Back to my roots

Holt Korea - The Adoption Agency

What a whirlwind of a day! My emotions have been running crazy with going to visit the adoption agency first thing this morning. There were some things that were left out of my file that was given to my parents when I came to the United States, and I was able to hear more of my biological mother's story -- it was a little heavy for first thing in the morning.

My last name in Korean is Oh. It is one of the most common Korean last names, probably relatable to Smith in the United States. When the adoption agency named me, they decided to give me my biological mother's last name. Soo Kyung is my given name by the adoption agency. My first given name, Soo, means "excellence," and my second given name, Kyung, means "happy event."

We weren't able to meet my foster mother because she wasn't able to be reached at the last minute. She is now in her 70s and lives quite far from the adoption agency in a suburb of Seoul. Our social worker told us that the last time she saw her was in January at a foster mother-adoptee reunion. My foster mother cared for around 70 babies during her time working for the agency. I was number 12 of 70 -- and let's be honest, probably the favorite.

The social worker that we talked to about my file was named Esther. She was adopted by a Jewish family from Michigan when she was a young girl and has come to Korea to work for the adoption agency. She told us about Korean adoptees in European countries and places in the United States where communities are less diverse. She told me that I am lucky to have grown up in California, a place where the demographics are more diverse than other parts of the country.

After talking to Ester about my birthmother's history, we went to see some of the babies that do not yet have homes. It's weird to think that just 20 years ago, I was one of these babies. I was number nine hundred and something out of thousands of babies that were put up for adoption in that year -- I wonder if adoptees that came for a homeland tour played with me while I was in the care of Holt in 1991.

Most of the babies that were in the care of Holt were boys, because many adoptive parents domestically want to adopt baby girls. Of the eight babies in Holt, one was a baby girl. It was nice to see these children and know that they have their whole lives ahead of them. If they understood me, I would tell them how great their lives will be. All of the babies were pretty chubbs, so I don't feel as bad anymore.

Playing with the babies was so much fun, but ultimately we had to face the fact that we couldn't take one home. My dad thinking he's funny and being the practical one of the family said, "If we took one home, I would be paying college tuition until I'm 80!"

Touring Seoul

After going to the adoption agency, we met our volunteer tour guide, Luna. Luna will be taking us around Korea for the next few days, and she is so sweet and so cute! She first took us to Korea's National Museum and we walked around the gardens and the museum for a bit. There were so many kids running around, it was crazy!

Later, we went to Meyongdong -- a major shopping area close to our hotel. While there, we ate lunch of a traditional Korean meal at a restaurant that has been around for 50 years. At lunch we ate traditional Korean noodles, dumplings, soybean noodles, kimchi, and much more, it was delicious.

We continued to walk around Meyongdong after lunch, and we ran into a Korean movie star. I'm forgetting his name now (I'll ask Luna tomorrow), but dang that was a good-looking Korean man and the girls in the street were going crazy!

Now, we're back in the hotel relaxing for a while, it's been a long day! We still have dinner later, but for now I am going to make a cup of green tea.