Hyon-Joo’s Everyday Life

Mt. Geumo (Mt. Keumo, Komosan) 3202 feet (976meter). Located in Kumi, Kyungsang-bukdo, S. Korea. The mountain is full of steep cliffs and rocks and hiking to the top can be tough even though it's only a 1.3 mile trail. At the end of the Goryeo dynasty, they built fortress walls, Geomo Sansung, to prevent Japanese invasion. Some of traces of the fortress walls can be easily spotted during hiking. For non-hikers, there is a cable car that runs every 15 minutes till sunset (in winter, till 17:30). I think the cable car runs to Myunggeum Watherfall, but not sure. ...

One of the good things about living outside Korea is that I'm rarely called 'ajumma'. I guess I've just admitted that I don't want to be called ajumma. However, believe it or not, I don't have strong resistance against being ajumma - because I am, but I'd be still surprised a little bit if someone bluntly calls me ajumma in a market or café. I'm not quite ready for that yet only because I haven't experienced it a lot. Am I making it too big a deal to be called ajumma? Maybe. Am I subconsciously fearful ...

- Mom with an ox in 1960. Why am I always reminded of big plaintive eyes whenever I hear of hwangso(ox)? Well, it's because oxen do have big round eyes. Then, why sadness? It's hard to clearly point out the reasons. There is something sad about the way they "open and close" their eyes. To me, it's different from blinking. It looks like they close the world, pause there for a tiny bit of a second, and then open their eyes to the world again. Somehow that looks doleful to me. Maybe it's also because of the way they moo or "cry" - ...