Jeju Island (Jeju-do), described as the Hawaii of South Korea…. scratch that, i dont get Hawaii vibes at all. Yes, it IS an island, lots of people vacation here, but i think that that is just the easiest way to describe the pace of life, tourism and vibrant life here on Jeju with out actually saying it.
Where did I leave you last? Oh yeah, Chuseok (pronounced “chew-sock”), I was talking about how crazy excited I was to be invited to Mr. Park’s Chuseok (family of Aaron’s department head) celebration on Saturday.
After the Temple Stay @ Lotus Lantern i hopped on a train for a 5hr ride to the coastal city of Busan. I really didn’t know what to expect but its been a different “cultural” experience for sure!
I finally made it. ….aaaah yes, the image of what i imagined a Buddhist Temple Stay would be like, but don’t be fooled, it was OOOOOooooh so much more! This post is a long one… feel free to skip right to the pictures, but i guess a lot of the first half is me processing my “journey” and thinking aloud.
Okay, its been a few days since ive bloggED! I’ve got to get all this down before i forget it all! You’re probably saying, how can you forget 3am wakeup calls with 108 prostrations (basically burpees!), meditation and veggies meals for 2 days? You’re right, ill never forget this last weekend and the past couple days, but the details will surely get fuzzy.
Goals are good and G.O.A.L. so willing to help with my search:
I wasn’t able to make it to the temple because of some communication barriers, but wasn’t too sad because it gave me a chace to meet up w/ GOAL and to grab some coffee with Greg’s friend Kihoon. At GOAL i met with Sebastian (an adoptee i believe). He introduced me to all of the others in the office, it was like meeting your boyfriend’s family for the first time, very welcoming and kind of unexpected…i mean, i was just there to do business. Anyhow, they were all super friendly and interested in my story… the office was bustling, it was strange to see so much activity in there…how many adoptees are they servicing? Despite, they did not make me feel like a number, it was overwhelming to hear about all of the people pursuing “Birth Family Searches” though… how many people are out there that feel just like me?
So we talked about my search and i updated Sebastian with what i’ve discovered since getting to Korea. He shared more on G.O.A.L. and a bit about Korean Culture and how it operates and potentially how that can serve as an aide or even a detriment. In the end we bottomed out on getting me on TV, either Korea’s YTN network or KBS to present myself and all of the information that i have about my mother and hopefully recruiting the entire Republic of Korea to aide me in my search. That all said, i have a lot of thinking to do before signing on that dotted line. At this point G.O.A.L. will submit my story to see if either network is interested, the if accepted i will go in on the first available Friday for a prescreening, then again on the following Wednesday for a live taping.
I wonder if she even wants to be found?
That’s what keeps going through my head at this point. Before, all i wanted to do was to thank her and to let her know that i don’t resent her… but the more i learn about Korea and all of the cultural stigmas surrounding adoption, pregnancies out of wedlock, what a single mother would’ve endured, family and economic dynamics and so much more…i wonder if id be doing more damage than good?
So given everything i’ve learned, what is my goal for finding her now?
I guess it kind of just gives me some kind of purpose for now, other than just the typical late 20-something’s objectives be it careers, success, love, marriage and everything ive left back home… I think i had some questions before, but even learning about the culture, identifying with these people and in some slight way even her…ive found comfort and some contentment in that. Without even meeting her and just being here i feel like many of those questions have blown away in the wind. Ive felt more connected, some sense of belonging here despite feeling like an alien just 2 weeks ago. I feel this sense of community and connectedness here…tradition, values and so much is carried on here. I see that Korea maintains this immense sense of pride and connection to their culture and history, family and traditions… i admire that, and its pretty cool to feel welcomed into that. It is interesting though to see these century old traditions slowly erode or rather “evolve” with the onset of more and more western influences (natural right?) Like what? How about skin whitening cream, independence/individualism, transientness, “bigger is better” mentality, option paralysis….these are some little examples, ill have to think of more later.
Now i’m just left wtih the question…
Who am i? Where do i belong?
… i think i finally know the answer to that.
So after GOAL i met up with Greg’s friend Kihoon. He was so kind, very informative and spoke great Engrish!! We met at Anguk Station and walked for awhile to this cool area (id say similar to 23rd in PDX) where we went to coffee shop that specialized in hand dripped coffee and cyphoned coffee…one of his friends worked there or owned the place. I had a delicious Costa Rican and he had an Indonesian hand drip. It was nice ambiance, people were super friendly and they played some familiar music… Fiest and Arcade Fire kept my foot tapping (yup)…Korean POP music is fun and catchy but it was refreshing to be able to understand some lyrics. Anyhow, Kihoon was great, he told me about himself, more on Korean customs, on technology in Korea, about Starcraft leagues, and his recent travels. The one that really stuck out was this trip that he took to Spain where we traveled on foot, somewhere around 500k…. ill have to get the name of the towns that he visited, i’d love to do that one day.
Im going to be leaving Seoul and venturing outward starting tomorrow (my friday, your thursday). I haven’t quite figured out if i am going to be traveling via Submarine or Hoverboat yet, but im sure there will be plenty of photos to come!
I am going to be visiting a buddhist temple for the weekend, and then traveling to Busan to hang out for the week, check out some beaches, do some couch surfing maybe meet some new people and enjoy the Chuseok holiday.
After that ill be heading even deeper South to Jeju-do to explore the volcanic remains and work on Mulme Organic Farm to help with with the tangerines!!!
Im not sure what internet connections will be like in any of these locations so you may not be hearing from me in awhile. Ill be working out my phalanges and journaling the oldschool way though.
Until then…
Today (Wednesday 9/23, Korea time) i visited the Demilitirized Zone between North and South Korea and i finally made it to the War Memorial of Korea… met some new people, ate more spicy foods, and sidenote: converse are not great sight seeing shoes. Duh right? 
All right, so the day started out at 5:30am and i got ready for my first “organized” tour group trip, opposed to my spontaneous, self guided (with some help from a few people) adventures. I dressed according to the required dress code specified by the US Military and wore my closed toe shoes, long pants and covered my tattoos with long sleeves, CHECK! Even recently, jeans weren’t allowed, being perceived by the North as linked to American decadence. Anyhow, the bus was to leave promptly at 730am from down the street at the USO and i had to be there no later than 700am, or 07oo hrs to keep with the military protocol.
