Downtown

Index
This morning Soo-Yeon, the daughter of my cousin Moon Hi, and I went downtown on the subway. Soo-Yeon is 26 years old like my daughter. When I talk to her, I think of Henna and love her. I tell her about my daughter and say that she will love her third cousin and that they must meet.

By now, seeing all the skyscrapers is quite normal to me. The bustle of downtown is much like downtown Chicago. I left Korea in the poverty of the post war period, and I am coming back to a modern and well-developed country. We went to the most popular book store, and once again I was amazed at the vast size of the store. I have not seen any store this size nor such a massive crowd buying books. There are so many people on benches reading. I picked up a few books for memory’s sake.

I come to Chun Jin Dong, the neighborhood that I grew up in. How can it be? This is now the center of downtown, the financial district, where each skyscraper is a bank or investment building. There are so many cars—where could they all be going on a Sunday?

In my mind, I could still see those small homes with high walls. I could see the dusty roads which are not paved. I could see my brother and a dozen other small boys playing in the street where there is no real need to watch out for cars...the only vehicle that drives by once in a while is a US Army jeep. Then I see the young boys covered in dust running after the jeep. Sometimes the soldiers would stop and give the boys rides, and there are laughter and squeals of joy.