240408, 1968년 겨울 춘천의 따스했던 기억

[윤희영의 News English] 1968년 겨울 춘천의 따스했던 기억

A Warm Memory of a Bitter Winter in 1968

 
 

미국 크리스천 사이언스 모니터의 통신원인 앤 하임스는 젊은 시절 평화봉사단으로 한국을 다녀갔다. 그녀가 ‘혹독했던 겨울의 따스했던 기억’이라는 제목의 글을 올렸다. 54년 전 춘천의 겨울 풍광이다. “1968년 당시 파란 눈의 금발 여자는 길거리의 호기심 대상이었다. 하물며 대중목욕탕에서 발가벗고 돌아다닌 나는 그들에게 충격 그 자체였다.
Ann Hymes, an American correspondent in The Christian Science Monitor, stayed in Korea as for the Peace Corps in her early days. She posted a writing, titled ‘A warm memory of a bitter winter.’ It portrays a wintery landscape of Chuncheon, 54 years ago. “A woman with fair hair in 1968 was the object of curiosity from Korean People. Moreover, she going about naked in the public bathhouse was possibly a complete shock to them.”
 
 

허름한 단층집에 방 한 칸 빌렸다. 화장실이 바깥에 있는 L자형에 전기는 들어오지 않는 집이었다. 마당에 있는 펌프는 꽁꽁 얼어 양동이의 얼음을 쪼아 써야 했고, 세탁물은 빨랫줄 위에서 기이한 모양으로 얼어붙었다. 매섭기 그지없었다. 내가 영어를 가르친 남자중학교 교실은 여기저기 창문이 깨져 있고, 배불뚝이 석탄 난로 하나만 놓여 있었다. 눈이 내리면 교실로 날아들어 낡은 나무책상 위에 쌓이곤 했다. 학생들은 겨우 여밀 정도의 단추만 달린 누더기 같은 교복을 입고 덜덜 떨었다. 대다수가 양말 신을 형편도 되지 않았다.
She rented a single room in a shabby one-level. It was a house of L-shaped structure with an outhouse and no electricity. A pump in the garden was frozen solid, so that she should break the ice in the bucket for using water. Also, laundry water was frozen into weird shapes on the clothesline. The winter in Korean was too harsh for words. The middle school classroom where she taught English has broken windows but only potbellied coal stove was there. When it snows, it swirled its way into the classroom and piled up on the battered wooden desk. Students shivered in tattered uniforms with barely enough buttons to fasten them. Most students could not afford socks.
 
 
내가 따스함을 느낄 수 있었던 유일한 곳은 두꺼운 이불 속에 겹겹이 옷을 껴입고 잠을 청하던 작은 방 바닥뿐이었다. 머리 위로는 쥐들이 뛰어다녔고, 이따금 천장 틈새로 뾰족한 코를 들이밀어 새 방 주인 냄새를 맡기도 했다. 어느 날, 공중목욕탕이라는 곳이 있다는 얘기를 들었다. 콘크리트 탕에 불빛은 어둑했고 습기로 차 있었다. 모두 벌거벗은 채 젖은 바닥에 쪼그리고 앉아 때를 밀거나 바가지로 물을 끼얹고 있었다. 서로 등을 밀어주는 모습은 놀랍기도 하고 신기하기도 했다. 처음엔 눈이 휘둥그레졌던 그녀들이 하나둘 따스한 미소를 보내주기 시작했다. 그들이 몸을 정갈하게 하는 행위는 신성한 의식 같았다. 나는 거기에서 마치 세례라도 받은 양 숨 막힐 듯 했던 겨울날에서 구원을 받는 기분을 느꼈다.
The only place that she could feel comfort was on the floor in a small room where she dressed in layers and tried to sleep under the thick duvet. Lots of rats scurried overhead, poked its’ pointed nose through the crack in the ceiling, and smelled their new host. One day, she learned there was a kind of public bathhouse, dimly lit and heavy with humidity. Everyone naked and scrubbed off dirt and dead skin cell as squatting on the wet tiles. The scene that everyone washed each other’s backs made her surprised and novel. At first, the folks had pop-eyed to me, but they began to give me a warm glowing smile. Their purifying bodies seemed like a sacred ritual. She was like being baptized and felt rescued from oppressive winter days.
 
 
추위로 거의 감각을 잃은60명의 학생들과 함께 몸을 덥히려고 손뼉을 치고 팔 벌려 뛰기를 하며 영어 문장을 외웠던 그 혹독했던 겨울, 대중목욕탕에서 “곧 봄이 올 것”이라며 용기를 얻어 나오곤 했던 그 따스한 기억이 지금도 삼삼하다.”
During that harsh winter, in a public bathhouse, I clapped and did jumping jacks and memorized English sentences to warm myself with 60 students who were nearly numb with cold. As saying “Spring will come soon,” and had a great courage from it, those warm-hearted memories still in me.

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[Reference]:
https://www.chosun.com/opinion/specialist_column/2022/02/10/IBQ3BO64CNC5JGB5XOD5GFOQ54/

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[영문 참고자료 사이트]
☞ https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/The-Home-Forum/2022/0124/A-warm-memory-of-a-bitter-winter

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(in her early days)
(A warm memory of a bitter winter)
(fair hair)
(go about naked in the public bathhouse)
(shabby one-level)
(a single room)
(portrays a wintery landscape)
(posted a writing)
(L-shaped structure with an outhouse and no electricity)
(be frozen solid)
(freeze into weird shapes on the clothesline)
(be too harsh for words)
(potbellied coal stove)
(swirl its way into the classroom)
(shiver in tattered uniforms)
(cannot afford socks)
(dress in layers)
(scurry overhead)
(poke pointed nose)
(be dimly lit)
(be heavy with humidity)
(scrub off dirt and dead skin cell)
(wash each other’s backs)
(be surprising and novel)
(be pop-eyed)
(give me a warm glowing smile)
(sacred ritual)
(like being baptized)
(feel rescued from oppressive winter days)
(be nearly numb with cold)
(clap and do jumping jacks)