When my maternal grandfather, Dr. Paul Choy 최동, was alive, I was in awe of him. He had overcome so much adversity and accomplished so much in his life, that whenever I visited him I felt I was in the presence of a living legend.
As an eight-year old he was sent to Tokyo, Japan, all on his own to attend boarding school. Although he excelled academically, his overall record was not as good as it might have been; at that time Korea was a colony of Japan, and he got into fights with classmates who liked to taunt the Korean kid.
He went on to attend universities in Shanghai, Toronto and Los Angeles (at USC -- whch makes us partial alums!), got his M.D. back in Japan and came back to Korea to train whole generations of younger doctors, *serve as Korea's first western-trained medical examiner for the police, and also distinguish himself as a scholar on the ancient history of the Korean peninsula.
When I was little we had a big thick family medical encyclopedia to which Grandfather had contributed the section on forensic medicine. It was one of my favorite parts of the tome (the other being the section on mental illness, in which I happened to come across a description of obsessive-compulsive disorder and went "Aha! This is me! I'm not weird -- I'm just crazy").
Anyway, when I went to see Grandfather's memorial bust at Severance Medical College during my Seoul visit, I was still on my best behavior, decades after his death. I had my photo taken standing solemn and grave next to his image, as stiff and straight as the bronze sculpture -- I'm afraid the picture gives no indication at all of the sprightly and charming nature that is mine:D
Then last year, the year after my trip, my maternal uncle -- Grandfather's youngest son that is -- sent me some photos of his son, my cousin Benjamin, taken on his own trip to Seoul. How American-born Ben's attitude differs from mine may be seen in the photos below. There were others, but I trust these two will suffice.
*He was not the only Choy to be the first Korean to do something. Some years ago, we found out from a newspaper article that Grandfather's own father -- my maternal great-grandfather that is -- Choy Jung-Ik 최정익, onetime Kunsu 군수(magistrate, governor) of Jeonju, South Jeolla Province, was the very first Korean person known to have set foot on Australian soil.
Worm Rescue Update:
This morning I rescued a baby earthworm! I guess 'cute' really isn't the word to use when describing worms, but really, it was kind of cute.
Number of worms saved: 14
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