She already likes her mommy

I don't do blogs but Brittany says that if I want any lovin on this trip then I have to share how I thought the day went. So here it goes, the short version is that I loved it. We walked from our hotel to the agency this morning to meet Samara and we made it about 100ft. before I made Brittany stop to get something to eat. Koreans must love doughnuts and coffee becase there are about 6 coffee shops and 4 doughnut shops in the half mile it took to get to Eastern. We stopped at a place called Paris Bagette and all the pastries were great.

At Eastern we were placed in a room to meet Samara and we both had one of those "it's finally here moments". We are about to meet our daughter for the first time. All I kept thinking was that I hope she likes me and I hope it's not weird. Before we new it little Samara came in strapped to foster mom's back and sound asleep. Foster Mom woke her up and her sweet little eyes looked up at us and the look on her face was one I will never forget. It was a who are you, why are you smiling at me, and a can I go back to sleep look. Within two minutes she was awake and alert and already beginning to bond with her "new" mommy. I felt weird because part of me wanted to reach over and pick her up but I didn't want to scare her or overwhelm her so I just sat back and watched as Brittany and her began to play. It made me very happy and I can already tell that she is going to love her mommy. After about 15 minutes I was able to pick her up and play. I lifted her up high and then brought her tummy down on my face and she began to laugh. It was fun to hear her laugh for the first time. Foster mom tried to leave the room at one point but she started to cry so she came right back. The meeting was awesome. It was not awkward or uncomfrotable at all. We got to ask lots of questions and just interact.

We get to see her again on Thursday afternoon. We first will meet with Dr. Kim and have lunch at Eastern then visit with Samara for an hour. Our social worker said we could take Samara on Monday afternoon instead of waiting until leaving on Tuesday!

After our meeting with Samara we went to Itaewon, it's a shopping area with lots of restaurants. Most store owners spoke English and we got lots of little stuff to bring home to our family. I tried to bargin with a store owner and everytime he told me "No". Brittany found something she liked and as she was about to pay I told him she wasn't aloud to buy anything untill he gave me a deal and he punched me in the stomach. It was in a playful manor but the first thought was to play a little korean wack a mole and give him a good boop on the nogin, I actually liked his personality. Then he would slap me (playfully) as I began to tell him everything was to high of a price. I finally broke him down and got a dollar off the chopsticks I wanted. We had lunch at a little Korean bar-b-que place. The bulgogi soup was excellent and most all of the people we incountered have been very kind.

We tried the subway out and it was great. It's very clean and comfrotable.

Tomorrow we are going to Lotte World but it feels strange planning for a day without seeing Samara. I think I will also try to see how many different doughnut shops I can eat at in one day.