31. Ichiban Ramen

My brother and sisters all drove cars and it was easy for me to go out with them. There were so many different cars on the road. It was amazing my siblings knew the names of the car companies and the models.

 

It was so hard to take a taxi ride in Korea. Once the drivers saw me on the wheelchair, they would just pass us and drive away. The company, State Fund, I worked for had the home office in San Francisco and I often traveled. San Francisco had pretty good taxi system. The city subsidized the taxi for the handicapped. Every time they took the disabled rider, the city would pay the additional money.

 

The year, 1981, I came to America, Korea began to export substantial volume of goods to USA. Korean made filled the shelves of low-end price stores. Clothing and shoes in these stores were mostly from Korea. When I saw Hyundai ‘Pony’ driven on the freeways, I was so proud. 

 

Koreans in America did not like Korean made. They heard about the lime mixed tofu, mercury fed bean sprouts, and industrial oil mixed cooking oil in Korea. They preferred Japanese and American made. They bought Japanese or American appliances, and Japanese groceries.

 

I had Ichiban Ramen for the first time, and it was so good. Korean ramens, then, smelled preservatives and tasted funny. Botan rice was better than most expensive rice in Korea. Japanese fish cake looked and tasted good. 

 

Things changed after Seoul Olympic. Korean made electronics showed up in the stores, tasty Korean ramens came, and good quality Korean rice was sold in the markets. Now, Samsung and LG products have the best locations in the stores, and Korean made TV and appliances are sold at the high-end price range. My first stereo and appliance were Japanese. Since then, I only buy Samsung or LG.

 

Hardly any Korans eat Japanese ramens now. While the Japanese ramen stayed unchanged, Korean companies improved and developed the quality and tastes of the ramens. You can easily find variety of Korean ramens, kimchi, and seaweed from markets and warehouse stores.

 

The first thing I had to do after I arrived in America was to help father finding a new business. Since he sold the house, we had to find a place to live, too. I looked thru the newspapers, called the numbers on the rental ads, and found a house in Van Nuys. I went to see the house with my brother and signed the contract. It was a rental house. 

 

Father bought a new business which was 15 minutes ride from the rental house. It was a small convenient store attached to a gas station. They sold cigarettes, beers, drinks, snacks, canned goods, and some daily necessities. Originally, it made to be operated with the gas station. The owner separated it from the gas station and sold it. Father paid premium for the store and rented the place for 5 years. Since the electric control panel for the gas station was inside the store, it had to be open all year around, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. While father ran that store, the family never had the holiday and birthday meals all together. Someone had to keep the store open.

 

Father exercised the lease option of 5 years and ran the store for 10 years. My parents sent three kids to colleges and married my brother and sister with the money they made from the store. Father wanted to renew the lease and sell the store. But the young Jewish owner had a different idea. He was going to demolish the station and the store, then build several stores in the lot. He asked for additional premium money for the new contract. Father walked out of the store empty handed and retired. He started collecting SSI. 

 

While my parents ran the store, I had to help them order merchandise. I also had to handle all correspondence from the government agencies, and any other problems related to the store. When father bought the store, I co-signed the contract. After the purchase, we were trained by the store managers, a white couple. They had a hard time pronouncing my Korean name. I asked them to give me English name, and they named me ‘David.’ I used the name ‘David’ for the next two years until I got a job with the state government. 

 

A few months after father bought the store, I rented an apartment and moved out. Father gave me enough money to buy used TV and refrigerator