Section 2: Replies from Dr. Byung Boong Lee

Reply 1 - April 7, 2016

Dear Dr. Cho, Apology first, on my letter I have to write in English than Korean. Indeed, it has been a long time since we got together but I heard you are back to Seoul in these days. Anyhow, it was a total surprise to get the call from Mrs. Shin BaekHyo of Baltimore yesterday in regard to  the story you wrote in the website, which I even didn't know shamefully, about Prof. 한만운! Of course I do remember Prof. Han so vividly. As you recalled, he was always dressed up so neatly like British gentleman with such clean hair cut and darn, so punctual, never missing his class to make me look bad/impotent as 반장. Because, the major (?) role of  반장 at Premed School in those days was to negotiate with the professors to skip/reduce the class once in a while to let the classmates have more free time to fool around. So one day, a week before the semester exam, I played clown to make Prof. Han laugh first and then begged to him to cancel/postpone the class so that we could study harder to prepare for upcoming exams. He surprised us to cancel the class with no hesitation, which we never expected! Together with other two classes in same morning I already successfully negotiated to cancel, whole morning was FREE on that particular day to make the whole class in festive mood. Indeed, we didn't lose this once in a blue moon opportunity and made a mass(?) trip to PYONGHWA GEUKJANG to take advantage of 'JOJO WHALIN' of the movie as a group.  One of old memories as a spoiled kid!   With warm regards, BB ( I stopped using my full name, except for the pulbication and passport, since I left Seoul in 1968)
P.S. BTW, your uncle is right. My big uncle, Lee Whal, donated 3,000 suk to found 고려대 and 중앙학원 재단 as the biggest donor although many mistakenly identify 고려대 as Inchon Kim SungSoo's. No, sir!
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Dear 정관호, where the hell have you been, you rascal! Long time no hear! Indeed I missed the last class reunion in Seoul ( as I already excused, I was sadly on the plane on way to Beijing from Cairo on that day, thinking of you, all) so that we might not be able to see each other again before we die? Nevertheless, your memories are pretty good- NOT yet in senile dementia?-. Indeed 신사훈 교수 was my most favorite victim(?) to pull the leg whenever I have a chance to let him get totally lost to go wild and we all laughed to death having the best entertainment. I still remember we once locked both doors, front and back, of the classroom from inside to block his coming in to give the class. He literally begged to us through the window saying "YOUdeul irumyun chondang motga" and someone, 추재옥? shouted him back saying "URI DA CHIOK GALGUYEYO!". Of course, I pretended to rush to open the door with profuse excuse to him as class representative with 'all the classmates studied, day and night, so hard in these days that they all became MICHIN NOM and very dangerous!' scaring him enough. We indeed did have so much fun through this crazy two years of premed classes!  Warm regards, BB

Reply 2 - April 10, 2016

Wow, what a feast to wet my sentiment with full of nostalgia!
Was tied up with some works done through the week before I leave home tomorrow evening for two weeks so that I didn't have a chance to open the website. But I had a chance to lament to Dr. Steven Kim who kindly taught me to straighten out the trouble with my computer compatibility. After all, I confirmed once again Korean community I belong to is so small that there are so many old stuffs we share together. Indeed, the memories are fading every day so that I began to wonder whether I should jot it down somewhere - so many funny stories during my young days!!!- to let my own children would know what kind of person their dad was.

Indeed, I had a special relationship with Dr. 신백효 through the mission we shared in '90 to go back to Seoul and he remains one of few Korean friends here in the U.S. I keep. Otherwise, my connection with Korean community was completely shut down since I came back home from Seoul in 2004 and always feel so foreign to anything related to Korea through these many years.

Dr. Cho, I am so delighted to hear from you directly since you were one of few I have been wondering all these years. So you seem to enjoy a new life back in Seoul now- you might know TaeSeung Lee at 분당 서울대 병원 I initiated his vascular training at SamSung and sent him to Yale for further training -. Further I envy you to know how to control/enjoy own life seemingly with what you want. Regretfully I am still bogged down with the work no one, all smart, wants to commit despite I officially retired from the Hopkins group, and dragged around to help others with no control of my own.
  
Nevertheless, I still remember you as a young boyish looking handsome man as the way I recall when you visited us to Richmond, almost 40 years ago? You happened to visit me on the worst time with full of agony to decide whether I should go back to SNU to pay back what I owe. Indeed, right after the surgery training at SNUH, they appointed me to Teaching Instructor at surgery department to send to Richmond, Va to David Hume/MCV to learn transplant surgery. It was an official trip sponsored by Korean government/SNU -KWANYONG CHULJANG- for two years and I am supposed to be back to set up the program for SNU. But I resigned to start my surgery training all over again especially for vascular surgery. So, your letter suddenly floods my memory back in '70.  That period was one of turning points of 'no return' in my life/career. But no regret I chose the States ( it took more than 4 years to make my mind to settling here in the U.S. and came up to Washington to set up transplant & vascular surgery program at Georgetown Univ although I failed to keep my pledge to come back to SNU to pay back on their support (by the way, I paid back all my salary for two years in full amount when I resigned the position).

Anyhow, I never thought we will have another chance to talk about such long forgotten saga, thanking to Steven and Mrs. Shin!
With warm regards,
BB

P.S. By the way, Dr. Shin is going to organize SNU Meeting here in Washington along the first week of June and I am seriously considering my prior commitment to come to Bogota/Colombia for Latin American group which partly overlaps with SNU meeting depending upon how many friends would show up.
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Dear 정관호

For goodness sake, Canandaigua Lake?
I spent one full week last Fall to drive around Finger Lake area stopping over Corning, Ithaca, Syracuse, and Seneca Fall, etc to enjoy the Fall colors!
Mea culpa! Mea culpa!
I know/heard you live in upstate New York - I heard from 한기현 and other classmates over the dinner (I still come to New York every year in Novem
ber,  a week before Thanksgiving Holidays,  for VEITH Symposium to giving the lectures for vascular specialists and stop over at New Jersey once in a while to meet the classmates) - but I didn't know you live that close to where we drove around. Darn!

But again you guys seem to control own life to maximize its value to make me feel so embarrassed. I am still hopelessly embedded to the work despite officially retired so that my wife is now so fed up with my official schedule - I usually make out of country trip for lecturing every other months - and started to take the vacation with her daughters (indeed, she tagged along our second daughter to enjoy Ireland after her convention last year). So, from two years ago I spare a week purely for personal vacation twice a year and the trip to Finger Lake last fall was one of them.

Hope we could drive up to Adirondack and Finger Lake area again and stop over to see you folks there enjoying a real life!

All the best,
BB

P.S. I haven't made my mind yet but if we should have some friends to show up to Washington Meeting Dr. Shin organizes in June, I might come back early from Bogota/Colombia to host their visit together.
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Dear Dr. Cho


I forgot to thank you to let me know Dr. 최국진 passed away. No one told me so that I am really embarrassed. If you have a chance, please extend my condolence to his family. Indeed, after I refused to come back to resume the work at SNU, they filled up the position held for me with 최국진. He is one year behind at Kyunggi High as well as SNU if I remember correct. I had a chance to visit his family to YESAN(?) where his father practice the surgery and still remember home made wine-MAESILJU?- his father prepared for the guests from Seoul. He is such nice loyal friend and gave unlimited support when I started surgery program at SamSung in 1994.
BB

Reply 3 - April 30, 2016

Dear 관호
Have been away for two weeks in Italy, etc till last Wednesday so that I couldn't afford to make a room for such nostalgic trip back to 1957 era- more than half century?- till now.
Indeed, when I should look back, I was barely reaching young 20-forgot the age!- then so that apparently I played the clown quite often to have a fun, leading so many stupid(?) childish behaviors as a typical teenager- embarrassingly even my wife, my college sweet heart then, recalls only my clownish behaviors while we were dating ( I did intentionally to attract her attention, of course ) -. But surprisingly, many like you remembers only those episodes I completely forgot through these many years.

As a matter of fact, "Mopper in Bucket during 미생물 실습시간" reminds me of Prof. Chang WuHyun in microbiology -then he was also young JOGYO!- who teased me as a playful rascal during college days over one welcome dinner when I went back to Seoul for SamSung Hospital, saying he tripped over the bucketful of water with mop I left intentionally right in front of the door to make a big flooding only to giving me a chance to push him to cancel the class for 'free study(?) time'. Besides, he was naively trapped to my negotiation to include alcohol/JUNGJONG as one of the liquids/drinks for the test of different drinking capacity by different nature of the liquids as a part of experiments you might recall so that he was reprimanded by his boss because we had a good JUNGJONG party after the class to mess up the lab room.

Anyhow, Professor Moon, 체육 선생님, oh yes, how could I forget him! He always was pity on premed boys' terrible physical condition comparing to the bean sprout/KONGNAMUL. I still remember him saying 'WEN KAKBI GA IRI MANENYA???'. Of course, as a part of the role for 반장, I took the maximum benefit on his pity saying we/skinny KONGNAMUL would need the sun through outdoor activity. He gave in to my clownish behavior and persuaded Prof. Kang YoungSun (Chair for Premed Class) to expand outdoor class hour for physical exercise since all the classmates are in such poor shape like the Jews out of Auschwitz through hard study to get into the school. By surprise it worked! Prof Moon arranged two full day excursion to KWANAKSAN for our whole class, remember? Besides, he spared one full afternoon for 체육 once in a while, skipping/postponing other classes, to run around kicking the ball, etc and of course to proceed to early retreat to "SSANG-GUABOO JIB" to start after-class routine to drink MAGGULLI. What a those days! Carefree two years of premed school!

Of course I remember " old Prof. 정, 한문 선생님", who always wore half torn shoes, originally repaired military boots, with part of big toe visible through one corner. He was one my best victim(?) I always pulled the leg to making whole class go wild with laughs! I am still so grateful he was one of few such nice generous person to tolerate crazy teenage boy's MURYE-HAN' behavior. I remember when he praised you on a good/ appropriate answer to his question, I stood up telling him that it is quite natural because 'he is a Chinese and knows everything written in Chinese' including GONGJA MALSAM. And he believed it so that whole class exploded with the laughing. I believe the classmates start to call you GONGJA since that episode, didn't they? Another after saga! I led a few classmates (BAN DAEPYO) including Kim SeungTae and Choi Kwang Lim to visit him to his house in DonAmDong to present a new shoes we bought. As a typical teenager, I didn't bother to identify the lady who opened to door carefully but causally asked ' SAMONIM/ BUIN ISEYO?'. It was a disaster! The lady was his newlywed young daughter in law! At least she didn't slap on my face on such humiliating expression! Besides, when we explained why we brought a new pair of shoes, she couldn't help but laugh, showing a big cabinet-full (SINBALJANG) shoes many students like us brought through the years!

You know what? My wife seems to miss my silly behavior in my young days so that NO fun with me any longer!
Warm regards,
BB