I have decided to split my blog posts (however infrequent) into two categories: Potato in Seoul and Lonely Seoul. "Potato in Seoul" will focus on the more fun things about Korea from daily life to places I visit and cultural differences, etc. Lonely Seoul will focus more on the "inner workings" of my head: things I may not normally talk about.
Being in Seoul, South Korea has stirred a lot of thoughts up in my head. These two months here have been emotionally, physically, and spiritually trying. Seoul is an amazing city, but these six weeks have tested me in ways I thought I was ready for but found I wasn't.
As most of you know, and some of you may not, I was adopted from South Korea as a 5-month-old baby. I was born in a Seoul hospital (name unknown) to a 16-year-old girl who then turned me over to the Korean Social Services (KSS) for care and eventually adoption. I was given a Korean name, 강수정/Kang Su-jeong, by a social worker and was taken to the KSS orphanage/care center until the adoption process was finalized. I was boarded onto a plane on February 26, 1997 on my way to my new parents in the USA.
It kind of sounds like a movie plot, you know? A movie that starts out really sad but has a really happy ending. Everyone cries but leaves feeling satisfied leaving behind their handful of snotty tissues. But, really it's so much more complex than that. And I'm not the only one who's had this experience either. Here are some basic numbers on South Korean adoptions.
