2010. 08. 21 Saturday Meeting Topic

[Jina]

비가 와서 그런지 좀 시원하네요. 그렇지만 이 무더위가 9월 초순까지 계속된다던데.. 우리의 아우팅을 놓고 보자면 좋은 일이지만..하...ㅜㅋㅋ 이번주 토픽은 Hometown이예요. 청주가 고향인 분들이 많으실까 살짝 걱정이..;;  그래도 청주를 사랑하는 마음을 가득가득 담아 얘기해 보도록 해요ㅋㅋ 토픽의 영향인지 저는 마이 홈타운을 또 방문해야 할 일이 생겨났답니다..;; 그런고로 다른 분께서 테이블을 나눠 주실 거구요, 오늘처럼 자유롭게 얘기하시면 된답니다ㅋㅋ  제가 없다고 너무 좋아하면 슬퍼할 거예요!!ㅠㅠ 그럼 토픽 나가욧!!ㅋ  

Topic: Hometown

     It's an article on homesick..

    A writer's first year abroad, and the pangs she experiences while missing home.

  When I dream of "home", my nocturnal musings inevitably drift to the house my grandfather built. It was where I had spent most of my childhood, where most of our pets had been laid to rest, where I developed my first crush. The house was where I learned to shoot pool and had my first drag from a cigarette, and suffered my first real tragedies. I have spent my entire life moving from place to place, but when we lost that house, my one constant, I realized I could never truly go home again.
  Before my own children arrived, I had no anchor. As my eldest inched towards school age, I realised they deserved one. We've been here in Ireland for more than a year, now. My boys are becoming more and more Irish by the day, and my youngest no longer has any recollection of his ten months as an American. The dog and I are the last remnants of California, and we have come to the conclusion that despite graduation from quarantine, pending citizenship and approved visas, we will never become fully Irish, or settle the way the children have.
  Our condition as Americans in Ireland transcends simple homesickness: it has become a painstaking study in adjusting to a deceptively similar culture .
  I've learned verbal and body language color local life, and until you tap into that almost unconscious subtext, you are missing out on an entire realm of Irish communication. I know that eventually I will start to "get it". Still, I miss cues, garble nuance, and am doubtlessly misunderstood. I find that, "How are you", spoken quickly and in an unfamiliar accent, sounds a lot like "uh-huh-huh-huh" until I have already walked by, appeared rude, and then finally manage to mentally translate. It took several months for me to understand thicker radio accents, and I still need to pay close attention to the more soft spoken, or I will be unable to understand at least one word in three: my brain doesn't manage to fill in the unheard portion the way it would at home. The spoken rhythm, cadence, and verbal punctuation markers are different.
  I am similarly inadequate in the Irish social niceties arena. There are times I simply forget to offer the requisite tea until after the right moment has passed, and I imagine the invitation appears grudging and the oversight deliberate. I was actually corrected for trying to (mistakenly) pass off my store bought "biscuits" as home made "cookies". The slang is actually the easiest thing to get around: it is either self-evident through context, or I simply ask. "Going for an old hack" or "being chuffed" could just mean too many things to leave potentially misunderstood!
  I never intended for Ireland to be my "muse", or at least not quite in the way it has kept me company during this first year here, and when the barren Irish winter sets in, it is impossible to get California out of my mind. Some days it can seem close enough to touch. I can go into Dublin, pick up an Everclear cd, and listen to California King. I can glance at my wall and see San Francisco's Cliff House . I can walk my son to school and in the window of our local book shop, see the latest book by Dave Pelzer, and immediately be reading about the Russian River. I can walk through any off-license and see wine bottled in the Napa Valley. Home is in my ears, eyes, nose and taste. It is part of my memories

 

-그냥 내 고향 충주 사진?ㅋㅋ 이런저런 사진을 뒤적거려 봤는데  이곳이 바로  충주구나! 하는 사진이 없어서  그냥 사과나무 사진으로...ㅎ 요기 사과나무 가로수길에 우리집 나무도 있어요.ㅋㅋ 나도 어렸을 때 저 노동을 했더랬죠..ㅋ 사과에 스티커 같은 거 붙여주고 봉지 같은 거 씌워주고..ㅋㅋ  어린이들 체험도 하고 홍보도 하고 아주 괜찮은 아이디어였던 것 같아요.ㅋ 뿌듯뿌듯..ㅋ

Questions

1. Where are you from?

2. Dose anyone famous come from your hometown?

3. What is the best or worst thing in your hometown?

4. What are the main attractions in your hometown?

5. Does your hometown have any festivals? Tell us about them.

6. Has your hometown changed a lot since you were a kid? If so, how?

7. Do your childhood friends still live in your hometown?

   -If not, where are they now?

8. Would you like to be in your hometown now? Why or why not?

9. If you could live anywhere, where would you live to live?