2021.07.22 12:16
Starting the past spring my wife and I talked about moving near to my son’s family in Manhattan, New York.
After discussions with my son and daughter-in-law, we went to their condo at Franklin street, made visits to rental apartments near their condo, but it was quite a tough situation to find an acceptable one in view of high rentals, old buildings, and noisy and busy streets.
Therefore, we changed locations from NYC to New Jersey areas and finally settled to one unit out of the twins called the MODERN, the 47 story skyscrapers.
We settled on the 7th floor. We, therefore, moved from Rochester, NY to Fort Lee, NJ on June 3.
It took us several weeks for settling in this new town including the search for health insurance.
Despite the smallest unit with one bed and bath, it has a large living room with 180 degrees view showing my favorite George Washington Bridge, which I had crossed through the pedestrian path in December 2018 and March 2019.
At that time I never thought of my future moving into one of the tallest buildings for a living.
Soon after our move here, we realized it a very unusual and very attractive place for the following reasons:
First, it is genuinely a Korean town with Korean restaurants, Korean hair salons, Korean pharmacy, Korean notary public, Korean Doctors and Dentists, Korean Solomon agency corps, and others, many of them near our apartment so that I can walk easily.
Secondly, they are located very conveniently so that we can walk or call for Korean taxi.
Then my daughter-in-law started to talk about getting rid of our car, which I can’t drive to NYC since there is no easy place for parking. So I gave my old Toyota SUV to my son, Jim, who will keep it as a spare car.
Our simple life is getting even simpler nowadays. My key chain holds only two keys, one for the mailbox, another for operating the elevator of Cast Iron House where my son’s family lives. Here in the MODERN, elevators and apartment doors are opened by a card.
In my prime years, I used to carry almost ten keys for two homes, two office buildings, two cars, and some more, but now I am left with only two tiny keys.
Certainly, we are heading to the state of 무소유(無所有): Not to own anything unless absolutely necessary like Walden’s Henry David Thoreau.
Certainly, we shall discover some more interesting situations, so there will be follow-ups.
Kwan Ho Chung - July 22, 2021
2021.07.22 12:44
2021.07.22 15:53
Thank you, Dr. Lee
It seems to me that we are going back to the very old days, more than half a century.
I started my American life in the Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City, NJ about 11 miles southwest from Fort Lee where we are now.
We lived in an one room apartment of a very old house. Our first son, Henry, was born in the next spring.
At this point our comfort, serenity and peace are more important than anything else, we feel.
2021.07.22 15:59
Congratulations! I wish happier New Jersey for you.
The upper New York area might have been too lonely for anyone.
You must mingle with a lot of people, especially someone you can easily talk to.
An isolated social life is not good for our longevity and good health.
I really feel like I have gotten much older during the Covid lockups.
I really like to go back to California as soon as possible and like to be surrounded by other Koreans.
I hope we like to hear a lot of follow-up stories about the new life in New Jersey
2021.07.22 16:52
I think you have gotten the ideal place to retire, Dr. 정.
You can get to anywhere that you need to go by walking.
It is the number 1 priority of retirement. And you have everything
in Korean. How nice! Congratulations!
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Congratulations! Dr. Chung, for your successful downsizing
and nice settle down with all the ideal conveniences you and Mrs. need.
I thank you for sharing all your experiences and update, which
could be a valuable guide for others.