Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Back with Zach

hey man we made it home and all is fabulous with Zachary and his little family.  Seoul is a powerhouse of a city and lots of fun to visit; it’s interesting in part because it’s an ancient city going back over a thousand years, but it’s got almost nothing left that’s more than 60 years old.  They imported some ancient stuff for a little park we visited but mostly it was just intense modern urban living.  Very clean.  Excellent subways.  Oh and we brought home an amazing and wonderful tiny man whom we already love very much.  He left South Korea with us, but clearly Koreans have a penchant for growing with great vitality from new roots, so I have faith that this will be the start of something wonderful for all of us.  Subways will just be the beginning.

Some random notes of Koreana:

* We thought we’d bought chocolate cookies, but instead they were individually-wrapped chocolate-covered and -filled ricegluten cakes, sort of korean mochi, chewy and satisfying and not at all what we’d expected, but in some important ways, better.

* As I walked down the street in a frantically-busy shopping district, known for malls that are open till 5 a.m. and a mecca for stylish youth, a vendor handed me a long skinny twig of - I think - seasoned dried squid snak.  I took it and had a bite.  It was delicious.  I ate my whole squid stick snak.  And I’d eat another. 

* Our neighborhood, where the agency we adoped through is located and maintains the guest house where we stayed, was a busy, though not central, part of town.  Lots of restaurants, small markets, coffee houses, pharmacies.... and “business rooms.” Lots of “business rooms,” advertised in han geul and english lettering on innumerable garrish marquee signs.  I’m not exactly sure what a “business room” is, but the men who left them the small hours of the morning were in no shape for regular business. 

* At a big “western” style discount store like WalMart, there was a rack of fairly tacky knit short-sleeve shirts with stitched, pointed collars and dissonant horizontal stripes.  Over the left breast was a small embroidered heraldic coat of arms, with a unicorn, rampant, in the middle, and the word “BLOG” proudly emblazoned above it. 

* There is an inherent irony in a nation in which hawking a big loogie is S.O.P. in most any situation, but where blowing your nose is considered a major faux pas.  I saw a mother frantically helping her daughter not have to blow her nose on a subway train, pinching her septum and offering responsible maternal advice.  Poor girl.  Poor snot-ridden girl.  Too bad she didn’t just have to hawk one. 

and here’s some gratuitous Korea photos for you.  Today’s theme (besides “korea"): photos that are “portrait"-oriented. 

I don’t know why, but I thought he was gonna be a newborn. Or closer to it. He’s adorable. Love that hair!

that last photo is beautiful.

I am so happy you made it home safely (I thought and thought and thought about the three of you! - yeah, that sounds stalkerish - sry).  Zachary is quite handsom and if that’s Kel in the background...how’d you get so lucky?!  Kidding of course, congratulations to your new and improved family!

How wonderful, congratulations!!!

Welcome home Zachary. You may not know it yet but you have one fantastic set of parents and all these Internet Aunts and Uncles who love and welcome you.

Zachary is absolutely beautiful, Dan. What a lovey, huggy, hair-like-down little bundle of kissable new goodness. May he successfully ride the Ninth Wave in life. Love to you and Kel and your new family.

yay!  so glad you’re back, and with such a wonderful, beautiful souvenir.  congratulations to all of you.  zachary - what an excellent name.

i do kinda wish you’d brought back a ‘BLOG’ shirt, though.  not INSTEAD of the baby you understand.  ALONG WITH.

i am so happy for you.

as I was scrolling down the post, I kept thinking, “there had better be a baby picture in here somewhere!” What a beautiful, big boy! Welcome to parenthood!

speechlessly delighted for all three of you. this is where it gets fun, my friend.

oh.  sigh.  happiness.

Oh.

I’m so happy for all three of you.  Blessings and hugs and tons and tons of love.  Welcome Zach (one of the BEST NAMES EVER!) to your new home which is gonna be a great place to run and jump and drive your Mom and Dad nuts!

Hello Dan!  So glad you’re back and I truly am looking forward to meeting Zach and hearing of all your “joy of parenthood” stories.  And I expect to see you out running with the HASH with jogging stroller in tow.  XXXOOO!

You know, if I had a cupcake for every time I thought of you guys over the past week I’d be on Jenny Craig for the next ten years. Seoul seems a scintillating city (even with the whole loogie thing), and I’m glad you got to experience a bit of it. As for the extra carry-on you and Kel were toting for the return flight… that is one gimme-gimme-wanna-gobble-him-up-gorgeous little cub!

Thanks for sharing your life with us, DanMan. And welcome home.

Welcome home!

I’m so glad that mom and baby are healthy and well and that you made it through okay.

wow.  just wow.  congratulations.

Awesome, he is a cutie. Congrats again to you all. Have fun being a parent, it is always an adventure!

yay!!  congratulations and welcome home.  your new son looks great, we can’t wait to meet him.

and i certainly hope you picked up one of those BLOG shirts—if not for you then for all of your friends… :)

Congratulations and what a sweet photo!  I like the name, too.

i came back to this last image, and adored Kel all over again...i once read that the true test of a loving family, was how the mother gazed at her children in photographs, in spite of the camera’s intrusion (our habit being to look at the camera, but a mother’s instinct being to look at her child.) and she’s gona be so damn good at this that it’s gonna knock your freakin’ socks off, my man.

Yeah, what Jules said. And you know what else? I think watching Kel be a mom will make you fall in love with her all over again.

Dang, it’s all too much. Excuse me… gotta go water the lawn for a while…