End of the Journey

It is Tuesday here and we leave for home tomorrow. We cannot wait! I have been pretty homesick, but have also enjoyed our time here. We want to try to remember all of the places we went to:

*Gyeongbok Palace: it is RIGHT across the street from our hotel. But our volunteer tour guide did not know this, so we walked to the subway on Thursday and rode it to the Palace. It was built in the 1300s and occupied by various kings. Kind of neat...

*Insadong Market: packed with knick-knacks, clothes, art, food. You can also get your household idols, if you're so inclined. Buddhas are EVERYWHERE. It is a bustling place. I can't compare it to too much-- maybe Berkeley-ish, but with more people.

*Namdaemun Market: similar to Insadong but MUCH larger and selling way more. Here, we bought three pork dumplings- they looked better than they tasted. But they were pretty large and only 1,000 Won each.

*War Museum: posted about it earlier. So glad we went there.

*Church: posted earlier. LOVED IT!

*Seoul Tower: we were totally awed by this. I can't even describe this adequately. The city goes ON AND ON AND ON. There are skyscrapers almost as far as the eye can see. It is unreal how huge this city is.

*DMZ/Panmunjeon: Mark's there today. We aren't allowed to bring children. I look forward to getting him back- he'd better not make me send Jimmy Carter in to get him!

There is the country's Buddhist headquarters outside of our window and you can look down at any time of the day and see many buddhists praying and meditating. Wherever we walk, we see Buddhist monks. We are filled with compassion for them and stopped and prayed yesterday as we looked out our window at a pretty large gathering.

In the meantime, Ezra is doing just great. He's adjusting better and better, and we're just hoping that this good transition makes its way home. He has been sleeping in his own room- which is a HUGE blessing. He HATES baths and lets us know, very loudly. And no, I do not spray him in the face (per a certain Johnson) with the shower. He is REALLY sweet. When we tell him "no," he is SO funny. He puts his head down to his chest and refuses to look up. It's hard not to laugh. And he is JUST like our other kids...he had a little temper tantrum yesterday at breakfast because he only wanted to eat fries (yes, they served those at breakfast). And then again at Insadong, because he didn't want to ride in the stroller (that we borrowed from our other adopting friends).

There are many couples from the US at this hotel, getting their kids this week. So it's pretty exciting. One of the couples is adopting from Holt because they always wanted to because the dad was adopted from Holt about thirty years ago! So cool.

Okay, out for now. Last post before we leave-- YIPPEE!!! I can't wait.