Seoul Grand Park-Guest Author Kay Marie Jeon Murphy

Today we dedided to visit someplace we had not been before, that is my Mom and Dad, and headed out to Seoul Grand Park.

The usual fights started out and I was particular about what I wanted for breakfast and what I wanted to wear, I mean a girl can change her mind anytime she wants, right? We loaded onto the subway and quite a while later we arrived. Now the first thing is that this place is huge and I mean like miles long. The other thing to my surprise was this lady selling gloves. You see I do not like to walk and this whole tour of Seoul has been a walking tour and I have had it. My Dad told me I had to walk because he did not have gloves and being that is so cold he had to keep his hands in his pockets and therefore I could not ride on his shoulders. But no more, the lady struck a hard bargin, but my old man barders like a camel salesman, and got a pair of gloves for 400 wan and I got to ride the rest of the day on his shoulders. Now that piece of info out of the way, back to the Park.

There are literally miles to this place. They have a golf course, a sledding hill. a tram that takes you all over, untold hundreds of animals and even in the middle of winter they had a Giraffe.

They even had a KFC, can you say Westernized, good cause I can't.There were a whole bunch of baby animals and baby yions,( lions), and and a baby monkey playing with a computer and my dad said it reminded him of the us kids, whatever that means.

Mommy found this place that was real warm and had a crib thing with baby guinea pigs in it and we got to hold them. There were these people from the news paper and took a bunch of pictures of us holding and sometimes dropping the guinea pigs. We did not drop them on purpose but they have little claws that tickle your hands and well it scares ya. Being in the cage crib thing with the guinea pigs made me wonder how all the animals felt in there cages.

We saw alligators, monkeys,snakes,wolves and my favorite the hippopotamus. We walked all over the place , well they did I was riding and then got on a trolly back to the KFC where we had yunch (lunch).

But, the best part of the day came when Mom and her sisters went shopping at Namedeum. Do you know what they got me?! A beautiful new princess hanbock. What a great day....

Visiting the Fire Department- Guest Author Grandpa Jim

To write about one "adventure" as the most memorable would be most difficult as we thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent in Korea.
My unique experience was visiting a fire department in Seoul. Since I am a volunteer fire fighter at home, I was truly interested in visiting a Korean department. Again, Eastern was very helpful in making this a reality. I stopped in their office and inquired as to the nearest fire department location. They immediately got on the computer and got the address and phone number and then called.
They asked if I could visit. The response from the department was that I would be most welcome. Then one of the Eastern volunteers, who spoke English, agreed to take me by cab to the department and interpret for me. We were welcomed on arrival by one of their officers. He spoke no English so it was of great help to have the Eastern interpreter along.
He gave me a complete tour of their department and we were accompanied by a recruit/cadet who had a camera and took many photos of me standing by the various pieces of equipment. I ask many questions as to their operations and he asked many questions of me.
All in all, we learned that our equipment, training, policies and procedures are very much the same. They were a much bigger department than the one at which I volunteer in the States. They had a new state of the art building that covered at least 3 stories. They have 50 full time fire fighters who are on 24 hours and then off 24 hours. They average two calls per day and run a real fire call about every two days. All of their fire fighters are college/university graduates. The department even had the poles that they slide down when they are "toned" out.
On concluding my tour, I gave my host two Keowee Fire Department arm patches. It is custom in the US to give one another arm patches when visiting another station. He explained that this was not done in Korea. He became very apologetic that he did not have a "gift" for me (we learned that Koreans give gifts to visitors for almost any occasion.) As I was about to leave, he started over to the cadet and was about to rip the patch off the cadet's uniform to give to me. I said not to do that but if he would email me the photos they took, that would be a great gift. He followed me all the way out to the street continually bowing and thanking me for taking the time to visit their department. .

War Memorial and Seoul Tower

I have to say, I thought the best part of the trip was the War Memorial. When we had been in Seoul to pick up Kay in 2003, the War Memorial was under construction, confusing and disjointed. However, even then, it was still incredibly powerful. They had a big sign that says "Freedom is not Free" written on the construction gate in red paint and had black marble stone engraved with all the people that lost their lives in the Korean War, both Korean people and people from other countries that had assisted them in the war (yes, even the U.S.) So, it was moving and tied back to our own War Memorial in Washington DC in a surreal way.

I need to be honest. This trip, I was skeptical of taking the kids to the War Memorial. While I had moving memories of being there, I also had a preconceived notion that it would be cold (it was), dirty (nothing in Seoul is dirty after living in India, I should have known better) and disorganized (silly me). Boy, am I glad I was wrong! The War Memorial was my favorite "repeat" tourist site of the trip. And the kids had a blast.

They finished the museum part of the War Memorial in 2006 and it is now a state of the art look into Korea culture, land disputes, wars and battle strategy over the ENTIRE history of the Korean peninsula. It was incredible. They had a granite pillar that dated from 400bc and chronicled the successes of the king at that time. They have bronze busts of each and every major general or admiral since 100 BC and recreated reenactments of battles, war ships and costumes of the time. The kids thought it was a blast! More recently, you could walk through a Navy ship, pilot a fighter plane and see entire reconstructed villages which had been ruined in the Korean war. They also had reconstructed the Viet Cong bunkers of the Vietnam war and had displays of all the conflicts they are currently supporting or fighting (Somalia, Afghanistan, etc).

But.. the highlight of the museum is the aircraft, tanks, submarines and helicopters that are spread over a huge park area outside the museum. These are living monuments to the war and you can climb in them and walk around them, pretending to shoot down, run over or bomb the enemy. The kids were in HOG heaven. Especially the 5 boys. They were running screaming and yelling from one fighter plane to another, sitting in tanks, driving helicopters and overall enjoying boy nirvana. It was pretty cool.

After a long morning spent getting our history degree in Korea skirmishes, we decided to head up to Seoul Tower for a Seattle Space Needle type view of Seoul. Again, the last time we were in Seoul, this was a shoddy excuse for a tourist attraction. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised.

We needed to hail 2 cabs (the 1st of our trip) to get us from the War Memorial to the Tower. Not easily down when you are standing on the street corner with 8 kids under the age of 7. Not a single cab would stop for us... Huh, go figure.... Finally we found 2 slightly disgruntled cab drivers that were in the mood for adventure. Almost immediately the cabs went separate ways and lost each other. I was having flash backs to Bangalore traffic and yet our driver deposited us neatly at the base of the Tower. Nicely done. Our sister cab-ites were not so lucky. Their cab driver dropped them at the exit, they had to walk UP HILL 1 km, catch a bus and a mere 40 min's after we arrived, they were neatly deposited at my feet. We went in search of Julie, Ced and Solomon since it was much too cold for their Costa Rican blood to be standing out in the cold.

Have you ever seen a Korean crowd? If not, an Indian crowd? A Chinese crowd? I suspect that they are all similar in the energy level, lack of personal space and use of elbows. We got to the tower and found ourselves in the midst of a pushing, shoving, loud, hot, manic group of Korean tourists that had one thing in mind.... Get to the top of the Tower. They had lines "formed" and you had to enter the line when your ticket # was called. We waited patiently for our tickets to be called and wondered absentmindedly "where's Julie?", as the time passed, we grew hot, frustrated, crowded and thought ..."what's the deal, where's Julie?!" ( a little more concerned now). This quickly escalated into our children rolling on the floor in boredom, crying in hunger/tiredness and overall parental crabbiness at being in a small space with 1000 people and "WHERE"S JULIE?!" Of course Karma plays a role in all of this and as our ticket # is called, Julie comes sauntering by with Sol sound asleep in her arms. They had been waiting inside where it was warm, got bored, bought a ticket and had their ticket number called. She didn't know what to do since we still hadn't materialized from our cab adventure so she went "up". We were so relived to see her and excited to finally make progress towards the tower.

The elevator moves at warp speed and shoots you to the top of the "needle" for a hilltop view of Seoul. On each window they have cities from around the world longitudinally marked with their distance from Seoul. Tom took a picture of all the cities we have been in from around the world. It was pretty cool. They also had all the tourist, memorial, temple sites in and around Seoul marked on the windows, including descriptions of why these were relevant places in the culture of Seoul. One of these actually gave me an idea for our next outing - Seoul Grand Park (Kays favorite spot and an upcoming blog).

We walked around, fought with the kids about ice cream/candy/etc and finally made our way back to Eastern.

We had been out and about for over 6 hours in the cold, sunny weather. We were exhausted but well educated! :)

Gyeongbokgung Palace-Guest Author-Billy Murphy

Today we ventured out in the extreme cold to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is the biggest Palace in Seoul and by far my (this is Billy) favorite place.
Mom and Dad bundled us all up and we took the subway all the way there and it was real fun. We had to wait for this lady who was going to show us around the Palace to get ready and we had snacks and stuff in a kinda warming room place and then out we went.

There are these cool guard guys who stand at attention for an hour at a time and they do not move. We all had fun getting our pictures taken and trying to get them to laugh or move but they never did; they are professionals my Dad said. The main guard, a guy named Sumunjang, was from the Joseon Dynasty and his job was to devote to the peace and security of the Dynasty by guarding the gates and thus the monarch and his family inside.

These guys took their job serious and it was quite a process to see them change. Now they change every hour but back in the 15th Century there were night guards and day guards only. The process goes like this, first a guard pounds on his drum, like my brother Jimmy, and then the guards start to move into a line. Then the drum guy beats the drum again and the guards move into the main pavilion area, I am not sure why they did it in the 15th Century but my Dad says they do this for a photo op, whatever that is. Then they hand over a book of who came into the Palace, who left and other important stuff like that. Then the drum guy is back at it and everyone leaves and I wanted to find some chocolate milk.

The Palace has a ton of rooms, 13 to be exact. and different buildings and is very old. Along the central axis upon which Gwanghwamun Gate stood was the nucleus of the palace, including the throne hall, reception hall,and the king’s entrance. I point this to you because I really wanted to sit in the chair. I told my Dad, “ dat’s my chair” and “dat’s my bed” because I was a ruler in one of my past lives but my Dad is still in charge.

I liked they way we could walk around the Palace and we saw all the different places the King and Queen lived and the other people too. There is a cool thing under the main rooms where when it is cold like now, the king could build a huge fire and keep the whole building warm. The Japanese must have known about it because when they came to rule they burnt the palace down and everyone was mad. But there are these cool people called FPCP which is Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Properties, and they and some other adults have been working to restore the palace to is original beauty. I think that when they get the palace done I will move back in.

I mean the place is laid out awesome with the major buildings built symmetrically according to the geometric order and would you believe that in contrast, other buildings were laid out asymmetrically, thereby creating a beauty of variety and unification.

I mean I am only three but you could tell this was a home. We all got really cold and I decided to finally pitch a major fit to prove that I am really in charge. I got my chocolate milk and my Mom found us a great restaurant to get Be Bim Bop.

Hope you like my Palace. Billy

The DMZ - Grandpa Jerry & Grandma Kay Murphy - Guest Author

Today we are finally HOME. It seems like we have been gone for ever. It was a very different six weeks. The sadness of Don's passing, the joy of Christmas and the wonderful trip to Korea. Not many people can say all that in a six week period. The DMZ trip was one of the highlights and we will try to explain our feelings about.

Tom arranged for a trip to the DMZ for Bunny,Jim,Sue, Tammy, Jeff and Kay. He told everyone that they must bring their passports. Of course Kay forgot hers but did have a card that listed her passport number and Expiration date and luckily that was good enough. It was a thirty minute trip outside Seoul and we were at the thirty eighth parallel. It was very much a part of our daily lives in the fifties and for we older folks more alive then history for the younger folks. We have many friends that were part of the Korean War.

We arrived at the Freedom Bridge site. It was cold and windy put we braved the weather and walked out to the Bridge. We were told that at the time North Korea invaded there was only one Bridge over the Han River and the South Koreans blew it up to stop the invasion. The Freedom Bridge was built to bring back prisoners. There are now 25 bridges over the Han. ( The Han River wanders through Seoul).From the Freedom Bridge we traveled through the DMZ, we had to present our passports to a broader guard, the young soldier just nodded at my passport card and I was allowed to go on to the Tunnel area. The North Koreans built a series of Tunnels in the Seventies with the idea of invading once again. The South discovered them and stopped the digging and countered with side tunnels and then set barricades. We were allowed down one the tunnels. It was a 480 meter walk down the where the barricade was set up. The North got so many tunnels in on the pretense that they were digging for coal. However, there is no coal in that area and that gave them away!! We had to put on hard hats to travel down. It was most interesting,some had to bend down to avoid getting conked on the head,(one if the advantages if being short). The sides were wet and you could see where the North Koreans smeared black paint to make the sides look like coal. The climb back up was not as much fun. Jerry and I had to stop and rest a few times but we made it up before the bus left. Our next stop was the new railroad station dedicated in 2000 by North and South Korea and the U.S. Pres. Bush was at that ceremony. It is a huge station that they hope some day will carry people and supplies from South Korea, thru the North all the way across the continent. Right now there is no traffic into North Korea but they are planning for the future. Our guide said that in ten to fifteen years they hope that will happen. The last stop was at the observation building. From here there is a 24/7 24hr. watch over North Korea.

We were told we could look over the ramparts into the North but to take pictures we had to stand behind a yellow line or our chips ( everyone has digital these days, but Jerry) would be confiscated. As usual there was one person who paid no attention and the young soldier took his chip away from him. The South Koreans are very serious about keeping the nation safe and you can see that by the presence of the soldiers. The U.S. had a larger role in the DMZ earlier. In fact there is monument to six soldiers that were killed on one of the bridges in the seventies. Now the U.S. has only 50 troops in Korea and the Koreans are solely in charge of the border. There were large red signs posted around the DMZ that warned any North Korean planes that they would be shot down if the entered the South's air space. We had a wonderful day of touring. As noted this was one of the highlights of the trip. Just being with Tom and Tracy and the grand kids was a great pleasure for us. They (the kids) have changed a little from our last visit. We loved the chance to be with them and really enjoyed the rest of Tracy's family. They are good travelers and the children amazed me with their stamina. We appreciate the fact that we were able to see a part of the world that we never thought to visit. Thank you Tom and Tracy.

Kay and Jerry

Day 3 Wally World (ie. Lotte World)

Guest Author of the day - Jimmy Murphy

This is the trip that I have been waiting MONTHS for. Not only did I get to ride on 2 different airplanes to get to Korea, but I was able to eat Korean food everyday of my vacation. It was SO yummy. My favorites are Kim Bop (Korean sushi rolls) Jap Chae (Korean noodles/Maggies) and Bi Bim Bop (Korean stir fry rice bowls). In fact, I was really disappointed to find out that in Korea, restaurants specialize in each one of these things and no single restaurant carries all of them. I put up a mighty fit and had lots of questions about that!!

The best part of about Korea was seeing all my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, but the ABSOLUTE best part was being able to play with my best friend Ced every day. Ced is my best friend, but he's also my cousin. He was born 6 weeks after me and we are good friends. He's my buddy. Ced lives in Costa Rica, so he has never seen snow. It was so fun to go up on the roof of Eastern after it had snowed and show him what snow tastes and smells like (not very good with dirt and pollution mixed in). There wasn't enough to make snow angels, but when we get back to MN, Ced can visit and I'll show him snow that tastes good and is good for snowballs, snow angels and sledding. Ced got 2 new hand held video games for Cmas, a Superman one and a Batman one. We played those for hours on end when Mom and Dad weren't dragging us around Seoul.

Speaking of being dragged around Seoul. Ced and I were really excited when Mom told us that we were going to go to Lotte World on Saturday. Lotte World is like Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America on steroids. It also has a bowling alley, indoor skating rink, and outdoor amusement park that is even open in the WINTER! The outdoor park has a big castle in the middle of it, just like Walk Disney World. Also, just like Disney World, the place was really really busy (Mom kept calling it a zoo, but I didn't see any animals there). As we were approaching Lotte World, my Mom and Dad kept saying things like ... Welcome to Wally World, we are closed The Moose out front should have told you ... UGHHH! and... Wally World burnt down because of something you did... Parents are so strange sometimes.

Never the less, we loved it. We had to stand in line for 45-60 min's to go on any of the rides. My favorite rides were the balloon (a 'real' hot air balloon that took you all over Lotte World), the train and the cowboys and Indians game. This game was so cool, you rode on horses and got to shoot at the screen. You got points for all the bad guys you shot and then they put of the pictures of the people that got the most points. Dad came in 3rd place! Everything was in Korean, but we managed to figure it out. Unfortunately, I am so tall now, that I am TOO tall for any of the kids rides. Kay and Billy had to ride on those for me. Kay loved the Hopper, but after Billy insisted on riding on it as well, they had to stop the ride because he was too scared and putting up a major fit on the ride. We were afraid he was going to fall out! Little brothers sometimes, I tell you.

I don't know why, but the grown ups didn't seem to like Lotte World as much as Ced and I did. I can't understand why! The 8 of us cousins loved running between peoples legs, butt-ing in line, eating junk food and screaming with excitement at the top of our lungs. So what if it was too crowded to walk, or that fact that we all had to carry our winter coats along with us inside with a 80 degree temperature or that nothing was in English so we couldn't figure out what time the shows/activities were at. They should have just let us go and came looking for us 4-5 hours later, that was my plan at least.

Another really cool part about Lotte World is that we got to ride 2 subway trains and they even went OUTSIDE! This was so cool. We saw all these buildings and the river and people and tons of parks and bridges. One lady on the subway even gave me 10,000 won and started clapping when she found out that Kay, Billy and I were all born in Korea and that Mom and Dad had adopted us. I was feeling rich so I gave the money to Grandpa Jerry and he bought us all ice cream, that's so nice. Yum! My other favorite person from the trip was Baby Herbie. He's Aunt Tammy's newest baby and he is WAY too cute. I helped feed him a bottle and played with him whenever he wasn't sleeping. He is so dang cute. But... I cant decide if he's as cute as Isabelle, our neighbor in Palm Meadows, or not. I guess they are both pretty sweet.

Finally, it was time to go home. On the way back from Seoul to Bangalore, I ate 5 donuts, 2 kids happy meals at Burger King, all the snacks/treats my Mom had packed in my backpack, the yummy salmon lunch on the plane and a peanut butter sandwich when I got home. I felt like the very hungry caterpillar. I think I am growing again. Darn it, the new school shorts my Dad bought me in Oct don't even fit any more.

When we got home, the 1st thing I said was ..."I'm so excited to sleep in my big comfy bed again:) !!"

Home Sweet Home!
LOVE to ALL
Jimmy

(FYI, more from Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Kay tomorrow)

Day 2 Meeting the Foster Parents

This was the main reason we decided to take this trip, the chance for our kids and our family to meet the Foster family that took care of our kids before they came home to us. I will try to explain what was happening as best I can. I will have a separate entry for Jimmy, Kay and Billy. A picture does speak a thousand words!

We woke up late as we were all dealing with jet lag and sleeping in a different place we had breakfast and were ready for the day. The kids were all acting a little out of sorts and Tracy and I were not sure if it was jet lag, or if they were nervous or what. Jimmy decided he was not going to wear the outfit we brought. Tracy gave Kay a nickname when she first came home and we still call her that today , it is "The Pookarook", and Kay kept telling us that she is the only Pookarook and that we will never be able to get another one, and Billy would not let us put him down and kept giving us kisses and hugs......

Meeting Jimmy's Foster Mom

Mrs. Yoo took care of Jimmy from the time he was 1 month old until he was 8 months old. We had a great time when we came in 2001 to get Jimmy and actually meet him at her house on her birthday and got to meet her "posse" of Foster Moms and sing Happy Birthday off key with them. How do we manage to get ourselves into these situations?

She was to meet us at 12:30 and for some reason was delayed so we had to wait and wait and she finally arrived at 1:30.

She looks the same and was very happy to see us and Jimmy as well. She was funny because her first comment was "he is still a large baby".

Jimmy was a little hesitant at first but after about 5 minutes he was laughing with her and standing by her and even gave her a hug and a kiss. Jimmy is nearly as big as she is.

She was very interested in what Jimmy has been up to and very glad he was so happy and eating well. We were very proud of him and it was nice to see he respected her and somewhat understood who she was.

They played and held hands and at one point we were teasing her that she had carried him on her back for many months and then she had Jimmy climb on her back and they both got a big laugh from that.

We inquired into Jimmy's Foster brother as Mrs. Yoo had two or three kids at the same time, she is a Saint. Well it turns out he is no longer doing Foster care and we also found out her Husband had recently passed away and she is very sad about that. She is now taking care of an elderly women and likes that. She has two children and they are both out of college and one has just returned from his mandatory service in the Military.

Even though she speaks very little English her facial expressions gave away how she really felt. She gave Jimmy a 10,000 won note, which is quite a sum for her, and he was very happy. It is traditional to give gifts so Jimmy gave her a very nice Pashmina, a silk Indian scarf, and a photo album of the past two years and she came as close to tears we have ever seen her in 3 times we have met!!

Tracy and I thanked her and we all gave hugs and kisses. It will be a long time before we all may meet again and it was hard to have to say goodbye. She wanted to go buy Jimmy a toy and come back all because she was so happy to see him. We all had a tearful goodbye and we promised to keep the pictures and letters coming so she can keep up on her , Jimmy.

Meeting Kay's Foster Mom:

Mrs. Im took care of Kay for the shortest time of any of our foster Mom's which was 3 1/2 months. Kay and her Foster Mom seemed to have a ball together when she was little and picked right up where they left off. Mrs. Im is very funny and very insightful. She gave Kay a pencil and coloring book set and a handmade crayon holder. Now we all know Kay is a budding artist but how did Mrs Im know, it was uncanny.

Kay gave her a big hug and said "yook my Foster Mommy", it was very cute. Mrs Im put her hands on her hip and firmly stated something to Tracy and I which we had no idea what but she seemed upset? It turns out she was mad because the pictures and letters had stopped coming and she wanted to know why. We explained the we now live in India and the mail system is not real reliable. She seemed calmed down but then demanded to know when we would be back in the US so she could start getting her pictures and letters about Kay! She is a pistol. Kay did give her a Pashmina as well as a photo album so I think we are safe for awhile.

When we first meet her and her husband the only English they knew was "Kay" and surprisingly enough it still is. Kay drew a bunch of pictures for her and her husband. It turns out he travels a lot for work and was out of Seoul and could not make the meeting. Mrs.Im's mother, Kay's foster Grandma, who when we met Kay at their home 4 years ago ,took Kay out for a walk while we were there, is also doing quite fine. Then just as we were getting ready to say goodbye in walks Kay's foster Dad and we all lost it. Here is this guy who was four hours away stopped what he was doing and drove all they way back to see Kay, and us, amazing.

Kay really had fun with her Foster Parents and we did too we were finally saying our goodbyes when in came Billy's entire Foster family Mom Dad and brother and sister...

Meeting Billy's Foster Family

Mrs. Song took care of Billy until he was 7 Months old. When we first met her and Billy he would not even look at us. He was by far the most attached of the three. He had a little scooter type thing he sat in at her house and she would roll him around in it. This is probably the beginning of his attachment to cars.

Now just like Kay's Foster Mom Mrs Song gave Billy a Transformer that went from a car to an airplane, his two favorite things in the world! Sometimes connections are far to uncanny to analyze.

Billy gave her a big hug and a kiss and his Foster Dad was also very happy to see him. They played on the floor he played with his Foster siblings who were also very happy to be there. It was awesome to see the connection was still there and that they all really loved him.

Mrs.Song wanted to know all about Billy and what he has been doing. She seemed pleased that he was eating well and had a round happy face. They wanted to take us all out to dinner which would have been a disaster. It was after 8:00 the kids were starting to meltdown and Bill was looking for "chocolate milk". It would have been fun to go out with them but what would we talk about, unlike Kay's Foster mom who could say Kay, Mrs. Song could not even manage to say Billy.

She then started passing out 10,00 won bills to everyone and we finally put a stop to it. They were and are very generous people.

We gave hugs and kisses, Billy's Foster siblings did not want to go and were crying as were the rest of us. It was so amazing seeing the look in every one's eyes and to know these people took time to come and see Billy whom they have not seen in three years.

I can not really summarize this meeting of several different families, not just cultural difference but genetic as well. It was well ,just families doing what families do. The love, support and care for each other, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly and sometimes yearly. The are connected to each other even if the never see or talk to each other.

Take a moment with your family and just feel the strength that is there and thank God each day for what you have.

The circle does grow stronger.

Day 1 Arriving

Arriving in the early morning on Thursday the 27th we encountered our first delay. Where were Sue, Julie,Cedric and Solomon? They were to have arrived a couple of hours before us and we agreed that they would meet us at the Baggage claim and we would all take the bus to Seoul together. We searched high and low I mean how hard could it be to find the only two kids at the airport whom were Blondie's? Apparently quite hard and after an hour or so we attempted to call the agency. We realized they had given us two different numbers and not the right city code. After calling the wrong number several times we finally figured out the correct way. However upon reaching Eastern they informed us the the Murphy party had called and said they would be late? Who, apparently all the rooms were reserved under Murphy and therefore we were not sure whom would be late?

So we headed off to the bus and made the trip to the designated meeting spot and there were Jim and Bunny, Tracy's Mom and Dad. They helped us tote our stuff off to Eastern and of course their first question," where are Sue, Julie and the kids", no idea. We checked their flight and sure enough it had landed but where were they???

Tracy, I and the kids got ready for our meeting with the people from Eastern only to find out they wanted to post pone it until later when everyone else had arrived so we all could meet them, they very thing they wanted to avoid in he first place! Our friends at Eastern have no idea what's in store for them!


Next Tammy and Jeff arrived safely with their 3 kids and Tracy's Dad went out to the airport to see if he could find Julie. Jeff and Tammy needed three cabs to get all their stuff to Eastern and were finally settled in when Sue, Julie and the 2 kids showed up WITHOUT Dad?! Turns out that the plane in Costa Rica was late taking off and they missed every connection they had and 36 some hours later finally made it!! This could be a whole blog in and of itself!!

Tracy's Dad returned to find us having cocktails! We all had dinner and got the kids ready for bed andI headed out to meet Jeremiah and Kay. They were the only ones to travel business class and were well rested and well feed , so no pity was shown to them!!



We all said goodnight and Tracy and I were finally relieved day 1 was over and everyone had made it safe and somewhat sound. Tomorrow we hoped would prove to be an incredible day. We had been planning this for almost 6 months and were excited for the chance for our kids and families to meet the people who helped raise and love our kids in their first few months... Our foster Moms!!

First Stop Kuala Lumpur

We decided that due to the arrival times into Korea from Bangalore that we would schedule an 18 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur. We thought this would be a good idea and it indeed turn out to be just that.



We left India at 1:10 am and the four hour flight was very uneventful. The kids did manage to nap and we managed to have a couple of hours of down time to reflect and prepare for the next couple of days. We landed at 7:30am and realized our first mistake. We packed our bags with the assumption that because we had this layover that we would have to recheck our luggage, not so. The problem of course is that we packed our spare clothes in the outside pockets of the luggage, and of course they were checked all the way to Seoul. Sometimes being efficient can have its downfalls. No bother, there would be plenty of shops for us to help boost the local economy!


The hotel was inside the airport and the room came with a complimentary breakfast buffet. The plan was to feed everyone as much as possible and then hope to take a 4 or 5 hour nap. The food was great and we all had our fill and sure enough we fell asleep at 9:30 and we woke up at 2:00 perfect.

We were then off to the Aquarium and then to the Petronas Towers. They booth were great places for the kids and of course we had to go to McDonald's for dinner where Jimmy, the eating machine, had two kids meals!


The towers were great to see at night and were full of spectacular shopping, if you are into that. Tracy and I each spent more than we wanted to but it was fun. We walked around the whole complex, outside in the rain, in the hopes the kids would sleep on the plane.


We arrived back at the hotel around 9:30 everyone took baths and we headed back to the airport for the final leg. Our flight left at 1:00 (again) and the kids managed another 4-5 hours of sleep. They love planes, but I tell you, 2 overnight flights in a row is enough to drag anyone down.

As prep for our next few blogs, I will add the proposed schedule for Seoul to give you an idea of what we are in for. Keep in mind, we are traveling with 10 adults from 4 different states and 3 different countries. There are also 8 kids all under the age of 6. 2 6 yr old boys, 2 4 (soon to be 5) year olds, 3, 3 year old boys and a baby. We have our work cut out for us!!


Day 1: Arrive and get settled, late afternoon meeting with the people from Eastern ( the agency in Korea as well as the place we will be staying).


Day 2:12:30 meeting with Jimmy's Foster Mom trip to Kyobo Bookstore ( the largest bookstore in the world), 6:30 meeting with Kay's foster Mom and then a 7:30 meeting with Billy's Foster Mom.


Day 3: Lotte world, like Camp Snoopy on steroids

Day 4: The DMZ


Day 5: Visit Palaces


Day 6: Korean War Memorial and Seoul Tower


Day 7: Seoul Theme park, Zoo and Namdaman Market


Day 8: Lunch, Namdaman Market and final good byes


Day9: The trip home

So we will be adding a bog for each day over the next few days and pictures as well.

Happy New Year and may it be prosperous!

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......

Merry Christmas

The jolly old elf arrived in Bangalore in true fashion. Santa made his spirit known to us and the entire Palm Meadows community when at 7:35 local standard time Jimmy noticed that Santa had brought him a drum set. Not any old drum set a 5 piece affair complete with a bass drum, two snare drums and to tom tom drums and two separate cymbal's. James first words were " not bad, not bad at all" he has not stopped playing them yet!

Kay woke up this morning and announced " Today we go to Korea, Yeah!!" We asked her what else today was " oh Santa comes today, right?" You have to love her priorities!

She was equally impressed with her new Dora ensemble, Dora sleeping bag, pack pack, and bouncing ball. She is all set and ready to go to Korea.

Billy of course had a very Cars Christmas complete with a cars garage ( sleeping bag), books on cars as well as Cd's to learn about changing oil and other important stuff like that, when you are on the go.

Mom and Dad got some very practical gifts and Dad even surprised Mom with a little Bling.

We then went to some of our neighbors to pass out some Christmas candy and cards. Arun our neighbor down the street open his door and Jimmy announced " I got a drum set for Christmas" To which Arun responded " I know" with a sideways glance at us! I guess he had a point it was only 9:30 in the morning.

We then spent the afternoon gritting our teeth as Jimmy banged away, Kay danced and Billy played with his cars.

Then it was off to the Webb's for Christmas dinner with the rest of the Palm Meadoweans that are still here. We deep fried two turkeys and the new local butcher/seafood guy smoked us a ham. It was great fun and we all ate too much.

As we get ready for the journey to Korea,we are wishing you all the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest and most Prosperous New Year.

Love and God Bless,

Tom Tracy,Jimmy, Kay and Bill

'Twas the night before Christmas

when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.Away to the window I flew like a flash,Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,With a little old driver, so lively and quick,I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;He had a broad face and a little round belly,That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,And laying his finger aside of his nose,And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

We've been elved by Wendy!!

Try this...
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1698614268

It came upon a Midnight not so clear

It seems we woke up today and realized it is the last day of school, for three weeks? When did that happen and more importantly how did we miss it, again. The lack of seasonal makers does make things happen a little faster and apparently with out warning.



The last day of school is also red day and all the little tikes were clad in the many colors of red Kay even had to wear red bangles.The school had a children only party with the guest of honor, Saint Nick himself. Each child received a lovely little gift, Jimmy and Kay each received a pencil and an eraser while young William received a flower encased in a plastic cube with the words Happy Birthday, proudly displayed across the front?



We had our Christmas and farewell for awhile dinner with the Millers whom you will want to visit their blog http://www.wacmiller.blogspot.com/ to see their trip to Egypt and then their stay in Minnesota for the holidays. We wish them safe travels.



I have been frantically running around Bangalore Christmas shopping and have actually been quite successful. I have found a wreath, ornaments, smoked salmon among other items I can not mention now as young James can not only access the computer he can also read and therefore mentioning gifts that a certain person has yet to deliver is well a, faux paugh.


We are in the midst of getting ready for the trip to Korea and will update you on that soon.


Being that a great many of the world are in full festive celebratory mode for the upcoming feast of Christmas I thought I would pass on the follow info on the 12 Days of Christmas, which if you were purchase these itmes would cost you around $250,000 depending on the hourly wage of the 8 maids, as sort of a PSA:

Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas (The 12 Days of Christmas)

1 True Love refers to God

2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.

6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation

7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed



Meanwhile you better watch out you better not pout....

Deck the Halls

The Palm Meadoweans got together to trim the tree, have some eggnog and get into the Christmas spirit(s).

Abhi and Amber had the Murphy's, Fishers, Webb's and Vanderpooles over on Sunday for an afternoon of Christmas merriment. The kids had a great time decorating the tree, making Christmas cookies complete with sprinkles and home made frosting!

Amber makes and incredible eggnog and the adults had eggnog and Crown Royal, yummy!

There were elves and tiny reindeer, we were only missing the jolly old Elf himself but we are counting the days until Santa!

Billy Turns 3

We awoke on December 11th with this slap on the head from Billy and the announcement that today is MY Birthday, it was 6 am and Billy was ready to go. We were not, so he had to wait an hour or so until it was the proper time to get up.

We sent the little tike off to school with treats for his teachers and classmates and promised him a big party after his nap. Well he was somewhat uncooperative, which should have been our first sign of things to come, however we got him down for a nap and proceeded to get organized for the party. Now you may think that having a Birthday party for a 3 year old is easy , think again. What to do?

Well as you know Billy is a beyond normal car freak, a regular caraholic and every car or motorized vehicle for that matter is his, period. Many fights have ensued between Billy and our Cook and Maid, with the neighborhood kids, the entire Palm Meadows community and currently the ongoing battle with Caden T Miller is at a draw.

So the grand idea of getting a cake made in the likeness of the great one, Lightning McQueen, seem like a great idea at the time. We then had Tracy's marketing team print our a 24x36 photo of Lightning so we could play change the tire on the car, I mean Billy was way down with it. We then made Xerox copies of tires got a blind fold and wham instant success. ( Anyone can do pin the tail on the donkey)

We then had each child outfitted with a matchbox car and had car races down the slide followed up by a coloring contest, WOW.

Meanwhile all the participants were getting hungry so we headed back to Billy's pit, 83 Phase II, for his favorite meal of, corn with butter, mac and cheese and green sour apples and then to be followed with cake and ice cream, we thought.

Dinner was devoured and then Billy set off of the gifts with a frenzy. He received wonderful gifts of cars, playdoh,car legos, a helicopter ( his second love) and from Caden a bike. Yep Caden gave Billy his bike that he used when he was three and Billy was in heaven. Now Caden is a little taller than Billy so the seat was to high, no matter to OL" Bill because he also just received from Zak a set of tools ,which he promptly stated "no worries I can fix it" and did just that.

Now we unveiled the masterpiece of Lightning and put the number 3 candle on top lite the candle and sang one of the worse versions of Happy Birthday ever but no matter there was Lightning in all his glory, candle burning, Billy smiling from ear to ear!

Billy blew out that candle and everyone cheered and then we all said "lets cut the cake" all of us that is ,except Bill. "No way can you cut my cake", we were at a lost. This has never happened before in the history of kiddom. Not cut the cake you must be joking, "stay away it is mine !""leave it alone" we were shocked. The other kids starting chanting cut the cake cut the cake and Ol' Bill just stood up in his highchair spread out his arms in a protective fashion and yelled them down " there will be no cake at this party". What to do? We tried to reason with Bill, I quickly took a picture and then printed out a copy and gave it to him , to no avail .

The other kids were still applying peer pressure to which one of the Parents pointed out at least when Billy gets older no one will be able to pressure him into doing something he does not want to do, great but we had a small riot on our hands and kids looking for cake. So we compromised and gave everyone Ice cream. They still wanted cake.

I took Bill into the other room and tried to reason with him, Bill it is only a cake surely you must understand that? If we do not eat the cake we will have to throw it out and what fun would that be?You have a photo of the cake I can hang it on your wall over your bed and you can see it every night? His only response " No cut it"

Drastic times call for drastic measure. I am not proud of the next few moments but cake is cake. I gathered up some of Billy's new birthday presents, particularly the leggo car set and piled them on the counter on the other side of the room. I then brought my 3 year old over and showed him his new toys. I then told him that the people who came to the party did so to give these gifts to you and to have cake and ice cream. So if we can not give them cake we may have to give these presents back. " CUT IT CUT IT NOW", guilt works.

The cake was awesome Billy took one bite and was off to watch a movie, he does not really like cake in the first place. The riot calmed down and peace was returned to Villa 83.

I mean have you ever heard of a kid not wanting to have cake?

What is in store for us when he turns 4?

Attacked by a Mirror

We were on our way last Friday night to pick up Tracy from work driving down Airport road along with several thousand other people when out of no where the driver side mirror on our van exploded sending shards of glass everywhere.

Jarring Kay out of a small nap she yelled " What the hell was that"? Saravan pulled over and went to talk with the driver of the other vehicle. He then came to tell me I had to talk with this driver because he is "mad". Meaning not so much angry, as insane, like that.

He is a recap of what was discussed;
Tom: What seems to be the problem?
Driver: You pulled into my lane.
Tom: Impossible there are no lanes here.
Driver: True
Tom: We were in front of you so how is it that we hit you?
Driver: You did not hit me
Tom: OK, so that means you hit us
Driver: I did not hit you ,the mirror on my car collided with the mirror on you car.
Tom: Who owns this vehicle
Driver: I do
Tom: Then you are responsible for your mirror and therefore you hit me
Driver: This is not about money I will gladly pay for a new mirror. It is about the principle of the matter.
Tom: What?
Driver: You must agree that my mirror hit your mirror and I am not responsible for hitting your car.
Tom: Do you have brakes on this vehicle?
Driver: Yes
Tom: Whom is responsible for using the brakes?
Driver; Why do you ask?
Tom: Because whomever is responsible for using the brakes is the one responsible for hitting my mirror.
Driver: You do not understand. The mirror collided with your mirror and is ultimately responsible for causing your mirror to break.

At this point I felt it prudent to exchange cards and get his number. I then called his number to make sure it was the right one, I mean after a conversation like that, it is any ones guess.

Who do you think is going to pay for the new mirror?

The Christmas Bazaar

This is the second Christmas Bazaar that we have had the privilege to participate in. Every year the Overseas Women's Club (OWC) has a Christmas event that brings all the Charities that they support along with several of the businesses that one spouse or another is involved as well as the ever Popular Bangalore Rugby booth to St. Mark's church to sell their wares and for the kids to see Santa.



The actual seeing of Santa does occur however there are a limited few children that have the nerve to actually sit on his lap. Which drives Santa into depression and ultimately the bottle and Oh well watch the Billy Bob Thornton movie and you will get my drift.



Meanwhile fresh off a 27 plus hour journey from Minneapolis back to Bangalore yours truly was sitting in the seat wearing the heavy red fuzzy suit, lack of sleep, heat and slow traffic almost caused Santa to take a nap! One particular child was busted by Santa for not listening to his mother and was stunned that Santa knew of the infraction. Remember Santa knows if you are naughty or nice, along with a little help from the parents.

Not sure if its a good sign or not, but our kids are "on" to the fact that the Santa at the Cmas event isnt really Santa. Kay's comment was ... "oh, Wade's Santa this year". Then after Tom's shift as the jolly old elf, "now Bob's Santa". So much for the magic of the Cmas season.

There were booths with all types of shawls, clothes, ornaments and other notion and sundry items. The food booths were great and the Ox drawn carriage rides were also very popular.

After Billy and Kay found every mud puddle and dirt pile (including a snake hole that managed to burn about 30 min's of our time) we climbed back into the Innova and bid a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Scroll down to see the photos we added ot the Thanksgiving in India blog