“(왼쪽) 신혼 여행은 전국의 옛 궁터를 돌 거예요. 오늘 여기 덕수궁이 시작이에요.”

“(Left) For our honeymoon, we went around the country going to the sites of old palaces. We’re starting today with Deoksu Palace.“

“서로 처음 만났을 때 어떠셨어요?”
“(왼쪽) 아내는 다른 사람이랑은 달랐어요. 처음 만났을 때, 밥 먹고 산책을 하는데 이쪽으로 가면 환구단이라는 곳이 있대요. 거기가 뭐하는 곳이냐고 하니까, 고종이 아관파천 다음에 대한제국을 선포하잖아요. 제국이 되려고 하늘에 제사를 지는 걸 만든 거래요. 거길 갔더니 이런 설명을 막 해주는 거예요. 거기서 반했죠.”
“(오른쪽) 남편도 다른 사람들이랑은 달랐어요. 아니, 제가 설명하는 걸 너무 잘 듣는 거예요. 남자들은 보통 어우, 뭐야 하는데요. 처음 만난 날이어서 그런가?’ 했는데 원래 역사를 좋아하더라고요. 조선왕조실록을 한자로 읽고 싶어서 한자 공부를 한대요. 그래서 반했죠.”
“(왼쪽) 저희가 원래 좀 이상해요.”
“(오른쪽) 데이트 할 때는 조선 왕릉을 보러 다녔거든요.”

“How was it when you two met each other?”
“(Left) My wife was different from other people. When I first met her, we were on a walk after eating together, and she said that if we went this way, there would be a place called Wongudan. I asked her what kind of a place it was, and you know how after King Gojong took refuge in the Russian legation, he proclaimed the Korean Empire? She said they made it to perform ancestral rites to heaven so that the country would become an empire. She started explaining all this to me when we went there. That’s how I fell in love.”
“(Right) My husband was different from other people, too. I mean, he was listening to my explanation so intently. Guys usually say things like, ‘What the heck.’ I thought that he was just acting like that because it was the first time we were meeting, but it turned out he actually likes history. He said he was studying Chinese characters so he could read the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. That’s when I fell in love.”
“(Left) We’re both a bit strange.”
“(Right) We went to Joseon royal tombs when we were on dates.”

“인터뷰가 거의 끝났는데요, 마지막으로 한 마디 하고 싶은 게 있다면요?”
“주변에 시험을 준비하는 애가 있어요. 시험이 중요하긴 한데 몇 년을 친구들도 안 만나고 정말 시험에만 매달려 있어서 안 쓰럽고 좀 그랬어요. 근데 친구한테 그렇다고 말을 해줄수가 없는 거예요. 참견하는 거 같아서 말을 못 하겠더라고요. 계속 떨어지고 그러니까… 괜히 내가 그런 얘기 하면 더 힘 빠질까봐. 다들 미래를 준비한다고 노력하는 걸 알아요. 미래가 중요하긴 해요. 근데 현재를 포기하면서까지 미래에 대비하는 거 같아요. 저희가 20대긴 한데, 거의 끝에 와있거든요. 우리는 거의 20대를 통으로 공부만 하고, 준비만 하고 보냈잖아요. 준비하는 건 좋은데, ‘당장은 좀 즐겁게, 현실을 좀 즐기면서’, 그 말을 꼭 하고 싶었어요.”

“We’re almost done with the interview, so do you have any last words you would like to say?”
“I know somebody who’s preparing for an exam. Exams are important, but not meeting up with friends for a few years and really focusing solely on the exam was pitiful, and a bit much. But I can’t say something like that to a friend. I couldn’t say a word because it felt like I was interfering. And that friend kept failing the exam… I was afraid it would be even more discouraging if I brought this up. I know that everyone’s trying hard to prepare for the future. The future’s important, after all. But it feels like people are so focused on the future that they’re giving up on the present. Though we’re in our twenties, we’re almost at the end. We’ve spent our twenties doing nothing but studying, nothing but preparing. While preparation is a good thing, I really wanted to say, ‘Do it while enjoying this very moment, while enjoying the present.’”

“왜 매일 소시지를 사다 주셨어요?”
“(아버님) 가족이잖아요.”

“Why did you buy her a sausage every day?”
“(Father) We’re family.”

“지인이 학대당하던 강아지를 키워줄 수 있겠냐고 해서 담비를 우리 집으로 데려왔어. 보니까 원래 키우던 남자가 술만 먹고 오면 담비를 때렸었나봐. 우리집에 오고 나서도 남편이 술 먹고 들어올 때면 꼭 구석으로 숨어버렸거든. 그랬었는데 지금은 오히려 아빠를 반기지.”
“어떻게 해서 나아졌어요?”
“아빠가 천하장사 소시지를 하나씩 사다 주기 시작했거든.”

“An acquaintance asked if we could take in an abused puppy, and so we brought Dambi into our home. As we found out, it seems the man who’d raised her would hit her when he came home drunk. Even after we got Dambi, she’d hole up in a corner when my husband came home after drinking. She used to be like that, but now she actually greets her dad.”
“What made things better?”
“Her dad starting buying her Strong Man sausages one by one.”

“우리 둘째예요. 제가 아프다고 하거나 힘들다고 하면 ‘내가 엄마 아프지 않게 기도해줄게’, ‘사랑해’ 하며 안아줘요.”

“He’s our second. Whenever I say I’m sick or exhausted, he hugs me and tells me, ‘I’ll pray for mommy to get better, I love you.”

“저는 중학교 2학년 때부터 엄마가 없었어요. 어렸을 때는 몰랐는데, 이제 와서야 불행했다는 생각이 들더라고요. 엄마 있으면 그냥 알게 되는 것들을 나는 혼자서 터득해 갈 수밖에 없었으니까요. 그러다가 우리 딸도 중학교 2학년이 된 거죠. 제가 엄마를 잃어버렸던 그 나이. 그런 딸을 아무 생각 없이 바라보다가 이런 말이 나오더라고요. ‘야 너는 참 좋겠다 엄마 있어서.’”

“I lost my mom when I was in eighth grade. I didn’t know it when I was younger, and it wasn’t until recently that I began to realize how unhappy I was. Because I had to master the things that I would have just learned naturally if my mom were here. And now my daughter is an eighth grader herself. The age when I lost my mom. After staring at my daughter without a thought in my head, I just blurted out, ‘Hey, how great it must be that you have a mom.’”

“쌍둥이 키우면서 가장 보람있던 때가 언제였나요?”
“부부싸움 할 때요. 애들이 엄마 편 들어주더라고요. ‘아빠, 엄마한테 그러지 마!’라며 눈 동그랗게 뜨고 말하면서요. 제가 가만 있어도 애들이 함께 싸워줘요.”
“막내 아들이 좀 더 커서 아빠 편 들면 어떡해요?”
“괜찮아요. 우린 셋이잖아요. 머릿수로 승부 봐야죠.”

“When have you felt most rewarded by raising twins?”
“When my husband and I fight. The girls take my side. They stare at him with their big, round eyes and say, ‘Daddy, don’t be like that to Mom!’ Even if I stay still, they fight for me.”
“What if your youngest takes his dad’s side when he gets bigger?”
“It’s okay. There are three of us. We’ll win with numbers.”

“우리 친정어머니를 모셨는데 80세가 지나니까 돌아가실 때까지 아프시더라고요. 저도 이제 70세를 바라보는 나이니까, 자유로운 시간이 앞으로 10년 정도밖에 안 남은 것 같아요. 그걸 아는데도 딱히 할 일이 없네요. 공부하는 것도 생각을 해보고 했는데, 활자가 눈에 안 들어와요. 생각이 너무 많아서요.”
“어떤 생각이 드시는데요?”
“왜, 나이가 들면 마음 맞는 친구가 있어야 한다고 하잖아요? 근데 그 친구가 하루아침에 만들어지는 건 아니거든요. 나이 들어서 주변에서 만난 친구는 거리가 있더라고요. 내가 가까이 다가가지도 않고, 그쪽에서 넘어오지 않는 선이 있어요. 그런데 어려서부터 아는 친구에겐 나를 다 보여 줄 수 있잖아요. 그래서 지금 젊은 친구들이그런 준비를 해야겠다고 생각해요. 딸한테도 가끔 한번씩 이야기를 하는데 먼 이야기처럼 느껴지는 것 같아요. 당장 닥치지 않았으니까요.”

“We took care of my mother as she lived with us, and after turning 80 years old, she was ill until she passed away. Now I’m about to be 70 years old, and it seems like I only have 10 years left to be healthy and do what I want. Even though I know that, I don’t really have anything to do. I thought about studying, but I can’t read the print anymore. It’s because I have too much on my mind.”
“What kind of thoughts do you have?”
“You know how they say you need a close friend when you’re old? But you can’t make a friend like that overnight. There seems to be some distance between the friends you make when you’re older. I don’t go any closer, and there’s a line that they don’t cross over. But it’s easy to show all of yourself to a friend you’ve known since childhood. So I think young people should prepare themselves for that. There are times when I talk to my daughter about it, but it’s too far away for her to understand. It’s not relevant to her right now.”

“내가 어릴 때 아버지는 무서운 분이셨어. 약주를 많이 드신 날이면 꼭 손찌검을 하셨거든. 그런 모습이 어릴 땐 얼마나 충격이야. 큰 상처가 됐지. 나중에 안 사실인데 우리 아버지는 부모님이 어릴 때 돌아가셨대. 그래서 사랑을 받지 못 하고 자랐다나봐. 그런 아버지로서는 자녀 교육을 어떻게 해야 하는지 모르셨던 거지. 무조건 엄격해야 한다는 잘못된 생각을 갖게 되신 것도 그 때문이 아닐까 싶었어. 그럴 수도 있겠다는 생각이 들어서 용서해 보려고 노력했지. 그런데 아무리 해도 내가 받았던 상처는 아물어지지 않더라고. 아마 아직도 나는 아버지를 온전히 용서 못한 것 같아.”

“When I was young, my father was a scary person. He always beat me on the days that he drank a lot. That sort of thing gives you a shock when you’re young. It scarred me. I didn’t know until later that my father’s parents had passed away when he was young, and so I guess he grew up without being loved. As that sort of father, he didn’t know how he was supposed to educate his children. I think that was also the reason he had the mistaken idea that he had to be strict no matter what. When that occurred to me, I tried to forgive him. But no matter what I did, the wound he gave me wouldn’t heal. Even now, I probably haven’t been able to forgive him entirely.”

“동네 모임으로 여행계를 해서 1년에 한 번 정도 다같이 여행을 가요. 캄보디아에 가서 앙코르와트를 보는데, 사람이 만들었다는 게 안 믿기더라고요. 길은 또 왜 이렇게 험한지. 옛날에는 버스로 타고 8시간 정도를 가는데 덜그럭 덜그럭 엄청 덜컹거리면서 갔어요.”
“그런데도 좋으셨어요?”
“밥 안하고 맛있는 거 먹고 구경다니는 게 최고거든.”

“I have a travel fund with some neighbors that we all contribute money to, and about once a year, we all go on a trip together. We went to Cambodia and saw Angkor Wat, and it was unbelievable that people actually built that place. And my gosh, the road there was so bumpy. We got there by bus, which took about eight hours, clunking and rattling the whole way.”
“Did you still enjoy the trip?”
“Yeah, the best thing is just sightseeing while eating delicious food that you don’t have to cook yourself.”

“지금은 취미로 사진을 찍는데, 젊었을 때 했으면 더 좋았을 것 같아. 예전에는 무역회사에서 일을 했었는데 정말이지 너무 바빴어. 회사가 급하다고 하면 그냥 날밤을 새는 거지. 아이들도 일주일에 한 번, 한 달에 한 번 보면 다행이었으니까. 무역회사에서 일을 해서 해외 출장을 다 합해서 11년 정도 다녀온 것 같아. 정말 그 때 사진을 찍었으면 좋았을 걸. 그때 내가 해외 나간다고 하면 부러운 눈치로 봤던 시절이니까. 최근에는 프리미어 프로를 배우려고 얼마 전에 노트북을 하나 샀어. 노트북만 사면 들고 다니면서 배우고 싶은 곳에 가서 배울 수 있겠다 싶었지. 근데 이게 문제가, 노트북은 글씨가 너무 작더구만. 그게 아주 스트레스야. 젊었을 때 배웠으면 좋았을 걸 또 아쉬워. “
“그때 많이 바쁘셨는데, 만약 사진을 찍어야겠다는 생각을 하셨다면 찍으셨을 수 있었을 것 같으세요?”
“대신 회사에서 잘렸겠지.”

“I take pictures as a hobby now, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had started when I was younger. I used to work at a trading company, and I must say, I was really busy. Whenever there was something urgent at work, I was expected to stay up all night to deal with it. I was lucky if I saw my kids once a week, or even once a month. Because of my job, I spent about 11 years visiting other countries. It would have really been great if I had taken pictures during that time, because people envied me whenever I told them I was going abroad for another business trip. I recently bought a laptop to learn how to use Premiere Pro. I thought that by buying a laptop and taking it with me to a place where I wanted to learn, I would naturally start learning. But the problem is that the text on the laptop is really small. It’s so stressful! It makes it even more of a shame that I didn’t learn when I was younger.”
“You were really busy back then–do you think that if you had had the thought of wanting to take pictures, you actually would have?”
“If I had, I would have been fired at work.”

“정년퇴직을 하고 문화센터에서 데생을 배웠어. 재밌더라고. 한 번은 우리 집에서 예수님 사진을 데생으로 그렸어. 거기에 완전히 빠졌지. 나도 모르게 이틀 밤을 새워서 그렸어. 그러다가 3일째인가, 4일째인가 우리 집 소파에서 쓰러진거야. 그런 일이 두 번이나 있었어. 안압이 높아지면 그럴 수 있다고 하더라고. 이러면 안되겠다 싶어서, 데생을 그만두고 다른 걸 찾았어. 그게 사진이야. 사진은 한 번 찍고 돌아서면 되니까 계속 들여다 볼 필요가 없잖아.”
“사진 찍으시면서는 괜찮으셨어요?”
“그건 포토샵을 해야 하더라고. 컴퓨터 들여다보다가 또 몇 번을 쓰러졌지.”

“I retired and learned drawing at the culture center. It was fun. One time I tried sketching a picture of Jesus at home. I was enthralled. I spent two whole nights like that without even realizing it, and after about three, maybe four days of this, I collapsed on the sofa. This sort of thing happened at least twice. They say that it can be caused by eye strain. I figured that this couldn’t go on, so I quit drawing and looked for something else—photography. You’re done after taking the picture once, so there’s no need to keep picking it up and looking at it.”
“Have you been all right while taking photos?”
“As it turns out, you have to Photoshop them. I’ve collapsed a few times from staring at the computer.”

“저는 원래 애들을 별로 안 좋아했어요. 내 자식들을 다 키웠는데도요. 근데 손주가 태어나니까 그렇게 이쁠 수가 없는 거예요. 남의 손주까지 다 예뻐. 희한하대요. 내 자식때는 나도 철이 없었고, 살기도 바빴지. 근데 이제 나도 나이가 들어서 이것 저것 다 해줄 수 있는 게 너무 좋아요. 맛있는 것도 사주고 옷도 사주고요. 그리고 손주가 너무 귀여워요”

“I didn’t really like children originally. Even though I raised all my own kids. But once my grandson was born, nothing could be lovelier. I even love other people’s grandchildren. I’m an unusual case. Of course, when I had kids I was immature, and I was busy with life. Yet now that I’ve gotten older, it’s wonderful to be able to do this and that for him. Like buying yummy food, and buying clothes. And my grandson is just too cute.”