What Korea LOOKS like...

So today (Fri) kind of outdoes the feelings of yesterday (Thur), but I HAVE to share the initial feelings because they were important (yesterday, lol)...but I'm so excited to talk about right now's feelings....so it's gonna be like when you write a really long email, and it gets deleted so then you write it all again and it's a SUPER abbreviated version:

I think I already said I almost started to cry when I left house.
Still didn't think it was real, even when on the plane. Even 8 hours in, I was like "WHAT?? Going to Korea?"
Got off plane and went thru immigration and customs and it still didn't seem real even though the girl who looked at my info was in traditional hanbok.
Went to the meeting area after baggage and after freaking out because I couldn't find anyone holding my name and then the relief of finding her...still didn't seem real.
Was the sign holder, looking for people on our tour...which was kinda easy because white people REALLY stick out and I was looking for Korean daughters/white moms...and even as all the Korean people were coming out...still didn't seem like I was in Korea.

BECAUSE

I don't look like anyone here!!! HAHAHA Let me explain. After Tiffany and her mom got off the plane and we introduced ourselves, we started telling the SAME story. So many of us (adoptees) say the exact same things!! And it's a really really REALLY small world. People from upstate NY, lots of music teachers, tons of Packers Fans, people who all knew about how the PACKERS killed the Bears at the game Todd and I went to and the best one...Tiffany's mom is going to the SAME Pentatonix concert Todd and I are going to in September. Yeah, I was gonna announce that around my bday, but seriously...isn't that crazy!!!! Back to why...

So, Tiffany and her mom and I were eating (this is where I was trying to learn to use chopsticks) and at the same time we said that we were obsessed with twins and wouldn't that be cool if we had twin sisters. I mean...the SAME time we said it. And that stemmed from us BOTH saying that we expected people to look like us when we got off plane and neither of us felt we looked like people here. And we realized that we had the same feelings (as all of us here do) that we don't really think we look like we don't belong with our families. Yes, that was a lot of negatives. In other words, we fit with our families and don' t think we look out of place. Alex's mom said that he and his two non adopted brothers used to compare baby pics and get each other mixed up. HAHAHA!!  However, when I was looking at the families' pics who were coming  on the trip (thru the webinar pics), i was like "oooooh, that's what people see when they look at me and my mom...and that DOES look weird!" (not weird, but you know what I mean). Anyways, other than the fact that most of the Koreans are 7 shades whiter than Todd's...well, let's rephrase this in a nicer way...Sami's cute bum bum (although, who knows if it's getting tan since we all know the youngest Hearns will swim in their bday suits at any time)...I just do NOT see myself at all. Oh and the hair...not as sleek and black as one would think (lots of red, lots of wavy) but still none like mine. LOL, i know, you're thinking I must be blinded...but it's true!! Oh, and not everyone is short. And I've only seen ONE person with gray hair. Wow, people sure are obsessed with their looks. I wouldn't have lasted very long here.

So the answer to WHAT KOREA LOOKS LIKE...NOT ME! These are the thoughts as I arrived. It really hadn't sunk in, sunken in, sinked in, in sync...whatever...and I was pretty much at the airport only---moving on to TODAY!!!!

(I'm back...I totally forgot to mention...the babies/toddlers are SOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!")