So this past weekend I was back and forth from Gumi to Seoul Friday night through Wednesday. I got to eat Indian food Friday night with ETA friends, and man, I didn't realize just how much I missed variety in my diet until the taste of paneer hit me. Mmmm.
Saturday day I met up with a friend of Steph's and we walked around the 삼청동 (samcheon-dong) area all afternoon. There are a ton of galleries in that part of the city and it had a very artsy feel to it, so I was quite pleased. Below are some photos of work that I saw.
After partying in Seoul Saturday night I went back to Gumi, only to return to Seoul again Monday night. There I met another friend of Steph's (so another Korean who studied at SFAI), and she was nice enough to let me stay with her and her family. As a side note, most Koreans if they are not married yet, will continue to live with their families until they get married. This doesn't have the same stigma as it can have in the United States. But also in Korea there is less space and so property is more expensive here, so it makes sense.
So moving on, Seoul part II was really cool b/c Steph's friend, Eun Young is super nice and really smart, and so I felt really comfortable hanging out with her. We went to the Kyobo bookstore and unsuccessfully attempted to find Murakami's new novel in English (which I will express my frustration in another post, hehe).
I then had my meeting with HOLT. I was lucky that Eun Young went with me b/c the building was difficult to find. She took a nap in the building while I met with the social worker. I got to see all of my original adoption papers in person. I was good, kept my cool and didn't cry. There were a few moments where I thought I would, when the social worker was translating notes on my mother. At one point she was saying, to paraphrase, that despite choosing to give the baby up, she still loved the baby very much. Gahhhhhh. That almost did me in. I also got to glance briefly at the paper work my adoptive parents filled out 20 something years ago. It was strange b/c I recognized my dad's handwriting immediately. It just gave me such a strange feeling, to see and immediately recognize something so familiar in such an unfamiliar environment.
As for my search, they have my mother's full name and identification number, so she's as good as found. However bureaucratically speaking, this will take some time. HOLT will put in a request to the government, asking for her current contact information. This could take up to one or two months. Then once HOLT receives her info, they will attempt to contact her, and it's up to her if she wishes to respond. So now I play the waiting game....
After my HOLT appointment, I went to the Seoul Art Museum to check out a show that opening that night called "City_net Asia 2009." It was a pretty cool show, they were showing contemporary work from 4 Asian cities, Seoul, Istanbul, Tokyo, and Beijing. Below are some photos that I covertly took. Shhh, don't tell anyone....
That night while Eun Young was at a faculty dinner, I met one of her friends (also a painter) and she happened to work for HOLT as a translator in the past. And so with her were 3 other adopted Koreans, from Denmark, New York, and Sweden. Man, I really wonder where the next 9 months of this grant year are going to take me.....
That's good that you went to HOLT and you found your birth parents' contact information. (Right?)
ReplyDeleteIt is so intense that you remembered your dad's handwriting immediately. That got me.
p.s. I like the staircase work. Was it in 삼청동? I went there last weekend but did not get to see enough artwork.