Humans of Seoul

I recently found out about this website called "Humans of Seoul" on Facebook.
They cast random people on the streets in Seoul and ask them some questions to get to know about their personal and unique story.

They simply post scripts of the conversation between the interviewer and a random person both in Korean and English translation, and each posting is very short; some of the story is just about 1 or 2 sentences like this kid's response:

“This watermelon is my pillow. I’m going to use it when I lie down to sleep.”
“이 수박은 제 베개예요. 누워서 잘 때 쓰려고요.”

Their English translation is pretty decent, so I would say this can be a good website for Korean or English learners. Especially for Korean learners, they can see how Korean people talk in daily conversation.

I like how they put the stories without editing or their opinions. Just by reading stories of different people, you get to reflect on yourself or people you know. For me, it was the story of people in my age who share similar agony about their future and current state:

“What was your biggest obstacle to quitting being a teacher?” “The feeling of stability from being a teacher was more influential than I thought. I discovered that I was trying to settle for it. My present self was trying to stay there even though my ideal self was full of dreams. I hated it so much.”

“(Left) After that, I quit my job as a teacher to work on my dream of teaching art.” “I guess this is the first time after you two have met that you have seen her like this?” “(Right) Yes. She kept talking about guys just now too.”

“교사를 그만두고 나오는데 가장 큰 걸림돌이 무엇이었나요?” “교사라는 직업이 주는 안정감이 생각보다 크더라고요. 거기에 제가 안주하려고 하는 모습을 발견했어요. 꿈꾸고 있는 이상적인 내가 있는데, 현실의 저는 여기에 머무르려고 하니까. 그게 너무 싫었어요.”

“(왼쪽) 그렇게 해서 제가 결국 예술교육을 하겠다는 제 꿈을 위해서, 교사를 그만두게 됐어요.” “서로 알고 나서 언니의 이런 모습은 처음 보시나봐요?” “(오른쪽) 네. 아까도 막 남자 얘기만 했거든요.”

Also, stories of 할아버지, 할머니 who you can see often in Seoul's streets, some of them who even went through the Korean war, just made me tear up; especially this story from a 할아버지 who was the only survivor of the war in his village and had to see mothers of his friends crying at a party celebrating his return:

“We lived supporting our elderly mothers during Syngman Rhee’s presidency when the Korean War suddenly broke out. Without a moment’s hesitation, I fled to the south because I wanted to live. When I returned to my neighborhood after my refugee days were over, everyone in my neighborhood greeted me joyfully. But the moment the neighborhood mothers looked at my face, they wept.” “Why did they cry?” “Because they were reminded of their sons who died serving in the army… In that neighborhood, all the young people my age died except for me.”

“노모 모시고 살던 이승만 대통령 시절이었는데 갑자기 6.25가 터졌어요. 일단 살고 보자는 마음에 남쪽으로 피난을 갔지요. 나중에 피난을 끝내고 동네에 돌아갔더니 온 동네가 잔칫집 분위기로 저를 맞아줬어요. 그런데 막상 동네 엄마들이 내 얼굴을 딱 보고는 눈물을 뚝뚝 흘리더라고요.” “왜 그랬죠?” “군대가서 죽은 자기 아들이 생각나서… 그 동네에서 나 빼고 내 또래 청년은 다 죽었거든요.”

For more stories on Humans of Seoul, click here