남성태

So now it is our final day and the journey back will start tonight and hopefulley we'll be back in Sweden in 24h after departure. I will conclude the gathering summary later as we're running out of time on the internet access, but yesterday we took a spontanuous hike together with Meeyoung and John in the morning. It was really nice to get some excersing as well and last night we wrapped things up with a late night poker game at Peter Savasta. I didn't won anything but it was really nice anyway except for the North Korean Soju that was grouse.

I really like to stay a little longer as it has been a wonderful trip with nice weather, swimming, shopping and most of all the company and meeting up with all KADs.

Those of you who have been reading the blog have noticed the lack of new posts over the weekend.

The only remaining activity is the farwell brunch in an hour. I'll now try to make an attempt to summarize the weekend.

Friday Oct. 10

We started off with a Catamaran cruise on Fri afternoon. That was really nice although I of course forgot my chewing gums against motion sickness and hence got sea sick, but I'm glad that I managed not to throw up. So we were sailing outside Honolulu with nice weather (of course).

In the evening there was a reception/dinner where we met up with those who arrived a little later than we did. After the dinner we had a little party at Brian's hotel room and after that we went out but as most of the near bars closed early and there was a  miss in communication I went home early.

Saturday Oct. 11

The day started off really early as we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay at 6am. As I'm a novice in Snorkeling it took me a while and a gallon of sea water to learn how to breathe the right way. But after that it was a great experience to watch the reefs, fishes and turtles. But it ended a little bad for me as my ears got clogged and that stayed for quite a while. :(

Then we got back to the hotel unitl 2pm when the buses picked us up for the film festival. In the first session the films were rather short and for example one film was showing the reuinon with the birth family. After the first session we went to dinner, which was sponsored by a local korean restaurant. Well to be honest the food wasn't that good. There was a   2nd session after the dinner which we chose to skip, because we were tired and wanted to be fresh until the night clubbing.

Sorry to say I didnt make the night out as my ears had gone worse and I felt a little dizzy, but the other guys went out and didn't came back to the hotel until 5am.

Time to go! I tell more about it later.

An amazing story occured yesterday when Mattias wanted to buy soju at the local liquor store near the hotel as it turned out that the lady running the store was from Korea and when she learned that we had roots in korea as well she was so touched that she started to give away soju for free, as well as other stuff. I thought she was going to burst into tears. In total we got away with eight free bottles of soju two packs of soju glasses as well as some candy and other things.

Oct. 6, 9:30pm

Last night we went to a Korean restaurant for a nice charcoal bulgogi dinner and after a night sleep today we've been visiting the Dole plantation and some beaches on the north shores of Oahu and that of course comes with some swimming in the pacific. The water has a very nice temperature. We (Kim, Mattias, Ulrika and me) have been hanging out with Allen from IL the whole day and tonight we ha dinner together with Tim and Danielle at the Red Lobster.

I have to say that I love HI already and it's really nice to meet up with other KADs. I see if I can upload some pics later.

The first Korean astronaut Yi So-Yeon was shot into space in April this year and of course of course you have to bring Kimchi into space.

Här är ett enkelt recept på kimchi som man måste ha som tillbehör vid en koreansk måltid.

3,5 kg salladskål
4 dl havssalt
2 purjolökar
800 g rättika
1,5 dl kodjokaro (koreanskt chilipulver)
10 klyftor vitlök
8 cm ingefära
koreansk fisksås
socker

Blötlägg kålen med havssaltet. Lägg i press och låt stå över natten.

Skölj av kålen. Finhacka vitlök och ingefära, strimla purjolök och rättika fint. Blanda alla ingredienser till en pasta som ginds in i kålen. Lägg i tät burk. Låt stå i 10-14 dagar.

Detta blir ju ganska mycket kimchi ~5kg och om man inte vill göra så mycket kan man halvera receptet.

...you do not talk about Fight Club.

Fight Club is movie that was released in 1999 starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. For a full plot summary, visit for example imdb.

It would be easy to discard the movie as a violent action movie with a schizofrenic main character aiming to create chaos and in a way it is...But there is so much more. The script, which is based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, describes how people get addicted and dependent to their material possesions.

This kind of social criticism certainly resonates with me back then and with quotes such as...

- You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

- It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.

- The things you own end up owning you.

...The movie worked as an eye-opener. Until then gadgets and devices had had its place. After that I've changed my point of view a little. I have of course not gotten rid of all my belongings and I still buy things. But I don't bother that much any longer if things get broken or so and I prioritize other things in life. I much more like to spend my money on events than on things. An expression for that is for example my obsession for musicals and its more fun to experience an event at the arena than with a flat screen and a surround system even hough it might cost me more. This is also of course a lot of my money is spent on travel or at least that's what I like it to be spent on.

With this in mind it might sound a little weird that I own an apartment, a flatscreen, a laptop and that I went to IKEA last summer to buy furniture for about $ 4 000. But hey I'm only human.

I got a quick response from SWS:

"Thank you for contacting our agency again. I remember you and I fully understand how you felt when you saw your record. 

First of all, I'm going to review your file again and try to find your birth mother.
I'll get back to you as soon as I have any information. 
Thank you.  

Sincerely,  

Shinhye Kang
Post Adoption Services, SWS"


Seemingly, she remembers me from the visit to SWS last summer. Now I only have to wait to see if they will find some new information.

So the process has started. I have submitted my information to Social Welfare Society (SWS) in Korea and requested a search for my birth mother.

The issue has not played any significant role in my life. I have wonderful parents and have never doubted their love.

Also, I have imagined it would be difficult to find new information. However, by socializing with other adoptees and told of what I know, I’ve realized that I possess rather much information such as name on my mother and where she grew up.

Maybe she wanted to leave a clue for me.

As time goes by and we are all getting older it is time to do something now. Also, maybe I will regret later if I don’t proceed doing a search…

Now I only have to wait to see if SWS dig up some new information and what reactions will follow depending on the contents.