Then and Now

Last October, I was sitting on a couch in a beach-adjacent condo with two of the bestest besties a girl could ask for. We were celebrating 40 years of love, laughter, struggle, and strength on planet Earth.

This needs to be an annual thing, ladies. For. Real.

Sometime between examining neck strength and epic dance-offs to If This Isn't Love and Every Little Step, I found that Me and Korea had just begun accepting applications to its 2018 Mosaic Tour.

Ok. Rewind.

1. I was adopted from Korea when I was 18 months old.
2. My parents are white.
3. I haven't returned to Korea since my adoption, almost 40 years ago.
4. Being a Korean adoptee usually isn't in the forefront of my mind. But it's been wiggling its way up there more and more lately.

Back to now.

What the heck is Me and Korea, you ask?

"Our name comes from 'I want to know about me and I also want to know about Korea."

I've been researching Korean adoptee tours to the motherland off and on for years. The highest I found was around $10,000. Most were in the ballpark of $5 - 7,000. I guess at the time, it wasn't really worth it to save up for months or years. What would I find? A place completely foreign to me whose language I couldn't speak, people who made me feel uncomfortable, and unfamiliar cultural traditions? I have enough on my plate just being me right here in America, thank-you-very-much.

Around a year ago, I found out about Me and Korea's Mosaic Tour. There's an application and selection process, and if approved by the committee, attendees get to participate in an experience tailor-made for us. Best of all, as a non-profit, they're in it for the love, so the cost is only $250 (not including airfare). Appealing on all fronts.

Last year, I missed the window to apply. I wouldn't make the same mistake this time.

So, on the couch of a beach-adjacent condo with my homies, I submitted my application.

Today, 2.5 months later, I found out I'd been approved.

Having all the feels.