| FINAL DRAFT Love is the Strongest Power Jihoon Yoo EIT 201301135
I pondered very hard on who to interview, as I could not think of a person that went through so much hardship or terrible incidents during their lifetime, like the person that was a soldier during the WW2 written in our book. While I was typing random people like grandmother, aunt, and uncle on my laptop, I unconsciously looked at the kitchen to see my mother, who was making a noisy by doing the dishes. While she was doing the dishes, at the same time she was watching a drama that she watched very often and was laughing so hard, and suddenly an image of her doing the dishes at my grandparent's house popped up inside my head like a flash. "She never had that laugh, nor did she ever look so happy in my grandparent's house" I murmured to myself in disbelief. She was very polite and friendly to my grandparents, to my aunt, uncle and my cousins indeed, but she always seemed like she was keeping something to herself. I always knew that my grandfather and my mother did not get along very well, but every time I asked her, she refused to talk in details. So without any doubt I decided to interview my mother and about her marriage, and unveil some secrets concerning her and her father-in-law that she was hiding from me. When I asked for her permission on interviewing her for my work, she frowned and said, "Well, what are you going to interview about me? Surely there are not many interesting things about my life." "Actually, I am going to interview you about your early years of marriage, like whether there were any troubles related to you and your father-in-law." Then I looked closely at her face, concerned about her not wanting to talk about the issue, but she said with a wide grin on her face, "then I have a lot to say about that issue." "Before I talk about it, I know we recently celebrated you and father's wedding anniversary, and so on what year did you and father get married? Do you remember that day?" "Yes I still remember the day vividly like it was only yesterday. It was November 24th, 1991, and the weather was very cold and rainy." She began to retrospect on the wedding day. She said she was very nervous and anxious, but on top of everything, she could not even believe she was getting married. She said my father was no difference. According to my mother, his face was very serious with just a pinch of smile that was clearly made with a great effort. "I asked your father to do his hair in a proper salon, but he was so nervous that he went to the barbershop instead and had his hair cut really short. He couldn't even differentiate between salons and barbershops." Realizing that my father got accepted to the Public Administrations Examination after my older sister was born; I got curious and asked her: "What was the reason that made you want to marry my father even though the future was uncertain then?" "The future was uncertain indeed, and there was no proof or solid evidence that he was going to pass. However, the way he studied for his exam was enough to convince me that he was going to make it, and even if he did not pass, it felt like he was able to succeed in another area or career," she said, and chuckled quietly, having remembered how my father and she was reckless enough to get married at that period. She did not have any trouble with her father-in-law before she got married, or even during the first few years of her marriage. In fact, before the marriage she only met her parents-in-law three times in total, first to introduce herself, then on the Thanksgiving Day just for a few hours, and on the day of engagement, which was due to such a long distance between where my father and my mother lived. When I asked her what her first impression of her father-in-law was like, she said: "Your grandfather was very kind, and welcomed me with all his heart. I felt very lucky to have such a warm-hearted father-in-law back then." She explained her early years of marriage into two words, 'emotionally tiring.' Back in the early days of her marriage, she lived with my father's family in Seoul, having left her own parents living in Incheon. However, nothing seemed bright, as there were seven family members excluding herself which she had to take care of. Therefore every day she would prepare meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for my great-grandparents and my grandparents, my uncle and aunt whom were still college students, and my father. Also, my mother had to wake everyone up in the morning at their appointed times, and clean every rooms including the kitchen and the toilet. To make matters worse, as my father was still studying for his exam, she was left with my great-grandparents and my grandparents during the day when my father went to study in the library. She explained the situation as 'a little girl having lost her parents in a big zoo with immense and scary animals threatening her.' "Those were the worst days of my entire life. Your father was away studying, and I was doing all the chores in a house that used to have no relationship with me whatsoever before the marriage, and do the errands that my parents-in-law asked me to do. It never felt like I just got married to your father, because I saw your grandparents more than your father," she said with her eyes closed, as if she was visually reminiscing those moments as she spoke. Suddenly she added after a while, "but at that time, your grandfather still was very fond of me, and was very generous." "Then when did things start to get difficult? You said you had a lot of trouble with your father-in-law," I asked for her explanation. "That was when your father passed the Public Administrations Examination. From that time onwards, things started to get difficult and arduous for me." Suddenly the tone of her voice became very low and monotonous, and I held her hand to soothe her just to find out that her hands were actually cold. She started speaking very calmly and quietly. When my father was studying for the exam, even though all family members were cheering for him, my grandparents were concerned about him not having any job now that he was married, and therefore wanted my father to have another job. However, as soon as he passed the exam, my grandparents regarded of him differently. He instantly became the breadwinner of the family, and my mother, whom was normally regarded as an angel that stood beside by my father even though he did not have any job, was degraded to a person that was just next to my father. Therefore that time onwards my grandfather always picked on my mother with even the tiniest things like not having cold water at home, or answering late when he called her. They must have thought that my father deserved a better woman now that he became so successful. When I asked her: "do you remember one incident that happened because of your father-in-law? One that made you devastated and hurtful?" She thought for a while, and after a short breath she began answering my question. "It was before giving birth to your sister. It was during the eighth month of my pregnancy, and I had to go to your grandparent's house. It was too far from where I stood, and therefore I decided to take a taxi. When I got home and explained that I took a taxi because I was too tired, your grandfather yelled at me for taking the taxi and told me that I was wasting money for no reason. That was the most devastating moment of my life, and I wanted to leave everything and never talk to your grandfather again." My mother talked about her most sorrowful incident without having any emotion on her words, and therefore it even made me more uncomfortable as it seemed that she was just trying to hide her sadness from me. But at the same time, the feeling of admiration towards my mother grew, because if it were my case I would not have endured all the hardship that she went through, and would have just gave everything up. "I know it's very typical and unoriginal, but the key is love. Love is what makes you withstand despite all the hardships. I became part of this family because I loved your father, and as that was the case I also had to embrace your father's family too," she said with a wide smile on her face. It has been over 20 years since my parents got married, and my mother still seemed to love my father very much. After all the hardships and harsh incidents that she went through, she said that all started to get better when my parents moved out from my grandparent's house. And she did not forget to mention that it was one of the greatest decisions that she made so far. For the last question, I asked what advice she would give to herself in the past, and she told me without hesitation: "Do not keep your anger to yourself, but try to release it by having a conversation with the person you are angry at." Being a young 24 years old woman, she always thought of it as a norm not to talk back to the elders, especially her parents-in-law. Therefore she always said "yes" to everything my grandfather told her to do, and that conversely made my grandfather to look down on my mother. Also, all she gained from being a 'yes woman' was stress and frustration towards her father-in-law, and numberless wounds inside her heart. She mentioned that if she had been more confident and independent she would not have gone through all the hardships related to her father-in-law, and accentuated that it is never okay to just endure everything and try to be nice all the time. Her last words for our interview were "it is rather wise and sensible to talk about things that you want others to change." Right after the interview had finished, as usual my mother started giving me lectures on how to live independently, and that I should always express my opinion and never succumb to what other people say. It was so typical of my mother, but she was my mother that was, and still is much stronger than any other people anyone can imagine.
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Monday, December 8, 2014
Jihoon Yoo 201301135/Oral History Final Draft/Tuesday 9-11am
Haesook Yoon/ Oral History Final Draft/ Tue. 9 a.m.
| Hates 201302209 Haesook Yoon
Hating someone for no reason happens sometimes. I also had that moment when I was in high school and was very confused because I thought there were always reasons for hates. It was not only my problem so I met my high-school friends to talk about it. We eventually got into a discussion whether hate is inherent emotion or not and control of hates. The stars were bright when we met in a very warm café. I had a cup of coffee, Sarah had a cup of latte and Amy had a cup of hot chocolate. It was just a week after Amy's College Scholastic Ability Test of Korea, so we were very excited to meet each other. We talked about our high-school memories and Amy's another year studying for the test again. Because hating someone or being hated was a tough topic, I had to be very careful before I ask questions. To my relief, we had no secrets to each other about our high school life. Before the harsh questions I asked them about their childhood hates. I asked them when their first hate was. Sarah who was always bright and brisk, quickly repeated my question. "The first hate? What do you mean, like the first, first hate?" So emphasizing the 'first', I asked the question again. "Yes, when was you 'first' hate?" The two girls looked at each other and really thought hard to remember their first hate. Then, Sarah started her story. "Well, my first hate, or something like hate was my younger sister and my mom. As you all know I have two younger sisters and one younger brother. When I only had one sister, our parents bought us a double-deck bed. We fought to get the first deck and our mother stopped us. As the result of our fight, mom hit me in the palm 15 times and my sister's 10 times. I thought that was really unfair. The fact that I am only 2 years older than my sister does not mean that I have to give everything to her. Also that cannot be the reason for more punishment. That moment I hated my sister and at the same time envied her. I still think my mom's treat was wrong." Sarah's stubborn face made us laugh. She also wanted us to agree that her mom was mistreating her, so we did. "Yes, older age does not mean infinite give away. So what happened as you grew up? Do you two still fight over little things?" I asked. "Not now, but as my sister and I grew together we fought a lot over tiny things such as seats in the car or sharing our clothes. However, now I do not really care whether she gets more than me. Because that much is not really a 'more-than-me' size. Now I understand that sometimes I can have more and other time she can have more." Amy added to Sarah's saying. "That's true. I also think that just by concentrating on what you can get instead of what others are getting compared what you are getting, people can be much happier." We all nodded. I thought we needed more sugar to talk so bought two pieces of tiramisu cake. As we all had some rest and are charged with sugar we started our discussion. This time I asked Amy about her experience of first hate. She had quite different story from Sarah. "When I really felt strong hate, I was 16. I studied in the United States and there I was busy learning the culture and language. I really could not have a moment to hate somebody. Also there were a lot of Korean students and we were very close as we were in the same situation. However, when I came back and went to a Korean middle school, there were more separated groups in a class. Fortunately, I got into a group. However, two girls from other group sometimes joined our group to hang out. When they did, they talked to my friends but not to me. They listened to my friends but not me. I thought they were pushing me out from my group of friends. That's when I really felt strong hate. They hated me first, so I hated them too, just in a same way. I acted as if they were not there. This lasted for about two years and finally we went to different high schools." Sarah and I did not know this story, so we were surprised. However I continued. "So I guess some people have inborn hates and other people learn their hates from others. However, we all agree that humans have hate inside them, right?" They nodded. "Just like Sarah changed her mind to control her hates, have you tried anything to control you hates, Amy?" I asked. "Well, in the middle-school I showed my hates to others easily and did not try to control them because they caused my hate. In contrast, in high-school, I also experienced hates for no reason and totally understand what you feel, Haesook. Because I learnt to hate others by them hating me, I could not understand myself hating others although they are not hating me. So, for days and weeks I tried to find the reason, avoiding the person I hate. But I could not. So from that moment, I started to hate myself. You know, hating me is more hurting that being hated from others. Now, as a lot of time went by, and I just understand that these things can happen. One thing I can do is to hope that this will not happen again." That was true. Things happen all the time. All we could do was to pray that those heartbreaking things not to happen again. I could not ask more about Amy's story because that might hurt her again by reminding her how she hated herself. Suddenly, I felt the night breeze. After we all talked about our hates, we were all in silence. Then Sarah broke the ice by telling us the Christmas party we will be having in few weeks. We forgot the hates and planned the party. The stars in the sky were blue but still bright.
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Sunday, December 7, 2014
Sejong Lee/Final Draft of Interview/Tuesday 9 am
My uncle and the school life of the 60's
Full of study but also had their life
201002416 Lee Se Jong
When the uncle visited my house, my mom and uncle talk more than two hours and it seemed like they have many things to talk about. My mother said there are not only things about to say in those days, but also they had their past to talk about. He was always with smiling face and it always feel like he is a virtuous person. Having more and more gray hair these days, he looked more like grandfather rather than uncle now but still his eyes were bright like a young man. I was always curious about his life because when my mother talked about her past, uncle usually appeared in the story and it made me really interesting that his life story was much fun than my mother's story. He was like a character of the comic book and that leaded me to learn about his past. I decided to interview him and when my uncle went my home last week, I made a time to have an interview with him while my mother was sitting with us preparing some snacks.
In my first question 'when did you born', he answered that he was born in 1956, when Korea was quite a different at that time. He had to overcome the lot of difficulties different then these days. There were too much to ask like what is different from now but at first I was asking about his school life which was most curious to me.
"Uncle, please talk about your school life."
He was like knowing what my question will be. His answer was fast and clear without any time to think about. From the elementary school, he went to school at 8 and it finished at 10. He did this from elementary school until the high school. The class was finished at mostly 5 o'clock but after that he had to study at school or went to the academy. So his life was fulfilled with studying. When my continuous question about do you satisfied about your school life, different from what I expected, he answered he was understandable that the every student at that time was just doing the same as him.
"At that time, entering the elementary school was also by the test." He still talked about it even though I didn't ask about it.
"So at that time, is it really hard to study every day?" I asked the second question in succession of his saying.
My uncle smiled and said that he's childhood was just full of the test. Every Monday they had test about major subject and every month, they had a test on every subject. Of course there were middle term and final term exam. So he always had to study. Every test was linked to the big test and bad scores would be punished. At that time teacher punishing students was very normal and it was continued until 21c century.
About the question of whether he was good students or not, he replied that he was a good student but the scores were not goo. He was the lowest grade student in the middle school but he became middle score student when he graduated the high school. He said that he thought himself as a steady person so he was studying for 12hours although the total concentrated time were just more than 5 hours. He also said that the school where he went allowed to enter only students with most excellent scores in the southern part of Korea, so his scores were not bad as I thought.
I also asked what was the most difficult subject to do. As he was eating the cookies, his answer was Physical education. At that time, physical education is also count as score which also highly influenced the entering to the middle or high school. Not to lose the score in that subject, he had to exercise 5 at the morning with my grandmother every day. He recalled that was the most difficult challenge for him. Chin-up was the hardest thing that he had to do. But how hard he exercise, he was still behind the score and in order to fulfill that blank, he had to be excellent on other subjects.
"But at last, I failed. My physical education score needs one more point and I couldn't make it. My grandmother really wanted me to go to high school in Seoul, but at last I was going to Busan high school."
About the question about how did he manage to go to school, he answered that he used little bus. It was the bus used in 70's to solve the traffic problem. It's almost capable of 25 people and always a crowded bus. If the driver turned the bus, than the all the people inside there were fell off inside the bus. About the fee, first they used some tokens resembles old Korean brass coin but later it was changed into tickets.
"Is there any circle or club?"
"Oh, only the bullies were in the club. We had no time to do such a thing."
"Then what was your hobby?"
Not uncle, my mother replied while drinking the coffee and said "he loved to collect the record. You stack piles of record in our house." My uncle continued after my mother says. There were no mp3s or cellular phones that day so the only way to hear the music was by radio or record. As he mentioned before, he was not good at any physics so his hobby was related to more static contents. He loved to collect it and listened the music with the record. But after his recalling, he showed bitter facial expression.
"Yes, I really loved to collect it. But your mother also knew what happened to my records."
He stared my mother.
"Yes. Grandmother broke it all because you didn't study enough. It was really incredible that she broke that all. I also tried to break his record but it even didn't bend."
After heard about his hobby, I was curious about that day's play style. His answer was quite interesting that he argued every period had that characteristic time of playing. At nowadays children were mostly playing with computers, but at that time the most fun thing was the comic books. So, burrowing a book from the bookstore was the most fun to the student. At that time, bookstore was different from now. It was place where the people burrowed the comic books and because it was the main reason for the students to absent to academy. Parents usually monitor the place near the bookstore. His family was not the exception. As the oldest son in the house, he should have not bring any bad things that would harm studying moods in the home and therefore comic books were banned in his house. But he loved to read it and grandmother was watching with the baseball bat on her hand.
Next, I asked about his after school life. It was very broad question that anything he wanted to talk about He said that the most memorable thing that he remembered was the school uniform. Current students tend to think that the school uniforms are vestige of the Japanese colonialism, but at that day, the uniforms were the most fashionable clothes that during he came back to home from the school, every girl students were watching him. This gave feeling like he was becoming an elite, and in fact he was at that day. That was why when he went to some meetings, he always tended to wear the uniforms.
"So, you made lots of problems that day. So are there many problems with the grandmothers?"
He laughed at my question. He said as the old Korean usually said, 'you can't imagine that day'
"I could still remember that day when your grandmother chasing me with the knife. She was a passionate woman and because I was lazy to the study, she thought that you would be better killed here. I was Lucky to escape that day. She even chased me to the downtown. Your grandmother is sick now, but when she was young, she was too passionate. She even threw away the books to the fireplace or the pond that I didn't study enough and student who didn't study enough didn't need any of those things. But few hours later we always ended with buying them again. There were always problem with my mother every day. But I understand everything she did because the study was the most important thing in that life and she wanted to have a hardship with me. She didn't just observe me but did the study with me and that was why I really thanked to the grandmother."
There were almost no snacks lefts and also did my question. My final question was about the most important thing that learned in his life. He stared at me, and said his last story.
"You can fail, but you don't have to make a mistake. In my school, they were all the elites in the Korea. Lots of my friends in middle school and high school went to Seoul University, and some were having a good job and earned a lot of money. But not everybody succeed. Many of my colleagues were also now living in single room with no money. Do you think why? They did not waste their money or not working hard. The only wrong thing they did is they made a mastake. You always have to remember cliché that 'There is only one life.' So, there are fails but you shouldn't have mistakes. Whether you are now in good university or good job, once you have a mistake, you lost one pile of your life. And this is hard to recover, almost cannot. You have to remember that the fail and mistake are very different. Whatever hard life you had, one mistake can ruin all."
Although his life was full of failure, he recalled the past that he didn't make big mistakes in important points and that was the key for him to finally entrance the medical university and now sitting here enjoying the time here.
Hyejin Kim/Final Draft of Oral History/Tue.9 a.m.
What Happened to My Family in 1997?
201001006 Hyejin Kim
As a student who is majoring in international studies, I have learned various fields including politics, economics and international law. Especially I have focused on economics and last year, I took a class about the history of the Korean economy. At that time, I wrote 4000 word essay about the 1997 financial crisis in South Korea. In 1997, I was 7 year-old kid and I' don't have any memory related to the crisis. However, my mother used to talk to me that my family spent really harsh time as an aftermath of the crisis and I decided to interview her in order to find out what happened to my family at that time.
My mother was born in a small rural town as the last kid of 7 siblings. Her father was dead when she was 2 years old. So I guess her childhood's environment was not that abundant. After graduating from high school, she got a job in a bank and she married my father when she was 28 years old. What I knew about her career was she quit the work after my younger brother was born. First I asked her whether she could expect the crisis or not since she was working at the bank at the moment and I thought she might have known something. Then she said that there was a rumor that the crisis would hit the Korean economy but nobody was sure about it. And just after the crisis broke out, there was the presidential election. So people would say that they should choose the person who could overcome the crisis. Then I asked how tough my home to endure the crisis. She thought for a while and started to talk slowly that my father had a job in a bakery and she was working at a bank. However, the bank carried out a large-scale restructuring and she was very tired of her work. Therefore she decided to quit the work and open a bakery with my father with the money she received as severance pay.
In order to earn money, they tried to start a bakery, but they couldn't because there were already a lot of people who were fired and opened a bakery. She added that a bakery was one of the easiest businesses with lower barrier to entry. Unfortunately as an aftermath of the crisis, the bakery where my father worked also had to close. After a short pause, she added "after 1 year later, the hardest time of my life started". She explained she didn't feel that managing livelihood was really really difficult in 1997 when the crisis broke out since she had some money that she was given when quitting her job. However after a year there was no money left and "literally we had no money to buy rice", she added. I said "but mom, I had no idea that we struggled like that and I can't imagine it." She replied "Of course you could not recognize it. You were too young to know that and you were not that mature kid." Saying that, she laughed and I said "No way!!"
Then I added that I heard someone killed himself because of a huge debt in our town and asked her she knew anybody who lost job and spent harsh time like us. She sighed and she said that she heard a story about a person who killed himself by pouring oil on himself, setting fire on the body and committing suicide by drowning but there was no friend of her who spent harder life than her. This is because most of her friend had no choice to quit their job but their husbands had very solid job. So they didn't have to worry about money that much. "Well. I can say that moment was a kind of turning point of my life. Before the crisis, I had no worry about work and earning money since working at the bank was secure and stabilized job. However, after the crisis I realized how naïve I was", she added. Since I heard that there were a number of the homeless, I asked her whether she could easily see the homeless in the street. Surprisingly, her answer was "no". According to her explanation, it was hard to see the homeless in my hometown but definitely there were a lot of people who lost job, home and family in bigger cities like Seoul.
I also asked about gold-gathering movement. I mentioned it on my paper and the movement was a voluntary action of the Korean people who wanted to help the nation by donating their gold including accessories, wedding rings and so on. She replied that she participated in the movement with some rings she had at that time. Suddenly she seemed to remind of some memories and said that she came up with a fact that she rarely saw the homeless in the near street, there were many couples who divorced. And I replied "As you said, my family was under the really harsh situations and you and father lost the jobs. Had you ever considered divorce?" Saying that, I thought I worried that I was asking a sensitive issue to her. To my surprise, however, she answered flatly with confidence. "No, never. Think about it. Of course we were struggling but it was not our fault. Your father and I tried hard to protect our family. How could I request him to divorce blaming him? I believed money was not a problem at all to your dad and me. I thought if we had no money, all we had to do was working and earning money. It was not that big deal". At that moment when she was talking, I was very impressed and I truly admired my parent. Then I asked how she and my father overcame the situations and she said she found a new job and my father also started to work at a bakery again. Actually she is still working at the same company and very satisfied with her work. In addition, my father is running his own bakery now.
It was time for her go to bed. Finally I said "thank you" with my all heart for telling the story and overcoming the serious crisis for family. Tears in her eyes, she added her final comment that "I'm about to cry thinking of the moment. It was the hardest time of my whole life and I really thank god that your father and I passed through that time". I tossed and turned on my bed long time after my mother falling asleep. When I wrote the essay about the crisis, I was very neutral. I analyzed the causes and the impacts, bail out of International Monetary Fund, and the policies of the government and focused on the economic indicators like debt ratio, since I had no idea what happened to my family when the crisis occurred. After listening to her story, I sympathized with many other older people who were fighting desperately with the crisis to protect their family.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Kwon Hye-Ji/#4 meaningful place final draft/Tues 9am
My Secret Place 2nd draft
201200235 Kwon Hye-Ji
When I think of my childhood, a place always comes to my mind. From the moment my old best friend and I found this hidden place by accident, we made a lot of good memories and shared everything there. So, the place reminds me of her bright smile and cheerful laughter. I still miss scent of trees and flowers around the area and the ringing school bell after school. The place provided me a private room and kept me from a noise other students made while chatting, yelling, and running the yard.
It might be a destiny for her and me to discover the place. My friend and I always did everything together like twins such as doing homework, having meals and exercising. Even we had similar hobbies and tastes. So we were like perfectly well-engaged wheels. When we were second grade students, we took a same after-school activity program to learn playing violin. After the violin class finished, we walked out from a building and found a path next to the building. I do not know I can call it a path because it was just a little space leading to a corner beside the building. It was unpaved and colorful grass grew on the road. However, we were attracted to walk into the path by something. So out of curiosity, we walked in and we reached to an empty lot surrounded by trees. It was small but cozy. The ground was soft and comfortable with green grass. Also, the place was located on a hill, so we could look down the town. Then, fresh air came into my breath.
So we got one more secret. My friend and I had already shared many stories but the place was the most valuable present for us. We could improve the friendship more. After the school finished, we often went to there and had a great time. Sometimes we did homework, sang songs, or had chat while eating chips together. Because it was the hidden place, nobody could find us and interrupt our time. So we could open our minds to each other and even talked about sensitive topics such as a boy who I liked in the classroom. We unpacked a bag of stories that we did not want others to know. Even the atmosphere of the place made us relieved to continue talking. Imagine the blue sky with fleecy clouds and a light breezing on the green and soft ground. I could sometimes hear others laughing and music flowing from somewhere. Trees were fluttering in the wind and we still had a lot of story to talk.
However, I also enjoyed having my own time there. I often went to there by myself. I always wanted to lie down on my back on the grass, look up to the sky and just enjoy watching clouds flitting. At that time, I sometimes felt sick of doing homework and going to an academy for extra study. When I felt like escaping from the repeated daily life, I went to the secret place. I could be relaxed by looking down at the town. Under the hill, people looked very busy and were in hurry to move somewhere but I felt like only I was in the paused time. So I felt like I became special. Because I ensured that nobody would come, so I did not need to care about the outside world. It was completely isolated, so there was very calm, quiet and peaceful. It was a good place to arrange thoughts or read books in the sun.
Unfortunately, the place was disappeared due to construction but it still remained in my mind. When I was in the place, I felt like I fell in the completely different world where others could not find me. So I felt like being a invisible man. I will never forget the comfort and good memories with my best friend in the place. I still miss my sweetest oasis where provided me the requisite opportunities to rest and rejuvenate.
Jiyeon Yang/#4 meaningful place final draft/ Tuesday 9am
My secret café
201301957 EIT Jiyeon Yang
Although many people can use this place, this place is private to me. So, I always visit this place alone and spend time reading books, listening music and surfing the internet. Most of people in this place are alone so this place is very quiet and peaceful. So when I am stressful or want to arrange my thoughts, I always visit here. Spending time in here gives me rest, relaxation, and peace. Finding a place that is peaceful is important to everyone, but it can be difficult for many people. Also, not many people would think of a cafe as a peaceful place because café in Korea is usually noisy. But I found it to be a great place. Moreover, this place is meaningful because I found this café at my hardest time.
Two years ago, I was a high school student so I really concerned about my score. One day, I was really upset and stressful because I screwed up my test. So, to refresh myself, I walked around town alone. After walking an hour, I became tired and needed a rest. So I entered a café named 'the corner.' The café looked very cozy to me. When I entered a café, there was no one and soft music played in the background. Although it was the first time I visit this café, the atmosphere of the café was really comfortable and familiar. I liked the intimacy of atmosphere, light and soft music in the café. So I felt a lot better after a good long rest. From that day on, I often went that café. Every time I went that café, there was nobody or were just a few people. So I used to go there to study and arrange my thoughts. And after I became a university student, this cafe became my regular haunt when I have no class. I usually do my assignments or just relax with a cup of coffee.
The exterior of this building is painted in grey color like other buildings in Korea. In front of this building, there are 4 lanes road and the traffic on the road makes an endless noise. However, Surprisingly, The noise tails away when I enter this cafe because of properly soundproofed windows. This café is on the second floor and I usually walk up the stair. When I slowly walk up the stair, a cold burst of stale, sweaty air penetrated my nose and the lighting is too dim. On the other hand, when I enter this café, a faint aroma of coffee tickles my nose. I really love this aroma of freshly brewed coffee. And background music is always classic or jazz. Also, two things make for a very cozy atmosphere. First, because this café faces south, it receives a lot of sun in the morning and afternoon. A café filled with natural sunlight is cheery, warm and inviting. Second, at night, soft and ambient lighting in the café is harmonized with neon signs and the headlights of the cars outside. It makes café cozy, too. And I also love interior of this café. In the middle of the café, a tall, leafy tree stands. To the right is open coffee bar with wood colored walls. Also, there is shelf filled with exotic and foreign imported figures and windows behind this shelf are gold and square framed. To the left are seating areas furnished with large comfortable chairs and small tables, designed with lots of small intimate spaces for quiet conversations. And, next to seating areas, there is a white grand piano. However, I have never seen that someone played this piano. Also, Bookshelves are covered with a variety of books ranging from the religious and philosophical texts to classics in literature. And the paintings and frames are displayed throughout the café on the wall. The paintings are all local artists to purchase and phrases written in frames are all from the Bible.
Whenever I order a cup of coffee, there are some noises when barista makes drinks. The first noise in the process is of grinding the beans. And, the second noise is from espresso machine extracting espresso. And If I order a hot drink, the noise is not over yet. For a latte or cappuccino, the next part of process is to steam. And, there are some gurgling noises as air is incorporated into the milk. To someone, this sound could be a noise. However, for me, it sounds like a music. In a rainy day, it sounds much more romantic.
This café is like candy and chocolate to me. Because whenever I eat candy and chocolate, sweet flavors and scents make me happy. Like this, whenever I go this café, peaceful atmosphere and a cup of coffee always make me peaceful or even high. Also, this café is like my home because I don't wear any make up or fancy clothes to go this cafe. I am sure there is no place that I can go without make up except my home. It means that I do not have to care about other's eyes. Although this café is my favorite place, this café is not well-known to my neighbors. Also, I do not meet friends in this café because I hope that this café is my private place. I am pretty sure that I cannot find a perfect place like this café except my home. So I really hope that this café remains my only secret and private place forever.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Hajin Ahn/An important place (2nd draft)/Tues 9am
| An Exceptionally Cozy Underground (2nd draft) |