August 13, 2025 • 44 mins
In this podcast episode, hosts Meg and Billy, known as the Adopt Twins, explore a whirlwind of travel experiences and cultural discoveries as international adoptees. Billy recounts their recent travel adventures spanning Disney World and California, culminating in an unexpected opportunity to visit Korea through a sponsored program for adoptees. Despite initial hesitation, Billy embarks on the trip, aiming to reconnect with Korean culture and heritage. The discussion highlights the challenges of adoption, the excitement of exploring one's roots, and the humorous hopes of meeting BTS, all entwined with cultural and personal revelations.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi, this is Meg.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And this is Billy.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And we are.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The Adopt Twins.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Meg and this is Billy , and we are the Adopt Twins.
Welcome to a podcast from twoadoptees who are navigating life
loss, moving on and growing up.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
For our adopted friends we hope to bring you a
familiar point of view and forour friends who aren't welcome
to the complicated jungle of howwe get on so for me personally,
(00:52):
podfest was the first flight, Iwent on in seven years?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
whoa, yeah, seven years.
So the next month I went to sanSan Francisco and then I did a
really big trip in December thatI will come back to, and then
have since gone to also Key Westand California.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Great.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So fit a lot in in those few months after not being
on a flight for seven years.
So that big trip that I had, itwas to Disney World.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hey, congratulations.
I remember going there with youand we couldn't talk about it,
because you're, yeah, you're,you're, you're youngling, as it
were, could not know that youwere there.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Correct, so I had to take my Mickey ears off when I
did my nightly call with him andgo to a nondescript background,
so he had no clue what wasgoing on, because he was very
excited.
I've been planning it since hisfirst birthday and so we
finally got the chance to go inDecember of 2023.
(02:02):
Also, I found this informationin October of 2023 about on
Instagram from the OverseasKorean Agency, which is a
government agency in Korea, thatthey were bringing over some
adoptees who have not been backto Korea since they were adopted
(02:23):
to another country and theywould pay for flights up to two
weeks before their actualconference and two weeks after
and the time during the actualconference they would pay for
the food and the hotel and thetransportation to the things
that they took us to and theadmission to the things they
took us to.
And so I decided that I was notgoing to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You're not going to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I was not going to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
An all-inclusive paid trip to Korea and big no, thank
you.
Right Connecticut is goodenough for me.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, yeah, to an extent, but it was more about
the fact that they would pay fortwo weeks before and two weeks
after, which means you couldhave five weeks in Korea, but
the day I'd have to fly to Korea, because you know what.
Those flights are really longand the time difference is like
wild.
Oh, yeah, so the day I'd have tofly to Korea was the day I was
(03:25):
flying back to new york fromdisney world.
And then the after the day I,after the conference ended, I
have to fly to connecticut forthe child in the nutcracker okay
so I maybe I'll try it anotheryear when I can stay longer.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then last minute, two days before I decided, you
know what, I might as well justdo it.
I'm probably not going to getpicked anyway, so I'll just fill
it out, just so I can like geta handle on all of this.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So I filled it out.
I got it in on deadline.
I did not get the hard copiesto the consulate in New York
quite at deadline because Ididn't realize I needed to.
And so that day I went and wentover to good old Staples and
printed it out and made copiesand overnighted it to both of
(04:26):
the consulates in New York,because I wasn't sure what
addresses was supposed to go to.
And they got it the day after,of course, because I did it on
the day it was due.
So I said, well, that's that.
But then I went to go pick upmy son on November 1st from
dance.
I parked the car it is, ifpeople aren't familiar, november
(04:48):
1st is Adoptee Awareness Month.
So, parking the car and I seethis number come up on my phone
and I don't pick up numbers Idon't know, because a lot of
times there are people that wantmoney and you know I don't
really want to give them mymoney sure so I just refuse to
(05:09):
pick up.
But I'm looking at the numberand it's a new york number and
I'm thinking about time frame ofeverything and I'm like, well,
I'll just pick up and see whatthey say.
So I picked up and I said hellomy brain.
And said they said my last namefirst.
You know what kind of peoplesay the last name first.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Is it Koreans?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It is Huh.
So she said I wanted to let youknow you will be getting the
message soon, but you've beenchosen for the program.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Whoa and I cried a whole lot.
Oh yeah, because that was a lotto take in well, what were your
, you know, even though you weredoing it, not to do it, but you
know, you were kind of hopingin some recess of your soul that
maybe this was going to happen.
What were your initial hopesfor what could happen while you
were out there?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
well, I wanted to register my dna with the police
in the missing persons stuff.
I wanted to.
I thought maybe we'd see like ablue House which is like
America's White House.
I thought maybe we'd see thepalaces.
I thought maybe, maybe I'd getto meet BTS, because RM has this
(06:35):
whole thing that he's doingwith the government now and RM
had posted a photo at one pointof him with the overseas Korean
agency.
So I was like super excitedbecause I love BTS.
And then I did know that threeof them had already gone into
the military to do theirmandatory military training but
(06:56):
there were still four left.
There were still four morethere.
So I landed on Sunday morning.
Bts wasn't there to greet me,as I thought they would be, and
two of them left on Monday andthe last two left on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
What a waste of a trip.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Seriously Left for the military instead during my
time there.
So that's fun.
And with them being gone, allof the videographers and all of
the photographers decided tofollow us around for the entire
week.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
How many were there?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You know, I'm not sure, but we were broken up,
sometimes into four differentgroups and we had multiple
photographers and videographerson each of the groups.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, and so have you seen any of the footage that
came from it?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yes, actually, on the last day, at our closing
ceremony, they put the wholepackage, which covered
everything from us getting offthe buses at the hotels to the
check-in process to get ourbadges, to all the different
events that we had.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Please tell me they used their music as the overlay
of everything, or was it moregeneric public domain in Korea
music that they were using?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, definitely was not BTS, which is very
unfortunate.
It should have been.
I'm sure that their video wouldhave gotten way more views if
it was.
But yeah, it was just basicgeneric music.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So you can find it online.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Oh, yes, I will put a link in the show notes so
people can check it out ifthey'd like.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yes, yeah, it shows how awesome and wonderful of a
job that they did with lettingus get to know our culture, with
our cultural experiences andthe National Museum and trying
the foods and having us speak togovernment agencies about
adaption, like they are doingeverything they can to help all
of us.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I bet they are doing everything they can, and a way
that it's being presented isexactly what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So we knew it was a propaganda trip, but it did get
me over there.
With these kinds of things,there's always a compromise that
needs to happen and a give andtake.
And they were going to pay formy hotel at a five-star hotel,
they were going to reimburse mefor airfare and they were going
to feed me my meals, so I did it.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Mission accomplished.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Unfortunately, that leaves me wanting to actually go
back to Korea, because therewasn't any real free time, which
I think is also maybe anotherthing that was part of their
plan, who knows and I wassupposed to go in October.
Some health things came up, sothat did not happen, but I will
be going in June.
However, that'll be after 2024ends and the new laws go into
(09:48):
place in 2025.
As far as how adoption recordsare being kept, who has access
to them and all of that, so it'sgoing to be more difficult, I'm
thinking, to get access toanything, but I will still try.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And then, if all else fails, you can call up BTS and
say, hey, can you help me out?
I am a sister of yours in Korea.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Right, but they weren't even able to get
themselves out of their militarytraining.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
So that's true.
Hey, gal Gadot had to do stuffyou know over with the IDF.
So right, Other other cultures.
They prioritize that militarytraining and, if my math is
correct, they're still in a wartechnically over there.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yes, yes.
Until there is a unification ofthe two Koreas, we are
considered in a war.
Yeah, so that's fun, andAmerica and colonization and all
of that with South Korea isgreat, because that's what
started the whole adoptionindustry in Korea, yay.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Hey, keep it going, guys.
What was the point?
What is it?
What were they doing?
Did you reach out to them ontwitter or instagram, just so
they knew that you were coming?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
or well, you know I my plan was to reach out to them
on instagram, but apparentlyinstagram has this new thing now
, where once you send someone amessage, if they don't accept
that one message, you can'tmessage them ever again.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Oh, okay, well, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Because apparently they don't follow me back.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That's impossible.
I know it has to be a mistake.
They have to.
Is it another like megaInstagram that they are
following by mistake?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I mean, I have like eight Instagram accounts and
they're not following any ofthem.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You have eight Instagram accounts.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Something like that.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Is it just your name, but one, two, three, four, five
, six, seven, eight, or do youspread it out with, like, some
different names in there?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Oh yeah, they're all different.
They're all different.
There's only one that actuallyeven says Meg, and that one does
have numbers.
It's one, two, three.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Okay, got it.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So, yeah, they did not greet me at the airport like
I thought they would, but theoverseas Korean agency did send
someone to greet me at theairport and get me on a bus to
my hotel and she had a littlesign sign and I missed her at
first because I was on a 14 hourflight.
After doing a six hour flightto LA, after doing a two hour
(12:38):
flight to New York, after wakingup early and packing for me and
a tiny human, after being uplate the night before to see
fireworks.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
So I missed her and her little sign, the night
before to see fireworks, so Imissed her and her little sign.
Did you get any?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
sleep on the plane at all, or was it just excitement?
Very little.
I have such trouble sleeping asit is.
I have to take 50 grams of likemelatonin or dromamine every
night to try to go to sleep, soit was very difficult.
I did get some sleep.
Nothing against my seatmates,they were great.
They only got up once and theyboth got up at the same time.
They were friends.
So you know, for 14 hours toget up once, that's wild, wow
(13:25):
Okay.
But I did find her and she didget me my bus ticket and she was
from Korea, obviously, and hegrew up there and she was very
sweet and her name was Rachel.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
That's a traditional Korean name, I assume, so her
last name was Rachel.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You know, I'm not sure she only gave one name,
sort of like Madonna or Prince,and I wanted to be like, but
what do people that grew up herecall you?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Oh sure, I don't want to be one of those people
that's like what is your realname?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Because I got the only time and that was terrible.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, where are you really from?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Right, but I just really wanted to be like but
what's on your birth certificate?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Why do you think that her name is Rachel, as opposed
to something more traditional?
Was she older?
Was she like your age?
Was she a lot younger?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It was a college intern.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
College intern.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, okay, gotcha you know I still don't believe
Rachel was her given name atbirth.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I don't, I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I don't Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I could be very wrong and that could be very racist
of me.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But I just I don't feel like it was her given name
and it might be because she wasdealing with lots of people who
don't know the Korean languageat all that they went with a
Americanized name.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay, is it possible she's adopted?
I don't think so.
Okay, yeah, okay, okay.
Is it possible she's adopted?
I don't think so.
Okay, yeah, okay.
So you get off the plane andyou're met with america and
you're like what is happening?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
the first.
The first place I see toactually buy anything is dunkin
donuts inside the airport.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Finally, okay, were there differences in the menu or
?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
You know I didn't get anything because caffeine I no
longer have a tolerance for andI wanted to actually try Korean
food from like Korean places.
I'm sure what a Korean Dunkin'Donut thing might be.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You wanted to go to Rachel's Good Old Fashioned
Korean Delicatessen.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Exactly, that's the place to get the real stuff.
So I got to my hotel.
It was probably about 6 am bythe time I got there.
Oh, so the buses that you takethat are like the shuttle buses,
not like the city.
I don't know if they're likeGreyhounds or what kind of buses
(15:57):
they're really like, but theyhad seats that reclined back
further than my airline seatreclined.
Oh, wow, yes, and they werepadded all nicely and they had
all it was.
It was just great.
It was fantastic.
I was like I just want to stayon this bus, but then I saw the
hotel and they put us up in theGrand Hyatt Soul.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So I said well, you can have your bus back.
I've got this here.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Oh, that's so nice.
Oh, that's so nice, because I'msure there's a worry that it's
something where it's like allright, well, yeah, the Hyatt's
right there, but we're going tobe staying right next to it.
Yes, at the Motel.
Rachel.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yes, miss, you're getting off the bus the wrong
way.
No, no, this is where.
Yes, yes, but you don't go tothat hotel, you go to the one
behind it.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Oh, but that was not the case.
It was a real Hyatt, it wasOkay.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
And out my window I saw Namsung Tower, which I
didn't get to visit.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And they let us have the breakfast buffet every day,
and there was more food therethan I've seen in my life.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
What was the spread?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Oh my gosh, there was American food like scrambled
eggs and bacon and stuff likethat.
There was like moreScandinavian style stuff with
like I guess it's Scandinavianand European with like the meats
and the cheeses and stuff forlike breakfast and then they had
like bagels and muffins andpastries and they had orange
juice and coffee and apple juiceand all other kind of different
(17:39):
fruits juices that I did notwant to try because I was scared
.
And then they had a wholespread of like Korean food.
So they had like this pumpkinsoup.
That was amazing.
But on the last day they didn'thave it and they changed it to
something else and we were allreally sad.
But they had white rice.
They had this.
My favorite thing was this soupand you go over and you walk
(18:02):
over and she says, would youlike some soup?
And you say yes, and then youget this little bowl and she
puts this.
She takes some broth and sheputs it in this pan and then
like you can have like shrimpand you can have like sprouts
and like cilantro and all thisdifferent stuff.
So it's sort of like an omeletstation but like for soup like
make your own pho, but likesomebody's making it for you.
(18:25):
Yeah, but okay and that was myfavorite I loved it because when
I was in middle school, I usedto eat soup every morning for
breakfast.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That sounds psychopathic.
Like you mean like did you callcereal soup?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
No.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I would legitimately eat soup.
Like when I'd go to a birthdayparty that was a sleepover in my
bag, my mom would pack me a canof soup.
Like when I'd go to a birthdayparty that was a sleepover in my
bag, my mom would pack me a canof soup.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Like Campbell's chicken noodle soup.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well Progresso, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Okay, I don't mean to soup shame I don't.
But I am so glad that in yourDNA the reason you love soup so
much is because it's served inKorea for breakfast.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And that reminds me of this story.
My parents had to go somewhereand it was like really soon
after I was adopted, and so mymom's sister and her husband
came to watch me and they tookme to this restaurant for dinner
.
That was like down the blockfrom where I grew up and they
asked me what I wanted to eatand I said soup.
And they said you don't wantsoup.
(19:35):
And they got me like a tunafish sandwich or something.
I hate tuna fish.
To this day I will not eat it,and so, like they kept trying to
get me to eat it, eat it, eatit.
And then they finally orderedme the soup and I ate the soup.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Huh, so Wow, that's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, some people didn't do their homework.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
You're talking about your parents.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, they didn't, did they?
No, oh, wow, okay, all right,so good to know that there is a
solid.
There's just just notjustification, but almost a
nostalgia that you continue toexperience with a food item that
(20:38):
is just completely normal tohave, that is so alien over here
, like you can't go to topeka,kansas, walk into the waffle
house, maybe waffle house, let'ssay denny's.
You Kansas, walk into theWaffle House, maybe Waffle House
, let's say Denny's.
You can't walk into Denny's andbe like hello, your finest soup
, please.
It's 830 and I need to get towork.
(21:03):
They will take eggs and justlike pop the yolk for you and
say is this it?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Is this what you wanted?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Oh, I thought they were going to throw the eggs at
me After you say no, they might,but wow, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Incredible.
That was good.
I also think I know why Ididn't eat rice until I was like
12.
And my parents didn'tunderstand why.
Because rice is so popular,Because they weren't giving me
Asian rice.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
What were they giving you?
Rice roni.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, and different things like that that are, just
you know, a totally differentstyle.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So yeah, so what was?
What was the style there?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I guess it's um like jasmine rice that's used a lot
in Asian cuisine.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So it's.
I guess it's more like afragrant.
I don't remember if it's a longgrain or short grain, I don't
know, I don't know enough aboutit.
So all I buy now is jasminerice in those packets that you
heat in the microwave for 90seconds, because I still do not
own a rice cooker and I'm veryscared to figure out how to do
it.
Because it's this whole thingwhere you have to rinse the rice
so many times and then you haveto put it in, and you have to
(22:14):
put your hand in and your waterin the thing to cook.
It has to go up to a certainpart on your hand and then
that's when you'll have perfectrice.
But everyone's hand is adifferent size, so I don't
understand this rule.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Have you tried an instant pot?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
No.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
They make it pretty easy, but you do have to go
through all of those steps.
But I will say it is divine tobe able to cook up a batch of
rice in about 30 minutes andthen have that for the week.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, but I can make rice in 90 seconds.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh, that is true.
That is true.
But their rice, did they seasonit at all?
Did they use bay leaves, or wasit just kind of more of a
neutral white rice that was?
Maybe a little salt was added.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I think it was neutral.
I didn't see them actually cookit, so I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So that was fun.
And then they had us go to theconference which went every day
from 10 am to 8.30 pm.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
What was jet lag for you Like?
Were you pretty?
Did it take a while to getacclimated to what?
Was it 13 hour difference?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yes, 13 hours, and I don't think I ever did get
acclimated.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Okay, fair.
Yeah, probably on the wholeeverybody felt that way right.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yes, I'm sure they did.
I mean some people you knowpeople came from.
There were quite a fewAmericans, there was one
Canadian, there were a lot ofpeople from Denmark, sweden,
france, there's Germany, there acouple Italians and it was such
a strange experience.
And I know this is going tosound racist and I don't mean it
(23:57):
to sound racist, but you knowAsian people growing up they
always sounded like they werefrom Asia.
The ones I met I cause I grewup in a very white area.
So when I finally met someonewho sounded like me and who
looked like me, it was a verybig surprise and it was hard for
(24:18):
me to understand.
But then, being there and likeclosing my eyes and listening to
all these like tongues fromaround the world, and they
sounded like they were nativefrom those countries, because
they are native from thosecountries, but then to open my
eyes and see them look like me,it was a weird thing for me to
(24:39):
try to wrap my head around.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Did everybody speak English for the most part, or
did everybody kind of clump withtheir sort of regions that they
were from?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, they put us in groups, and so they did try to
take into account who spoke what.
There was a English translatorand there was a French
translator, and then they had tohire someone who didn't know
Korean but knew French andItalian, and that person would
translate for the Italians.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Okay, yeah, would translate for the Italians Okay,
yeah, wow, and so, all told,looking at 20 people, 50 people,
100 people.
There were, I believe, 70adoptees 70 adoptees, yeah, and
their guests and their guests.
(25:30):
Okay, so 70 total or 70 plus 70plus, wow, yeah, and their
guests and their guests Okay, 70.
So 70 total or 70 plus 70 plus,wow, yeah, okay, that's a
massive conference.
Every single day it was.
It was a lot Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
During the conference itself.
I hope if somehow thisinformation gets back to them,
they don't think that I amterrible for saying this, but
going into it I thought that itwas going to be like propaganda
in a way, but the thing is, withthat and knowing that you kind
of got away if you're gettingenough out of it to go along
with it, out of it to go alongwith it.
(26:18):
So it did feel a bitpropaganda-ish, because Korea
has a really bad reputation.
It's a very shameful past whenit comes to the whole adoption
industry thing and they'rereally trying to change the
image that the world has aboutthat.
So they had this conferencewhere they brought us all back
and they paid for everything andthey took us one day to the
National Museum and another daythey took us to this Hyundai
(26:39):
place which we were all likewe're going to a factory.
I don't know about this, butthat place was amazing.
It wasn't a factory and theyshowed like all this technology
and things that were coming inand it was just awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
But do not go to san francisco in 2025 okay, why, why
, why would one not go to sanfrancisco?
Speaker 1 (27:02):
well, I got to sit in this, uh, future car thing.
That's not really a car.
You get in, you buckle yourseat belt and then the four
seats in the car move and turnand go around a table and then
on the table you can like, ifyou're going to the mall, you
can look at things that are atthe mall and pick your sizes and
colors so they'll have themready for you when you get there
(27:23):
and do this and do that andblah, blah, blah.
Nobody's looking at the road.
Oh and oh and.
So this is a concept, that acard that they are looking to
release.
I believe they said in 2025.
I could be wrong, I think itwas 2025.
So good luck, san francisco.
But I said, oh, so, yeah, thisis, this is being released, and
(27:43):
okay, okay, I was like, so maybeI shouldn't visit during that
time.
They're like, oh, no, we're,we're releasing it overseas
first.
You know.
It's like, oh, okay, whereshe's like san francisco.
It's like, oh, got it okay okay?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
um, all right, is it self driving, or is it okay?
So it's self-driving, and thenyou can just essentially sit
back and and your car becomes asecond home that is geared
towards consumerism.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
All right.
Well, they're picking the rightcountry to launch it in.
We do love buying things andthat's not going to change, nope
.
And San Francisco, historicallyknown for being able to have
open and clean streets, that'snot going to have anybody on
them nice level ground oh, superyep, you've got.
(28:43):
They call it the great plains ofcalifornia.
That is how wonderfullyaccommodating a launch of a new
autonomous vehicle is forHyundai.
Congratulations, guys, youchose the right one.
All right, so I can see whyyou'd want to avoid that
entirely, but you know, fromafar, be like oh, I saw that
(29:05):
that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I saw that a few years ago.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I'm a time traveler.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yes, yes, of course, because you went 13 hours into
the future see exactly, I didtravel time was it just car
related technology that was overthere or did they have?
I don't know about hyundai ifthey have other research and
development divisions that gobeyond automobiles yeah, I'm not
(29:32):
so about that, but this was allpretty much car related.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
But they did talk about things how this one car
forgot exactly, but like itactually like cleans water or
something while it's driven andI asked questions about it.
They're like well, it doesn'tactually do that, but like it
has the capability to do that,and I was confused and I don't
know if things got lost intranslation or what, but I was
(29:57):
hey, does it work?
Speaker 2 (29:59):
it could okay, but does it uh?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
next question so then , our last cultural experience
was one of four.
It would be learning to cooktraditional Korean meal in a
Buddhist temple.
Okay, learning to paint in atraditional style, a taekwondo
(30:27):
class and a K-pop dance class.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh, you did K-pop dance class.
Oh, you did k-pop, didn't you?
Speaker 1 (30:33):
and so they sent the email and they said if something
is no longer listed when you goto fill it out, that means it's
full.
So I would have really liked tolearn from the buddhist monks,
oh okay, how to cook traditionalfood.
I love K-pop, but I am not adancer.
(30:55):
Okay, I was all set to do that.
One Friday afternoon I saw theemail at work and I'm going
through and I open it up andthere's just Taekwondo and K-pop
left.
Okay, okay, and there's justtaekwondo and k-pop left, okay,
(31:16):
okay.
And I saw, oh man, the two thatI would have actually wanted to
try.
I didn't get it.
They sent the email out.
On american thanksgiving okayso in the k-pop and the
taekwondo it was a lot ofAmericans, Because a lot of
Americans weren't reallychecking their email on
(31:38):
Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, was that sort of a bonding Wait, so they sent
it out.
You were not in Korea onThanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Correct, this was ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So that's so, instead of being there and choosing OK,
now I'm caught up, ok, allright.
So Taekwondo, you got, you got,you got Taekwondo and a lovely
smattering of Korean K-popdancing.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yes.
So because I took a DNA testbecause I don't know who my
parents are DNA test because Idon't know who my parents are
I've learned that as far asathletic ability, I have a
hundred percent less likelihoodof being athletic, but it
doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
That's literally what it said.
Doesn't mean I shouldn't trysports.
(32:24):
But then two other things saidthat I am a hundred percent more
likely to have Achilles tendontear and 100% more likely to
have an ACL tear, and I'vealready had an MCL tear three
times.
So Taekwondo and K-pop danceare both not really the best for
(32:48):
someone like me, but I assumedin Taekwondo they may have you
try to like break things and Ifelt that that might hurt me
more so so I did go with theK-pop dance.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Okay, so yeah, because, Taekwondo, there can be
some twists.
Oh man, it really seems like acoin flip, doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Mm-hmm Yep, okay.
Man, it really seems like atwine flip, doesn't it?
Mm-hmm Yep, okay.
Yeah, I know you're not a K-popfan, but some of these moves
that they do.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I appreciate the art there.
I don't know if baby metal isconsidered K-pop kind of, but I
do love me some baby metal.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I don't know what that is.
It's like hardcore music.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
No, no, no, no, it's.
It's three, three performerswho sing what I imagine are like
pretty traditional styles ofk-pop songs, but like the band
is just deeply heavy metal.
Oh, like they went on.
They went on tour with thecreators of megalopolis, the
(33:56):
megalopolips megalopolips, Ithink that's the call of it like
the, the anime, that was allabout the, the death metal band
that rules the world.
Oh right, last year.
So anyways, I appreciate it.
I I don't listen to a lot of it, I'm not into it as much as
other friends of mine are, but Iknow that it's a lot of work to
perform that a whole concert.
(34:18):
Especially.
I can only imagine how in shapeyou have to be.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, and I am not.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So I will say I didn't tear anything.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Good, all right Success.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yes, and then on the last night, the closing dinner,
they made us get up in front ofeveryone and perform it.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Oh, like a middle school.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Don't have enough trauma from my homeland already.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
I now got another one to add to the list.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
All right, how'd you do?
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I don't know, I think I blacked out oh.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
God, okay.
Well, that's how, at least youdidn't have to spend any money
on it.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That's true.
That's true, it was a freeclass.
Yes, yes, it was a free class.
Yes, yes, yes, it was a freeclass.
So, yeah, our conference, youknow they had us talk.
They talked about a lot ofdifferent things.
The final conference piece thatthey had us talk about was there
was someone from the governmentthere, someone from this
organization called Goal, whichis a lot of adoptees work at,
(35:27):
and it's a nonprofit and theyhelp adoptees try to find
information.
It's Korean-based, so they werethere and they basically told us
that, because of the laws thathave changed in Korea and how,
in 2025, the government's goingto be in charge of adoptions and
(35:48):
all our files are going to becontrolled by the government.
So, you know, during the Q&A,we tried to ask people from that
government agency like, so whatstuff is being transferred?
Like, is it going to transfereverything?
Is it going to be copies ofthings?
Is it still going to be at theagencies?
Like, what about pictures?
(36:09):
Like what's consideredimportant information?
And there was just a lot of.
We're still working that out,we're trying to figure that out.
And so the last organization tospeak was GOLD, the one that
helps the adoptees, and the guybasically flat out, said in
front of everybody if you wantyour stuff, you need to come
before 2025.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh, they're just going to try a whole clean slate
and pretend that there was abefore times that we don't talk
about.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I'm not sure, and moving forward.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
That's it Okay.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah and so yeah.
So I am a member of GOAL and inOctober I'll be going over to
try to find whatever informationI can.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Oh, wow, okay, Is this going to be on your dime or
are they helping out?
Okay?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Oh well, they are doing this program.
So I wanted to go in likeOctober.
And then when I was talking tothe woman from Goals she's like,
well, we're doing this program.
We don't know if it's going tobe in September or October yet,
but whenever it is is a bad timeto come because we're all going
to be working on this program,but I don't know what the
criteria is going to be, but youshould apply for it.
So the information went out inApril for Soat Day and I decided
(37:20):
, okay, I will apply to this andit's basically the adoption
search, but doing it with otheradoptees 30 total and they pay
for everything.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Okay, so you got it.
So people have experience thatyou can get help with some of
the blind spots and get theinformation that you're looking
for.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Maybe, like they'll bring you to the agency, they'll
do like the translating for theconversations, the translating
for the conversations.
They will go.
For instance, I was found inGwangju, which is in the south
of Korea.
I will be in Seoul and Gwangjuwith them.
We're going to go to the areawhere I was found and try to ask
(38:06):
questions and see what we canfind, put up flyers with my
pictures on it and all thatstuff.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Your current pictures or baby pictures.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
They want one from as young as I have to a childhood
one and then a current one.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Oh, wow, okay yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So yeah, I know in the past at times they've
sometimes taken people to likelike nursing homes and stuff in
the area and tried to talk withpeople there to see if they knew
anything whoa okay yeah, soit's, it's a big thing.
So I thought that it would begood to do this with other
adoptees, so I put in myapplication and I got called for
(38:47):
an interview.
Okay, so I did my interviewwith this guy and I asked, like
you know, how do you choosepeople, this and that and
everything?
And it was a lot of people whohaven't been to Korea yet, which
I'm like, oh well, I was justthere in December, so that sucks
.
And then people who I wasasking if the file was important
(39:13):
, because my file doesn't havemuch.
She's like it's a little bit,but it's not, it doesn't weigh
heavily on it.
The never being to Korea is aheavy one, and the other heavy
one is if they don't get chosenfor this, will they have the
means to be able to get there ontheir own?
Okay on their own.
(39:38):
Okay, so me, being a singleparent with a child, who has
some some special needs sort ofthings, and who only works
part-time because of said childand wanting to spend as much
time as I can with him, I didnot get chosen.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
So I'm going in October, a month later, and
we'll see what we can find.
My cousin, my second cousin inHawaii, yeah, I did finally ask
her.
I'm like, okay, I'm justwondering do you by any chance
have like names of any of likeyour family or anything?
I know your mom doesn't talk tothem or anything, but she was
(40:25):
able to give me.
She's like I'll ask my mom, andshe got back to me very quickly
within the hour and she gave methe name of her mother's mother
and father.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Oh, wow, yeah, Okay, it's getting close to feeling
real, then.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, so there's that .
There's at least a littlesomething maybe to go off of,
but a lot of people have similarnames in Korea.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Right.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
We'll see what we can figure out.
But the woman, she, when she Ihad my talk with her about
coming over to do the activesearch, she's like you know, I
your file, I don't know.
And I was like, oh gosh, thisdoesn't sound like good from
someone who like deals with thisday in and day out yeah she's
like I think it's really strangethat it says this man is the 62
(41:17):
year old man brought you to theorphanage.
I was like, yeah, she's like Imean, how do we know he's 62?
Like, we know his age but wedon't have his name.
She's like why didn't it justsay like a man who looked like
he was in his 60s?
And I was like, yeah, since Ifound that out, that's been
(41:38):
bothering me too.
She's like I mean, maybe he waslike your grandfather.
And I was like, yeah, thatthoughts crossed my mind too
yeah, that, that seems to be themost simple explanation.
Right.
So, as the children say, itseems sus Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Well, yeah, walk me through why that seems sus.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Well, because we know that being a single mother in
Korea was frowned upon.
We know that a lot of them weretalked into giving up their
children, and some that were not.
When they would go to work, thegrandparents would bring the
children to the orphanage.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
We know that a lot of files have been changed.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Oh, so you were.
You were potentially kidnapped.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yes, I see, okay, I got you.
So Wow, that's a oh man Wow.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Yeah, she said not to get your hopes up on finding
anything, because Korea is asmall country and people move
around a lot for jobs, so Okay.
So that's that.
But it's brought on a wholelike issue with like, because I
have to be there for like twoweeks because dealing with like
the government and policestations and nonprofits and
volunteers and all of this likeagencies, private, like business
(43:03):
, though it seems like there'snot a lot of meetings and it
should be able to be donequickly.
People's schedules are all overthe place.
Yeah, I can imagine, so I'mgoing to be on quickly.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
People's schedules are all over the place.
Yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
So I'm going to be on the ground for like two weeks
and so I was asking like to makeup the time with my kid when I
get home, because I can't bringhim on something like this.
And that's become a whole thing.
So that's just a whole otherthing.
And, like I talked to mytherapist about it, she's like,
(43:34):
yeah, it's a lot harder on youbeing an adoptee.
It's even more important likeseeing your kid.
And I was like, yeah, if youliked this episode of the Adopt
Twins, I urge you to pull overif you're driving, or stop what
you're doing and take one minuteto take out your phone and text
someone you know that you thinkwould also like the Adopt Twins
.
Send them a text that says hey,I've been listening to this
(43:55):
podcast and I think you'd likeit.
Let me know what you think andsend them a link to the show.
Word of mouth is the best wayto spread the hilarity of the
Adopt Twins, so stop gatekeepingus and let someone else know
We'll catch y'all soon.
Hi, this is Meg.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And this is Billy.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And we are.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The Adopt Twins.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Meg and this is Billy , and we are the Adopt Twins.
Welcome to a podcast from twoadoptees who are navigating life
loss, moving on and growing up.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
For our adopted friends we hope to bring you a
familiar point of view and forour friends who aren't welcome
to the complicated jungle of howwe get on so for me personally,
(00:52):
podfest was the first flight, Iwent on in seven years?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
whoa, yeah, seven years.
So the next month I went to sanSan Francisco and then I did a
really big trip in December thatI will come back to, and then
have since gone to also Key Westand California.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Great.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So fit a lot in in those few months after not being
on a flight for seven years.
So that big trip that I had, itwas to Disney World.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hey, congratulations.
I remember going there with youand we couldn't talk about it,
because you're, yeah, you're,you're, you're youngling, as it
were, could not know that youwere there.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Correct, so I had to take my Mickey ears off when I
did my nightly call with him andgo to a nondescript background,
so he had no clue what wasgoing on, because he was very
excited.
I've been planning it since hisfirst birthday and so we
finally got the chance to go inDecember of 2023.
(02:02):
Also, I found this informationin October of 2023 about on
Instagram from the OverseasKorean Agency, which is a
government agency in Korea, thatthey were bringing over some
adoptees who have not been backto Korea since they were adopted
(02:23):
to another country and theywould pay for flights up to two
weeks before their actualconference and two weeks after
and the time during the actualconference they would pay for
the food and the hotel and thetransportation to the things
that they took us to and theadmission to the things they
took us to.
And so I decided that I was notgoing to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
You're not going to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
I was not going to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
An all-inclusive paid trip to Korea and big no, thank
you.
Right Connecticut is goodenough for me.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, yeah, to an extent, but it was more about
the fact that they would pay fortwo weeks before and two weeks
after, which means you couldhave five weeks in Korea, but
the day I'd have to fly to Korea, because you know what.
Those flights are really longand the time difference is like
wild.
Oh, yeah, so the day I'd have tofly to Korea was the day I was
(03:25):
flying back to new york fromdisney world.
And then the after the day I,after the conference ended, I
have to fly to connecticut forthe child in the nutcracker okay
so I maybe I'll try it anotheryear when I can stay longer.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Okay, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then last minute, two days before I decided, you
know what, I might as well justdo it.
I'm probably not going to getpicked anyway, so I'll just fill
it out, just so I can like geta handle on all of this.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So I filled it out.
I got it in on deadline.
I did not get the hard copiesto the consulate in New York
quite at deadline because Ididn't realize I needed to.
And so that day I went and wentover to good old Staples and
printed it out and made copiesand overnighted it to both of
(04:26):
the consulates in New York,because I wasn't sure what
addresses was supposed to go to.
And they got it the day after,of course, because I did it on
the day it was due.
So I said, well, that's that.
But then I went to go pick upmy son on November 1st from
dance.
I parked the car it is, ifpeople aren't familiar, november
(04:48):
1st is Adoptee Awareness Month.
So, parking the car and I seethis number come up on my phone
and I don't pick up numbers Idon't know, because a lot of
times there are people that wantmoney and you know I don't
really want to give them mymoney sure so I just refuse to
(05:09):
pick up.
But I'm looking at the numberand it's a new york number and
I'm thinking about time frame ofeverything and I'm like, well,
I'll just pick up and see whatthey say.
So I picked up and I said hellomy brain.
And said they said my last namefirst.
You know what kind of peoplesay the last name first.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Is it Koreans?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It is Huh.
So she said I wanted to let youknow you will be getting the
message soon, but you've beenchosen for the program.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Whoa and I cried a whole lot.
Oh yeah, because that was a lotto take in well, what were your
, you know, even though you weredoing it, not to do it, but you
know, you were kind of hopingin some recess of your soul that
maybe this was going to happen.
What were your initial hopesfor what could happen while you
were out there?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
well, I wanted to register my dna with the police
in the missing persons stuff.
I wanted to.
I thought maybe we'd see like ablue House which is like
America's White House.
I thought maybe we'd see thepalaces.
I thought maybe, maybe I'd getto meet BTS, because RM has this
(06:35):
whole thing that he's doingwith the government now and RM
had posted a photo at one pointof him with the overseas Korean
agency.
So I was like super excitedbecause I love BTS.
And then I did know that threeof them had already gone into
the military to do theirmandatory military training but
(06:56):
there were still four left.
There were still four morethere.
So I landed on Sunday morning.
Bts wasn't there to greet me,as I thought they would be, and
two of them left on Monday andthe last two left on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
What a waste of a trip.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Seriously Left for the military instead during my
time there.
So that's fun.
And with them being gone, allof the videographers and all of
the photographers decided tofollow us around for the entire
week.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
How many were there?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You know, I'm not sure, but we were broken up,
sometimes into four differentgroups and we had multiple
photographers and videographerson each of the groups.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, and so have you seen any of the footage that
came from it?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yes, actually, on the last day, at our closing
ceremony, they put the wholepackage, which covered
everything from us getting offthe buses at the hotels to the
check-in process to get ourbadges, to all the different
events that we had.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Please tell me they used their music as the overlay
of everything, or was it moregeneric public domain in Korea
music that they were using?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, definitely was not BTS, which is very
unfortunate.
It should have been.
I'm sure that their video wouldhave gotten way more views if
it was.
But yeah, it was just basicgeneric music.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
So you can find it online.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Oh, yes, I will put a link in the show notes so
people can check it out ifthey'd like.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yes, yeah, it shows how awesome and wonderful of a
job that they did with lettingus get to know our culture, with
our cultural experiences andthe National Museum and trying
the foods and having us speak togovernment agencies about
adaption, like they are doingeverything they can to help all
of us.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I bet they are doing everything they can, and a way
that it's being presented isexactly what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So we knew it was a propaganda trip, but it did get
me over there.
With these kinds of things,there's always a compromise that
needs to happen and a give andtake.
And they were going to pay formy hotel at a five-star hotel,
they were going to reimburse mefor airfare and they were going
to feed me my meals, so I did it.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Mission accomplished.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Unfortunately, that leaves me wanting to actually go
back to Korea, because therewasn't any real free time, which
I think is also maybe anotherthing that was part of their
plan, who knows and I wassupposed to go in October.
Some health things came up, sothat did not happen, but I will
be going in June.
However, that'll be after 2024ends and the new laws go into
(09:48):
place in 2025.
As far as how adoption recordsare being kept, who has access
to them and all of that, so it'sgoing to be more difficult, I'm
thinking, to get access toanything, but I will still try.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And then, if all else fails, you can call up BTS and
say, hey, can you help me out?
I am a sister of yours in Korea.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Right, but they weren't even able to get
themselves out of their militarytraining.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
So that's true.
Hey, gal Gadot had to do stuffyou know over with the IDF.
So right, Other other cultures.
They prioritize that militarytraining and, if my math is
correct, they're still in a wartechnically over there.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yes, yes.
Until there is a unification ofthe two Koreas, we are
considered in a war.
Yeah, so that's fun, andAmerica and colonization and all
of that with South Korea isgreat, because that's what
started the whole adoptionindustry in Korea, yay.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Hey, keep it going, guys.
What was the point?
What is it?
What were they doing?
Did you reach out to them ontwitter or instagram, just so
they knew that you were coming?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
or well, you know I my plan was to reach out to them
on instagram, but apparentlyinstagram has this new thing now
, where once you send someone amessage, if they don't accept
that one message, you can'tmessage them ever again.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Oh, okay, well, okay.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Because apparently they don't follow me back.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
They don't.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That's impossible.
I know it has to be a mistake.
They have to.
Is it another like megaInstagram that they are
following by mistake?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I mean, I have like eight Instagram accounts and
they're not following any ofthem.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You have eight Instagram accounts.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Something like that.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Is it just your name, but one, two, three, four, five
, six, seven, eight, or do youspread it out with, like, some
different names in there?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Oh yeah, they're all different.
They're all different.
There's only one that actuallyeven says Meg, and that one does
have numbers.
It's one, two, three.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Okay, got it.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So, yeah, they did not greet me at the airport like
I thought they would, but theoverseas Korean agency did send
someone to greet me at theairport and get me on a bus to
my hotel and she had a littlesign sign and I missed her at
first because I was on a 14 hourflight.
After doing a six hour flightto LA, after doing a two hour
(12:38):
flight to New York, after wakingup early and packing for me and
a tiny human, after being uplate the night before to see
fireworks.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
So I missed her and her little sign, the night
before to see fireworks, so Imissed her and her little sign.
Did you get any?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
sleep on the plane at all, or was it just excitement?
Very little.
I have such trouble sleeping asit is.
I have to take 50 grams of likemelatonin or dromamine every
night to try to go to sleep, soit was very difficult.
I did get some sleep.
Nothing against my seatmates,they were great.
They only got up once and theyboth got up at the same time.
They were friends.
So you know, for 14 hours toget up once, that's wild, wow
(13:25):
Okay.
But I did find her and she didget me my bus ticket and she was
from Korea, obviously, and hegrew up there and she was very
sweet and her name was Rachel.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
That's a traditional Korean name, I assume, so her
last name was Rachel.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You know, I'm not sure she only gave one name,
sort of like Madonna or Prince,and I wanted to be like, but
what do people that grew up herecall you?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Oh sure, I don't want to be one of those people
that's like what is your realname?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Because I got the only time and that was terrible.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah, where are you really from?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Right, but I just really wanted to be like but
what's on your birth certificate?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Why do you think that her name is Rachel, as opposed
to something more traditional?
Was she older?
Was she like your age?
Was she a lot younger?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It was a college intern.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
College intern.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, okay, gotcha you know I still don't believe
Rachel was her given name atbirth.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I don't, I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I don't Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I could be very wrong and that could be very racist
of me.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But I just I don't feel like it was her given name
and it might be because she wasdealing with lots of people who
don't know the Korean languageat all that they went with a
Americanized name.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay, is it possible she's adopted?
I don't think so.
Okay, yeah, okay, okay.
Is it possible she's adopted?
I don't think so.
Okay, yeah, okay.
So you get off the plane andyou're met with america and
you're like what is happening?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
the first.
The first place I see toactually buy anything is dunkin
donuts inside the airport.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Finally, okay, were there differences in the menu or
?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
You know I didn't get anything because caffeine I no
longer have a tolerance for andI wanted to actually try Korean
food from like Korean places.
I'm sure what a Korean Dunkin'Donut thing might be.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You wanted to go to Rachel's Good Old Fashioned
Korean Delicatessen.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Exactly, that's the place to get the real stuff.
So I got to my hotel.
It was probably about 6 am bythe time I got there.
Oh, so the buses that you takethat are like the shuttle buses,
not like the city.
I don't know if they're likeGreyhounds or what kind of buses
(15:57):
they're really like, but theyhad seats that reclined back
further than my airline seatreclined.
Oh, wow, yes, and they werepadded all nicely and they had
all it was.
It was just great.
It was fantastic.
I was like I just want to stayon this bus, but then I saw the
hotel and they put us up in theGrand Hyatt Soul.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So I said well, you can have your bus back.
I've got this here.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Oh, that's so nice.
Oh, that's so nice, because I'msure there's a worry that it's
something where it's like allright, well, yeah, the Hyatt's
right there, but we're going tobe staying right next to it.
Yes, at the Motel.
Rachel.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yes, miss, you're getting off the bus the wrong
way.
No, no, this is where.
Yes, yes, but you don't go tothat hotel, you go to the one
behind it.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Oh, but that was not the case.
It was a real Hyatt, it wasOkay.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
And out my window I saw Namsung Tower, which I
didn't get to visit.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
And they let us have the breakfast buffet every day,
and there was more food therethan I've seen in my life.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
What was the spread?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Oh my gosh, there was American food like scrambled
eggs and bacon and stuff likethat.
There was like moreScandinavian style stuff with
like I guess it's Scandinavianand European with like the meats
and the cheeses and stuff forlike breakfast and then they had
like bagels and muffins andpastries and they had orange
juice and coffee and apple juiceand all other kind of different
(17:39):
fruits juices that I did notwant to try because I was scared
.
And then they had a wholespread of like Korean food.
So they had like this pumpkinsoup.
That was amazing.
But on the last day they didn'thave it and they changed it to
something else and we were allreally sad.
But they had white rice.
They had this.
My favorite thing was this soupand you go over and you walk
(18:02):
over and she says, would youlike some soup?
And you say yes, and then youget this little bowl and she
puts this.
She takes some broth and sheputs it in this pan and then
like you can have like shrimpand you can have like sprouts
and like cilantro and all thisdifferent stuff.
So it's sort of like an omeletstation but like for soup like
make your own pho, but likesomebody's making it for you.
(18:25):
Yeah, but okay and that was myfavorite I loved it because when
I was in middle school, I usedto eat soup every morning for
breakfast.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That sounds psychopathic.
Like you mean like did you callcereal soup?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
No.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I would legitimately eat soup.
Like when I'd go to a birthdayparty that was a sleepover in my
bag, my mom would pack me a canof soup.
Like when I'd go to a birthdayparty that was a sleepover in my
bag, my mom would pack me a canof soup.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Like Campbell's chicken noodle soup.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well Progresso, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Okay, I don't mean to soup shame I don't.
But I am so glad that in yourDNA the reason you love soup so
much is because it's served inKorea for breakfast.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And that reminds me of this story.
My parents had to go somewhereand it was like really soon
after I was adopted, and so mymom's sister and her husband
came to watch me and they tookme to this restaurant for dinner
.
That was like down the blockfrom where I grew up and they
asked me what I wanted to eatand I said soup.
And they said you don't wantsoup.
(19:35):
And they got me like a tunafish sandwich or something.
I hate tuna fish.
To this day I will not eat it,and so, like they kept trying to
get me to eat it, eat it, eatit.
And then they finally orderedme the soup and I ate the soup.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Huh, so Wow, that's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah, some people didn't do their homework.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
You're talking about your parents.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, they didn't, did they?
No, oh, wow, okay, all right,so good to know that there is a
solid.
There's just just notjustification, but almost a
nostalgia that you continue toexperience with a food item that
(20:38):
is just completely normal tohave, that is so alien over here
, like you can't go to topeka,kansas, walk into the waffle
house, maybe waffle house, let'ssay denny's.
You Kansas, walk into theWaffle House, maybe Waffle House
, let's say Denny's.
You can't walk into Denny's andbe like hello, your finest soup
, please.
It's 830 and I need to get towork.
(21:03):
They will take eggs and justlike pop the yolk for you and
say is this it?
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Is this what you wanted?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Oh, I thought they were going to throw the eggs at
me After you say no, they might,but wow, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Incredible.
That was good.
I also think I know why Ididn't eat rice until I was like
12.
And my parents didn'tunderstand why.
Because rice is so popular,Because they weren't giving me
Asian rice.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
What were they giving you?
Rice roni.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah, and different things like that that are, just
you know, a totally differentstyle.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So yeah, so what was?
What was the style there?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I guess it's um like jasmine rice that's used a lot
in Asian cuisine.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So it's.
I guess it's more like afragrant.
I don't remember if it's a longgrain or short grain, I don't
know, I don't know enough aboutit.
So all I buy now is jasminerice in those packets that you
heat in the microwave for 90seconds, because I still do not
own a rice cooker and I'm veryscared to figure out how to do
it.
Because it's this whole thingwhere you have to rinse the rice
so many times and then you haveto put it in, and you have to
(22:14):
put your hand in and your waterin the thing to cook.
It has to go up to a certainpart on your hand and then
that's when you'll have perfectrice.
But everyone's hand is adifferent size, so I don't
understand this rule.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Have you tried an instant pot?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
No.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
They make it pretty easy, but you do have to go
through all of those steps.
But I will say it is divine tobe able to cook up a batch of
rice in about 30 minutes andthen have that for the week.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, but I can make rice in 90 seconds.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh, that is true.
That is true.
But their rice, did they seasonit at all?
Did they use bay leaves, or wasit just kind of more of a
neutral white rice that was?
Maybe a little salt was added.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I think it was neutral.
I didn't see them actually cookit, so I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So that was fun.
And then they had us go to theconference which went every day
from 10 am to 8.30 pm.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
What was jet lag for you Like?
Were you pretty?
Did it take a while to getacclimated to what?
Was it 13 hour difference?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yes, 13 hours, and I don't think I ever did get
acclimated.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Okay, fair.
Yeah, probably on the wholeeverybody felt that way right.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yes, I'm sure they did.
I mean some people you knowpeople came from.
There were quite a fewAmericans, there was one
Canadian, there were a lot ofpeople from Denmark, sweden,
france, there's Germany, there acouple Italians and it was such
a strange experience.
And I know this is going tosound racist and I don't mean it
(23:57):
to sound racist, but you knowAsian people growing up they
always sounded like they werefrom Asia.
The ones I met I cause I grewup in a very white area.
So when I finally met someonewho sounded like me and who
looked like me, it was a verybig surprise and it was hard for
(24:18):
me to understand.
But then, being there and likeclosing my eyes and listening to
all these like tongues fromaround the world, and they
sounded like they were nativefrom those countries, because
they are native from thosecountries, but then to open my
eyes and see them look like me,it was a weird thing for me to
(24:39):
try to wrap my head around.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Did everybody speak English for the most part, or
did everybody kind of clump withtheir sort of regions that they
were from?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, they put us in groups, and so they did try to
take into account who spoke what.
There was a English translatorand there was a French
translator, and then they had tohire someone who didn't know
Korean but knew French andItalian, and that person would
translate for the Italians.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Okay, yeah, would translate for the Italians Okay,
yeah, wow, and so, all told,looking at 20 people, 50 people,
100 people.
There were, I believe, 70adoptees 70 adoptees, yeah, and
their guests and their guests.
(25:30):
Okay, so 70 total or 70 plus 70plus, wow, yeah, and their
guests and their guests Okay, 70.
So 70 total or 70 plus 70 plus,wow, yeah, okay, that's a
massive conference.
Every single day it was.
It was a lot Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
During the conference itself.
I hope if somehow thisinformation gets back to them,
they don't think that I amterrible for saying this, but
going into it I thought that itwas going to be like propaganda
in a way, but the thing is, withthat and knowing that you kind
of got away if you're gettingenough out of it to go along
with it, out of it to go alongwith it.
(26:18):
So it did feel a bitpropaganda-ish, because Korea
has a really bad reputation.
It's a very shameful past whenit comes to the whole adoption
industry thing and they'rereally trying to change the
image that the world has aboutthat.
So they had this conferencewhere they brought us all back
and they paid for everything andthey took us one day to the
National Museum and another daythey took us to this Hyundai
(26:39):
place which we were all likewe're going to a factory.
I don't know about this, butthat place was amazing.
It wasn't a factory and theyshowed like all this technology
and things that were coming inand it was just awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
But do not go to san francisco in 2025 okay, why, why
, why would one not go to sanfrancisco?
Speaker 1 (27:02):
well, I got to sit in this, uh, future car thing.
That's not really a car.
You get in, you buckle yourseat belt and then the four
seats in the car move and turnand go around a table and then
on the table you can like, ifyou're going to the mall, you
can look at things that are atthe mall and pick your sizes and
colors so they'll have themready for you when you get there
(27:23):
and do this and do that andblah, blah, blah.
Nobody's looking at the road.
Oh and oh and.
So this is a concept, that acard that they are looking to
release.
I believe they said in 2025.
I could be wrong, I think itwas 2025.
So good luck, san francisco.
But I said, oh, so, yeah, thisis, this is being released, and
(27:43):
okay, okay, I was like, so maybeI shouldn't visit during that
time.
They're like, oh, no, we're,we're releasing it overseas
first.
You know.
It's like, oh, okay, whereshe's like san francisco.
It's like, oh, got it okay okay?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
um, all right, is it self driving, or is it okay?
So it's self-driving, and thenyou can just essentially sit
back and and your car becomes asecond home that is geared
towards consumerism.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
All right.
Well, they're picking the rightcountry to launch it in.
We do love buying things andthat's not going to change, nope
.
And San Francisco, historicallyknown for being able to have
open and clean streets, that'snot going to have anybody on
them nice level ground oh, superyep, you've got.
(28:43):
They call it the great plains ofcalifornia.
That is how wonderfullyaccommodating a launch of a new
autonomous vehicle is forHyundai.
Congratulations, guys, youchose the right one.
All right, so I can see whyyou'd want to avoid that
entirely, but you know, fromafar, be like oh, I saw that
(29:05):
that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I saw that a few years ago.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I'm a time traveler.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yes, yes, of course, because you went 13 hours into
the future see exactly, I didtravel time was it just car
related technology that was overthere or did they have?
I don't know about hyundai ifthey have other research and
development divisions that gobeyond automobiles yeah, I'm not
(29:32):
so about that, but this was allpretty much car related.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
But they did talk about things how this one car
forgot exactly, but like itactually like cleans water or
something while it's driven andI asked questions about it.
They're like well, it doesn'tactually do that, but like it
has the capability to do that,and I was confused and I don't
know if things got lost intranslation or what, but I was
(29:57):
hey, does it work?
Speaker 2 (29:59):
it could okay, but does it uh?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
next question so then , our last cultural experience
was one of four.
It would be learning to cooktraditional Korean meal in a
Buddhist temple.
Okay, learning to paint in atraditional style, a taekwondo
(30:27):
class and a K-pop dance class.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Oh, you did K-pop dance class.
Oh, you did k-pop, didn't you?
Speaker 1 (30:33):
and so they sent the email and they said if something
is no longer listed when you goto fill it out, that means it's
full.
So I would have really liked tolearn from the buddhist monks,
oh okay, how to cook traditionalfood.
I love K-pop, but I am not adancer.
(30:55):
Okay, I was all set to do that.
One Friday afternoon I saw theemail at work and I'm going
through and I open it up andthere's just Taekwondo and K-pop
left.
Okay, okay, and there's justtaekwondo and k-pop left, okay,
(31:16):
okay.
And I saw, oh man, the two thatI would have actually wanted to
try.
I didn't get it.
They sent the email out.
On american thanksgiving okayso in the k-pop and the
taekwondo it was a lot ofAmericans, Because a lot of
Americans weren't reallychecking their email on
(31:38):
Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, was that sort of a bonding Wait, so they sent
it out.
You were not in Korea onThanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Correct, this was ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So that's so, instead of being there and choosing OK,
now I'm caught up, ok, allright.
So Taekwondo, you got, you got,you got Taekwondo and a lovely
smattering of Korean K-popdancing.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yes.
So because I took a DNA testbecause I don't know who my
parents are DNA test because Idon't know who my parents are
I've learned that as far asathletic ability, I have a
hundred percent less likelihoodof being athletic, but it
doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
That's literally what it said.
Doesn't mean I shouldn't trysports.
(32:24):
But then two other things saidthat I am a hundred percent more
likely to have Achilles tendontear and 100% more likely to
have an ACL tear, and I'vealready had an MCL tear three
times.
So Taekwondo and K-pop danceare both not really the best for
(32:48):
someone like me, but I assumedin Taekwondo they may have you
try to like break things and Ifelt that that might hurt me
more so so I did go with theK-pop dance.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Okay, so yeah, because, Taekwondo, there can be
some twists.
Oh man, it really seems like acoin flip, doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Mm-hmm Yep, okay.
Man, it really seems like atwine flip, doesn't it?
Mm-hmm Yep, okay.
Yeah, I know you're not a K-popfan, but some of these moves
that they do.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
I appreciate the art there.
I don't know if baby metal isconsidered K-pop kind of, but I
do love me some baby metal.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I don't know what that is.
It's like hardcore music.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
No, no, no, no, it's.
It's three, three performerswho sing what I imagine are like
pretty traditional styles ofk-pop songs, but like the band
is just deeply heavy metal.
Oh, like they went on.
They went on tour with thecreators of megalopolis, the
(33:56):
megalopolips megalopolips, Ithink that's the call of it like
the, the anime, that was allabout the, the death metal band
that rules the world.
Oh right, last year.
So anyways, I appreciate it.
I I don't listen to a lot of it, I'm not into it as much as
other friends of mine are, but Iknow that it's a lot of work to
perform that a whole concert.
(34:18):
Especially.
I can only imagine how in shapeyou have to be.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, and I am not.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So I will say I didn't tear anything.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Good, all right Success.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yes, and then on the last night, the closing dinner,
they made us get up in front ofeveryone and perform it.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Oh, like a middle school.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Don't have enough trauma from my homeland already.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
I now got another one to add to the list.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
All right, how'd you do?
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I don't know, I think I blacked out oh.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
God, okay.
Well, that's how, at least youdidn't have to spend any money
on it.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That's true.
That's true, it was a freeclass.
Yes, yes, it was a free class.
Yes, yes, yes, it was a freeclass.
So, yeah, our conference, youknow they had us talk.
They talked about a lot ofdifferent things.
The final conference piece thatthey had us talk about was there
was someone from the governmentthere, someone from this
organization called Goal, whichis a lot of adoptees work at,
(35:27):
and it's a nonprofit and theyhelp adoptees try to find
information.
It's Korean-based, so they werethere and they basically told us
that, because of the laws thathave changed in Korea and how,
in 2025, the government's goingto be in charge of adoptions and
(35:48):
all our files are going to becontrolled by the government.
So, you know, during the Q&A,we tried to ask people from that
government agency like, so whatstuff is being transferred?
Like, is it going to transfereverything?
Is it going to be copies ofthings?
Is it still going to be at theagencies?
Like, what about pictures?
(36:09):
Like what's consideredimportant information?
And there was just a lot of.
We're still working that out,we're trying to figure that out.
And so the last organization tospeak was GOLD, the one that
helps the adoptees, and the guybasically flat out, said in
front of everybody if you wantyour stuff, you need to come
before 2025.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh, they're just going to try a whole clean slate
and pretend that there was abefore times that we don't talk
about.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I'm not sure, and moving forward.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
That's it Okay.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah and so yeah.
So I am a member of GOAL and inOctober I'll be going over to
try to find whatever informationI can.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Oh, wow, okay, Is this going to be on your dime or
are they helping out?
Okay?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Oh well, they are doing this program.
So I wanted to go in likeOctober.
And then when I was talking tothe woman from Goals she's like,
well, we're doing this program.
We don't know if it's going tobe in September or October yet,
but whenever it is is a bad timeto come because we're all going
to be working on this program,but I don't know what the
criteria is going to be, but youshould apply for it.
So the information went out inApril for Soat Day and I decided
(37:20):
, okay, I will apply to this andit's basically the adoption
search, but doing it with otheradoptees 30 total and they pay
for everything.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Okay, so you got it.
So people have experience thatyou can get help with some of
the blind spots and get theinformation that you're looking
for.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Maybe, like they'll bring you to the agency, they'll
do like the translating for theconversations, the translating
for the conversations.
They will go.
For instance, I was found inGwangju, which is in the south
of Korea.
I will be in Seoul and Gwangjuwith them.
We're going to go to the areawhere I was found and try to ask
(38:06):
questions and see what we canfind, put up flyers with my
pictures on it and all thatstuff.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Your current pictures or baby pictures.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
They want one from as young as I have to a childhood
one and then a current one.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Oh, wow, okay yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So yeah, I know in the past at times they've
sometimes taken people to likelike nursing homes and stuff in
the area and tried to talk withpeople there to see if they knew
anything whoa okay yeah, soit's, it's a big thing.
So I thought that it would begood to do this with other
adoptees, so I put in myapplication and I got called for
(38:47):
an interview.
Okay, so I did my interviewwith this guy and I asked, like
you know, how do you choosepeople, this and that and
everything?
And it was a lot of people whohaven't been to Korea yet, which
I'm like, oh well, I was justthere in December, so that sucks
.
And then people who I wasasking if the file was important
(39:13):
, because my file doesn't havemuch.
She's like it's a little bit,but it's not, it doesn't weigh
heavily on it.
The never being to Korea is aheavy one, and the other heavy
one is if they don't get chosenfor this, will they have the
means to be able to get there ontheir own?
Okay on their own.
(39:38):
Okay, so me, being a singleparent with a child, who has
some some special needs sort ofthings, and who only works
part-time because of said childand wanting to spend as much
time as I can with him, I didnot get chosen.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
So I'm going in October, a month later, and
we'll see what we can find.
My cousin, my second cousin inHawaii, yeah, I did finally ask
her.
I'm like, okay, I'm justwondering do you by any chance
have like names of any of likeyour family or anything?
I know your mom doesn't talk tothem or anything, but she was
(40:25):
able to give me.
She's like I'll ask my mom, andshe got back to me very quickly
within the hour and she gave methe name of her mother's mother
and father.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Oh, wow, yeah, Okay, it's getting close to feeling
real, then.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, so there's that .
There's at least a littlesomething maybe to go off of,
but a lot of people have similarnames in Korea.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Right.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
We'll see what we can figure out.
But the woman, she, when she Ihad my talk with her about
coming over to do the activesearch, she's like you know, I
your file, I don't know.
And I was like, oh gosh, thisdoesn't sound like good from
someone who like deals with thisday in and day out yeah she's
like I think it's really strangethat it says this man is the 62
(41:17):
year old man brought you to theorphanage.
I was like, yeah, she's like Imean, how do we know he's 62?
Like, we know his age but wedon't have his name.
She's like why didn't it justsay like a man who looked like
he was in his 60s?
And I was like, yeah, since Ifound that out, that's been
(41:38):
bothering me too.
She's like I mean, maybe he waslike your grandfather.
And I was like, yeah, thatthoughts crossed my mind too
yeah, that, that seems to be themost simple explanation.
Right.
So, as the children say, itseems sus Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Well, yeah, walk me through why that seems sus.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Well, because we know that being a single mother in
Korea was frowned upon.
We know that a lot of them weretalked into giving up their
children, and some that were not.
When they would go to work, thegrandparents would bring the
children to the orphanage.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
We know that a lot of files have been changed.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Oh, so you were.
You were potentially kidnapped.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yes, I see, okay, I got you.
So Wow, that's a oh man Wow.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Yeah, she said not to get your hopes up on finding
anything, because Korea is asmall country and people move
around a lot for jobs, so Okay.
So that's that.
But it's brought on a wholelike issue with like, because I
have to be there for like twoweeks because dealing with like
the government and policestations and nonprofits and
volunteers and all of this likeagencies, private, like business
(43:03):
, though it seems like there'snot a lot of meetings and it
should be able to be donequickly.
People's schedules are all overthe place.
Yeah, I can imagine, so I'mgoing to be on quickly.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
People's schedules are all over the place.
Yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
So I'm going to be on the ground for like two weeks
and so I was asking like to makeup the time with my kid when I
get home, because I can't bringhim on something like this.
And that's become a whole thing.
So that's just a whole otherthing.
And, like I talked to mytherapist about it, she's like,
(43:34):
yeah, it's a lot harder on youbeing an adoptee.
It's even more important likeseeing your kid.
And I was like, yeah, if youliked this episode of the Adopt
Twins, I urge you to pull overif you're driving, or stop what
you're doing and take one minuteto take out your phone and text
someone you know that you thinkwould also like the Adopt Twins
.
Send them a text that says hey,I've been listening to this
(43:55):
podcast and I think you'd likeit.
Let me know what you think andsend them a link to the show.
Word of mouth is the best wayto spread the hilarity of the
Adopt Twins, so stop gatekeepingus and let someone else know
We'll catch y'all soon.
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