Cozmopolitan Sunkyoung

As I twitted, from today onward, Koreans can travel to the USA without visas for up to 90 days. On this historical day, I would like to talk about my link with the USA.

Since my first living abroad was in the Netherlands, I have become pro-Europe but I’m quite certain that if it was in the States, I’d have been at the forefront of promoting its culture like I’ve been with the Irish one. Interestingly, however, before I went to the Netherlands in 2003, my view on the Western world had been formed heavily based on how the US was projected in me from my childhood.

My parents, who were very keen about education, bought me a set of English books and cassette tapes directly licensed by the American publishing company when, if I could remember, I was three years old. Through a family of anthropomorphised rabbits in the books, I could observe the different settings of the Americans’ daily lives: two-storied house with a garden and a garage, big shopping mall where people carries carts, school bus, Christmas and so on. And as lovers of pop music, my parents also had a big set of 60’s to 80’s pop music and I think I listened to these songs more than to children’s songs.

When I grew up to be a teenager, I recall it was a booming period of absorbing American culture and most of the channels were through media. You could easily imagine how I understood the Western world - which practically meant the US only at that time - with the names I list as following:

• New Kids On The Block - These five boys from Boston had a significant influence on my interest in English language because what I did during my spare time in junior high school was mostly singing along their songs and trying to understand what the lyrics meant. I actually thank them for this and next February in Amsterdam, I’ll finally see these now-men after nearly two-decade since I became their fan. Not only their songs but their music videos - yeah, we are the generation of MTV - stimulated my curiosity about the Western life with the sights and incidents filmed in the videos.

• Toy Soldiers- As an adolescent girl who reached the stage of valuing friendship most in life, this movie fired my fantasy of the perfect friendship, trouble-making at school, dormitory life, teenage hero. I liked the film so much that I bought the video tape from the video rental shop, which was very rare for anyone of my age at that time, and that I even rewrote the story by adding myself as a troublemaking girl who was sent by her parents to the boarding school, where there are only boys, as a very exceptional case. I named her (or myself) Kevin to defeminise her original name, Catherine, with a thought at the time that the first sounds of these two names were the same. Anyway, this is not the end of the story. I even wrote my first-ever fan mail to Sean Astin to the Tri Star in Hollywood which produced ‘Toy Soldiers’ and was advised to send a fan letter to by a Korean film magazine. (The mail was returned to me a couple of months later, though, with a stamp of wrong address.) Now you can imagine how sad I was when I saw Sean Astin in the first piece of the Lord of the Rings. I was really shocked at how much a person can change over a decade.

• TV Series - The Wonder Years, Doogie Howser, M.D., Beverly Hills 90210 up to my teenage and Ally McBeal and Sex and the City in my adulthood: No more words needed, right?

With this visa waver programme, I now can directly experience the American culture without the heavy burden of application with the various documents and a lot of money. As much as the gap between fantasy and reality, my future experience in this vast territory of Northern America will be different from what I had learned and saw from all those pieces of American pop culture. However, I’m excited to be able to see and feel them in their own country, recalling the fanatical curiosity about the world outside from my childhood.

Today I had a big lunch at Sevi’s with her flatmates and their friends, and had a lot of fun over good food. It was great to go beyond the stagiaires’ boundary and to be in a multicultural environment - well, it is true, though, going to somewhere in Brussels is almost always being surrounded by multi cultures. There were four Spanish/ Catalan, one Bulgarian, one Norwegian and one Korean. However, the best explanation about where I am from I think was the one’s from Madrid. He said, “after growing up in Madrid, but living in the US for two years, and now living in Brussels for five years, I no longer know where I really am from. I have been thinking about posting on identity some day and, in addition to a friend of mine’s case, who has mixed more various places and periods into forming his identity, this guy gave me a good insight on this subject.

Back to the title of this post, while we were talking about French language with which most of us are struggling, one of the Spaniards said as following:

English for business
French for diplomacy
Spanish for love

I think Italians will argue about the last one but I’m quite sure no one would tackle on the first two. Some might replace French with Chinese but it’s not really likely yet.

After all, the objective of (learning foreign) languages can be best achieved when it’s based on one’s own interest and amusement. When the needs come from external-forced- factors, however, it’s hard to maintain one’s motivation. Well, maybe I’m saying this as an excuse of my slow progress in French.

On Thursday the Stage Committee sent an additional notice to their daily news for the ‘US Election Party’ organised by American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels. They got the 20 tickets but later announced more than 80 stagiaires applied for.

Last night at one of the bars I went to with my friends, there was a leaflet of ‘OBAMA NIGHT’. ‘Belgium for Obama’ hosts this event and I guess they’d decided to make it Obama Night whatever the real outcome would be that night.

I also found a music video for Obama, featuring a lot of American entertainers including my favourite male singer John Legend. (He also sang on the stage for Obama campaign.) Thank you, Elisabeth!

 The reason why I think some of the outside the US support Obama is their expectation that the relationship with the US could be changed from a phase of confrontation to cooperation. Of course, because of each state’s own interests, it won’t be possible to make one voice over the issues at stake all the time. If the government’s mind-set is already based on sharing, however, wouldn’t it be a little easier to go towards cooperation?
 

Last weekend, a friend of mine, Inky (Ingrid) visited me from the Hague in the Netherlands. We met each other back in the summer 2004 right before she went to Korea as an exchange student in Business Administration Dept. at Yonsei University. We have been in contact each other since, but it was in Maastricht in September 2005 when we saw the last time. So, it was such a great reunion that we couldn’t wait for it.
헤이그에 살고 있는 잉그리드가 지난 주말에 놀러왔었다. 우리가 처음 만난 건 2004년 여름, 잉그리드가 연세 상경대의 교환 학생으로 가기 직전이었다. 그 후로 계속 연락을 해왔지만 마지막으로 본 건 2005년 9월 마스트리히트에서였다. 그래서 이 번에 다시 보게 되는 걸 둘 다 손꼽아 기다리고 있었다.
 
On Friday night when she arrived, there was ‘Wine & Cheese Party’ by the Stage Liaison Committee, so we were there. When we take a picture together, she always lowers her height being considerate of me. But this time she got even shorter than me.
잉그리드가 도착한 금요일 밤에 Stage Liaison Committee가 주최한 ‘와인과 치즈 파티’가 있어서 그 곳으로 향했다. 우리 둘이서 사진을 찍을 때면 그녀는 늘 나를 배려하여 키를 낮춘다. 하지만 이번에는 나보다 오히려 작아져 버렸다.
    
오른쪽 사진에서 (보다 큰 사이즈를 위해 클릭 추천) 잉그리드와 나의 윗 입술 모양을 보면 동양인과 서양인의 다른 구강 구조를 발견할 수 있다. 지혜의 동료가 인사 코칭 강의 때 한 이야기라고 하는데, (내 기억이 맞다면) 입 꼬리의 위치가 동양인의 경우 서양인 보다 아래에 있다고 한다. 따라서 같은 지름의 입 크기를 가졌다 하더라도 웃을 때는 서양인의 입꼬리가 더 높이 올라가기 때문에 상대적으로 더 크게 웃는 것처럼 보인다고 한다. 같은 이치로, 입술을 다물게 되면 동양인의 입꼬리는 다소 아래를 향해 있기 때문에 화가 났거나 기분이 안 좋은 것으로 오해를 받기가 쉽다고 한다. (그 강의의 요지는 입 꼬리를 올리는 연습을 통해 표정 관리를 하라는 것이었다. 지혜야, 틀리다면 알려다오.)
Looking at the shapes of me and Inky’s lips in the photo on the right side (click to enlarge recommended), you can find the difference in oral shapes of the Eastern and Western. This is what Jihye’s colleague said in a lecture for human resources coaching, and if I remember correctly, the position of the corners of the Easterner’s lips is lower than the Westerner’s. Therefore, though two people from bothsides have the same width of mouths, when they smile, the Western people’s corners of lips move up higher and they look like giving a bigger smile. In the same reason, closing their mouths, the Eastern people’s corners of lips rather go lower than the counterparts’ and thus they are often misunderstood as if they are angry or in a bad mood. (The theme of the lecture was to manage one’s expression through practice to lift the corners of their lips. Jihye, please correct if I am wrong.)

11월 초까지 전시되는 그랑플라스 뤼미나리. Luminary in Grand Place, displayed until early November.

    
바가지 요금 때문에 그랑 플라스에 있는 식당이나 술집에는 되도록이면 가지 말라고 여행책에 씌어 있으나, 그러면서도 가게 되는 게 여행자들의 수순인 것 같다. 잉그리드는 와인보다 맥주를, 그 중에서도 다소 쓴 맛이 나는 triple 맥주를 좋아한다. 나는 특이한 잔에 따라주는 Kwak을 마셨다.
Because of over-price in Grand Place, every tourist book warns not to try the restaurants and bars in the area. Nevertheless, it seems tourists are destined to follow the most touristic places. Ingrid likes beer better than wine, especially triple beer which is a bit bitter. I drank ‘Kwak’ which was served in its own unique glass.

    
일요일에는 잉그리드가 아름다운 건물로 기억하고 있는 벨기에 만화 센터에 갔다. 마침, 어렸을 때 좋아했던 만화 중 하나인 스머프의 특별 전시가 열리고 있었다. 모자를 벗은 스머프를 본 적이 있는가?
On Sunday, we went to the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip, which Inky remembered was a really beautiful building. Luckily, there was a special exhibition of the Smurfs. Have you ever seen a smurf who took off his hat?

    
2005년 가을 마스트리히트에 갔을 때는 네덜란드 산 미피의 탄생 50주년이었는데 올해에는 스머프가 50주년을 맞이하는 해이다. 이 두 캐릭터는 모두 본명과 영문명이 따로 있다. 미피의 본명은 ‘Nijntje (작은 토끼)’이고 스머프의 본명은 ‘Les Schtroumpfs’다.
When I visited Maastricht in the autumn 2005, it was Miffy’s 50th anniversary who was born in the Netherlands. This year it is the Smurfs that celebrate their 50th anniversary. Both of these characters have different names in their own languages and English: Miffy - Nijntje in Dutch, meaning ‘little rabbit’; The Smurfs - Les Schtroumpfs in French.

나를 위해 준비한 선물로 잉그리는 완벽한 선택을 했다. 바로 네덜란드 스윗츠! 네덜란드는 자신들만의 군것질거리에 굉장한 자부심을 갖고 있다. 나는 처음에는 호기심으로 접근했다가 결국 왕팬이 되어버렸다. (아랫줄 왼쪽부터 시계반대방향으로 시작)
As the presents for me, Inky made the best choice - Dutch sweets! Dutch people are so proud of their own sweets and snacks. In the beginning I approached with curiosity and later I became a big fan of Dutch sweets. (From the left on the lower line, anticlockwise)

Karamelstroopwafels met roomboterstroop: 얇고 바삭바삭한 와플인 이 과자는 잉그리 말에 따르면 카라멜이 첨가 되어 더 맛있다고 한다. 음… 사실이다. 벌써 반이나 먹었다.
This thin and crispy biscuit is, according to Inky, more delicious than normal roomboterstrops because of addition of karamel. Hmm… she’s right. I already had the half of it.

Drop: 일명, black candy. 주로 북부 유럽 지방에서 많이 먹는 캔디인데 어두운 색깔과 이상한 맛 때문에 외지 사람들은 꺼리는 캔디 중 하나이다. 마스트리히트에 있을 때 대부분의 한국 사람들은 입에 넣었다가 바로 뱉어버리기 일쑤였다. 나도 처음에는 오만상을 찌푸리며 겨우 먹었는데 어려서부터 늙어 죽을 때까지 먹는 국민 캔디라는 말에 몇 번 시도를 한 끝에 마침내 좋아하게 되었다. 잉그리드가 하는 말이 자기가 마스트리히트에서 만났던 한국 친구들 중에 drop을 좋아하는 이상한 혀를 가진 사람이 한 명 있었던 걸로 기억하는데 그게 파쿠였는지 나였는지 정확하지 않았지만 일단 샀다고 한다.
So-called ‘black candy’. This candy is eaten widely in Nordic countries and, because of its dark colour and strange taste, foreigners normally dislike it. When I was in Maastricht, I saw most of Korean students putting the candy in their mouths but immediately spitting it out. I also had a hard time with the first few tries, but after hearing that every Dutch person eats this candy from when they were very young and until they become old to die, I gave it a serious try and finally became to like it. Inky said she remembered, among Korean friends she made in Maastricht, there was one girl who had a weird taste so liked drop. Though she was not sure if it was Sunjung or me, she bought it anyway.

Chocoladehagel: 이 사진에 있는 모든 단 것이 다 네덜란드 고유의 것이지만 완전 더치스러운 것을 꼽으라면 아마 이 chocoladehagel이 될 것이다. 상자에서 볼 수 있듯이 네덜란드 사람들은 식빵 위에 이 ‘초콜릿 입자’를 뿌려 먹는다. 나의 첫 번째 룸메이트였던 스웨덴에서 온 이다는 마스트리히트에 교환 학생으로 오기 전에 이미 네덜란드에서 잠깐 공부를 했었는데 그 때의 경험을 바탕으로 나에게 초콜릿 입자를 추천해주었다. 그녀의 추천이 체중 증가로 이어진 것은 당연하였다.
All the sweets in this photo are typical Dutch, but as the truly genuine one, I’d pick up chocoladehagel. As seen on the package, Dutch people put these chocolate sprinkles on the bread. My first roommate, Ida from Sweden, had lived in the Netherlands for a short while before her residence in the country as an exchange student. From her previous experience, she suggested me chocoladehagel. Apparently, her suggestion led me to gain weights.

‘S’ - Alphabet chocolate: 나의 영문 이니셜 초콜릿을 준비한 잉그리드의 센스!
Inky also bought an alphabet chocolate for my name’s initial.

Kruidnoten: 네덜란드인들은 그들만의 크리스마스가 있다. 매년 12월 5일에 축하하는 ‘Sinterklaas’가 그들에게는 25일 크리스마스보다 더 큰 행사이다. 이 때 꼭 먹는 과자가 바로 kruidnoten으로, 생강, 계피 등이 첨가된 갈색 과자이다. 왼쪽의 choco kruidnoten은 원래 쿠키에 일반 초콜렛과 화이트 초콜렛을 입힌 것이다.
The Dutch have their own Christmas, ‘Sinterklaas’, which is celebrated on 5 December. To them, it is a bigger and more special event than Christmas on the 25th. And on Sinterklaas they always eat ‘kruidnoten’, brown cookies spiced with ginger, cinnamon and others. Choco kruidnotenon the left is the one coated with normal chocolate and white chocolate.

여러분이 무엇을 걱정하는지 알고 있다. 아는 사람은 알겠지만 나는 초콜렛, 단 것을 그다지 좋아하지 않는다. 아마 나 혼자서 이 과자들을 다 먹게 되지는 않을 것 같다. 그치만, 잉그리드, 정말 고마워!
I know what you are worried about. As some of you know, I don’t like chocolate and sweets much. Probably I won’t finish all the sweets by myself. But, Dank je wel, Inky!

On the second Sunday of October, I joined a day trip to Gent (in Dutch; Gand in French; Ghent in English) organised by the Stage Liaison Committee. Gent is one of the richest and most beautiful cities in Belgium and has preserved the luxurious heritage from the medieval age. The weather was amazingly wonderful so even some girls were wearing tops. However, a week or so later, Belgium turned back to its normal weather pattern: rainy, cloudy, windy, chilly. Yes, I said ‘normal’.
10월 둘째 주 일요일에 Stage Liaison Committee에서 마련한 ‘겐트’ 1일 여행에 합류했었다. 겐트는 벨기에에서 가장 부유하고 아름다운 도시 중 하나로 중세 시대에 이룩한 고급스러운 유산들을 간직하고 있다. 이 날 날씨가 완전히 환상적이어서 어떤 여자들은 민소매 상의를 입고 있기도 했다. 하지만 일 주일 정도 지나서 벨기에는 예년 날씨로 돌아갔다. 비 오고, 구름 끼고, 바람 불고, 으스스 춥고. 이게 바로 벨기에의 보통 날씨다.

더블린에서 살았을 때 생각한 건데 나는 물 가까이 있는 곳에 살면 좀 더 안락함을 느끼는 것 같다. 이건 아마도 거제도에서 10년 이상을 살면서 나의 몸이 자연스레 선호하게 된 환경이리라. 안타깝게도 브러셀에는 작은 호수만 있는데, 집 근처의 숲과 친해져봐야 겠다. 아, 그리고 물 가까이 사는 것 뿐만 아니라 물과 직접 교감할 수 있게 수영을 배워야 겠다.
What I thought while I was living in Dublin was that I seemed to have more comfort living close to water. Probably this should be due to the fact that I spent more than a decade in my hometown, Keojedo (the second largest island in Korea), and my body became to naturally prefer the watery setting. Unfortunately, in Brussels there are only a few lakes, so instead of water, I can go to the forest nearby my home here. Oh, and not only to live close to water but also to directly interact with water, I should learn swimming.

지난 10월 8일부터 브뤼셀의 BOZAR (Palais des Beaux-Arts: Centre for Fine Arts)에서는 ‘Made in Korea’라는 이름의 한국 문화 행사가 열리고 있다. 음악, 무용, 사진, 문학, 영화 등 거의 모든 장르의 예술 작품 및 공연이 선보이는 이 행사는 지금까지 유럽에서 열린 한국 관련 행사 중 가장 큰 규모라고 한다. 벨기에에 도착한 지 얼마 되지 않아 한국대사관에서 행사 진행을 위한 자원봉사자를 모집한다는 공고를 발견하여 지원서를 보냈고, 몇 주 전 토요일에 처음으로 통역 자원 봉사를 했다.
Since the 8th of October, BOZAR (Palais des Beaux-Arts: Centre for Fine Arts) Brussels has been holding the festival of Korean arts and culture, named ‘Made in Korea’. The event covers nearly all types of arts including music, dance, photography, film etc. and is the biggest ever in Europe. Not long after I arrived in Belgium did I find the notice that the Korean Embassy was looking for volunteers to help organise the festival’s programmes, for which I immediately applied. On Saturday a couple of weeks ago, I volunteered as an interpreter.

페스티벌 포스터를 보고 있는 지혜. Jihye, looking at the festival poster.

오프닝 콘서트 때 보자르 정문에서 관객들을 맞이하고 있는 우요 & 영자 부부. 이 날 이들 뿐만 아니라 주재원 부인 및 자녀들이 자원봉사로 이 역할을 맡았다.
Wooyo & Youngja were greeting at the entrance the audience to the opening concert, wearing ‘hanbok’ - Korean traditional costume. Including this couple, many of Korean wives and their children volunteered for this job.

국립관현악단의 개막 공연 직전. 이 날 관객 중 상당수는 나처럼 초대권으로 온 것이기는 했지만 유료 관객도 꽤 있었다고 한다. Right before the opening concert by the National Orchestra of Korea. This day most of the audience had invitation tickets like me but I heard there were also many people who bought the tickets.

Horta Hall에서 있었던 줄타기 공연. ‘Jultaki’, tightrope dancing, at Horat Hall

통역으로 참가한 단소 워크샵. 어린 아이부터 어른까지 굉장한 열의와 관심을 갖고 배우려는 모습에 깊은 인상을 받았다.
Danso (短簫)’, small/ short flute, workshop where I volunteered as an interpreter. I was really impressed at the audience from children to adults who were highly enthusiastic and interested in learning the instrument.

On  6 October, the first day of the Welcome Conference, there was a group photo session for all the stagiaires in the European Institutions (Commission, Parliament, Council). We, the Commission’s stagiaires, were already 600 people so you can imagine how big the group was.
10월 6일, 환영 컨퍼런스 첫 날, 유럽연합 주요 기구(집행위원회, 의회, 이사회)의 모든 인턴들의 단체 사진을 찍는 시간이 있었다. 집행위원회 인턴만 해도 벌써 600명이니 다 합치면 얼마나 컸을지 상상이 갈 것이다.

By clicking, you will be linked to my flickr page and click ‘all sizes’ to see the larger photos. Thanks to the kindness offered by my fellow stagiaires around me that a short person like me should not stand behind the taller, I moved to the first line so here I am.
사진을 클릭하면 내 flickr 페이지로 이동하고 사진 위의 메뉴 중 ‘모든 사이즈’를 클릭하면 더 큰 사진으로 볼 수 있다. 나처럼 키가 작은 사람은 키 큰 사람 뒤에 서면 안 된다며 자리를 내 준 동료 인턴들 덕분에 나는 맨 앞 줄로 옮겼고 바로 이렇게 사진에 나오게 되었다.

I’m also posting the link to the article about my tranieeship at the European Commission published in International Herald Tribune, on 26 September 2008. 내가 하고 있는 유럽연합 집행위원회 인턴쉽과 관련하여 지난 9월 26일에 International Herald Tribune에 게재된 기사도 함께 올린다.  For EU interns, a broader view of work life

Trainee’s guide 첫 장에 이런 글귀가 있다. “THE STAGE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT, SO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR STAGE!” 우리 말로 옮기자면 “Stage는 너희가 어떻게 만들어 가느냐에 달려있다. 그러니 최대한 너의 것으로 만들어라.”가 되겠다. 지금 나는 그러고 있는가? 트레이니쉽이 시작한 지 한 달이 지난 오늘 나에게 묻는다.
On the first page of the booklet, Trainee’s guide, there is a phrase, “THE STAGE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT, SO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR STAGE!” Am I doing so? After a month since the traineeshp has started, today I’m asking myself.

Today the Information Society and Media Intranet (internal web site of DG INFSO) put on a Halloween look and there was a link to a slide show of Jack O’Lantern’s pictures taking a journey to meet his friend (Director General) by visiting and sneaking into various sites of our buildings.

The pictures made everyone’s morning delightful and I regret that, because of inaccessibility to the Intranet site from outside, I cannot share the slide show here.

I heard from many local people that in Belgium it is widely considered that Halloween is merely a commercial occasion. However, belonging to a rather still (!) young and international group, I see this is one of the big party themes most of us go for. Not many of us have said they were seriously thinking of dressing up, though. Major reasons were: 1) they were not really enthusiastic about putting on costumes or make-up; 2) they didn’t want to spend money on buying something worthless. As I was not really up for dressing up either but more for partying, based on the opinions expressed by my peers, I bought the Halloween party ticket this evening.

Whether you celebrate Halloween or not, enjoy the last night of October!

내가 좋아하는 지식인 중 한 명인 박노자 교수가 최근에 한겨레 블로그에 올린 ‘탈북자와 탈남자’라는 글을 읽고 요즘 내가 고민하고 있는 문제와 연결되는 부분이 있어 몇 자 적고자 한다. 글의 요지는 탈북자만큼 탈남자도 많고, 이는 주로 경제적 이유로 탈남을 선택한 불법체류자 뿐만 아니라 사회, 문화적 이유로 탈남을 한 이들도 포함한다는 것이다. 아울러 이런 계층에는 병역을 거부한 자, (그래서) 해외에서 학위를 마치고 현지에서 취업을 하는 이들, 국내에서의 여성 취업의 어려움, 승진의 한계, 가부장적 문화 등을 고려해 국제 결혼 및 해외 생활을 선택한 한국 여성도 넓은 의미의 탈남자에 포함된다고 한다.
After reading a blog post titled ‘North Korean Refugees and South Korean Refugees’ by Professor Noja Pak, one of my favourite intellectuals, I’m writing this post because the topic he suggested is in line with the issue I’m currently struggling with. The main points of his post are that there are as many South Korean refugees as North Korean ones and that the refugees include not only the illegal immigrants who left S. Korea because of economic problem but also those who escaped from the southern part of the peninsula with the social and cultural reasons. In addition, the South Korean refugees in a broader meaning include those who denied their military services, (therefore) who obtained degrees and found jobs abroad, and Korean women who were married to another nationalities or decided to live abroad with regard to the difficulty of women’s employment in Korea, the limit of promotion, patriarchal culture etc.

나는 ‘탈남자’라는 그의 표현에 적극 동의하며 그가 열거한 탈출의 이유 몇 가지에도 동의한다. 거기에 나의 의견을 덧붙이고자 한다. 유럽연합 집행위원회에서 만나는 동료 인턴들과 처음에 만나서 나누는 질문은 이름이 뭐니, 어디에서 왔니, 어느 DG (Directorate-General: 유럽연합 집행위원회 내의 행정 및 업무 부처)에서 일하니 등이다. 이 중 두 번째 질문에서 내가 한국에서 왔다고 하면, 으례 다음과 같은 질문이 따라온다. “정말? 그럼 유럽 국가 중 어느 나라 여권을 갖고 있니?” 그래서 내가 난 유럽 여권 없다, 한국 국적자로 온 거다라고 하면 절반은 “아, 정말? 비유럽 국가에서도 유럽연합 집행위원회 인턴쉽에 지원할 수 있는 줄 몰랐어.”라 하고 나머지 절반은 “아, 진짜? 혹시 유럽과 관계된 공부를 했니?”라고 묻는다. 이에 내가 사실은 2004년에 네덜란드 마스트리히트에서 유럽공공행정학을 공부했다고 하면 그제서야 이해가 된다고 한다. 그러면서 몇몇은 유럽연합 집행위원회가 제삼국(第三國) 출신을 받아들임으로써 서로의 이해도 넓히고 다양성을 증가시킬 수 있어서 좋은 것 같다고 (내 생각에 아마도) 반은 외교적 멘트를 던지지만, 그들 생각의 나머지 반은 분명 ‘그래도 도대체 한국 애가 여기서 뭘 하겠다는 거야?’ 일거다. 그런데 사실 이건 내가 나 자신에게도 계속 묻고 있는 질문이기도 하다.
I absolutely agree to his term, ‘South Korean Refugees’ and also agree to some of the reasons he specified. But I’d like to add my own opinions and reasons to them. The first questions asked by fellow trainees (’stagiaires’ in French or in Frenglish, which is much more common in the EU and Europe) in the beginning are “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?”, “Which DG (Directorate-General) are you working in?” Of these questions, when I answer to the second saying I’m from Korea, immediately the next question follows, “Really? Then, which European passport do you have?” After my answer goes “I don’t have any European passport, I’m here as a Korean national.”, half of them says “Oh, really? I didn’t know non EU citizen can apply for the traineeship (’stage’ in French, also more common in here.), and the other half adds “Oh, are you? Did you study something related to Europe before?” Finally I explain I studied European Public Affairs in Maastricht, The Netherlands in 2004, then they nod. Some of them continue to add a diplomatic (I think) comment that it’s actually good for the European Commission to have stagiaires from the third countries and thus broaden each other’s understanding and increase the diversity. But, half of their minds must ask themselves, ’Nonetheless, what on earth is this Korean girl doing here (at the Commission)?’ Well, as a matter of fact, this is the question I’m also continuously asking myself.

나는 왜 한국을 그토록 떠나고 싶어하는가? 왜 외국에서 살고 싶어하는가? 내가 가장 쉽게, 빨리 내놓는 대답은 ‘한국에 있는 회사에서는 휴가를 넉넉히 쓸 수 없어서’이다. 하지만 이를 기점으로 이어지는 대답으로는 휴가를 비롯한 비효율적인 근무 환경, 계층주의, 획일주의를 열거한다. 기본 연차로 보통 3주가 주어지는 유럽인들도 휴가가 적다고 불평을 하기는 하지만, 일단 3주가 보장된다는 것은 나에게 중요한 요소이다. 휴식의 중요성이야 다들 이해하리라 믿기에 굳이 언급하지 않겠다. 계층주의와 획일주의 또한 유럽이라고 해서 완전히 타파된 것은 아니다. 이 곳에서도 기득권층, 부유층에 속하지 않은 계층은 상부층과 갈등을 겪고 있다. 획일주의를 보자면, 유럽은 오히려 넘치는 다양성 때문에 표면적으로 드러나는 인종 및 종교 갈등이 한국보다 심각하며 이로 인해 사회 통합 문제가 국가 및 전 유럽 차원에서 늘 우선 순위에 드는 문제 중 하나이다.
Why do I so much want to leave Korea? Why do I so much long to live abroad? The easiest and fastest answer I make is that I’m not given enough holidays at companies in Korea. However, the further answers to this are inefficient working conditions including the small number of holidays, hierarchism and uniformity. Although Europeans normally given 3 weeks for basic annual leaves even complain that they are too short, at least the guaranteed annual leave for 3 weeks is a very important element for me. I won’t discuss further about the importance of holidays as I trust everyone understands it. Regarding hierarchism and uniformity, it’s not that Europe is free from these problems. There are conflicts between the upper level who are privilieged and rich and the lower level who are not. When it comes to uniformity, due to its overflowing diversity, Europe faces more serious problems between races and religions than Korea does, and therefore social integration is among the top priorities both national and Euro-wide .

그럼에도 불구하고 내가 해외 생활을 선호하는 이유는 이 모든 문제들이 있지만, 상대적으로 느끼는 삶의 질이 한국에서보다 나았기 때문이다. 물론 이는 총 1년 6개월이라는 짧은 기간, 그리고 노동자가 아닌 학생, 인턴으로 거주한 경험에서 온 것이기 때문에 이 조건들이 달랐다면 나의 이유도 달라질 수도 있다고 생각한다. 하지만 나의 경험과 그 경험에서 내가 가졌던 생각들, 느꼈던 감정들이 모두 환상이라고만은 보지 않는다. 세상 어디를 가든 완벽한 행복은 없다. 우리 엄마의 말씀처럼 행복과 슬픔은 늘 동반되는 것이기에. 하지만 내 조국, 한국은 내가 추구하는 행복을 가져다 줄 수 있는 조건에 우호적인 환경을 제공하는 곳이 아니었다. 
Despite these problems, the reason why I prefer living abroad is the quality of life in Europe was relatively better than in Korea. Of course, since my impression is based only on the short period of my residence, 1 year and a half in total, and on my status as a student and intern, not as a worker, if these conditions were different, there might have been some changes in my reasons. However, I do not think that my experiences, and my thoughts and feelings from those experiences were merely fantasies. There is no absolute happiness anywhere in the world. Because, as my mom says, happiness and sadness always come together. However, my motherland, Korea was not a place which provides a favourable environment to the conditions which allow me to pursue my happiness.

인턴들끼리 자주 하는 또 다른 질문 중 하나는 “인턴쉽이 끝나면 무엇을 할거냐? 고국으로 돌아가서 일을 할거냐?”이다. 내 대답은 이 곳에 쓰지 않아도 이 글을 읽는 이 모두 알 수 있을 것이다. 내년 2월 인턴쉽이 끝날 즈음 보다 구체적인 대답을 하기 위해 난 지금 이 곳, 브뤼셀에 있다.
Another most frequently asked question among stagiaires is “What are you going to do after the stage? Are you going back home to work there?” The readers of this post will surely know my answer. To give more detailed answer around the end of my stage in February next year, I am here in Brussels now.

“LOVE: Medecine for soul / 사랑: 영혼을 위한 약” Rue Jourdan, 1060 Brussels
(Note: I think the artist was confused the word, ‘medicine’ with the French, ‘médecine’.)

For love to be medicine for soul, it does matter at which stage of love one is. Even if they go through the after-love stage, however, the love can work on the broken soul because the wounds are to be healed by time if you trust the effect of medicine.

사랑이 영혼을 위한 치료제가 되기 위해서는 사랑의 어느 단계에 있느냐가  중요하다. 하지만, 사랑이 지나가고 난 후라 하더라도 사랑은 상처받은 영혼에 약효를 발휘할 수 있다. 약의 효능을 믿으면 시간이 지남에 따라 상처는 치유되기 때문이다.

Closer shot to a label: it says “Universal love 100%. Consume every period of crisis. And also during breaks. Use for all your family, between friends, between strangers, or for oneself.
라벨 근접샷: 씌어있기를 “100% 인류 보편의 사랑. 매 위기 시에 사용. 휴식기에도 사용 가능. 가족 모두를 위해, 친구 사이에, 타인과의 관계에 혹은 자신을 위해서 사용.”

Another love graffiti (around Rue l’Aquaduc, I think) / (아마도 Rue l’Aquaduc 근처였던 곳에 있는) 또 다른 러브 그래피티. 해석을 하자면 “사랑: 오만방자함을 날려버리는 푸쉭”?