In 15 hours, I'll be on my way to the real Motherland. My real Motherland: Seoul.
I've been waiting for this trip for... ohhhhh... almost my entire life.
All I know is this:
1. I was found on the steps of a police station in Seoul as a newborn baby
2. There was no i.d. or info on me
3. I was taken to the orphanage at Korea Social Services, where I lived for 3.5 months until I was adopted by Pete and Linda from Minnesota
And now, 30 (something) years later, I'm finally going back.
To visit the orphanage. To find the police station (does something that sounds like "woo wee" police station ring a bell, anyone?). And, to learn about the kind of life my Korean mother might have had. What circumstances led to so many abandoned babies still in the 70s? What's it like now? Are there still honor killings? How different is rural Korean life from the urban, metropolis of Seoul? So many questions. I need to write them all down.
I'm so overwhelmed.
I haven't had time to absorb the fact that this is a journey back to my "roots"... Work has been busy and blah blah blah.
For so many years, I've dreamed about this and what it would be like. And now it's finally happening and all I can think about is finishing this damn work spreadsheet before I leave for the train station.