One Year Ago…

One year ago right about now… we received the second most important phone call a waiting parent could get – the Travel Call!  The Library wasn’t open, so no one was answering the phone.  Maria from CB called Matt at work when she couldn’t reach me.  When Matt got the news, he tried to call me – but of course he couldn’t because of the whole phone thing.  In the mean time, I had e-mailed Maria to tell her if she had any good news for us, she could call me at a certain extension since I wasn’t in my office and didn’t know I  had voice mail (I know – confusing), and instead I got an email back, “Haven’t you spoken to Matt yet? – Go get your son!” 

The rest of the day was a blur.  I couldn’t concentrate so I went home early, and poor Matt was in the midst of trying to teach and trying to arrange accommodations and plane tickets.  I have goose bumps thinking about it again.  And a huge grin on my face!

Leaving on a jet plane…

The red string is really short now!

Tonight at 7:50pm we will begin our long journey to Seoul.  We don’t arrive until 5am on Thursday January 29 (Korean time – which is really 3pm on Wednesday our time.  Very confusing.  I think jet lag is really just mass confusion.  We have been taking melatonin to help with the jet lag – will let you know shortly if that works!

It has taken us 9 months, 3 weeks and 2 days to get to this point.  At times is seems that the process has taken forever… but at other times, it seems like it has gone by in the blink of an eye.  

We are so thankful for all of our friends, family members, new e-buddy friends, and the staff at the Children’s Bridge for helping us get through the happy times and the rough times.  It has meant the world to both of us – but especially me, to have met so many new friends through this blog – and knowing that you all are experiencing or have experienced similar pains, waits, and joys  has been a real comfort.  And the advise has been very helpful!

Be sure to check back often – we will try to post every night (with lots of pictures!). 

Now our real journey begins!!  Alex here we come!

Meeting our little man!

Just got word that we will be meeting Alex on January 30that 1:30pm – so 2 weeks from today! We can’t wait!

On another note… Is anyone else sick of the cold?! It is -21C without the windchill (-32C with). Poor Mason has been cooped up for days, and hardly moves past the deck to do his business outside… Who would have thought we would be going to South Korea to warm up!?

When, Where, What

So here are the details as I have them now…

 

We will be leaving Toronto on January 27 at 19:50, arrive at JFK at 21:35.  We then leave JFK for Seoul at 00:50.  We arrive in Seoul at 05:00 on January 29 (their time) – so we lose a day (that’s ok – one less day to wait before we meet Alex!)

We will be staying at the Social Welfare Society Guest House in the larger family room.   We do not know yet when we will meet Alex for the first time, but hopefully on the 30th!  I don’t think I could wait all weekend!

We will leave Seoul  on February 5th at 20:55 and arrive in Toronto at 19:45 on February 5th (we gain back that lost day!).  This is a direct flight which will be nice!  The Children’s Bridge has arranged the travel, so I’m not sure what airline we are dealing with – I think it is Korean Air.

It would have been nice to travel earlier, however most of the flights to Korea are already sold out!  People must be going early for the Lunar New Year Celebrations! 

We also needed to arrange for Korean Won.  I went to the bank and ordered up some spending money for when we are in Seoul, and it won’t be available until next Wednesday.

And, we are still in the process of interviewing for my job!  It would be nice to have someone in place so I can do some orientation… but it is looking more and more like that won’t be happening.  My last day at work is going to be January 23.

So in 2 weeks – we will be in South Korea!!  and in 3 weeks, we will be home! We waited exactly 2 months for our travel call.

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support over the last few months, and especially over the past few days –  it has meant the world to us.  And we can’t wait to share the next leg of our adventure!!

Got It!

Yep – Alex here we come! Matt is working with the Children’s Bridge to coordinate our travel plans – it could be as early as the 22nd – or perhaps the 27th!! I wiil update as soon as I know something more!!

What’s been happening…

Well Matt’s mom was sure surprised yesterday – Matt’s dad told her he was giving her a trip to South Korea for Christmas!  Yep, Pat will be coming with Matt and I in January to pick up our little Alex.  We really think she is going to have a blast! She has had 4 boys, so I’m sure she will be used to a crying baby 🙂

We have curtains up in the nursery, and the shelves are almost there – by Friday they should be in place.  Also we’ve been given a booster seat for Alex to use once he gets a little older.  It was given to us by a very nice lady named May.  Sadly May’s husband died last Thursday – they had been married for many years and were a lovely couple.  I had taught May and her husband how to use the computer a few years ago, and my mom knows them quite well – so that was a nice surprise.

Lastly, I finally watched Sex and the City the movie.  Tonight I came home from work, cooked a pizza, poured a glass of wine and watched it.  Ate the pizza, drank 2 glasses of the wine, and cried or laughed through the whole movie.  Luckily Matt was not home – I really dont’ think it would have been his type of movie, but I loved it.

Korea Tourism Org

Karen and Kevin, a nice couple we met at AdopTalk (who hopefully will be getting their travel call any day now!) suggested that we order a tourism kit from www.visitkorea.or.kr – so we did!  It has a tourist map, tour listing, Tastes of Korea brochure, and a great travel guide.  The best thing – it’s free!  You do have to register on the website to get it – but it wasn’t too painful.  And it only took about a week to come in.  For some reason the package actually came from Toronto…