“Seed from the East” – A Trip to the Homeland (Part 1)

In a week, I will embark on a trip to Korea where I was born. I have never had a desire to travel out the States. I’ve always been concerned about language barriers. Yet here I am, unable to speak the language and I’m going.

I am traveling with a woman, Sue, and her granddaughter, Jacqueline. (See above, photo of Sue and me in October, 2009.) We worked together over ten years ago. Recently, reconnected by way of Facebook, I learned of her plans to go to Korea. I am tagging along with the two ladies. Sue speaks Korean and I will rely heavily on her ability to communicate for me.

The first week we will be on a tour for eight days. We will visit JeJu Island, Pusan, Kjungyu, Gangneung, and Seoul. These places, other than Seoul, I had never heard of before but are places where the locals visit in their own country.

The second week, the three of us will be on our own in Seoul. During this week, Sue will get a chance to visit with some of her family and friends. She has lived in the U.S. for the past twenty years. Her parents are gone, but she has three sisters who remain in Korea. Her other two sisters are in the states. During the day we’ll make day trips in and around Seoul. In the evening, her family and friends will visit us.

I mentioned to Sue I wanted to visit Il San during our visit, not knowing at the time, the adoption agency, Holt International, still has a facility on the site. It is no longer an orphanage. Now it is a residential facility for the disabled. Since purchasing our tickets, I’ve done some research on Holt, called them and written them emails. I have scheduled a visit through Molly Holt to tour Il San Holt, thirty miles north of Seoul.

Sue suggested I look into Korean TV for searching for my birth parents. She thought Molly could help me and I should try and do this before our visit, just in case I could meet my birth parents. I had to file the appropriate paperwork through Holt International in Oregon. I’ve received copies of my files from the Oregon office, but it appears I will not receive my files from Seoul, Korea.

Searching for my birth parents is not my focus on this trip. Going on this trip has been impulsive. I turn fifty in November and have planned for many years to go on a big trip in 2010, just didn’t know exactly when or where.

In an earlier blog entry, “Giving Blood—The Gift of Life,” I wrote about Holt International and searching for my birth parents. This trip is not to learn who my birth parents are or were but about the land where I was born.

Paying It Forward - Chrysanthemum Tea

A few months ago, I was in a Whole Foods looking for something to drink. I wanted to avoid caffeine and refused to buy bottled water. Chrysanthemum tea in a bottle caught my eye. I took my first sip and was immediately transported back to my in-law apartment on 19th Avenue in San Francisco.

The year I moved off-campus at San Francisco State University (SFSU) I got a part-time job working as a cold-caller at Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb. They were an investment banking firm at the time, eventually changing owners/names and now defunct. My job was to call people on the phone from a stack of index cards. If I got a person on the phone, I would transfer the call to a broker.

By my senior year at SFSU, a couple of my pals—Janice and Lisi—and I, would trade off working for a senior broker, Mr. Lim. We no longer had to make cold calls; instead we answered Mr. Lim’s calls when he was on the phone, typed letters, and basically assisted him working as office assistants. Mr. Lim was first generation Chinese-American and most of his clients were Chinese. He was a very generous person and had a huge heart.

I don’t remember when a new gal, Sandra, started working at Lehman Brothers. As I recall she was related to one of Mr. Lim’s clients. We embraced her immediately. She was attending SFSU, also. She had a second job working at a café near Ocean Beach.

Sandra was also a generous person. I remember one time when I was home with a cold, she arrived at my doorstep with homemade wonton soup and chrysanthemum tea. The tea was packaged in little one serving packets—big yellow crystals. She left a few packets with me. As I recall, she often brought me homemade Chinese meals.

I was blessed to have Mr. Lim, his family, and Sandra in my life. At the time, I’m not sure if I didn’t take it all for granted. I look back now and realize how their generosity has affected my life. Perhaps “paying it forward” was a way of life for them. Because of them, I find myself wanting to help others, too.

Nature’s Window at de la Osa St.

We’ve been feeding the bird as long as I can remember.

We started with one hummingbird feeder in the front of the house. I kept adding on. Now, this is when my husband rolls his eyes, we have a total of nine hummingbird feeders strategically located along all walls of the house.

We have water dishes (aka bird baths) for the birds (and squirrels). There’s one dish in the front yard and two in the backyard.

We have one seed birdfeeder in the front yard and one in the back. The squirrels get their own feeder.

Several years ago I discovered Nature’s Window. It’s a speaker with a small microphone that brings the sounds outdoors inside. Sadly, the device was so powerful we couldn’t use it after 7 a.m. Otherwise we can hear the neighbor’s dogs barking, cars driving down the street, or airplanes flying overhead, and you can imagine the sounds of a lawnmower or leaf blower. O my.

Once in awhile, we get visits from hawks. Sometimes we get a cluster of crows hanging out in our trees. Last year we had a mocking bird living in a tree behind our house. (They sing at odd hours of the morning.) It can get pretty noisy around here. Just the other day, we had a crow knocking at our back sliding glass door. (I suspect looking for handouts.)

I can never get tired listening or watching birds eat/drink, or take a bath in our birdbaths. The squirrels are amusing, too. I know the cats, Adriana and Luciana, appreciate the view, too.