Secret Garden, Seoul Tower & Korea House

Secret (Biwon) Garden

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHGCTdI-SkBp_6V7VaMd0OlgFZnfNDe7OWnT-wCPtyw9q92iQIjRRrkyqcC52pNphBxBneqk8APZSLtCO63ClhVXQFyzHOWFSqnc5xVb-5iTN3acWq_CG6UsMnGjM3wMocH8vfk1BQTo/s1600/cdg2.jpg

June 16, 1988: Part V

Our next stop after the Olympic Park was Changdeok Palace (also known as Changdeokgung Palace). This palace was finished in 1412 by King T'aejong and in 1463, the secret garden was added. Thirteen of Korea's kings lived at this location for a total of about 270 years. In 1592, the Japanese burned down several of the buildings which had to be rebuilt. This occurred several times. Now, thirteen original buildings still remain. Biwon (secret) garden has 28 buildings. This area of the palace was built so that the royal families had a quiet, scenic place to relax.

From Changdeok Palace, we jumped to the 20th century as we headed towards Seoul Tower. This is a communication tower that opened in 1980 and it is a common point of interest. At the top, you get a wonderful, panoramic view of the city.

The last stop of the day was Korea House. This was such a great way to end our first day in Seoul. Korea House is both a restaurant and theater. We ate a traditional Korean dinner and then saw the show of traditional dancers, drummers and other folk performances. Korea House is a place that all international tourists should visit.

June 16, 1988 was a day that gave us a look at both historical and contemporary Korean culture. Touring all of these places was amazing and I hope to be able to do it again someday. Moreover, it was especially meaningful to tour these locations with other adoptees. From the visit to our agency office to the Olympic Park and the Secret Garden, June 16 was a day not only to see and learn about Korea, but also one that enabled us to appreciate our heritage through a new perspective.

"Harmony and Progress"

World Peace Gate
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/World_Peace_Gate,_Olympic_Park,_Seoul.jpg

June 16, 1988: Part IV

While many of us were left with few details about our biological past, we theorized that we were born to single mothers and/or the economic conditions under which we were born were not sufficient to raise a child. Because the Korean War was the event that led to international adoption, it seemed rational to think that Korea was still trying to economically recover when we were born. Since most of us were now teenagers, it was hard to comprehend the economic growth that took place since the war, nor did we give it much thought.

With these notions, I had these really outdated, inaccurate visions of my motherland. I still imagined that Korea or even parts of Seoul would resemble scenes from the TV show M*A*S*H. Everything would be brown, dusty or camouflage green and tan. Although I knew that it wasn't going to be exactly what I envisioned, it was still surprising to see such a cosmopolitan city and to be able to tour the Olympic facilities that were built for the games that summer.

After leaving our agency office that morning, we headed towards the Olympic Park. Seoul was only the 2nd Asian city to host the summer Olympic games since Tokyo in 1964. What was remarkable was that only 35 years had passed since the end of the Korean War and now, Seoul was going to produce this magnificent event. When you consider other regions of the world that had to rebuild after a major conflict in the 20th century, Korea's post-war modernization is quite extraordinary. The motto of the Summer Olympics "Harmony and Progress" made perfect sense.

We toured the park and many of the competition facilities. It was quite impressive to see these places in person and I don't know if I would have taken an interest in the Olympics of 1988 if it weren't for this experience. The significance of this tour was not only to visit where history was going to take place, but it was also a reason to be proud of our motherland.

Now, the facilities are public venues for physical fitness and host concerts and other events. In addition, there is the Seoul Olympic Museum that houses commemorative items, sculptors and other artifacts from the summer of 1988.

Seoul searching

June 16, 1988: Part II

OK, so the title of this post is trite and maybe it's not even appropriate. It was just easy.

The last part of our agency office visit was to tour what is called the reception center. This building is very close to the office and is a place where babies live where they wait to be placed with a foster family. Although nothing can replace a home environment, the children receive excellent care at the reception center. Fortunately, they usually do not live in the reception center for a long time.

In '88, not only were there babies, but there were also toddlers and young children. We were able to hold the babies and it was difficult not to pick up all of them! They were just so sweet and I wanted to bring them back to the U.S. with me. So did everyone else. I am going to assume that these babies were all adopted.

However, there were also toddlers and children up to the ages of 4-5. More than likely, these children were not relinquished as infants. A common scenario would be that the biological parents could not afford to provide for their children any longer and felt that placing them for adoption would give them a better life. Looking at their little faces made me think that at that age, I was already home.

I find it daunting to think about the separation from their birth parents as many were old enough to talk and to understand what was transpiring. At the same time, I can't imagine what the birth parents endured to make that decision and what it was like to say goodbye to their sons or daughters. We hoped that these little ones were matched with adoptive families as it is sometimes more difficult to place older children.

After meeting these sweet, innocent faces, we thought about their loss and how this could affect their emotional growth and development. For many members of the trip, seeing the little ones brought to mind their own past as they could remember their goodbye or the last time that they were with their bio-families.

1988 and the 38th Parallel

For me, 1988 was a significant year. It was probably one of the most purposeful of my early adult life. 1988 was the year that I graduated from high school, the year that I went to college and the year that I returned to my motherland since I left almost 18 years earlier. I had no idea how meaningful and poignant this trip to Korea would be.

In June of 1988, I had the fortunate opportunity to go to Korea with other young adults from across the U.S. who were also Korean adoptees. We had all grown up outside of Korea and most of us knew little about the language, culture and people. For many of us, being Korean was having a Korean face and that was about the extent of it. In my graduating high school class, I believe that I was the only student of Korean descent out of a class that was a little less than 300 students. I didn't think about it much then, but I wasn't exactly a deep thinker either. Being one of the few Asians in my class proved to be a benefit 20 years later. Most people recognized me at a class reunion event.

I was not aware of it at the time, but I probably learned more about myself from living and traveling with other adoptees than I did from the actual tours of palaces, museums, etc.... By any means, I am not minimizing the value and historical lesson of visiting the cultural points of interest, however, there was a distinct benefit of meeting others who shared a similar background.

Fast forward to fall of 2007, my husband and I attended an annual picnic that is hosted by my adoption agency. Not only is this something that I like to attend every year, but it is also an event that I think that our daughter will enjoy. She is also an adoptee from the same agency in Korea.

Anyway, we met and talked with other families and eventually got into a conversation with another Korean adoptee who appeared to be my age. As our conversation progressed, we discovered that that we were on the same motherland tour in 1988. This might not seem like such a big deal. But, Debbie did not grow up in the midwest and moved to the area only a few years ago. It has been fun to reconnect with her and to get to know her family.

Adopting Mia, attending our agency picnics and seeing Debbie could not have been more obvious signs that the outline of this blog has already been done for me. I will re-trace the motherland tour of 1988. Since the purpose of this blog is to promote Korea and encourage travel to the Land of the Morning Calm, I think that my trip will be a good start. I will begin with 6/14/88 and end with 6/27/88.

June 14, 1988

My flight to Korea started early in the morning. I flew Northwest Airlines. Surprisingly, all connecting flights were on time. I flew from KC to Minneapolis, then to Seattle and finally to Seoul. I think that there were only 4 of us who flew out of Kansas City. I was the only one from the metropolitan area as the others came from places such as Oklahoma, central Missouri, etc... At each airport, we met other adoptees who would also be going to Korea. At the airport in Seattle, all of us came together and it was quite unbelievable.