One of the beaches in Pusan
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June 19, 1988
We spent a relaxing day in Pusan. Pusan is Korea's 2nd largest city (and Korea's largest port city) which is located on the south/southeast corner of the Korean peninsula. In fact, you can take a ferry to Japan from Pusan. You will also find that Pusan has great beaches and is very cosmopolitan. I remember walking on the beach and eating a great lunch in Pusan. I even believe that we had really good Korean BBQ. For me, I seem to remember what I ate for various meals throughout my life. It is probably useless information for the majority of the time, but for this trip, I'm glad that I remembered!
We didn't have any organized tours and it was a great day to get to know more of our fellow travelers. After a long lunch, we walked along the beach and checked out the local businesses. Actually, a few group members were born in Pusan so this was a meaningful day for them.
Although some of the adoptees had very traumatic and sad stories of abandonment, it appeared that most of the adoptees on this tour left Korea as infants and were very well adjusted. On the surface, everyone seemed happy and I was able to relate. Not only did we share similar adoption stories, but we grew up in similar settings. If I recall correctly, it seemed like at least half of this group was from the Midwest and all of us had siblings. Most of the time, our discussions were pretty mundane, but there was this common thread that made these conversations comfortable. It was a time that many of us found a unique acceptance and belonging.
Seoul Time
3 comments:
Sorry, I'm finally catching up on the entries that I've missed! I remember Pusan well. The most interesting thing to me was how most of the women there were dressed up, wearing heels, carrying parasols. BTW, I'm so in awe of your amazing memory!
Cindy was born in Busan, so I look forward to seeing it someday.
Very interesting post. First, we drove from Seoul to Pusan to reunite with my Sister (10 hour drive). She did not even know we were coming...it was an adventure. So, Pusan, brings me back to her and our time there! Second, the movies and the stereo types. I love those movies. I grew up with them...if you lived in the states and was of that 'age'...how could you not be influenced by them! For me, I think in some way, I accepted theses stereo types in movies, media,etc.to some point since I had no 'role models' who were 'asian'. My family here is Italian (primarily) roman catholic caucations who still don't know anything about 'asians' LOL!And in Korea, I found many people (younger generations) were fascinated with westerners(states) but may not display it openly to you.
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