Third World Nation Living

At the beginning of the pandemic I started a project to scan all of our old photographs.  They had been sitting in photo albums that were deteriorating and I wanted to get them out of there and sorted into photo boxes for each of our girls.  I was moving along quickly and then my scanner started putting a line through all the scans.  Eventually I got a new flatbed scanner and today I have resumed the project.  My first subject is going to be the years we spent in Korea (1978-79). 

This is going to be a long post because I use by blog as my diary and I want to start documenting some of our stories for our girls.

Irv was stationed in Korea after completing his advanced training and of course at that times wives and children weren't "sponsored" which means I had to stay in the States while he was gone.  After a couple months we couldn't stand being separated so we decided to spend Irv's $3K bonus on a plane ticket for Dana and I go over there.

I called the Korean Consulate in San Francisco to get myself a visa.  Not a care in the world when you're young.  I now realize that I probably overstayed my visa while in Korea and was an illegal alien.  Irv's superiors weren't too happy that he had brought me over there and made it perfectly clear that Dana and I would not be protected or evacuated if the North Koreans were to invade.  Again, young and naïve and afraid of nothing.

We first moved into an apartment building where a lot of Americans lived (I wasn't the only wife there without the army's permission).  The place smelled funny and there were rats.  One day a rat fell through a friend's ceiling into their bathtub.   Her and I chased it with brooms until the guys finally came and took care of it.  I think we moved out of that apartment within the month.

We found ourselves a nice little apartment in a compound.  It housed the landlord and his family, another GI who had a Korean girlfriend and us.  It had three rooms...living room, bedroom, and something they called a kitchen.  All the doors opened onto a little courtyard that we shared.  That's my bike in the background.  I used to ride Dana and I through the narrow streets and onto base.

Korean kitchen didn't have refrigerators so we had to buy one which was kept in our main room.  When a fire broke out at the neighboring compound one night all our Korean neighbors came in and hauled our refrigerator to safety.  It was a highly valued possession in Korea at that time.

During the winter we only hung out in the main room.  The place was heated by a kerosene heater and we could only heat one room.  It's cold in Korea in the winter!  Back in 1978-79 Korea was still considered a third world nation.  

This was our kitchen.  We cooked on a kerosene burner.  The room contained a sink and that was it.  Could I live that way these days?  Hmm...that's debatable.  We had an occasional rat show up in the kitchen so everything had to be thoroughly cleaned to avoid attracting them.  We ate out a lot.

We had no car over there so transportation was by bus.  This is the bus stop inside the main gate of Camp Humphrey's.  Shiloh is stationed there now, but everything is new and modern now.

Dana had a little friend there whose name is Amber Wendworth.  I only know that because I wrote it on the back of the photo.

Dana never like 4th of July fireworks when she was little.

She was a happy girl there.  We all had good times and good friends there.

We slept on something called a "Yo".  It's basically a think piece of foam that can be folded up and put away during the day.  Dana had a tiny one and we had a larger one that was with us for many years after leaving Korea.  My mother slept on the Yo in Dana's room when she came to Washington when Mary was born.

I celebrated my 19th birthday there.  That was our dining table.  Koreans sit on the floor to eat so buying an American style table wasn't possible.  I wonder if I baked my own cake or if Irv baked it.  We had a small toaster oven, but this was in the days long before Irv helped in the kitchen.  Must have bought the cake.

For a short while we had a dog named Fang.  I always wonder what happened to him when we left.  We gave him to some friends.  I sure hope he wasn't eaten because white dogs were a delicacy in Korea.

We bought our first ever stereo there.  Dana seems to be enjoying it.  We still have all the LPs we bought back in the day.  My goal is to sell them on Ebay since people are crazy for vinyl again.

Such a cutie!

I loved this orange outfit.  All the photos have turned a shade of goldish orange, but I turned on color correction on the scanner and it did a great job of making the scans look better.

This is our friend Dave.  We were friends with him and Brad all through advanced training in Texas and then in Korea.  Irv is still in contact with Dave via FB.

This Brad.  We shared an apartment with Dave and Brad when Irv was at Goodfellow AFB in Texas.  In Korea Brad was stationed at the DMZ so we didn't see him much and have lost contact with him.

We had some good parties at the compound.  Our landlords used to invite a bunch of Americans to their Chinese New Year celebration.  The only time I ever saw Irv drunk was after he was coerced to drink a bunch of their soju.  I actually found him hiding in the closet.

Everyone had a custom sweatsuit made while in Korea.  This was Dana's which she wore all the time.  The back had the astrological sign of Cancer on it since that's her zodiac sign.

Dana had a Korean babysitter when I went to work.  The lady would come to our compound every morning, tie Dana to her back, and then take her off somewhere for the day.  Dana came back from Korea a Buddhist. She used to set up temples around the house probably just like her babysitter did.

We took advantage of the tours the army offered while there.  This one was to a zoo and amusement park.

Many Koreans weren't used to seeing Americans at that time and they used to swarm around Dana and I wanting to touch her skin.  It was a little freaky, but we tried to remain polite about it.

I loved that brown sweater and had it for many years.

Look at that skinny guy!

I kind of wish I would have kept just one of the Korean dolls in glass cases that I purchased while we were there.

Those steps lead to the rooftop where our water tank was located.  Water was delivered once per day and when it came we would fill up our bathtub for bathing, dish washing, and doing laundry.  Yes, I did the laundry by hand back then with a scrub board and everything.

This is Dana with her "Keke".  She loved that monkey and it went everywhere with here.  Eventually he was lost and replaced with a brown version that Dana still has.

This is my friend Gail who I worked with at the Education Center.  She administered the CLEP tests.  I worked for St. Louis High School as a secretary. I got GIs signed up for GED classes and even taught typing classes.

The library is in the foreground and the Education Center where I worked is the larger white building. Maybe I should send this to Shiloh to see if he knows if it's still there or not.  What are the chances of that after 44 years?

Here's the street we lived on.  Each compound had its own set of security doors.

Good memories although I was glad to leave there.  I went home when it was summer, very hot and humid and most importantly very stinky.  They used to fertilize the rice paddies with human waste and when it was hot the smell was something I'll never forget.  I was pregnant with Mary when I went home.  I always wanted to get a shirt for her that said "Made in Korea".