June 11: Fish Market, Host Families, and a farewell to Wes

Started with huge high notes and ended with a big ass bummer. But let's talk about the fun stuff first.

THE FISH MARKET

Very early in the morning, we visited the Noryangjin Fish Market. I was up at 4am! It was stinky. But after we walked through the slippery market floors, we were served a very very fresh King Crab breakfast.

After breakfast, I immediately washed my clothes, backpack and shoes while Wes got ready to head to the airport. Thankfully, the AREX (airport express train) was back up and running so we could cruise in style (or at least in seats) all the way to the terminal. Farewell, Wes! 보고 싶어.

I quickly made it back to the hotel so I could meet Ashley, a fellow adoptee, before we met our host family for the evening. Getting there was a comedy of errors. We tried to take the subway to the metro. But when we got to the metro, we missed the transfer by 3 minutes. And now we're at a metro station that is far away from where we came from and no taxi wanted to take us. We got back on the subway to another metro station where we had to take the metro across the Han River to another station. AND FINALLY we met up with our host family! (Only took us an hour and a half)

This family was hilarious is now our new family. 😆 From left, dad, daughter, me, Ashley, mom, and son. The kids are both attending boarding school for high school in the states. We are so thankful and appreciative of them spending the evening with us, taking us out to dinner, and giving us one of the best gifts I think you can ever receive: wedding ducks so we can passively tell our partners we're mad at them.

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우리 한국에서 있어요~ // We're in Korea!

36 hours Our first 1.5 days already feels like a week. Returning to Seoul brought feelings of familiarity and belonging. I'm no longer scared of trying to speak the language and there's a huge sense of ease when it comes to walking the streets. I'm home but not. We decided to work remotely to save on PTO so we could be here for an extended time while experiencing what day-to-day life is like. Finally got settled in an Airbnb, our home for the next 10 days, which is plucked right out of a Kdrama alley. Living in the afternoons/early evenings, working overnight... we're surviving night 2. The sun is rising and the city is starting to wake up. And I'm ready to go to sleep. Day 1: 2 chickens Lunch at 큰집 닭한마리 (Big House Chicken, Yongsan). We ordered 닭한마리 (1 Chicken) which ended up being a huge shared boiling soup with a full chicken. For dinner: chicken no. 2, hand breaded and fried with love @ Eongteoli Fried Chicken , Itaewon. Frie...

round 2

oh hi again. we're about to take off to Incheon and I've already cried twice today. I shared this on Instagram but wanted to share here as well. big feels for this trip... in a lot of ways I feel more ready to step foot in Korea for the third time in my life but in many many many ways I feel less so. the rollercoaster that is life never fails to surprise me. especially in these nearing mid-life years where I have such freedom to choose my path forward. thank you for being my friends, family, and chosen family through it all. and thank you to Wes who's encouraged me to be myself always while pushing me to be more. I guess I'm ready for takeoff.

Nature Stuff

FINALLY I SAW NATURE (& some other things) If you're a Kdrama fan, maybe you've seen Jirisan? Drove to a ranger station so I could pretend to be a hiker that needed saving by Jun Ji Hyun. On the drive to Gwangju, the fog settled in. Only slightly terrifying. Especially when a downed trees just showed up out of nowhere. Anyways, we made it to Gwangju safely. The next day we went to the Bamboo Forest in Juknokwon. It was likely the cleanest air we've been able to breathe since arriving. It was so peaceful. THE OTHER THINGS Food of course. Noodles and dumplings Sushi with friends of friends. Bibimbap topped with beef tartare. Korean beef bulgogi. Short ribs at an obviously after work drinking establishment. Bibimbap topped with beef tartare in the Shinsegae mall food court. Dakgalbi with cheese, ramyeon, ttoek, sujebi,...

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