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I was 26 when I joined Army Special Services as a librarian. I had wanted to ever since one of their recruiters came to the library school where I was studying because, as the proverbial "scholarship kid" and the first in my family to go to college, I had never been anywhere, and the idea of going to an Asian country intrigued me. This created problems later on when soldiers wanted to know why I was there voluntarily when they wanted to be anywhere but, so I finally said that I made a lot of money, which was partially true. My curiosity, though, led me to lots of interesting places in Korea including, at one point, to the home of one of my library assistants whose new baby was having his 100-day celebration, and on a tour of CheJuDo, the island off the southern tip of the peninsula. As a product of same-sex Catholic girls schools, I found being an American woman in the midst of hundreds of men peculiar at times, but I loved the experience. Of many memories, I particularly liked doing book spots on army radio and becoming famous around the 2nd Division as "Mary K from RC3." On the other hand, I never drink Mateus rose wine because every officer's club there served it with dinner as a compromise, rather than deciding between white or red. Can't stand the stuff to this day. Korean food, though, is a different story. I still like it and I can cook a lot of it. Ironically, now working in Queens, New York, I am surrounded by Korean immigrants, students and colleagues with access to great Korean restaurants, almost like I never left. I hope you enjoy our memories. Mary Kay |
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Mary K's Memories
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