We had our last DINK “vacation” this weekend. We went on our annual trek to New York to visit Bec. Always a lot of fun, but this trip was our Korean weekend. We went to Korea Town Saturday morning and got to experience their Korean cultural museum. It was very small, but informative. There were a lot of donated items, with the focus on Hanbok’s, or traditional Korean clothing. After the museum, we went to a Korean bookstore and did some shopping. We found some children’s books in Korean and English, which will allow us to read Henry stories in both languages (not to meantion help with my classes!), and a Korean to English dictionary. After the bookstore, we went to a Korean restaurant that John recommended. It was really good and I even tried Kimchi. I tried to order items off the menu in Korean, but the waitress was not too helpful. Needless to say, there was no real practice going on.
When we were done in Korea Town, we went to Union Square to get cannoli’s at the world-famous Veniero’s. We also did some shopping for the foster family, as it is recommended that we bring them small gifts, as well as some for the people that will end up helping us at the agency and hotel. Then we spent some time at this really cool neighborhood bar called Pete’s. We met up with Lonnie – Bec’s boyfriend – who we really liked, and then went to see the show Jump. It’s a Korean off-broadway musical…a cross between a Jackie Chan movie and a comedy. It was very good and they even pulled Christopher up on stage. Of course, Bec and Lonnie set it all up and Christopher was a little irritated that I knew about it, but it was really funny. I got in trouble for taking pictures during the production, but it was worth it to see Christopher’s face when he was pulled out of his seat.
When we were done with all of our activities, we were going to head home, but Christopher wanted Wo Hop. It’s a great little Chinese restaurant in China Town on Mott Street. It’s the only restaurant down there that we trust and MAN is it good. After a little snack, we took the subway home and racked out before leaving early this morning. All in all, it was a good trip. Actually, I almost forgot. Christopher dragged me into Macy’s while we were there, with plans to buy me a 3-stone ring. I made my own engagement ring, so he thought it would be nice to buy me my “motorcycle” – at least the equivalent of one. I did find one very nice ring, but we’re going to Korea AND plan to initiate the process for kid #2 6 months after we get back. That’s enough ring for me. My kids are more important, but it was nice for him to think of it.
We did get an update on Henry’s paperwork this last week. The US Visa approval went to the US Consulate in Korea last Tuesday. Now we’re just waiting for it to arrive in Korea, the consulate to send the Visa request paperwork to Holt, and Holt to send back Henry’s passport and visa medical exam results. With everything we have done so far, we really could get the call this week or next. It’s most likely next week, but we’ll keep hoping for this week. We need a couple of days anyway – even though we’d prefer to leave now – because we are meeting with the Au Pair agency on Friday after work. They need to interview us immediately so we can start the au pair interviews as soon as we get back (earlier if we don’t get the call until next week). It will be good to have our day care situation nailed down.
