South Korea Trip #3-5: Reunited with Meghannn’s birth family

Day three in Busan was July 4th, and also when we reconnected with Meghann’s birth family! We didn’t have plans to meet them until 2pm, and had a few things to take care of before the meetup.

Meghann managed to coax me out of bed around 10am with the hotel’s ”Traditional American Breakfast”. After breakfast, we had two things to get done before meeting the birth family – complete our COVID PCR test requirement, and take a family 4th of July photo we do every year. PCR tests here were only $30/each, compared to the $300/each those tests cost in Arizona. The process was incredibly efficient. A hotel concierge walked us to the hospital behind the hotel, handled all of the translation for us, and the hospital got all four tests done in less than 15 minutes and gave us results in less than 5!

Ahead of meeting them, we made one more stop for some iced coffee and ice cream at the building next to the hotel. The service industry here feels a lot different than what’s in the US, with many of those in unskilled labor roles very efficient and good at what they do. They take it very seriously and the results show it regardless of where you are. There also seems to be a greater sense of service to society.

Shortly thereafter, it was time to meet two of Meghann’s sisters in the hotel lobby! Jinsoon arrived first (3rd oldest sister) along with her son Tai e Some. He had changed quite a bit since we last saw him 10 years ago, going from 7 to 17. Shortly thereafter, Seoksoon arrived (2nd oldest sister) with her husband, who I refer to as Hyung-Nim. We also had a translator named Hwang, that was a close friend of Jinsoon. Meghann’s birth family always likes to talk and comment about everyone’s weight. To Meghann, “You are so skinny! Are you eating enough? Are you sick?” To me, “Wow Dustin!” *hand motions on how I’m heavier than the last time I saw them*. Hahah thanks, I know what you’re saying. 😆. Hyung-Nim asked me if I had been working out a lot, which I guess I’ll take. As an aside, Hyung-Nim (what they asked me to call him) had a great translation once I googled it.

After the initial conversation, we headed to the garage for the drive to the island of Yeongdo, the city where Meghann’s birth mother lived and she and all of her siblings were born. When we got out to the parking lot, Meghann’s sister Jinsoon (the one I think she’s most similar to) drove a Porsche Cayenne, the exact same car Meghann has. Bizarre!!

I rode in a car with Seoksoon, Hyung-Nim, and Tai e Some (or nephew, cho ka) whereas Meghann and the girls rode with Jinsoon. Jinsoon’s son was very good at speaking english and also able to effectively translate, having been studying english through school since he was young. We all met at Meghann’s birth mother’s home, where more of her family was waiting. It was the same place we visited at her on the past trip.

There was excitement all around, and everyone was very excited to meet Sage and Vivienne. We exchanged gifts, including two custom made hanboks the family got the girls. They looked so cute! We were also celebrating Meghann’s birth mother’s birthday, which was July 4th.

We brought gifts for Meghann’s birth mother and the translator, as well as matching family t-shirts from “State 48”, for the entire group, which is a clothing and restaurant brand from Arizona. During our last trip, we received matching family sweatshirts to wear, and it’s something the family was very excited about.

After we wrapped up exchanging gifts and some conversation, we headed out to dinner.

This time we were in a private room, where we all sat together at a long table. We tried many different foods, and the girls each had a chance to try a few new dishes, including trying raw fish and octopus!

One of the challenging and fascinating things about spending time with Meghann’s birth family is getting the names right. In Korea it is more common to call family members by their title (sister, brother in law, etc.) and not by their given name (like first name, but its last when the full name is written or spoken) unless they are younger than you. Furthermore, we learned on this trip two of her siblings had changed their given name since our last visit. In Korea they said it was common to change names when you needed to take a new life path. This was accomplished by meditating and spending time with a monk to help assign a new name that goes with the new path you’ll be pursuing.

We arrived home exhausted, with the girls trying to sneak away to watch their iPads but falling asleep moments later. Meghann fell asleep mid-sentence while talking with me, which I’m pretty sure was a first. On the upside we all got some pretty good sleep!

I’m wrapping this post up on July 6th, so have another full day to catch up on. Today may be a double header for new posts if I can write about yesterday on the KTX train up to Seoul. More to come!