1. The old tomb on the hill
Everybody have things that they cherish in their memories. I recently found a wrist band that my new born baby had worn when she first arrived to this world. It was marked with name of my daughter's name, and as she was being taken out from the hospital, I cut it off and put it in a glove compartment of my car. Apparently, I had left it there for more than a decade. The wrist band has gotten deteriorated, but it made me to reminisce when she was a tiny baby. My memories about my grandmother is not so much since she passed away when I was very little, but her death prompted activities that coincided when my sensitivity to surrounding was running the most deepest, which gave me indelible impressions about Korea, and here is how:
My grandmother's grave is located several miles away from the Puckjae Train Station which is one and a half hour train ride from ShinChon Train Station located in the town where I had lived in my childhood. On every Chusok holiday, our whole family and relatives visit the place walking in rustic rural area on a fine autumn day enjoying the cool crispy weather and the scenery. The actual time for the ritual at the alter would not take no more than two hous, but the time spent getting ready, getting there, spending time briefly near the place and coming back home took chunk of the time for the day. The mode of transportation medium used visiting her place had changed over years- train, bus, truck, and car- but earliest times when I went there was, about 6 years old, taking an hour train ride from ShinChon Train Station. After getting off at Bukjae Train Station, we walked more than an hour taking rests along the way. Taking train and walking to and from her place had been the most exhilarating experience to me. Back then, Puckjae was considered a rural farming area, remote place from Seoul, where you could see farm houses and rice paddies. The train station was a well representation of that rustic atmosphere with its small size and with only couple of wooden benches in the waiting area seemed to be waiting achingly for someone to sit on. As we come out of the train station, we were greeted by farmer's carriage truck passing by flaring up dust from unpaved path. And as the dust settled, a view of rice paddies in golden yellow strateched out in front of us. Walking along the narrow path in between the rice paddies with sunlights shinning on the grains of rice getting ripen in the midst of autumn atmosphere, listening to cicada humming in the midst of rice paddy in the mid afternoon, and watching sun-setting with golden reflection on rice paddy had woven into my psyche in early childhood-of which longing would never ceased to exist in my life.
Nonetheless, there were several other things that spurred up my curiosity along the way that was not just amusement: tumbling down a hill, that was encountered along the way, was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had. It was like a scientist finding a new discovery. The moment I saw the hill as we trudged along a narrow path by a rice paddy, I yelled out, "Look!, a hill," top of my lung, and then all the young cousins suddenly took off their backpacks and rushed toward the hill. As we climbed up, we ran out of breath, and one by by started laying down exasperated and tumbled down the hill. The grass on the hill was turned gray already, and never trimmed to give nice cushion for tumbling. After we got tired of it, we climbed further up all the way to the top of the hill. When we reached to the top, we were exasperated and lay down.
We looked at the clear blue sky and felt cool autumn breeze running through our hair. I sprawled up my arms and legs lying down to embrace the breeze and feel coolness of it. As we mustered up our strength, we got up and continued climbing up several more steps to find ourselves in a strange and mystical place--an ancient tomb! We saw a big open field at the top of the hill with marble animal statues standing in two rows, with tall tree being swayed by the wind making rustling sound; among the statures, there were horses and rams. Furthur back, at the end of the rows, near the tomb, there were two human statues in a grinning expression, guarding the tomb. The moment when the full view of the tomb came in sight, I had a feeling of meeting an old man who had lived thousands years. The tomb has a tombstone with Chinese characters carved in black limestone, that momentarily giving thoughts why writing was in Chinese, not in Hangul, and a big cube limestone block laid out on top of four round block to form a table in front of the tomb. The tomb was larger than any tomb that I had ever seen, with decorative stones around at the bottom to act as fringe, giving extra special attention has been given for the care of the tomb. The human statures were by far the largest, standing in front of the tomb facing to each other, wearing hat and in full official cloths, holding hands together. The height of the statues were 12 feet tall with neck very short, not bare, hidden under cloth, and the stone had some blackened spots that seemed to have been weathered over long time, and the faces had grinning expression, that wondered me why the officials were chasled in smiling expression at guarding the dead.
I would very much like to know who it belongs to. I visited Korea several times in adult life, but it never occurred to me that I should visit the tomb. I should make sure that visiting the tomb be part of my "things to do list in Korea." If I were to visit again, I would need to retrace my memories from the Puckjae train station, but things have changed so much- it was all rice paddy in old days. Nore do I remember how to get there walking from the train station like I used to--I just followed adults in old days carrying a backpack mostly enjoying the scenary no concern figuring out how to get there. It would be nice to know the path which was taken and recreate the expidation to explore the place again with a camera.
The hill was discovered on Chusok day, and the grass on the hill had just turned dry in gray, no needing to worry about getting smudges on new pants that was bought for the holiday several days earlier. The hill was in front of an old tomb giving a nice view looking out standing on top. The tomb must belong to either a high ranking official in Chosen dynasty, or a member of loyal family, with its guards statures carved in wearing full regimental figures made out of marble. I climbed on top of one of small statures guarding the tomb and looked out enjoying autumn scenery that the surrounding offered, and then looked other statures which had been weathered gathering moss and changed its hue, wondering what it must have been like living five hundreds years ago and buried in old tomb to be visited by passerby.
When the party calling out asking to come down, I got off the stature and touched each statures to bid farewell with wishful thinking of visiting in next year walking by them in a quick run taking a bit more time at the two tall human guards before I rushed out to the hill and rand down the hill as fast as I could.
The adults got up after taking a rest sitting in a shade underneath a tree at the bottom of the hill, to continue walking as we all came down the hill. The usual scene of rice paddies unfolded in my sight with shicada humming coming from the trees on the hill.
Have you eve let yourself loose tumbling down on a hill under a crispy blue sky when you were a child? Have you had experiences like me encountering an old tomb or a stature in your country? Have you had an urge to hop on one of the regimental statures like me when you were a little child in your country? Come to think of it, it was wrong for me to hop on the stature--Please don't hop on that, your weight might cause damages to the precious historical site.
2. A big tall chestnut tree
3. Scenery of snow falling in the front yard
Watching Kimchi pots in the front yard in cold January. The winter in January gets very cold in Seoul. When I open the sliding door and looked out on the front yard on a cold day in January, two Kimchi pots that were buried undergroud with its top sticking out at the corner of the front yard spurred up a desolate feeling within me.
The traditioal Korean house is not well suited to cold winter in January. The windows are poorly insulated, made with its windowpane out of rice paper, and the doors to the rooms are often faced to outside. The warmest part of the room is localized near the kitchen where the burning fuel of coal is taking place in Ondol system. Staying in poorly insulated can exude desolate feelings. Have you ever stayed in a hot running heat on the floor, Ondol room?
4. Tobacco Farm House
Visiting a farm house to buy tabaco on the way from grandmother's garve yard. My great grandmother used to smoke using a long bamboo pipe, like the one I saw on a story book. The bamboo pipe was about two feet, and she was holding the pipe all the time except when she worked and sleep. My aunt who cared for her deeply often suggested to drop by any farmhouses-we encounter on the way back home walking to catch a train- that cultivate tabacco and buy them in bulk for her grandmother, my great grandmother. Walking into a farmouse, smell of tabacco exuded a strange feeling for I had never been to a tabacco farm. Seeing the tabacco plants through the back door ajar made me feel as though I was in a different part of the world. My aunt counted number of packages that were wrapped with brown paper with a green prints that says "Korean Monopolized Tabacco Company." I could not forget the happy face of my great grandmother when tabacoo packages were sprawled out from a basket in front of her when we came home. Have you ever seen the tabacco comes in that package? Have you ever given presents to somebody, that make them so happy?
5. Gazing at rice paddies sitting at the balcony of a moving train on a fine autumn day
Sitting on the balcony of train watching golden rice field. On the way home from JangHung, I was sitting on the floor near the door looking out. As the train crusing along by the rice field, autumn sunset was casting it rays on the rice field glowing golden lights of reflection. The sight was mesmerizing and breathtaking!!
6. A grape vine in the front yard garden
My old house had a garden in the front yard. The part of the garden near the entrance had a grape vine. The vine grew even before the front door was replaced to iron gate, whose two pillars holding up the old gate was torn down and the pillar was moved over to the garden to be laid along periphery of the garden as a flange, to keep the soil within. To my vague memory, the vine was planted by my great grandmother when someone brought it to our house, and it grew grapes every fall ever since I could remember. The grapes were not very tastful like concord grapes, but we ate them anyway after they were harvested. We didn't put any fertilizer so the grapes didn't come out good. But one day, I saw great grandmother digging a hold with a hoe, by the root of the vine, buried fish some heads like belt fish. On that fall, I saw many big grapes growing markedly in bigger size, anything that vine that I had never seen. My great grandmother collected the leaves of the vines in fall after harvesting the grapes, and let them dry. She often mixed the leaves with tabacco to smoke. I was wondering whether she inhaled the smoke to enjoy smoking or she just enjoy bellowing the smoke out without swallowing into her lung. Have you ever grown a grape vine and see the effect of frolic production of the fruit?
7. Great Grandmother making Pakjuk
8, Great Grandmother making Dotori Muk
9. Waking along narrow path on a scorching hot day en route to a reservior for fishing.
10. Catching minnows in a stream of clear water using a glass tube in ChungPyung.
11. Shaking hand with a girl I liked.
12. Watching great grand mother making Dongji Pak Juk. (Red bean porridge)
13. Skating at YunHee-Dong rice paddy in winter.
14. Fire broke out at Daeyunkgak Hotel.
15. Caroling with church friends on Christmas Eve.
16. Walking with grandmother on field hocky field on a hot day in August, coming from a buddhist temple nearby.
17. Eating sweet bean pocycles sold by a vendor wearing tank top.
18. Eating Ho Dduck sold by a street vendor on cold days.
19. Visiting relatives to greet on Sol Nal (Korean New Year's Day)
20. Watching adults using mortar making rice cakes.
21. Smell of red bean Dduck being cooked in a traditional cookware.
22. Kite flying.
23. Sleding.
24. Eating Jajang-myun at the Chinese restaurant nearby home.
25. Reading Man-Wha all Sunday in Man-Wha Bang.
26. Going to TaeNeung Skating arena.
27. Eating freshly caught fish and crab at the daybreak at DaeChun beach on summer vacation.
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