Busan Day 10 (our last full day)

Busan Day 10

Mike and I took another early morning walk for a cup of 'copee' and a toasted bagel. It was raining again! The sidewalks were wet and we had to watch our steps. Mike's flip-flops were really slippery, so he had to be a little more observant as to where he stepped. As he was looking down on the wet sidewalk he found 2,000 won! Of course he was ready to head straight to the casino...as it was going to be a L-U-C-K-Y! day! Instead, he used it for our breakfast.

Koreans have a real cool 'funk' in their style; their clothes and their shoes! I like it and as we passed this store, this window display kind of captured that look.

I was hoping we would get to have shabu-shabu, one of the tastiest meals I've ever had in Korea. I really wanted Mike to 'experience it. Well, as Mike's L-U-C-K continued, when we returned home Chooch said we are going to have shabu-shabu for lunch. The restaurant was in a part of town in which we had not discovered; another really cool area of Busan.

After lunch we went to the Kid's Cafe, one of Haydn's favorite hangouts, now one of our favorites, also. You will see why, in the pictures below. We pictured all of our grandchildren being there, it would be so much fun!

Back home, we had a little fun with my wig!

The plan for supper was...Mom's CHICKEN FINGERS and FRIES! All of the kid's love it...I wish it were not such a messy meal to cook...way to much grease! BUT, what a pleasure it was to fix the meal for 'my baby boy'. He made a video for Tommy, just to rub it in. (Tommy, I'll show you when we are all in Georgia next month) Haydn and Duk Yoo liked it, too!

After dinner Jeannie and Rachel were holing their babies as they watched 'Baby Einstein'. When I walked into the room, I had a vision that I realized I could capture. I called for Chooch as I couldn't pass up this Kodak moment! All three mom's holding their baby boys.

Even though Haydn hadn't slept well the night before and was a little off his schedule, after his bath, for some reason, he wasn't too excited about going to bed. I want to think he was sensing our plans to leave and just wanted to spend more time with us! :)

As I write that, my heart is heavy, as I realize again, the thing we need most with our precious little grandson is 'time' and that is so hard to come by when he is so far away. It makes us more committed to trying to be with the ones who are closer; you never know when your circumstances will change; right Jan?

Busan Day 11 (5AM ride to the airport)

Chooch drove us to the airport and the only thing that I can say for sure is that it NEVER gets easier to leave my 'baby boy' so far away in Korea.

I am thankful for the time we had with them, it was such a blessing! It meant even more having Mike there with me. this time.

So for now, we anticipate with great excitment their homecoming in December.

This will be my last post as "Georgia" is now on my mind and there is much to be done!

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

Geochang Day 9

Saturday in Geochang

I couldn't believe it, we slept in; waking at 7AM. I believe I was deceived by the blackout drapes in the room and the fact that it was overcast. It rained all day and was still raining into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The plan for the day was brunch at Haitcha's and then drive back to Busan.

By the way, I happened to be looking out when a car arrived at the hotel. It was three ladies and two children...they were apparently the only other guests in the hotel. However, when Chooch picked us up this morning there were about 15 cars in the parking lot. We can't understand how they could stay open, especially since this was a holiday weekend.

We went back downtown to the traditional market and spent the major part of the morning hanging out with Chooch. We did a little shopping, a little eating and a lot of laughing.

Around 11AM we went to Haitcha's. Haydn did not have a good night and was a little under the weather. But that didn't stop him from playing a little soccer with his Dad and Grandpa.

I wonder what Mike was contemplating as he pondered his surroundings?

Haitcha and Rachel prepared a wonderful meal...and...

We dined traditional Korean style.

After eating, we packed the car, said our sad goodbyes to Rachel's family, stopped by the store for some more of a delicious ice cream sandwich filled with sweet beans, filled the car with gas on we were on our way for what should have been a 2 1/2 hour trip. For some reason, traffic was horrendous and it took us almost 5 hours to get back to Busan. The good thing about that was that Haydn slept most of the way.

A sweet precious baby boy!

This is a golf course Mike spotted, not too far out of Geochang.

Haydn took a picture of another 'precious baby boy'!

We needed a break so we stopped at a McDonald's and had a traditional American snack! :)

I became enthralled with the street lights...they were not all the same...see?

Arriving back at We've Poseidon, we unloaded the car and Chooch downloaded the Idol results show...no, we had not heard that Lee was one of the final two until we watched the show. How exciting to see his hometown visit. Michelle and Lindsay, we were looking for you and the girls, then remembered that you weren't with the commoners but in a suite! :) Looks like it was an exciting event in Mount Prospect! You know we would have been right in the middle of all that action!!

Tomorrow is the 25th day of an amazing adventure for Mike and me!

Geochang Day 8

It's the morning of Day 9, Saturday. We are in Geochang, South Korea, Rachel's hometown village.

Posting day 8 Friday. It's kind of long so you may want to just look at the pictures.

We arrived in Geochang around midnight. After paying the toll getting off the freeway to enter the town, we drove away from the toll area and noticed a man sitting on the side of the road, Mike wondered if he was a policeman. We learned quickly that he 'must be' the 'trigger man' of a substance that was sprayed, carwash style, on both sides of the car. Unfortunately, Chooch's window was down and we were all like, 'What the heck was that?' Rachel said, 'I think it's because of some pig disease.' Immediatley, Mike said he felt funny...like he was high. You never know if he is teasing or not! Still not sure exactly what that was all about.

Rachel's dad graciously provided us with a hotel room for the two nights of our visit in their hometown. It was very Americana, as you can see in the pictures.

When we opened the blinds around 5:30AM and stepped out on the balcony we realized we were in the midst of some beautiful mountains. Geochang is surounded by ten mountain ranges beginning with Mt. Deogyusan. The mountains have countless valleys, and are a huge tourist destination in the summer. This area is considered farmland; apples and watermelons of Geochang are famous throughout the country.

Mike took advantage of the beautiful setting and ran for a half hour, or so, along the base of the mountain.

When he returned from his run, we went downstairs for copee :) The hotel was a intrestingly vacant. By now it was around 8AM and there was no evidence of any other guests in the hotel. We even had the restaurant to ourselves.

I approached the front desk and asked for 'copee', one of the two desk clerks went into the restaurant and made a pot for us.

After talking to Chooch, we determined we would eat breakfast at the hotel. There were two choices; American and Korean.

I went back to the front desk and asked if we could order American breakfast. One of the gentlemen picked up the phone and after a very brief conversation, looked at me and said, "Korean only." Not sure of the reason. Maybe the American cook had not show up for work!? Mike suggested that I offer to cook! I didn't!

After being served a cup of copee, I wanted another one. The clerk seemed busy, so Mike helped us to another cup. As he was taking the pot back, the gentleman said to him, "That my job!" That made us laugh, because Mike was trying to explain that he looked busy. He didn't understand and it was obvious, he saw no humor in what was transacting.

By the time we had finished our second cup a cashier was now in place, so we went to pay her. There was no bill so I told her we had two cups of 'copee'. At that point, the gentleman, whose job it was to pour 'copee' appeared once again and said 10,000 won; $10 for two cups of 'copee'! We determined we should have ordered the Korean breakfast for 8,000 won, it would have been a better deal, but only if it came with 'copee'! :)

Chooch, Rachel and Haydn came to pick us up for a trip to the traditional market in her hometown. This is the market where Haitcha shops.

First thing we saw was this karaoke bar. Chicago being represented in Geochang, South Korea, by none other than the "Blues Brothers". :)

I love the traditional markets. Following are some pictures from the Geochang market.

Linda, your onions would give these a run for their money!! They were big, but not as big as yours!

Haitcha, Jeannie and Doo Young met us for coffee at Dunkin Donuts.

Afterwards we went to Haitcha's house to get everything ready for our picnic.

This is a close-up picture of rice paddies directly across the street from their apartment. It is the season for planting and what a grueling task! Many older citizens do the planting and it's common to see precious little Korean grandmas and grandpas (mostly grandmas) walking with humped backs, some at 90 degree angles. This occurs from working in the rice fields for so many years. :(

This is the front of their apartment complex and a typical entry into a Korean home

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Outside the complex, in which they live, there are children playing soccer in the background. Notice all the bikes and scooters.

We stopped by the store to get some ice cream on our way to the picnic. Rachel drove via the 'back allies' and I snapped this picture of someone's house.

What an amazing background for a picnic! See for yourselves:

Rachel's dad, Chooch, Mike and I went up the mountain to the temple. We stopped along the way to experience some beautiful scenery. Rachel stayed in the car with Haydn as he was sleeping.

The temple was nestled in the trees high upon the mountain; not an easy trek! There were several people there and a handful in the temple; bowing. It was interesting!

As I stood looking out at this magnificant sight and observing people bowing to their god, I said to Chooch and Mike, "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful, our LORD GOD made them ALL." It just seemed appropiate to give God the credit for His creation at this point in our venture...it was He who created even, Buddha!

We went back to the hotel to rest. We still hadn't seen any other guests, Chooch hung out with us and Rachel took Haydn back to her mother's.

Rachel returned around 9PM and we went to a very interesting restaurant made out of parts of huge trees that appeared to have been bleached...Legend has it that the man who built the restaurant died shortly after completing it...the reason? He cut down the big trees! I forgot my camera! Mike and Rachel had ice cream. Chooch and I had beef and mushroom with rice and we also had ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, But not better than the good conversation and hearty laughs!

Rachel's family still owns property in this town. Her grandpa owns an apple orchard. (Fuji apples) She lived here for about three years when she was in elementary school. It really does look like something you would see in a book. She and her friends would 'hang-out' by the falls. Many of them would jump from the cliffs where the water was very deep, but she never did. Smart girl!