Childhood memories
Wandering mind of a bilingual
대학교 입시를 위해 썼던 수많은 에세이 중에 하나였다. 14살에 유학을 떠나 17살 때 집을 그리워하며 썼던 글이라 그런지 유난히 애착이 간다. 추석에 대가족이 시골집에 모여 복작복작했던 기억을 써 내려갔었다. 소중한 추억이어서 한글로 번역해 보려 했으나 실패했다.
I wake up from a long sleep to a cool breeze, fluttering green grass and rice plants and crickets while the car wobbles through an old, bumpy, winding road to my grandma's. We come to a large open field with big trees and yellow wild flowers. The dogs, chickens, and cows all give their respective welcoming.
My dad has four older brothers, who have their own children, and my gandma's house would be jammed with people. But that's what I liked about big holidays: greetings and happy laughs, gathering and spending time with the family members who care about each other. My uncles gathered around the living room, my aunts cooked in the kitchen, and my cousins watched TV and talked, lying down like so their bodies formed a jigsaw puzzle in the big, but nonetheless, small room for all of us. The sound of talking and laughing wouldn't stop until the day we would say goodbye. It made me feel alive that I am loved by this many people and reassured about who I am and where I belong. I had a secret joy in my heart being thankful for having this huge family.
Because my brother and I were the youngest children in the family, everyone loved and took care of us. My grandmother is not there any more, but she is alive in the cottage along with my childhood memories. My grandma's house was full of inconveniences compared to the places I live in now; comfortable and convinent places, but sometimes I miss the farm. If I could go anywehre with anyone for a day, I would go back to the farm with all of my family and relive the days where the true simplicity of life clarified what was really important; I would have a chance to experience again the fulfillmeent that so many peopel strive in vain to achieve in packed cities with fifteen hour work days.
