Adopted Feels

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to move back to your birth country? In this episode, Hana gives an honest account of her relocation in the form of a quick guide to moving to Korea - slightly tongue-in-cheek but also peppered with practical advice. Hana and Ryan also discuss the joys of Daiso, that song from Moana again, and one special Californian peacock, fondly named 'Barry.'

In this provocatively titled episode, Hana and Ryan chat with Mark and Matt, two cis-gendered adoptee men living in Seoul. Mark and Matt generously and candidly share their adoptee experiences in a conversation that touches on toxic masculinity in Korea, the relative lack of men involved in adoptee activism, Asian male representation, and more. We’re still waiting for photographic evidence of Matt...

Hana & Ryan debrief about the intense experience that was the 2019 IKAA Gathering and other recent adoptee events in Seoul. In this episode, they do a run-down of everything they attended, before getting deep into their feelings - touching on FOMO, how it feels to leave Korea, and post-Korea blues. (Plus, thank you so much to our two new podcast patrons!)

In this episode, Hana and Ryan share 10 Things We Love About Seoul and touch base with their light, frivolous, talking sh*t roots. They catch up (in person, finally!) and chat about being part of the ethnic majority, noraebang go-to songs, and eating cake with chopsticks.

In this episode, Ryan has the pleasure of interviewing Eleana Kim and Kim Stoker during their visit to Melbourne! We chat about adoptee-run creative hubs in Seoul during the early 2000s including Spy Lounge, Kimura Byul, formally known as Mihee-Nathalie Lemoine, a co-founder of GOA'L and by all accounts a social 'force of nature,' critical adoption studies, activism, kinship, and living in Korea a...

“Things you cannot find in a junk drawer: A whole culture. An entire language. A face that looks like yours.” - from “What You Are” by Katelyn Hemmeke Hana interviews her friend and fellow Korean adoptee Katelyn, an accomplished writer, researcher, and activist in the transracial, transnational adoption community. Katelyn talks about moving to and from Korea, what it’s like to do adoption-related...

Almost 9 years ago, Hana reunited with her birth family, and she was pretty naive and unprepared for it all. In this episode, Hana talks through ten things she didn’t know about reunion, and then Ryan joins the show to dig deeper into Hana’s story. In Hana’s humble opinion, reunion has been both difficult and a complete joy, but ultimately, “there are a myriad ways of ways that we can connect with...

Ryan shares 10 things they didn't know about 'the BFS' (birth family search), which is far from straightforward & can bring up a bunch of other stuff! They talk about names, feeling 'ready,' learning about adoption practices, and share their fears/hopes/feels as a trans adoptee who has found - but not yet met! - their birth mother.

In this longer episode, Hana and Ryan pull back the curtain and chat to a therapist who specialises in working with intercountry, transracial adult adoptees and adoptive families. We get into our feelings and discuss it all - Nancy Verrier’s “primal wound” theory, feeling flawed, birth family search and reunion, attachment, adoptees as parents, and adoptive parenting (we weren’t planning to go the...

In this juicy little episode, Hana and Ryan discuss the unfortunate optics of hanging out with our white parents and friends, WMAF and AMWF couples, coming in and out of various closets, dating as an adoptee in Korea, and Bitmoji. Tune in for a full explanation of all acronyms and that overused-yet-apt metaphor: the closet. Somehow even more awkward than Dating and Relationships Part One ¯\_(ツ)_/...

For their first official episode, Hana and Ryan jump in the deep end and talk about dating and relationships as transracial adoptees. Why have they decided to get so awkward and personal from the get-go? (Cue nervous laughter.) This episode covers our dating histories, “vetting questions” for white partners, dating other adoptees, if being adopted impacts our relationships, and as usual, some othe...

In this taster episode, adoptee co-hosts Hana and Ryan introduce themselves and this podcast. An elevator pitch of sorts except that it runs for 15 minutes. They also reveal some very important facts about themselves, including their star signs, pet preferences, and go-to comfort foods. Warning: this episode contains a spoiler alert for Jane the Virgin!