely place. 

Next we headed to a little village of traditional Korean houses. 

Then we headed to Bulguksa Temple, the premier site in Gueongju. 

Then we had a nice Korean lunch in the little tourist village nearby. After that we got to ride the swan boats. 

Then we headed back into town for some more shopping and a pizza supper. 

Josie got a new hanbok!

It was called "live beer" on the menu. 

Tomorrow is the big day in Busan when we meet Maria's birthmother. We need to be out of the hotel and in a taxi by 7am. More tomorrow night. 

Korea Trip Day 08: Heading South

Bad news this morning: my laptop crapped out. I visited a nearby Apple store and determined that its the laptop itself, not the charger. So no more treks and no more photos from Beth until we get home and I get it fixed. So we carry on with the trusty iPhone. 

While I was away, the girls picked up a very nice necklace to give to Maria's birthmother on Friday. They also saw a big traffic jam with police escorts. We later saw on the news that Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg had been in our neighborhood!

We packed up our luggage and made our at to Seoul station. After lunch, Ed caught a high-speed train to Gyeongju. Top speed was over 180mph. We took a taxi to our resort hotel at Bomun Lake. Nice big suite with a kitchenette. We walked along the lake and finally stopped at a little restaurant and ate outdoors. More perfect weather.

The girls ordered bulgogi (beef). Yummy!

Beth ordered haemul (seafood) pa (green onion) jeon (pancake). it was awesome good! Not pictured: my dwenjang (tofu) chigae (soup). Spicy-licious!