Cozmopolitan Sunkyoung

In July, several  things, most of which are unexpected, have happened to me.
In August, I expect nothing to happen. Although I know I, anyway, have to face it if anything happens…

7월에는 여러 (대부분은 예상치 못했던) 일들이 나에게 일어났다.
8월에는 아무 일도 일어나지 않기를 기대해본다. 비록 무슨 일이 생기면 부딪쳐야 하는 수 밖에 없음을 알지만…

A Song For You

어제 만난 슈팅스타 – 언니네 이발관
Shooting Star I Met Yesterday by Sister’s Barbershop

언제부턴가 때로 터널을 들어가지
그 곳이 더욱 환하기에
내 머리 위로 흐르는 수많은 기억들이
그 곳을 더욱 환하게 해
From some time ago I entre a tunnel from time to time
Because it is brighter there
So many memories in my mind
Make it brighter

나를 봐 이렇게
어제로 달려가고만 싶어
나를 봐 이렇게
나에겐 알 수 없는 것이 너무 많아
Look at me, and as you see
I just want to run to yesterday
Look at me, and as you see
I have too many things unknown to me

언제나처럼 나는 터널을 들어가지
오늘을 살지 못하기에
그 같은 꿈은 이제는 지나온 시간 속에
모두 던져 버리고서
As always, I entre a tunnel
Because I cannot live today
I throw away such a dream
To the past

나를 봐 이렇게
어제로 돌아가고만 싶어
나를 봐 이렇게
나에겐 알 수 없는 것이 너무 많아
Look at me, and as you see
I just want to return to yesterday
Look at me, and as you see
I have too many things unknown to me

그리운 마음이 있어 너를 볼 때면
허전한 마음이 있어 그 곳에 서면
I feel longing when I look at you
I feel empty when I stand there

미래를 보네 볼 수가 없는
보고 싶지만 할 수가 없는 것을
I look into the future that I can’t
Which I want to but I can’t

그리운 마음이 있어 너를 볼 때면
미래를 보네 볼 수가 없는
보고 싶지만 할 수가 없는 걸
I feel longing when I look at you
I look into the future that I can’t
Which I want to but I can’t

연초부터 시작하여 몇 달간 지속된데다 최근에 절정을 이룬 과로에다 시차증까지 겹쳐 어제, 그제는 내 생애 처음으로 병가를 냈다.
Due to the non-stop hard working for months since the beginning of the year, the peak of workload last month in addition to jet lag, I was on sick leave, for the first time in my life, for the past two days.

그 마저도 첫 날은 아침부터 자정까지 꼬박 일을 처리했는데 덕분에 어제는 제대로 된 휴식을 취할 수 있었다. 그러면서 가족과 세계 곳곳에 있는 친구들에게 나의 고장을 알렸는데 생각해보니 위치가 참 다양하더라. 내 상태를 직접 봤기 때문에 가장 많이 걱정해준 동료들이 있는 싱가폴부터 시작하여 부모님이 계시는 한국, 같이 16th ASEF University 프로그램 진행한 동료들이 남아 있는 폴란드,  장기간 여행 중인 S가 현재 머물고 있는 터키, M이 현재 있는 대만, T와 D가 있는 아일랜드까지 내 소식은 두 대륙간 7개 국가에 전해진 것이었다.
Even on the first day of sick leave, I had to work from the morning till midnight. However, because of that, I was able to take a real rest yesterday. Being at home, I managed to talk to my family and friends in different time zones and I realised that all the locations were quite many. Starting from Singapore where my colleagues are, who saw me in such a sorry condition in person thus worried most, the news of my body engine’s broke-down was spread to my parents in Korea; colleagues – both company and local – who ran the 16th ASEF University programme together in Poland; S in Turkey, who is in the middle of her seven-month journey; M who is currently in Turkey; and T and D, respectively, in Ireland. These were seven countries across two continents.

가장 마지막에 이야기 나눈 D가 채팅을 마무리하며 던진 한 마디가 나흘 밤을 꼬박 새우고 기운이 없어 밥도 제대로 못 먹는 나에게 큰 힘을 주었다.
D, with whom I had the last chatting, said the below sentence as his last words and it gave me a huge strength, who had not slept or four nights and eaten properly.

“그렇게 힘 없이 주저앉아 있기에는 네가 너무 아까워 / You are Too Precious to Feel Down.”

비단 이 친구만 아니라 진심으로 나의 회복을 빌어준 이들이 있어 오늘은 회복이 조금씩 되고 있다.
Not only D’s cheering words but also all the sincere well wishes I have received from my people are indeed helping me recover slowly today.

P.S. 1 – 아래 사진은 폴란드 출장 가기 직전, 싱가폴에 연수받으러 온 세진과 뎀시 힐에서 브런치를 한 후 찍은 사진. 이 때까지는  그나마 상태가 좀 나았다는.
Before taking off to Poland later that day, I had a brunch with Sejin in Dempsey Hill, who visited Singapore for her company’s training. I was okay until then.

단란한 세진이네 – 아빠 재우, 엄마 세진, 아기 백호. 더 많은 사진은 Flickr에서.
Sejin’s happy Family – Daddy Jaewoo, Mommy Sejin, and Baby Baekho. More pictures at Flickr.

P.S. 2 – 핸드폰 번호를 어제부로 바꾼 관계로 이 참에 About 페이지에 주소와 연락처를 올렸다우.
As I changed my mobile number yesterday, I uploaded my contact information on ‘About’ page.

Like any other cultures, Koreans have special food for each feast, and ‘떡국 (ddeokguk: rice cake soup)’ is a special dish for Seollal (Korean New Year in lunar calendar). With aim to maintain tradition (I think), adults tell children one can get one year older only when they eat ddeokguk – Koreans become a year older when it’s New Year, not on their birthdays. So, you can imagine that children, most of whom are eager to be grown-ups, often reply, “then I’m going to even become two years older if I have two bowls of ddeokguk, am I not?”

As we grow up, it becomes obvious that there’s no such thing as the numerical relationship between the numbers of ddeokguk soup and one’s age. However, we all exchange greetings for New Year, besides ‘새해 복 많이 받으세요 (saehae bongmani baduseyo: wish you lots of luck in New Year)’, “have you eaten ddeokguk?” If someone ever doesn’t make it to have this dish, it immediately evokes the other person’s sympathy. As most people go home for New Year holidays, though, it’s very rare for us to miss the chance of eating ddeokguk. However, on one’s birthday when we (should) eat ‘미역국 (miyeokguk: seaplant soup)’, this Q&A session quite often ends up with answer ‘no’ and thus brings enormous sympathy especially to people who don’t live with their parents.

If I were not invited to a New Year party today hosted by a couple of Korean people here in Brussels, I wouldn’t have tried to make ddeokguk myself. Although I hadn’t given much meaning to having to eat ddeokguk, I’ve realised what it actually means. When I talked to my parents earlier this morning that I was going to have ddeokguk thanks to this invitation, they were so glad to hear this because they were concerned about me for not having the soup. Wherever I will be in the future, I’ll try to make ddeokguk for New Year, not only to ease my parents’ worries but to think about the meanings of family, home, love, and more importantly to share these meanings with people around me.

* Dedicate this post to Elisabeth.