1st post of 2010: I would like to thank my family

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Two years ago, I was reunited with my Korean Mother. For those that don’t know, I was adopted by my wonderful American parents when I was 5 years old.

My Korean mother is an amazing woman. Back in the early 80′s she raised me as a single mom. This was unheard of during the time because there was a lot of social stigma attached to this. During that time, a child that was born out of wedlock was ineligible to go to school, go to the military–hence, unable to gain a foothold in society. She begged my father and my stepmother to take me in and I lived with them for 2 years before I was put up for adoption. She requested an international adoption because she knew that I would have more opportunities than a domestic adoption.

She knew that we would be reunited one day. In fact, she never left the address that she wrote on the contact information when she put me up for adoption. She believed if she moved, it would have been difficult for me to find her. She didn’t have any other children and she didn’t get married until she was 46.

The whole idea of a person doing that and thinking that way is quite intimidating. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have the patience to live that way.

(My mom and dad are in the center of the picture)

And it’s not just my Korean mother. My American Family has sacrificed an incredible amount for me as well. Plus, they put up with my terrible teens, my university years, my 20′s, and they still put up with me.

This year my goal in 2010 is to show my appreciation to all the people that have helped me throughout my life and to give back to those that need my help as well.

I would like to thank everyone that has helped me and I wish you all a wonderful New Year.

Dan

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.