Birth Father's Birthday

(First pictures are of the swag I picked up while shopping. The second set is of the shopping area/street in Seoul. The third set is of the lunch. Obviously these are in backwards chronological order)

There certainly some mixed emotions today. I woke up grumpy because I had not slept well and had spent my Saturday night feeling pretty lonely. Unkyung called me and said she would pick me up to have "breakfast" (really lunch) for my birth father's birthday. I didn't really feel like going, but Unkyung brought Unsun with her when she picked me up, which cheered me up since she's a fun loving girl with a loud laugh. While in the car, she hand fed me chocolates (totally Ceasar-style) and practiced Korean by listening to my Speaking Korean file on my iPod.

They took me to a Korean buffet (we had a private room) where my birth father tried to feed me (yes, actually spoon fed me) a disgusting piece of pork. I had to spit it out but did so discretely. I did notice that if they wanted another to taste their food, they tended to put it in each other's mouths too. When the cake came, there were five long candles (one for each decade) and four shorter ones (for each year after--Korean age: 54, American age: 52). Before Unsun lit the candles, he quickly took one of the shorter ones and laughed. Unkyung one upped him by taking away a long one so the candles would represent 44 years. Of course, he drank soju and I noticed that after each shot, he'd make this bizarre sound in the back of his throat that I can't even describe.

Later they took me to Myong Dong (spelled wrong I'm sure), which is like the fake Rodeo Drive of Seoul (fake for two reasons: 1.) It's not California and 2.) There were TONS of knock offs sold on the street). They kept trying to buy me various things. At one point, my birth father walked into a shop, pointed at some shoes and all but demanded I choose one for him to buy me. He also wanted to buy me a coat, but I assured him that I was fine for the time being. Each of my birth parents alternated holding my hand with moments when both would hold my hands. I'll admit though, it was a little less annoying today. Perhaps it was because they were buying me things.

At one point there was a candy-making stand which was a sort of show. The man said it in English and Korean and basically stretched a block of honey until it made 16,000 individual strings. It was more impressive than it sounds. But every time he would say something, his partners would repeat it. At first I was wondering why they kept repeating what he said as if I hadn't heard him. Then I realized it was all a part of their show. Upon leaving, one said to me, "Come back again! I love you!" I laughed but, somewhat naive Unkyung squeeled and asked me if I liked him because he obviously liked me. I didn't bother explaining to her what sales and customer service is really about.

I will finish telling about the day in another entry. For now, I'll just say that it wasn't the actual shopping that made me slightly enjoy my birth family today, but that it was something we were doing together....and not me just sitting in their restaurant. .Next time: A visit to the hospital and a foiled plan.