“(xxx) is back to Siberia.”

시베리아 북동풍을 직접 맞는 한반도에서 온 나로서는 그만한 추위는 아니라고 생각하며 웃었지만, 시칠리 섬 출신인 그 친구한테는 이만한 풍경도 시베리아 같았으리라.
I giggled at his tweeting thinking that, as a person from the Korean peninsula where we directly face wind from the northeast Siberia, the coldness here in Brussels is not as harsh as Siberian one. Given the fact that he is from Sicily, however, I assumed that this would be ‘Siberian enough’ to him.

오늘의 풍경을 카메라에 몇 컷 담아 보았다. A couple of scenes from today.

In the morning

In the evening

우연의 일치로 오늘 도착한 은지가 보내준 엽서에는 일본의 설경이 담겨 있었다. 언젠가 눈 오는 홋카이도에 가 보고 싶다.
Coincidentally, a postcard I got today from Eunji had a landscape of snow in a Japanese painting. Someday I want to go to snowy Hokkaido.

나는 여름도, 겨울도 그다지 좋아하지 않지만 겨울이 없다면 조금은 심심할 것이라 생각한다. 특히나 눈이 오지 않는 겨울은.
I don’t like the summer nor the winter much but I think, without the winter, it would be a little boring. Especially the winter without snow.

올해를 돌아보면 내 최근 몇 년간 가장 큰 변화가 그것도 여러 개 일어났는데, 남기고 싶은 말은 바로 다음 문장이다. (러브패러독스의 주인장 캣우먼이 한 칼럼에 쓴 문장)
“(정말이지,) 현재에 충실했기에 얻은 미래의 후회는, 차라리 현재를 억누르고 미래에 후회하지 않는 것보다 어쩌면 훨씬 더 멋진 선택일지도 모르겠습니다.”
Looking back, this year has been the most eventful one in recent years, with several major changes. I just want to quote a sentence to describe my 2008, written by one of my favourite columnists based in Korea.
“(Indeed,) a future regret you will have because of being true (to yourself) at present would probably be a much more wonderful choice rather than no future regret because of suppressing your present.”

내년을 맞이하는 나의 마음은 그리 가볍지만은 않다. 하지만 미래는 언제나 불안한 것이라는 사실을 받아들이기로 했다. 모르기 때문에 아직 오지 않았기 때문에 현재의 시점이 되어 실제로 어떤 일이 일어났을 때 그 기쁨과 놀라움이 더해지지 않았던가? 그러니 그저 나에게 주어진 시간을 차근차근 보내는 수 밖에. 
My feeling of greeting a new year is not really much excited. But, I’ve made up my mind to accept the fact that the future itself is always insecure. Weren’t there more joy and surprises at the corners of your life when you actually encountered those events at present tense, which were not known nor did happen through the eyes of the future? Therefore, all I can do is fill my present step by step.

물론, 새해에 이루고 싶은 소망과 달성하고픈 결심도 있지만 예고편처럼 지금 열거하기 보다는 그것들이 실현되고 지켜질 때 이 곳에 기록하고자 한다. 올 한 해 그래왔던 것처럼.
Of course, I do have wishes and resolutions for a new year, but instead of listing them like a trailer now, I’m going to record them here when they come true. As I have done so this year.

정말이지 한국에 있을 때에는 “크리스마스 = 가족 행사”라는 개념이 아니어서 그 느낌을 잘 몰랐는데, 여기서는 모든 사람들이 크리스마스는 가족과 함께 보내고 그 때문에 선물을 사고 계획을 짜고 준비를 하는 것을 보니 가족들이 다른 때보다 더 많이 생각이 나게 되었다. 한국에서 우리가 설이나 추석을 앞두고 왁자지끌해질 때 주한외국인들이 느끼는 심정이 아마 지금 내 기분 같겠다라는 짐작을 해본다.
Indeed, when I was in Korea, as we don’t have a conception of “Christmas = Family Event”, I didn’t have a strong attachment to Christmas. However, being here (in Brussels, more generally Europe), where everyone spends a Christmas time with their family and therefore buys Christmas gifts, plans and prepares for the festival, I’ve become to miss my family more than ever. I assume that expatriates living in Korea would feel the way I do now when the whole country is full of all the hustle and bustle before New Year’s Day and Full Moon Day both in lunar calendar.

누구와 어느 곳에서 어떤 시간을 보내든 여러분의 크리스마스가 행복과 따뜻함으로 채워지길 바랍니다. 메리 크리스마스!
With whomever, wherever, and whatever time you spend your Christmas time, I wish the day to be filled with happiness and warmth. Merry Christmas!

여기 와서 처음으로 평범한 한국 식단으로 차려진 식사를 감동에 겨워 먹고 있는데 나를 제외한 주부들이 하는 대화 내용이 사뭇 흥미로웠다. 집에서 콩나물을 키워 먹기 위해 제대로 된 콩을 골랐었다는 이야기 그래서 완전 시골 아낙네가 된 기분이었다는 이야기, 가스레인지를 살까 말까 고민하다 사기로 결정한 뒤에는 LG를 살까 삼성을 살까 고민이라는 이야기, 남편(유럽인)은 전기 장판을 끔찍히 싫어해서 1인용 장판을 구해 쓰고 있다는 이야기, 밥상을 차렸는데 맛있냐고 물어보기 전에 남편이 먼저 “오늘 음식 참 맛있다”라고 말하는 게 뭐가 그리 어렵냐는 이야기 등등… 같은 생활인의 입장에서 본다면 공감이 갈 만한 이야기였지만 (식사, 가전제품, 난방 등), 그들이 고민하는 것은 내가 주로 고민하는 것과는 사뭇 다른 것이어서 이질감이 더 크게 느껴졌다.
As it was the first time for me to have an ordinary Korean meal since I came to Brussels, I was really enjoying the food. But, what others were talking about over the food was quite interesting: the other day one was picking out some good beans to grow bean sprouts from them, which made her feel like a housewife in the countryside; one hadn’t decided whether or not to buy a microwave and after deciding to do so, she and her husband haven’t made up their mind if they should buy LG or Samsung; as their (European) husbands hate an electronic mattress, they had to buy the mattress made for one person; when they cook, why their husbands, before they are asked “how do you like my food today?”, don’t give them a compliment saying “it’s delicious”… As a person who also leads a everyday, ordinary life, I could have responded to most of their stories in terms of eating, home appliances, heating etc. But as what they are concerned about were quite different from mine, I rather felt such different characteristics of our worries (苦悶).

내가 회사에 돌아가야 한다며 나머지 시간을 같이 하지 못함을 아쉬워하며 자리를 일어설 때, 일 자리를 구하고 있는 한 친구는 내가 부럽다고 했다. 그래, 사람들은 저마다 자신과 반대의 상황에 있는 사람을 부러워하기 마련이다. 월요일부터 금요일까지 매일 아침 자명종 소리에 화들짝 놀라 출근 준비를 해야 하는 나는 그러지 않아도 되는 사람을 부러워 하고, 어떤 사람은 매일 아침마다 꼬박꼬박 갈 곳이 있는 사람을 부러워하는 것이다.
When I was about to leave the place as I had to go back to work, one of the women who’s currently looking for a job said that she was envious of me. Right, it is true that people envy someone who has something they don’t have. I, who gets up every morning from Monday to Friday being startled by the alarm clock’s sound and has to get myself ready to go to work, am envious of people who don’t have to do that. On the contrary, however, someone envies another one who has a place to go every morning.

유럽 남자와 결혼하여 남편들의 직장 및 거주지로 삶의 터전을 옮기다 보니 브뤼셀에 정착하게 된 이들의 일상에도, 그들만의 고민이 있다는 것을 안다. 다른 문화를 매일 피부로 느낀다는 것, 남편의 나라/그들의 지역에 살다보니 가족 내에서 주도적인 문화가 있어서 주변문화가 될 수 밖에 없는 그들의 정체성에 대한 고민, 한 남자의 여자/한 아이의 엄마가 아닌 한 개인으로서 자신의 정체성에 대한 고민 등…
I understand that these women, who ended up settling in Brussels because of their marriage to European men and thus their husbands’ places of residence and employment, also have their own issues they have to handle in their daily lives: facing a different culture everyday in their small world; due to the fact they live in their husbands’ countries and regions, there is a leading culture which is destined to make the other’s culture minor and they have to struggle for their cultural identities under this circumstance; and their own identity problem as an individual person, not only as a man’s woman nor as a child’s mom.

하지만 고용(의 불안정) 문제가 나의 가까운 미래의 모든 것 - 거주지, 수입, 그에 따른 모든 개인적/사회적 결정들 -을 결정하게 될 나의 이 뿌연 상황에서는, 그들이 일상에서 고민하는 것은 상대적으로 편해보였다.
However, in my current vague situation, where the problem of (insecurity of) employment will decide everything in my near future - a place of residence, income, and all the personal and social decisions that will be made under these conditions -, I have to say those women’s problems seemed relatively relaxing.

이제 트레이니쉽의 반이 지나가고 있다. 이 고민의 무게에 짓눌리지 않고 어떤 결과를 만들어 내는가는 남은 시간을 어떻게 보내느냐에 달려있다 하겠다.
I’m in almost the middle of my traineeship period. Not being overwhelmed by the weight of my worries, what kind of results I will have made is up to how I spend the rest of my time here.

1. 아씨, 이렇게 무거워서야… 짐꾼으로 부릴 남자가 있던가, 아니면 차가 있던가 해야지.
1. Shite, it’s bloody heavy… I wish I had a guy who could serve as a porter, or my own car.

그러다, 바로 든 또 다른 생각.
But, another thought immediately followed.

2. 아니다, 차가 있는 남자를 만나는 거다. 그러면 동시에 해결되잖아.
2. No, I’d better meet a guy who has a car. Then, it’s perfect.

그러나 이내 수정.
However, an immediate modification.

3. 차 있는 남자를 만나길 기다리느니 내가 돌돌이라도 하나 장만하는 것이 빠르지 않을까…;;
3. Rather than waiting for a guy having a car, it might take shorter for me to get myself a wheeled shopping bag.

결국, 이 곳에서 장기 체류할 지 어떻게 될지 모르는 상황에서 돌돌이를 사는 것은 무리이기에 오늘도 튼튼한 팔만 믿고 그냥 손에 들고 왔다. 그나저나 오늘 산 셋트는 손잡이 테이프가 제대로 안 붙여져 있어서 물병이 세 번이나 땅에 떨어졌다는…
After all, since it’s not really a smart idea to buy a wheeled shopping bag in my current situation where I don’t know for now whether I would stay longer here, today I again just manually carried the eight water bottles only by trusting my strong arm. By the way, the arched grip scotch-taped onto the set I bought today was not sticky enough, and the bottles were fallen on the ground three times, which made my return more difficult.

사진에서 보듯이 10시부터는 가라오케가 시작되었다. 선곡표를 보고 자신이 부르고 싶은 노래와 본인의 이름을 표에 적으면 순서에 따라 스크린 앞으로 나와 부르는 식으로 진행이 되었다. 난 파티 자체에 큰 관심이 없어서 가라오케를 프로그램에서 발견했을 때에도 눈길을 주지 않았는데, 아이들이 한 두 곡 부르기 시작하자 슬슬 끼가 발동을 하였다. 한국 사람은 아무래도 음주가무 판에서 가만히 있기가 어렵지 않던가? 게다가 나는 음주는 몰라도 가무는 남부끄러운 수준은 아니니 한 번 불러볼까 싶은 마음이 스물스물 드는 것이었다. 별로 많지 않은 곡 중에서 No Doubt의 Don’t Speak을 골랐으나 이미 다른 사람이 찜했다 하여 포기하고 Spice Girls의 Wannabe를 선택했다. 골라놓고서는 안전한 노래가 아닌 듯 싶어서 Take That의 Back For Good으로 바꾸려고 순서표 든 아이를 찾아 바를 한 바퀴 돌았으나 결국 찾지 못하고 다시 자리로 돌아와 순서를 기다렸다. 그런데 내 순서 오기 전 두 팀을 앞두고 내 입술 끝과 목청이 살짝 떨리는 것이 아닌가? 속으로 비웃었다. ‘야, 이선경, 너 지금 간만에 마이크 잡는다고 떠는 거야? 웃겨.’
As seen in the photo, from 22h00 a karaoke time started. It was managed in a way that, after choosing a song on the list, you write the song and your name in the waiting list and when it’s your turn, you come in front of the screen to sing your song. As I wrote earlier, I wasn’t generally interested in the party and didn’t pay much attention to the programme when I found a karaoke time. But, as a couple of people started singing, my instinct of entertainment was turned on. As a Korean, isn’t it difficult to stay calm when there are drinking, singing and dancing (飮酒歌舞)? Moreover, not much with drinking, but with singing and dancing, I can do both of them so I slowly became tempted to sing a song. Among the limited number of songs, I first picked up ‘Don’t speak’ by No Doubt but was told somebody else already booked the song. Then, I chose Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’. However, a minute later, I thought it wouldn’t be that easy to sing this song so I wanted to change it to ‘Back For Good’ by Take That. I couldn’t find a girl who was holding the list, though, and came back to my seat to wait for my turn. Surprisingly, having two teams before my turn, I found the tips of my lips and throat slightly shaking. I laughed at myself, ‘Hey, Sunkyoung Lee, are you trembling because you’re gonna hold a mic after a long time? Ridiculous!’

드디어 내 순서가 왔다. 스크린에 ‘Wannabe’라는 제목이 뜨자마자 한 쪽 구석에서 이미 짧은 탄성이 터져나왔다. 헉! 속으로 살짝 걱정이 됐다. ‘아씨, 이 노래 노래방에서 안 부른 지 되게 오래 됐는데, 혀 말리면 끝장인걸.’ 전주 없이 “Yo I’ll tell you what I want what I really really want”라는 가벼운 랩으로 시작하는 이 노래를 내가 어떻게 진행했을 거라고 생각하는가? 고국에 있는 친구들, 적어도 나랑 노래방을 가봤던 친구들은 쉽게 상상이 될 것이다. 노래 중간에 이미 큰 환호가 몇 번 나왔고 노래를 다 부르고 나서는 박수 갈채와 앙콜까지 받고 말았다. 그 자리에 있던 내 친구들은 물론 모르는 사람들도 엄지 손가락을 치켜 들며 끝내줬다, 네가 오늘 무대 접수했다, 한 곡 더 부르라는 찬사를 받았다. 이에 난 겸손하게 답하였다. 한국에서 이 정도는 기본이라고.
Finally it was my turn. As soon as the title ‘Wannbe’ appeared on the screen, there were already some exclamations from corners. Oh my, I got a little nervous. ‘Shite, it’s been so long since I sang this song last, and what if my tongue gets twisted…??’ How do you think I managed to sing this song that starts with soft rapping, “Yo I’ll tell you what I want what I really really want” even without a prelude. Well, friends of mine in Korea, at least, those who have been to noraebang (’karaoke’ place in Korean) would easily imagine. Already in the middle of singing, some of the audience sent loud cheers and after singing, I received applause and even an encore not even from my friends but also from others I didn’t know. Upon their request, I said in a humble manner that any Korean can sing like this as their basic talent.

나의 짧은 퍼포먼스가 인구에 회자되었는지 오늘 점심 시간에 식당에서 만난 친구들 중 그 자리에 있었던 친구들은 나를 보자 스타가 왔다 하고, 없었던 친구들은 모두가 네 얘기 하더라며 반가이 맞아줬다. 살짝 미치면 인생이 행복하다더니, 살짝 놀았을 뿐인데 내 일상은 이미 행복해졌다.
My short performance must have been known to many people. When I met my friends on Monday at canteen, who were at the party, they welcomed me calling me as their star, and others who missed my singing also warmly greeted me saying everyone talked about me. People say that if you go a little crazy, your life will be happy. I indeed played a little and my life became quite happy.

(사진을 클릭하면 다양한 크기로 볼 수 있는 flickr 페이지로 이동함)

크리스마스에 이브가 있듯이 신터클라스에도 이브가 있어서 이 날 가족들과 함께 시간을 보내는 것이 주 행사인데, 어제 출근했더니 책상에 신터클라스 초콜릿(사진)이 놓여져 있었다. 높이가 약 30cm 되는 밀크 초콜렛인데, 초콜릿을 별로 좋아하지 않는데다 빠리에서 먹은 고추장+고춧가루 양념 음식에 장이 놀랐는지 설사를 계속 하고 있는지라 당분간 신터클라스 초콜릿을 먹을 일은 없을 듯.

In the West Christmas is the biggest holiday, and in North America and some parts of Europe they both have another holidays before Christmas, which give pre-festive moods. Americans and Canadian celebrates ‘Thanksgiving Day’ on the fourth Thursday of November and Some Europeans celebrates ‘Sinterklaas (Saint Nicolas in French)’ on the 6th of December. Sinterklaas is often known as Dutch version of Santa Claus, but it is Sinterklaas that is the origin of modern age’s commercialised Santa. You can read further about Sinterklaas at wikipedia.

As Christmas, Sinterklaas Day also has its Eve and this is an occasion of family’s gathering. When I went to work yesterday, there was Sinterklaas chocolate (see photo) on my desk. Its height is about 30 cm. In addition to the fact that I don’t like chocolate very much, as I’ve been suffering from diarrhea, which I think was caused by the sudden digestion of kochujang (chilly pepper paste)+kochutkaru (chilly pepper powder) I had in Paris and thus some startlement to my intestines, I don’t think I will have this chocolate for the time being.

Subject: Dalai Lama at the EP - European Fasting

Thursday the 4th of December Dalai Lama will speak at the European Parliament. Tenzin Gyatso’s visit coincides with a decisive moment for the Tibetan’s future. Dalai Lama strategy - non-violence and dialogue with China in order to obtain an effective autonomy, and not independence - risks to be definitively defeated by Chinese authorities’ unavailability to accept any step forward. If this occurs, it will not be only a tragedy for the Tibetan people. If the non-violent solution and federal autonomy will not be take into consideration, a hard beat will be stroke against the right for democracy for 1,5 billion Chinese and against peace hope of all humanity.
 
To greet and sustain the Dalai Lama in his non-violent struggle, we propose to everybody - European civil servants, MEP, assistants and visitors - to observe a day of fasting, from midnight of the 3rd to midnight of the 4th and to wear the traditional white scarf.
 
We ask to all of those that intend to participate at the fasting (are allowed water and sugared beverages during the 24 hours) to preannounce it, in order to publicise the list of the participants. The list will be given to the Dalai Lama during the morning of the 3rd.
 
Kind regards,
 
Marco Cappato (MEP, Italian radicals)           
Thomas Mann (MEP, Chair of the Tibet intergroup) 
Marco Pannella (MEP, Chair of the Non-Violent Radical Party, Transnational and transparty)

요약하자면, 12월 4일 달라이 라마가 유럽의회에서 연설을 하는 것에 맞춰, 달라이 라마를 환영함과 동시에 그의 비폭력 노선을 지지하는 뜻에서 유럽의 공무원과 유럽의회 의원, 수행원, 방문객들에게 3일 자정부터 4일 자정까지 금식을 하고 흰색 스카프를 두르자고 제안하는 것이다. (본문은 영어 외에도 불어, 이탈리아어로 작성되었다. ‘traditional white scarf’에서 ‘traditional’이 무엇의 전통을 말하는 것인지는 모르겠다.)
This email was written in French, Italian as well as English. And I’m not sure that, in ‘traditional white scarf’, what ‘traditional’ refers to.

영적 지도자이자 정치가이기도 한 달라이 라마는 작년 10월 미국 의회로부터 황금 메달을 받음으로써 (관련기사), 티베트의 자치권 획득을 위해 미국의 지지를 효과적으로 이용하겠다는 뜻을 밝힌 것이라 하겠다. 비록 많은 티베트 지지자와 달라이 라마의 추종자들이 그가 부시로부터 메달을 수여받는 모습을 보고 대단히 실망을 하였지만 말이다. 그가 이제는 유럽연합 시민들의 대표들이 모여있는 유럽의회에서 연설을 하게 되는데, 단식과 같은 열성적 성원에 힘입어 그가 유럽연합으로부터는 어떠한 정치적 효과를 얻고자 하는지 눈여겨 볼 일이다.
Dalai Lama, a politician as well as a spiritual leader, received the US Congressional Gold Medal in October 2007 (related article) and this showed his will to effectively use the US’ support for him and Tibet in order to achieve Tibet’s autonomy. Though lots of Tibet supporters and his followers were disappointed at the scene where he was received the medal from President Bush. Now Dalai Lama will give a speech at the European Parliament where the representatives from the EU citizens are located. With passionate support such as fasting, it will be worth paying attention to what kind of political influence he will try to draw from the EU.

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 collection 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, and 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 which was listed by a Korean film magazine to send a fan letter to. (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.

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.