Growing up in South Korea, a world apart from Rutgers

The Area and People

The loose windows rumble as the city buses pass by. Cracks in the walls form natural air conditioning even when unwelcomed. The metal wires that stop intruders from the outside lock me in. This was my hometown. An old broken down town that was older than me. All the five story apartments look exactly the same and the only way to distinguish one from the other are large black numbers. A small town in South Korea called Gaepo-dong is where I grew up. Other people would dub the area as a “place where even dogs gave up.” “Gae” in Korean means dog, “pogi” means give up and finally “dongnae” means area. A river, Cheongae Chun, separated us from the prestigious Dogok town. From my window we could see the skyscraper like apartments dubbed “The Tower Palace.” It truly lived up to its name and everybody in my town wanted to move across this river. Hanarum mart, a family run place, was where I went everyday as a child. The owners Mr. and Mrs. Kim were the most hardworking and nice people. They never took a day off and were the last people to lock their doors. Later it was known that they actually bought out a good portion of the town with the money they saved.  Not only did Mr. and Mrs. Kim work hard, but the woman who owned her local Korean rice cake shop was visited by everyone in town. The shop itself was very small and thinking back had questionable hygiene. But that is what made it nostalgic. I can still remember the old woman with her floral apron who never cared about the written price and just charged whatever we had in our pockets. In the same building complex was also a DVD store, something that we would never walk into today. I never returned the DVDs on time. Obviously there would be a late fee but never did we get charged.

Photo by Naver

Now, the area seems like the most beautiful and heart-warming town. But, we had our fair share of alcoholics and psychopaths. When I was in fifth grade I remember the first and last time our house was robbed. I was sleeping in the room and my mother fell asleep in the living room while watching home shopping on TV. My aunt had just come back from early morning prayer. I woke up to the sound of our squeaky door and the automatic light that comes on when triggered by motion. After checking the time, I knew I didn’t have to be awake any time soon, so I closed my eyes again. My aunt had lied down and got herself comfortable as well. But, the light went back on and I knew that second something was wrong. I opened my eyes and there stood a man dressed in the cliche black jeans and black hoodie burglar fashion. We made eye contact and as I screamed my aunt woke up. She yelled at the burglar saying “get the fuck out!” We knew the burglar was a rookie because he actually went out without any resistance. After the incident we got metal bars to feel safer. Thus, every time I see a house with metal bars, and there were many of them, I wonder if they had similar incidents.

The Nature

There are no great parks or beautiful trails but unlike the city, there are a lot of trees. Whenever it rains the smell of the trees and grass would come in leaving a scent of sadness and relief. Not only that, the river had a nice trail that we could walk along. In the nights we could see women who obviously have “lose 35 pounds this year” as their new years resolution. We would see couples walking, after a meal or late night drink, thinking they were part of a movie. W could see families walking together talking about what college their son should go to or gossipping about other families. During the summer my mother and I would sometimes go and submerge our feet into the cool flowing river. Other times we would have a good meal with my grandmother and walk across the river talking about how I was an annoying baby that cried all the time. In the end, it was a very nature friendly area unlike other areas in Seoul.

The Playgrounds

The playgrounds are not exactly what we see in movies. They were all rusty and the swings were always too coiled to ever ride. There would be the so called town “jackasses” who considered the playground their territory. They probably thought they were cool but to me and many others they looked pathetic. High school kids taking over playgrounds with youth swings was ironic. But when our mothers came out, they left the area and soon it became our territory. My brother and I would always look for ants and pour Coke in the ant holes because we heard that Coke would kill them. We would also form groups with the other kids and play tag or hide and seek. No matter how coiled the swings or rusted the slides were we found our fun. At one point in time I remember kids were digging holes and putting “time machines” that contained some of their favorite toys or Yu-Gi-Oh cards. But we all knew that some of the kids would just dig everything up and take all of them. Simply the thought and hope of seeing this in the news a hundred years later was the only reason we hid these things.

Photo by Naver

The Rise of a National Hero

As I was walking the streets of my hometown one day, I remember seeing a banner that I would never forget: Congratulations Park Tae Hwan on winning a gold and silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I did not realize this until I watched him on television. He soon became a symbol of hope. From a town like Gaepo Dong arose a national hero. South Korea never produced very many good swimmers. He was one of the few who won a gold medal in men’s 400m freestyle swimming and set the record of the second fastest man in this distance history. After his rise of fame he left the area to an apartment more like “The Tower Palace.” He chose to leave the town and after thinking about it, I would have done exactly the same.

The Evanescent Nature of an Area

The area Gaepo Dong used to be tide land due to the river beside it. But, the government decided to make it so that people could live there around the 1980s. Now the apartments are too old and thus need renovation. Exactly this year the area was wiped out and went into major reconstruction. People in the town always fought for renovation so that the cost of the houses would rise and it was the same for us. But now when they actually wiped out the place nostalgia lingered in my heart. All the memories that are associated with “home,” whether good or bad, often warm our hearts. My family would always joke that we hated the place but also thank the place. We all realize our good memories linger there and from that very town my brother was able to go to dental school at NYU and I was able to go to pharmacy school at Rutgers. Although the area doesn’t look the same anymore, our memories will keep the real Gaepo Dong as we know it alive. Even though we now live across the river we always look back remembering the people, smell and scenery of Gaepo Dong.