Korean tranny and the coolest kid I've seen
Afterwards, we went to a place for my first taste of patbingsu (Korean shaved ice). It was a little underwhelming, but I need to try the more traditional version. We had oreo, mango and green tea. They were huge so we split three between 9 of us.
Afterwards we walked through a fancier shopping area (Myeongdong) and then headed back to the hotel.
A few of us grabbed a quick dinner before we had to get on the bus for Busan. It ended up being a 6+ hour ride, with a few stops, and we didn't get in til about 3am. This new hostel is TINY. It is centrally located, but the rooms are ridiculously small. I have considered getting a hotel room somewhere close, but I think I can stick it out for a few days. I guess I am one of the "lucky" ones because we got in a 4-person room as opposed to a 6-person room, but I haven't lived like this in quite awhile..or maybe ever. There are bunk beds and hardly no floor space, and tiny lockers for us to store a few things. The showers and bathroom area are also shared- this may take an adjustment.
We crashed pretty hard and only had to be up by noon for lunch. It was raining this morning in Busan so our plans to go to a temple by the sea were changed instead to go to Shinsegae Centum City, the largest department store in the world (not to be compared to the largest mall in the world in Dubai, but it is still pretty huge). Besides all the shops, there's a huge food market and food stalls on the bottom floor, a restaurant floor at the top, an ice skating rink by the food court, an outdoor Dinosaur Zoo on the roof, a golf range, a preschool, an academy, a movie theater, and a bunch of other fun areas. My kids would love it there. I hope to be able to take them one day.
My favorite part of the store was actually at the basement level where there was a supermarket and a bunch of good food stalls. I got a mint milk bubble tea that was probably the best bubbles I've had. I couldn't resist a dumpling from one of the stalls either. They had cute ones in the shape of small animals too.
I finally found some cute gifts for the kids; a chopstick learning book for Tommy, a fun stuffed animal pencil case for Emily, some play Pororo cars for all the boys (Pororo is the Korean equivalent to Hello Kitty in Japan), and a car puzzle track set for Everett. I still need to get some more gifts but hope to find them at the markets.
I couldn't believe the prices of some of the gift items - anywhere from thousand dollar beef packages, to $500 seafood boxes to $200 fruit boxes and more.
I needed a little time to myself today (all this group togetherness is a little much for me) so I shopped on my own and on the way home I stopped by the beach.
Ever since we drove into Busan last night, I've had this weird feeling looking at buildings and thinking, "my birth mother could live there," or looking at older women and wondering if that could be her. It's a surreal feeling. There's this book that I read to my kids sometimes called Are You My Mother? and I find myself wondering that when I look at the faces of these women that pass me by. I'm getting increasingly curious about my birth father now. Maybe it's because I have finally returned to the place where I was born. It's weird, but I feel comfortable here. Like I could navigate myself around; almost as if I have been here before. I know that's ridiculous because I was only here for a short time when I was a newborn, but I still have these familiar feelings. It's hard to believe that I will meet my birth mother in two days and I am starting to get more nervous about it. There's no time to dwell on that for now..we are on the move again.
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