[hbrown24]

Hi! We are not sure what country we are going with for our next adoption but we're kind of torn between Korea and Vietnam. We won't start the process until Jan. but I am researching all I can.

So, my question is: Have any of you traveled to Korea to pick up your children? My husband and I would like to do that to experience our child's culture firsthand. We had an invaluable experience when we picked our daughter up from Guatemala. If you did, did the language barrier give you a lot of problems, did you feel safe, where did you travel, etc.? Thanks in advance!

[Max'smom]

HI,
We travelled in mid-February. Seoul is a safe city without any of the risks you might have encountered in Guatemala (forgive me if I am being presumptuous here, but I have heard that there are serious street crime problems in G.). There is a wonderful subway system that is super clean and safe. Yes, there is a language barrier in Seoul, but so many young people know English that it really is not a big deal. I got the impression that Americans were very welcome. In the restaurants, the menus often have photos or translations into English, and the staff are patient and good-humored.

The one thing I did find difficult is that a lot of Koreans I met felt bad (ashamed) about the fact that their country's children are still leaving their homeland to be adopted by foreigners. When I was holding my son at Seoul International Airport, people came streaming from all sides to say good-bye to him and it was clear they felt sad to lose him. I also could tell that our son's foster mother had grown so attached to him that she did not feel that we were good enough for him. Both these things complicated my experience of Korea, but not enough for me to say that it was not worth it.
Good luck!
MM

[dmrjcr]

I agree with MM - we traveled and it was a wonderful experience. Enough is in English that you can manage, and the Korean people are wonderful.


We stayed at a 1st class hotel, which helped. They even had a stroller we could use free of charge!

Our foster mom also was clearly attached to our baby and kept repeating that she hoped he "got a lot of love". I'm not sure she didn't think we weren't good enough for him, but she clearly adored him. It was very difficult to take him from her arms.

I would recommend travel highly. We got to go to our foster mom's home and see where Alex spent the first 3 months of his life.

[ndoscoptec]

My husband travelled to bring our son from Korea. He is an experinced world traveller through his work but says the trip was a breeze. ESWS has a guest house where he stayed, someone picked him up and brought him to the airport. He saw the babies home and had lunch with the director of the Korean agency. Nearly everyone knew some English and even some of the street signs are in english. PM me if you are using ESWS and decide to travel, I have a nice packet with maps and everything I can copy for you.

We did encounter the same thing with our foster mother. She adored our son and he was very loved by her whole family and had a difficult time letting him go.
MLH

[hbrown24]

Thank you for your replies! One other question: Would you bring other children with you? Our daughter would be about 3 when we would go. She's pretty easygoing.


We encountered the same thing with Emilia's foster mom. She had a very hard time letting go but she had been with her 10 months! I cannot even begin to imagine how hard that would be.

[Max'smom]

We did not have any children until now. However, one other family that was staying at the Holt Guesthouse brought their 3 year old boy, who they had also previously adopted from Korea. He was doted on by the staff and seemed to have a great time. Another family staying there left their child (also a Korea adoptee) behind and it was a good thing, because their new baby cried *all night long* after he came into their care.
I think it depends on your particular child and on your comfort level handling sleep deprivation. I had to stay up nearly continuously for well over 24 hours comforting our new son and walking him around the room and then doing laps around the airplane, and my husband could not help because he came down with the flu in Korea. I basically would have lost my mind if I had to take care of two children and my husband at the same time.

[lynnor]

For our 2nd trip, we did bring our 2-3/4 y.o. son. Because it was our 2nd trip, we didn't do nearly as much sight seeing (good thing w/ toddler). W/ tots, I would recommend some/all of the following:
good back carrier or short outings
a "kids day". We went to an aquarium and the Children's park. If it's good weather, could easily spend whole day at the children's park. (take subways everywhere)
Find a grocery store near where you'll be and get some familiar foods.
plan on maybe not being able to experience good Korean food...at least at places where you sit on the floor. We went to a great place we had found our first trip and DS wouldn't sit still. I barely got to eat because I had to keep holding him still.
Plan for baby sis/bro to get the older sibling a present For us, DD "got" DS a Pororo watch (it's a children's character he fell in love w/ there) and another toy. It seemed to help him accept her.

[mommytoEli]

PLEASE travel if you can. Korea is absolutely beautiful. Before travelling, I would learn a few words, but getting around is not terribly difficult. I lived for a year in Korea and I always felt safe. The food is incredible and the people are amazing. Get your hepatitis A and B shots before going and then be sure to eat the little pancakes from the vendors on the street. Trust me!

[Shelley]

We traveled in Aug. 2003 to bring our daughter home. We didn't have any problems at all. We got ourselves from the airport to the Sejong hotel by bus, that was interesting so late at night. We took the subway everywhere. All of the signs were in Korean and English and other than getting turned around and going the wrong way on the subway one time, we didn't have any problems. The main thing is to think of it as an adventure. If you've been to Guatamala then you shouldn't have any problems. Make sure you try the fried egg sandwiches from a street vendor, they were eggcellent :-) Shelley

[tino2001]

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that adoption from Vietnam is very difficult. My brother married a Vietnamese woman and they tried to adopt a girl from Vietnam that his wife knew, but because it is a communist country it's almost impossible to do so. Just thought I'd let you know, plus I might be biased as I'm a Korean adoptee. Good luck in whichever path you take!

[sslgdl]

When my husband was in the military we lived in Korea for a year. It is a very easy country to get around in and there are so many great things to see and do. We actually lived off of the military base in a Korean village and my husband worked alot of nights. This is bad to say but I actually felt safer there than I do here in the States alot of the time. One of things that I always thought was great there is you would see a group of 10 and 12 year old girls on the busses and subways and they would be laughing, out shopping and have a great time. You would never think of letting your 10 year old and a bunch of friends loose in a big city for the day here. If you do go there is definately one place you have to go Lotte World - it was absolutely amazing!

[mommavia]

We traveled June 2005 and had a wonderful time. I highly reccommed doing siteseeing...one of the most important visits to the DMZ. I learned so much about the division between the Koreas from our day trip to the DMZ...to me it's a must see for anyone adopting from Korea.

I too felt very safe during out entire visit there. I had several people tell me how sad they were that a child was leaving their country, and shared in their grief. I cried on the plane as we departed Korea, it's a beautiful country with beautiful people. One shopkeeper I talked with gave us a gift so that our son will know that Korea won't forget him. I thought that was so sweet.

Cynthia

[onemorechild]

I agree with MM above poster (maxx'smom) She sounds like her experience was very similar to ours. We had no children, but did bring paternal grandparents and had several days to see the sights. It was invaluable. OF course, it was Feb and so cold it wasnt funny. Our hearts were warm. The goodbye at the adoption agency was powerful and filled with hugs and tears. I can't imagine having another child there to take care of. I would not have been able to give my full attention to my new son. We met a young man on the plane that apologized for an hour for the country's inability to keep their children and how much guilt there is around the "export" of their children. All in all it was a wonderful trip to get our son. Good luck!
Elizabeth
seeking Ethiopian adoption for a brother