30. An Airplane to America

Father wanted me to practice oriental medicine. They do not recognize and/or approve the oriental medical doctor license in America. Oriental herb medicine is not covered by the insurance and it is traded as nutrition supplemental. On the other hand, the acupuncture approved and licensed. Health insurance covers it. Oriental medical doctor can practice acupuncture and sell oriental herb medicine as nutrition supplementals.

 

I took acupuncture lesson from an oriental medicine professor of Kyung Hee University. Father took it with me. After the basic oriental medicine and acupuncture theories, he taught us how to poke the thin needles in certain acupuncture points. Initially, I poked the needles in pillows. Then I used my own legs. Once I got used to it, I practiced on my brother and employees of the chicken farm and the restaurant. 

 

Father told merchants in the market that I practiced oriental medicine. A couple of old women came to see me. I treated them with the little medical knowledge I had. They thought it really worked. Next time, they brought me cans of pineapples and thanked me. The effects of the acupuncture have been clinically proved and it works well on certain conditions. 

 

After the acupuncture lessons, I took lessons on herb medicines. The instructor was an old man who had the private practice and he taught me how to mix herb medicines. Just like a recipe book for the cook, there were prescription books for oriental herb medicines. There were prescriptions for different conditions. You measure required herbs and put them in a bag. I made bags of herb medicine for friend’s sister who just had a baby. 

 

I did not like the oriental medicine at all. I felt I was fake. I never went to medical school and took the formal education. I did not feel comfortable practicing herb medicine unlicensed.

 

I found that oriental medicine classes were very popular in Korean community in Los Angeles area. Theological colleges were also popular. Many Korean workers took the courses from these institutes at night and dreamed of becoming oriental medical doctors or ministers. Father asked me to enroll and attend one of these schools. I had no intention to pursue it any further. 

 

My sister went to America first, then, parents, and the siblings. I had to wait little bit longer for my visa. 

 

On October 26, 1979, President Park was killed by his own man, the director of Korean CIA. Then came the military dictatorship of Doo Hwan Chun. I taught English to the church friends and got paid little bit of money. The new government prohibited all forms of tutoring and lessons other than the schools. Those who taught and took the lessons would be penalized. Soon my English class was dissolved. 

 

My parents bought a two-story large house in Los Angeles and open a restaurant in Korea town. But the news about them I heard wasn’t good. About the time I got my visa, father’s cousins came to see me. They told me father was forced to close the restaurant and sell the house. The restaurant failed and he lost most of his money he took. 

 

Father took the immigration to America lightly. He thought once he opened a restaurant in newly forming Korea town, the people would come and fill the tables. He did not know how difficult it was to open a new business in America. Government agencies in America was bureaucratic and slow. To open a new restaurant, he needed to obtain various licenses from several agencies. Opening of the restaurant was delayed several times. 

 

He did not know the characteristic of the immigration community. The status from previous life, life in Korea, did not help at all. Everyone was on the even ground again. People did not

respect and take orders from the boss as they used to in Korea. An owner cook had the advantage since he did not have to hire a cook. Father had to hire a cook and it was not easy to hire and keep one.

 

Customers were kings and my parents were not used to it, either. People always bowed to them and called them “Colonel Ko and Mrs. Ko.” New world, America, was very cold and cruel to them. By the time I was ready to leave Korea, they gave up the restaurant and had to sell the house, too.

 

On a rainy day in March 1981, I got on the airplane to America.