A little more about our day

So we arrived in Seoul at 4:45 a.m. and got to our hotel around 6:30.  We had breakfast and then settled in to the lobby to wait for our rooms which weren't going to be ready until 10:00.  

Sam and I decided to take a little walk.  It is pretty cold here so Sam's Mom and Brother stayed behind.  We didn't go very far but it was nice to walk a bit.      Our hotel is right across from Namsan Park.

After our walk we were able to get into our room.  Sam's Mom was with us because her room, which is right next door, wasn't quite ready yet.  We opened the door and the three of us walked in and all stopped.  See next to the bed was a crib and it just made us all step back.  Sam's Mom said "Wow" and I said, "Boy that makes it real."  

After unpacking we headed out to Insadong which is a great shopping area in Seoul that has a wonderful art supply store that also sells name chops.  A name chop is a traditional type seal that you can have carved.  We got one for Mia with her Korean name we are giving her, Soon Mi.  Then we got a name scroll for Mia and some friends of ours.  Once we ordered those we went wandering around while we waited for our things to be done.

We ended up having tea in a small tea shop to rest and get out of the cold.

Right now we are back in the hotel. Everyone is taking naps while I catch up on emails and the blog.  We are headed out to dinner at 6:00.  We are going to walk down to Namdaemun market (one of my favorite places) to find a restaurant.

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 we will be meeting a volunteer in the lobby who is going to take us on a city tour.  We are going to Changdeok Palace with the secret garden.  After that we will probably go back to Namdaemun for some more shopping.

I still can't believe that we meet Mia the day after tomorrow.  It is so surreal.  I will post more tomorrow.

Amy