DJ, the social worker here, invited us to go to church with her this morning. We gladly took her up on her offer. She said the service she goes to is in English, so it would be a good morning of worship. It was indeed. We kept Grayson with us in the service, but he only made it through the worship portion. Then he began becoming a little more distractible than we like, so Adam took him out and within a few minutes he was sound asleep. The past few days he has been taking a little morning nap and then going strong for the rest of the day.
After church DJ dropped us off at Insadong to finish our shopping that we started the other day during our city tour. We had lunch and then made it our mission to find the rest of the things we needed to buy. Grayson was a good sport and between Insadong and Lotte Mart we were able to find everything else on our list. Yay!! Shopping is done! By the time we got home it was nearly 5:00! We have been taking the evening easy. Had dinner in our room, let Grayson play at the playground and I started some packing. We need to have as much packed before we get Neylan tomorrow so we can fully concentrate on him and the few hours we have with him before we leave on tuesday.
So, in lieu of pictures of the day's events, I will be showing you the things we have bought throughout the week.
These are the hanboks we bought for both boys. The blue and pink one is supposed to be for Neylan and the yellow and teal one for Grayson. The lady also threw in two little bags that are supposed to bring good luck.
We bought some Pororo DVDs and CDs of Korean and english children's songs
These are paper dolls in traditional Korean dress. These were bought with A scrapbook in mind.
Matching t-shirts for the boys.
We bought these Christmas and winter decorations from the gift shop at Holt Ilsan. These are all items that the residents have made.
This book was also purchased at Ilsan. It is the book that Bertha Holt wrote to tell their family's story of how they came to adopt from Korea, which ultimately started the adoption program in Korea as we know it today. We have both started reading the book and are fighting over who gets to read it. It is very good. What a story!
A very traditional souvenir is the name chop. Adoptive families have one certain shop they go to because the owner is so nice and often gives discounts when he finds out you are adopting. So, we searched all over for his shop. He made these beautiful name chops for both boys. Neylan's has his first name in English and middle name in Korean. Grayson's says his first name in both English and Korean. The cards above say happiness down the right side and he put the rabbit stamp on for the year of the rabbit, this year. And then he threw in the red ink that is used with them. He gave each boy their own bowl of it because he said he did not want them to have to fight over it. That was so nice of him. And that is why he gets all the business from adoptive families!
Another traditional gift is the wedding ducks. These are typically given to the male on his wedding day. They are to be displayed in the house. Ducks are used because they mate and stay with one duck for their entire life. Koreans hold this value and belief highly and so the tradition continues. They say that the ducks are supposed to be displayed facing each other when he couple is doing well. When there is an argument happening, one duck is turned away from the other. And when the couple makes up, the duck can be turned back around. When the couple is fighting, one person is supposed to point the other towards the ducks as a reminder of the lifetime vow they took on their wedding day. So, we bought the big set for us and bought the boys a set of their own that will be given to them on their wedding day.
And lastly, our tour guide Rachel, gave us this CD. It is of the world famous violist, Richard Yongjae O'Neill. He is korean and Rachel told us that his mother was adopted from Korea when she was little. He is quite well known here. I am excited to hear it. It was a very nice and thoughtful gift.
And of course, we have a few things for others, but can't put pictures of that on here, as it would ruin the surprise!
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