Going to Korea

In retrospect the journey back did not begin while setting on our terrace in Bangalore, it was conceived there, but it began in June of 2001 on our deck in Golden Valley.

My wife and I were discussing our good fortune of extending another year on her current ex-pat assignment for her Company, Target, and the topic of the discussion the home leave allowance
.
Many Companies that have employees on overseas assignments (ex-pats) offer these employees a financial thank you by way of home leave money. This money is given on the assumption that the employee will travel back to their home visit relatives, see friends and extol the virtues of their employer because of this “free” trip home, not us.

This year we chose to go to Korea and to help finance any of our family members who wanted to come along. We have the good fortune to have a total of 18 people going including us.

For the past few weeks we have been e-mailing and calling Children’s Home in St.Paul, who facilitated the adoption process of our three kids, to assist us with our plans. We now have meetings set up with all three Foster Mom’s and a special met and greet with the two Doctor’s Kim whom are in charge of Eastern Social Welfare Society, the agency in Korea who worked with Children’s Home to bless us with our kids.

The schedule is set with trips to the DMZ, Lotte World and to several Korean Markets and of course a trip up the Seoul Tower, which is similar to the Seattle Needle. There is also a small opportunity that may allow us to take a train into North Korea!

The chance for all our kids to see their respective Foster Parents is something that seems surreal. We will be posting blogs as we go and after each meeting hoping that we can add photos somehow so we can keep everyone up to the minute.


The journey begins......