Mini Stories from Humans of Devon St.

My grandpa goes outside after every meal to go smoke. One day, I asked my grandma out of curiosity if she has ever smoked in her life. To my surprise, she began to tell me a funny story where she told my grandpa that she wanted to try smoking; for that whole period of time, she would go outside, light a cigarette, let it burn a bit, then put it out --- and she was just going though the whole box like that. My grandpa told her that if she wanted to “smoke” like that, then she shouldn't even do it (because in reality she was just throwing away all his cigarettes).

Apparently (back in Korea), my grandpa used to take care of birds, and they would just hang out inside the house. My grandma got tired of all the feathers and cleaning up after them that one day she left the doors open when my grandpa wasn’t home, and they all flew away. And then she told my grandpa that she didn’t know what happened to the birds.

This was here in America, but they used to have chickens in the backyard (which, by the way, I could not believe). That was how they got all their eggs. Then when the neighbors started to complain about the noise, they had to get rid of them….I asked how they got rid of them….. They ate them…..

During the summer, one of the main reasons I disliked going outside (other than the heat) was because of all the beetles that would buzz around. My grandpa told me I shouldn't be afraid of them; he said that when he was a child, he used to climb trees to catch them. He would then twist the heads and watch them spin and twist around like a top… I don’t even know... but he tried to catch a beetle to show me but he wasn't able to.

When my dad was in high school, he was really into break dancing. My grandma went to go see him compete in a competition, and halfway through the show, she looked down to see that she was wearing two COMPLETELY different pairs of shoes.

One time my grandma planned on going to my grandpa’s sisters house to hang out with her. But my grandpa didn’t want her to leave, so he hid all her shoes.

My grandpa was born in Korea, but he barely learned Hangul (the Korean alphabet) in 5th grade. He was a kid during WWII / during the Japanese occupation of Korea. All schools only taught Japanese and he had to change his Korean name to something Japanese as well. He wasn’t allowed to learn any Korean until Korea was liberated. Today he’s fluent in Korean as well as English!

How they met: My grandma’s relative’s mother in law knew my grandpa’s mother, so then they arranged it so that my grandparents could meet each other. Apparently, they only went on a date 2 times….TWO TIMES then got married…. HOWWWWW?!?!?! Well, they said that since their families already knew each other, there was “a trust” between them. And also, the times were different.

I guess it all worked out because they had 5 kids together, and are still married.

How they came to America: In Korea, my grandpa managed where supplies would be sent for a US Navy/Army company. I think this is what he decided to do instead of having to enter Korea’s mandatory enlistment. My grandpa’s sister was in a higher position in the company; the company promised my grandpa’s sister that if she worked for [x] amount of years, they would help her to move to America and become a US citizen. My grandpa needed a couple more years, but his sister was able to help him and my grandmother come to America.