3:30am local time. I've been up since about 2:30, which is not bad, considering. We want to be at the bus stop around 7, and the hotel room is a disaster area, so this will give me plenty of time to pack up while Rhon and Clark sleep some more. After this weblog update, anyway.
Rewind. Being up so early yesterday morning, we figured we might as well hit the shops early. Rhonda had picked out a grocery store and a department store that she wanted to see. Planned to hit a coffee shop first, then stop by the gamestore for those Wario toys. On the streets by 7am.
Problem: nothing was open. Not even the Dunkin Donuts.
So that was disconcerting. From 7am to 8am, we saw barely anyone up and around. A few commuters, but nothing like the big city throngs you'd expect. After walking by a ton of dark storefronts, we headed to the underground mall that had the game store. We didn't think it would be open, but the Wario capsule machine was cleverly placed outside of the store in the hallway.
The mall area was wide open, but empty, except for a woman sweeping up and an elderly security guard. Lucky for us, the mall adjoins a subway station, so it wasn't too weird for us to be there. However, the game store is off to the side a ways... in the why-are-these-Americans- over-there-at-7:30am section. But we continued to play the stupid foreigner card and walked over anyway.
The thing to remember is that vending machines of any type make noise. A big clunking sound. So after buying a couple toys, the security guard was right behind us. But he quickly realized what we were doing and started talking jovially at us. The Wario figures required two 500 Won coins (about $1), and he was pointing to the Tinker Bell toys which needed six of them... sort of in a "Man, these things are expensive!" way. The Tinker Bell toys were really, really nice though.
End of story: Rhonda got a cute little cat figure. And as for the WarioWare toys, one Mona and THREE Jimmy T's. Crap!
So we walked to the department store, which we understood to be an upscale sort, like a Harrod's or Bloomingdale's. We got there by 8, not expecting it to be open. So we stood by the closed gate while a killer thunderstorm blew through town. Monsoon season. We think the sign on the door said 8:30, but who knows. At 8:40 we gave up and entered the nearby subway hold, which is probably something we should have done during the storm.
Underground, we found an open coffee shop and had a pair of iced mochaccinos and some big pretzel-looking things. The clerk understood our english, but I always forget about the Value Added Tax thing and get confused on the inevitable "take out? eat here?" question, so Rhon had to field that one. The store menu listed all the various capuccino varieties under the heading "CCINO" which actually makes sense if you think about it. Another shocker: they had a separate employee dedicated to serving us the ccinos when they were ready.
We figured the department store would be open by now (after 9am), and it was, sort of. An army of young hip female Seoulites was running into the underground store entrance. Running. And they were all getting some sort of free gift canned beverage on their way in. We were about to join in (free gift!) when we noticed each girl was quickly digging through her purse for a special card to show the doormen... so as near as we figure, the Hyundai Department Store was holding a crazy early bird, members-only sale. And you had to get there fast to get in on the bargains. So we skipped the store. And for a couple blocks down the street, we still saw girls hoofing it like mad to get there.
Back to the hotel. Still not much open, so we figured to wait an hour or so before attempting the grocery store at the other end of town. ("Town" being defined as the 20 block stretch we know well enough by now.) After 11am, we headed out there, largely to see their baby formula section, because Clark may prefer his native brand for a while.
The grocery store was very Western-styled, just smaller. So it wasn't the traditional open market type stuff you see on TV documentaries with fish vendors yelling at you and junk. That stuff is here, sure, just not within our roaming plan. Lots of American brands, but plenty of local stuff. The checkouts were what an American would expect, conveyor belt scanner and all that.
On the way back to the hotel, I took us on a totally different path because I wanted to see more of the sidestreets. Rhon was convinced I was getting us lost, but I knew geometrically how to get us back to the one big street that has the hotel and everything else. No worries.
We decided to go out after that department store again, this time taking the subway... even though it is only a single stop between our hotel and the store. Easy enough subway system, lots of english. Probably makes more sense to Americans who are already accustomed to dealing with subways, because we did become momentarily disoriented finding the pathways down to the platforms.
Yes, now the store is open. And what a pile of people inside! By now, the streets were more filled, and the store doubly so. I think it was 9 or 10 stories tall, with several underground floors. Looked more or less like a big US department store, but with most sections within a floor separated according to item and manned by at least two employees each. Seriously, every ten to fifteen feet was another pair of clerks bowing and nodding at us. Rhonda had one big search here, a traditional-style Korean baby carrier, the kind where the baby gets wrapped to your back. Eventually we found it, after looking at several non-traditional ones because the clerks assumed we wanted more Americanized versions. I think we embarrassed the young shopgirl because we asked her to show us how to wear it... she dutifully grabbed a nearby doll and had her sectionmate tie it on! So of course we bought one. Almost no English during this entire exchange, by the way.
We had also heard about these cute little kids shoes that have squeakers in the soles, so when the kids run around you get this pleasant little squeak-squeak sound from them. A little girl at the store was wearing them and it was adorable. Unfortunately, the store didn't seem to have any... and I'm pretty sure the baby shoe section clerks understood us because picked up the shoes and made little squeak noises to explain. They shook their heads no and smiled apologetically.
Back to the hotel. Now we're looking at about an hour to go before our meeting at Holt Children Services. We cleaned up, still very hot and humid out here. On the way there, we walked with our friends who are picking up their toddler girl this week; they had a meeting scheduled half an hour after ours.
The foster mom was already in with the doctor giving Clark his final exam. The nurse we knew from Wednesday was there, and all three seemed happy to see us. The doctor gave us some final instructions and then the foster mom and us went into another room to meet with the social worker and go over his departure papers. Rhonda took care of that while I played with Clark and talked (sort of) with his foster mom. She was really great the whole time, but it was clearly emotional for her as well. I shot a brief movie of her singing and talking to Clark, so we would never forget how she sounded with him. We exchanged gifts... more stuff from the US for her, lots of baby stuff for us, including his traditional first birthday formal wear (a Korean hanbok. Google that, they're beautiful!) We also got a photo album of his time with her family, which is more precious than gold to us. Holt gave us a front-loading baby carrier for the trip home, which everyone helped slip onto Rhonda and get Clark inside.
All too soon, we had to go. 25 minutes total. The goodbyes were tearful. We walked with the foster mom to her bus stop and said goodbye and thank you again, many times. Then we walked back to the hotel in unbelieving delirium. Three of us.
