Police Academy, Jukdo Market, Pohang

Days 6 & 7 of the Mosaic Tour

Wednesday, 6.27

Paju is nicknamed "Book City," as it was designated years ago by the Korean government as a publishing hub. This book-themed hotel was 100% feeling that vibe. No TV. Each room was author-themed, featuring copies of their books. Also, this was one of the larger hotel rooms we got to enjoy. Forgive my messy bed on the right.

Not the best picture of our room, but trust, it was pretty sweet.

My husband would have loved the brutalist architecture. Concrete, steel, and glass abounded. Sure enough, when I sent him this pic, he was excited.

More of our Paju hotel. Unfortunately, we were only here for 1 night, but I'd like to stay here again.

Doge coffee! Coffee is HUGE in Korea. We left so early on this particular morning that I was worried that I wouldn't get my daily fix. Luckily, there was a GS 25 adjacent to the hotel. Plus, our beyond-thoughtful Tour staff got us coffee, too, which I didn't anticipate.

One of my fellow tour participants at one point said, "That (really meaningful event) made me feel so proud to be Korean."

Well, this picture made me feel all the Korean pride.

It's the inside of a ladies' room at a rest stop.

You read that correctly.

This is the inside of a bathroom.

At a rest stop. On the highway.

Just when you thought it doesn't get any better. . . 

I would've taken pictures of the bathroom stall area, but I didn't want people to think I was a weirdo. Each stall had a light above it indicating whether or not it was occupied. There were both types of toilets at some of them - the Western toilet, and the hole-in-the-ground variety.

The rest stops featured all kinds of vendors, and were basically mini-malls (REALLY CLEAN MINI-MALLS) on the side of the highway. This rest stop vendor sold a device that slices veggies up really thin so you can more easily put them on your face.

You know, for beauty.

The outside of a Korean rest stop. Come on, America - catch up!

Photo credit: https://modernseoul.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/korean-motorway-freeway-rest-stop.jpg

Our next stop was at the Police Academy in Choongju. It's not common knowledge (still) to most Koreans that we exist, and agencies are reticent to provide birth family search assistance. Doing so would further recognize the fact that Korea exported so many of their children for profit. Visiting the police academy was mostly educational and PR - police officers can offer a wealth of real birth family search support to adoptees who have been stymied by their agency. We learned on this day that out of the 80 newly-graduated officers, 0 of them had ever heard of us. After Minyoung told them what's what, they were way more inclined to help us. They were pretty curious, too. A good sign.

These are are two sweet interpreters. Eric, on the right, was admittedly very nervous, but I thought he did a wonderful job. He is introducing us to our next activity - learning hapkido from their only female instructor. 

We toured some of the the grounds' 100 mountainous acres. Now I know why I've always had thick thighs - it's because my people HAD to have them to get up and down all these damn mountains. 

For some reason, part of the tour was that we'd learn how to use a taser. (?!)

On the far left is the taser instructor. He was wonderful and patient with us. He later told us that his mother had been involved with transporting adoptees, so he had a special place in his heart for us. The four people to his left are my fellow tour participants who volunteered to get tased.

You read that correctly.

Rachel couldn't stop laughing after being tased. Dina, on the right, was my wonderful roommate for most of the tour. We had some awesome conversations.

Dina getting tased.

Police academy lunch. I'm about to eat squid.

At Jukdo Market, a large fish market in Pohang. We got there in the mid-late afternoon, so the NYSE vibe of "I'll give you 500,000 won for that tuna!" was done for the day, but we still saw some cool stuff. It ironically, didn't smell too fishy in there.

Bivalves at Jukdo Market. They were still moving.

Teeny yummy anchovies.

Yum.

In addition to fishy stuff, all kinds of wares were available for purchase at Jukdo Market. Clothes, furniture, souvenirs.

Pohang is right on the southeastern coast of the peninsula, and our Best Western sat pretty close to the East Sea*.  We ate the nicest shabu shabu dinner that night at this hotel. We also had a little group session with Minyoung and the other 5 participants who'd had birth family reunions. During that session, I learned that our birth mothers are eerily similar to us. It's weird reuniting with someone who, by birth, is your blood, but still separated by culture. How do you get to know someone when you don't speak the same language or even share the same cultural touchstones? Enter Minyoung, who helped remove the cultural barrier to our birth mothers. She'd point to one of us and say, "Your mom is very. . . to the point. Matter-of-fact." And the participant would smile a knowing smile, shake their head and say, "That's exactly like me."

To me, she said, "Your mom is. . . I like her. She's easy to get along with. Even if I offer her an alternative, she's pretty easygoing and will accept my offer." (My omma, like most of the others, really wanted me to spend the night at her house. I felt weird about that, so Minyoung skillfully convinced her that to me, it would be like spending the night with a stranger.)

*I would find out later that, if you're Korean, you call it the "East Sea," whereas if you're Japanese, it's the "Sea of Japan".

The room Rebecca and I shared in Pohang. It was the nicest Best Western ever.

This picture doesn't do the skyline justice. Pohang was lovely.