Incredible People in Korea

Reflecting on our trip, I now have immense respect for Korea and Korean people. Until the very end of our trip (once we had Asa), I don't think any of these people I am about to mention had any idea we were there to adopt. The people of Korea touched us in so many ways that it wasn't until we got home that it hit me how special they made the trip.

When we arrived at Incheon, our friend Jeongeun had arranged for a friend of hers, Hyoseok to meet us at the airport. Well, the Americans couldn't even get that straight, and we didn't come out of the right exit and we missed him. We found a phone kiosk, but, of course, it was all in Korean. So, I stood there, looking for any English at all and after a second, a man approached me and, in broken English (it was much better than my Korean, so thank God!) he asked if I had a cell phone. I mis-understood, then he asked if I had a number to call, so I pulled out Hyoseok's cell phone number and he whipped out his cell and called Hyoseok. He appeared to ask "your American friends are here, where are you"? He then told us he would be here in a minute. Sure enough, I saw Hyoseok, or the yellow sign he was holding, and I called out his name as best I could.

I understood that he was going to meet us to help us get to the train or bus to Seoul because it was a hike into Seoul (2 hours total) and he had borrowed a car. Well, I was wrong. All along, he planned to drive us to our hotel! I didn't know where it was, or even what the address was, I just overlooked it before we left. I am very thankful that he had looked it up, because our place was in an alley, and very hard to find if you had not been there before.

We got the bags to the car, and it was questionable as to whether we could all fit in the car. Janet and Elizabeth had bags next to them in the back, I had one at my feet, and the trunk was stuffed.

Oh yeah, he was so sweet, he got a gift for Elizabeth!

When we arrived, we met Mr. D., (left) the night watchman at the SWS Guest House. He went out of his way to help us with everything. Our bags. Ordering us pizza. Giving Elizabeth a gift (shhh). One morning, as we were leaving, about halfway to the subway, he caught up with us to walk and talk with us, asking where we were going, telling us where he lived, etc. Again, very kind and engaging.


Our case worker, Young Mee, was a very nice, helpful young lady that endured many questions about our visits with Asa, coordinating things with the Busan SWS office, and general information about the area. First, she gave me her card and wrote the location of her office, which was three doors down from us, to give cab drivers better directions to our hotel (like I said, it was out of the way). I think we called her cell probably 15 times with questions and asking for suggestions and setting up our trip to Busan.


For the many elderly women on the subway that offered Janet and/or Elizabeth their seats, I thank you. In each case, there was no communication, other than getting our attention, standing up and offering them your seat.

On the flight home, many of the Korean stewardesses helped us get Asa to sleep and held him and entertained him for quite a while. In fact, one of them put him on his back, while another lady wrapped a blanket around her to keep Asa in place to get him to sleep! All of this without our even asking them to help!


Probably the most random, God inspired (to us), helpful Korean we met on the trip was Won. Won met us in the subway, as we were lost and asking directions of an employee, who could not speak any English and was trying his heart out to help us. Won approached us and asked where we were going and we said Seoul Station. He was going there, too, so we rode the subway with him. He helped us find the line to buy our tickets to Busan, and he said goodbye, as his business was elsewhere in the station. It took us a minute to buy our tickets, but when we turned around to leave, Won was standing there, waiting for us. He said he was done and that his hotel was along our subway line, so he would ride home with us.

If that wasn't enough, I was glad he rode the subway with us because our transfer was tricky, and we had gotten lost the last time we tried this transfer. Won even got confused and we had to double back to get to the other side of the tracks. He showed us the way, got on and in a few stops, we thanked him profusely and went our separate ways. Immediately afterward, we wished we had gotten a card or taken a picture or something with him because he was so helpful.

Won was supposed to leave last Monday, before our flight on Wednesday. When we got on the plane, our seats were not all on the same row. Bummer, but we thought we would just ask whomever was in the row with Janet to switch seats.

Guess who was in that seat!

Won!

When he came around the bulkhead, I blurted out "Are you sitting here?!?!" He was as shocked as we were, and we enjoyed the flight home much more with him sitting with us. Janet and I believe that was orchestrated by God, to give us the opportunity to see him again and thank him for his generosity.

Finally, I can't say enough about Asa's foster mother. She was most helpful in caring for Asa, allowing us to give Asa a gift when we first met him, and handling giving him to us beautifully. In the six months or so he was with her, Asa obviously bonded with her well, because he didn't want much of anything to do with us when we first met. You can see in our pictures how well she loves him.

We were worried about the handoff at SWS offices when we actually took Asa with us. We had heard that it can be messy, with the foster parent and baby crying and being fussy. She was incredible. We never saw a tear and she just handed him to us with a smile. I think I said 'kamsa ham nida' (thank you in Korean) a few times to try and show her how grateful we are for her. I hope she understands how thankful we are for her and what she did for Asa.

Thank you, our friends in Korea, for making our trip even more memorable than we could have imagined!