전환

Season repeats itself but life doesn't

Season changes, so do things in life. Though a long time supporter of LG, I have since moved on. LCD TV has been changed to Panasonic and notebook to Hewlett Packard. Now, who dare say I am Korean brand bias? Ok, I confess, I just change my handphone from Iphone to Samsung Note.

무슨 실수?

그래도 되요? 그러면 안돼요~ (Like that, OK? If like that, not OK~)

When I first saw the above screen capture in a news article, I was wondering, "Is there an error?" I knew there was because of the title says so, but I did not know what mistake it was, really.

Now that I know, it becomes laughable that I did not spot the grammatical error at the first instance. "그래도 되요?" should be written as "그래도 돼요?". I guess, I am equally capable of making such boo boo. My Korean language teacher would have shown her disapproval by saying, "그러면 안돼요~". Well, my excuse will be, "외국인이니까요." (I am a foreigner, you know.)

 

The context of the article can be found in one of the scenes in episode 18 of the SBS's Mon-Tue drama, The Great Doctor (신의), shown on Oct 9. In an attempt to cheer Choi Yung (Lee Min-ho) up after the death of his brothers, Yoo Eun-soo (Kim Hee-sun) did a sudden proposal, placard-flipping style. In order of sequence:

괜찮아요. (It's OK)
옆에 있을게요. (I'll be by your side)
그날까지 (Until the end)
그래도 되요?" (Is that OK?)

To rub it in, Oct 9 was Hangeul Day. Anyway, don't be too hard on a silly mistake. As the Korean proverb says, "원숭이도 나무에서 떨어질 때 있다" (There will be a time when monkey also falls from tree). At the end, it's always the heart that counts.

첫사랑 보관소

Archive First Love (첫사랑 보관소, 初戀保管所) is a 20-min 3-D Korean short film which explores the universal theme of first love. It makes its premier at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) 2012.

Synopsis: One day, out of the blue, writer Hyun-woo, started receiving parcels at his doorstep. The parcels contained items and memories of someone else's first love. Initially, he was at a loss of what to do with the stuff. Since he could neither throw away nor return them to their respective owners, he decided to set up an archive and be their keeper. He labelled and arranged each item neatly in his little archive so that their owners, if they want to, are able to retrieve them one day. However, little did he know that his first love's memories would soon occupy a place in his own Archive of First Love. 

 

Short film "Archive First Love (2012)" - 2D version 

First love always comes with inexperience and clumsiness. There will be many minor misunderstandings because everyone is only starting to love. As much as each first love is unique, they have a common point, that is, they give you pain. When first love has to end for the sake of a new-found love, the latter will never be as pure, as passionate and as painful as the former. 

There are a few scenes in the film I like:

Scene 1: Hyun-woo 'listening' to other's memories with a stethoscope

The 'voices' which Hyun-woo seems to hear:

M: Do you mean, all the things I did for you are meaningless?
F: You didn't do anything for me. You're only doing them for yourself.

F: I don't want to see you anymore.
M: Can't you think it over again?

M: You're right, it seems like you were not happy when you were with me.
F: I'm sorry, I was rash. I want to restart over again. I miss you.

These are conversations which we would also likely to hear prior to a break-off. 


Scene 2: Hyun-woo talking to his grandma about her first love

Hyun-woo: Grandma, that's nice music you're listening to.

Grandma: It's the music I listen to whenever I think of my first love.

Hyun-woo: I didn't know grandma also has first love. It seems like grandpa is not the one.

Grandma: Where do you find someone who doesn't have first love? Even now, when I think of that person, my heart aches... and... I miss him.

Hyun-woo: You still think of that person... even after all these years?

Grandma: I have never for once forgotten about him, although it's natural that with time, things fade away and people grow old. Do you know what is the hardest thing to endure with the passage of time? Your body ages but your heart doesn't. There is no way you can erase away those memories that are in your heart. Especially, those that were already there at the beginning.


Scene 3: Hyun-woo talking to his girlfriend prior to their break-off

Hyun-woo:  A man would just focus on the things he does for his woman. A woman could decide to leave her man without even knowing his feeling for her. Why is it that woman can't sense a man's feeling without him saying it out?

So-ri: Oppa, a woman cannot sense everything by just "I love you" alone. If you don't say it, there are many things that will not be known.

If you can't get enough of first love's story in this short film, you can enjoy more of it in "Introduction to Architecture" (건축학 개론, 建築學 槪論). But do take note, the pain in the movie may resonate in you even though you are just an audience. It seems, people are more alike than different when it concerns matter of the heart.

궁금하면 500원

Flower beggar: Are you curious? If you are curious, 500 won (Credit: Nocut News)

A gentleman has his dignity so does a beggar. A new corner in "Gag Concert", called "A Beggar's Dignity" (parody of the Korean drama "A Gentleman's Dignity) is cracking me up every Sunday. Gagman Heo Gyeong-huan plays the role of "flower begger" (꽃거지). 

Not all beggars are the same. There is a different between a beggar and a flower beggar; a beggar begs but a flower beggar does not. "How then does a flower beggar earns his keep?", you may ask. 궁금해요? 궁금하면 500원 (Are you curious? If you are curious, 500won). Yes, that is how a flower beggar earns his money - by answering one's curiosity. By the way, if you are not curious, he will still "charge" 200won. This new corner is really hilarious. 강추 (strongly recommend).

Interview with the "flower beggar"

Theme song of flower beggar (1:19) - "Dear" by Mad Soul Child

추석 앞둠

My friend, a Vietnamese, has landed a job, as an event marketing executive, with the Lotte Department Store (Myeongdong). This is her first job after completing her Masters in Hotel Tourism Management at Kyunghee University last fall.

She was recently seen promoting her company's limited-edition shopping vouchers for the coming Chuseok in Yonhap News.

With the biggest Korean festival, Chuseok just around the corner, Lotte Department Store, a dominant player in the market of shopping vouchers, introduced its "Beat-the-Recession-Small-Value Shopping Voucher Package" (KRW 3 million) on the 3rd of September.

Lotte Department Store is also running an event to give away 1,000 limited edition shopping vouchers, which has three 10,000-won vouchers printed on one sheet, on a first-come-first serve basis, to customers who purchase the package.

한 여름 밤의 꿈

봄이 사랑을 시작하기에 좋은 계절이라면, 가을은 지나간 옛사랑이 생각나는 계절

떠나는 파도를 보며 한 여름 밤의 꿈도 함께 보낸다

한 여름 밤의 꿈은 바람처럼 다시 돌아오지 않을 그곳으로 떠나가버렸다

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Acoustic Collabo

스트레스 삼단계

Korea has the "빨리 빨리 문화" (hurry hurry culture). "빨리 와" (come quickly), "빨리 해" (do quickly), "빨리 먹어" (eat quickly) and you wonder why things cannot be done at a more leisure pace. I do not know if someone who walks hurriedly will catch his train or submits his work fast will be promoted, but one thing for sure, he is stressed. If you observe closely, stress has three stages.

1st Stage: Irritable (일단계: 귀차니즘)

When you are easily annoyed or irritated by someone or mundane matters, you are said to display "귀차니즘". "귀차니즘" is combination of the Korean word "귀찮다" (annoying) and the English ending "nism". People who display "귀차nism" are known as "귀차nist" (귀차니스트). How do you know you are a "귀차nist"? You know it when you say things like:

"Not again! Why does he keep asking me to do stupid thing."
"Some people just don't use their brain."
"My life sucks, period."

2nd Stage: Suffocating (이단계: 기가 막힘)

As stress intensifies, you will feel like you are on the verge of suffocation. Breathing is difficult and temper flares easily. "기가 막혀", which means "breath is blocked", combines the Chinese word "氣" (기, qi) and the Korean verb "막히다" (to block). In an attempt to prevent breathlessness, most of us will react by "exploding" and letting out, in one go, all the trapped energy. Words become more vicious now:

"It feels like banging my head against the wall!"
"Talking to him makes me vomits blood!"
"I wish I can give him two tight slaps, if that makes me better!"


3rd Stage: Mental Breakdown (삼단계: 멘털 붕괴)

The final stage of stress is "멘털 붕괴" or "멘붕"in short. "멘털 붕괴" comprises the English word "mental" (멘털) and the Chinese word "崩壞"" (붕괴, cave-in). Nobody literally suffers mental breakdown at this stage. It is more like a stage of "enlightenment" where you see clearly that nothing more you do will help to salvage the situation. Sometimes, telling everyone you have "멘붕" can actually be quite cathartic. Getting some pitiness and attention is comforting, but taking a break or holiday is much better.

The conclusion: don't wait too long to reach "멘붕".

가을여행 가보실래요? 스트레스 풀기 좋다.

아쉬움

Sorak is not his real name, it is how I remember him. Sorak like thousands of Chinese students in Korea, was vying for a place in the local universities. We met at Advanced 1 Korean language class. Being a non-native speaker of Korean, he has the best command of the language among the Chinese students I knew. The secret behind his language proficiency, he mixes frequently with native Koreans and kyobos for drinks and pool at night. He drinks soju like water and consecutive day-and-night drinkings do not seem to knock him out. I am hopeless when it comes to drinking but I match him in pool. Not too bad for someone who only practises on the pool table in the dormitory while doing laundry.

If heavy drinking is not bad enough, Sorak smokes like a chimney. He may sound like a problem student whom any teacher will not like to see in their class. On the contrary, Sorak is one of the most enthusiastic Chinese students I have seen. The one-child policy in China has not created the "little emperor mentality" in him. He is hardworking and was the only Chinese students in my class who passed his university's entry interview based purely on merits. The interview was conducted entirely in Korean which made it not an easy feat. Sorak has a long-held wish - to be the valedictorian during the graduation ceremony, an honour reserved only for the most senior graduate class. He never fulfilled his wish. He left for Sungkyungwan University after completing Advanced 1 Korean language class.

At the end of our graduation ceremony, I saw Sorak standing in front of an almost emptied auditorium with an indescribable expression. Something in me told me, it was actually an expression of "아쉬움" (regret). I recalled asking my dowoomi, does 안타까움 express a greater sense of regret compared to "아쉬움". "No, I use them interchangeably", she said. It seems then, there might just be only one degree of regret, you cannot have more or less of it.

I did not realise there was a face to "아쉬움". 동생, 고마워

선택

I have two teachers, one is in her early thirties and the other late forties. Both are happily married. We asked them, at different time, the same question: Why do you choose your husband?

The younger of the two has a story to tell,

"I didn't like him initially. He was not "my style" but he was very persistent. One night, I was alone at home. Normally, my boyfriend would call me every night, but for some reason he has not been calling me recently. I think it was one of those tricks guys normally use to make girls fall for them. They would start off calling you every day and night and after they have made it a habit for you to wait for their call, they suddenly disappear into oblivion, making you miss them. So that night, his call didn't come. As I was about to fall asleep, I heard some noises. I opened my eyes and right in front of me was a stranger. I was so scared to the extent I forgot to scream. Fortunately, the stranger left hurriedly when he saw me. I thought I have locked the door but perhaps I didn't. Anyway, while I was still recovering from shock, my phone rang. I don't know if it was a coincidence, it was my boyfriend who called. After I told him about the incident, he rushed over to keep me company. That was the time when I knew he is the one for me."

On the other hand, her senior didn't have much to say. Wearing a cryptic smile, she gave us a one-sentence answer,

"안 미워서..." (because I don't hate him)

바다물

I want to go the beach in July, before the throng starts coming in, despite it being the rainy season, and wade my tired feet through the icy cold sea water.

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