Meeting a Friend for Lunch

On Tuesday morning, we woke around 5am.  Not too bad considering the time change.  By 6am, the kids and I headed out for breakfast while Dana arranged the gifts for the day (foster mothers, social worker, SWS director).  It was a cool, wet and windy morning so we took along our umbrellas that Doyun's father had graciously given us.  We weren't sure what we were looking for breakfast-wise, but we saw a place with noodle like soups down a side street that looked to be open 24/7.  So we went in.  We were the only people in the building and it looked like the person working there had just gotten up.  We sat down and Ben pointed to a soup that looked good.  It came out on a personal gas grill/warming plate and was soon boiling.  After we let it simmer for a bit and mixed in the vegetables, we all ate some.  I'm still not 100% sure what it was, but it had some beef like meat, onions, peppers, rice cake like chunks, and a milky colored broth. It was pretty good, but sadly I didn't take any pictures of the meal or restaurant.

On the way back, we stopped at Starbucks for coffee for Dana and a quick shot of Internet access for her phone.  The wireless at the SWS guest house wasn't working the best for us so she was hoping to catch up on some emails.

Our family having lunch with Dan Bliss

We got organized for the day and then headed to the subway to go to Jeongja to meet our friend Dan Bliss.  We know Dan, a Korean adoptee and one time student at UW-Madison, from our Families Through Korean Adoption (FTKA) group.  He is currently in Korea teaching English.

Originally, he had planned to take us to a noodle place, but it was very busy and we both had limited time for lunch so we headed over to a Vietnamese restaurant called PhoShine.  We had a good lunch while catching up with Dan's adventures in Korea.  He was telling us that he eats out often because food is relatively inexpensive and plentiful.  He said that delivery is common and even McDonald's delivers in his area.  A service that he's used even though he is only two blocks away.

After lunch, we walked Dan back to his school, stopping on the way for some Cheetos - something both Dan and the kids were craving and then we hurried back to the subway so we could meet the foster parents at SWS.

When in Korea, you should eat Vietnamese food, right?  

Dan showing us his school.