My Short Story

My Short Story

This week our school closed down due to a few students and teachers getting the contagious swine flu. Just two days ago my sister and I arrived to our school on a boring two hour bus ride, and the thought of going back was frustrating. So after our two hour bus ride, we took a twenty minute subway, got on a taxi, and finally arrived at a place we would call home for another week or so.
Our original plan was to go to one of our aunt’s home, but we were told not to by both our mom and our aunt, because we might contaminate our cousins with the flu. It was the same reason with my dad’s side grandparents. My mom’s side grandparents didn’t even have room for the two of us, and plus, they were moving. Who did we have left? My great-grandmother. For some funny reason my aunt and my mom did not consider that she might get the flu from us too. There are some benefits and negatives about living with her. Not only is our great-grandma great, but she’s also partially deaf.
When we arrived “home” at about 11 o’clock, we were shocked to see our grandma come out of her room to greet us. She reminded me of a turtle. Her skin was wrinkly like a turtle, she had about no teeth, almost like a turtle, and her back was a bit arched, making her a bit shorter than my sister, Young, which also looked like a turtle. She remembered our names and greeted us with a warm smile. We bowed and smiled and spoke as loud as we could with the little energy we had left in us. Our great-grandmother told us to go in and sleep, and so we picked the biggest room that reeked of some unknown stench, briefly unpacked and slept the best sleep we had in weeks. We knew that our everyday schedules would contain lots of free time with great-grandma, and at least I was thinking:”Oh great…”
More interesting facts about my great-grandmother are that she had a rich husband who obviously, passed away earlier than her. During the Japanese occupation my great-grandmother was a young lady, and she survived the oppressed times with the tiny morsels she could find. Not all the food she took in were clean, and that not only probably gave her a tummy-ache, but also a beaten up, strong, and tough digestive system. That means she could even eat rotten food if she wanted to. I guess her perspective of food being very precious still remains with her till now, because right now in the refrigerator there is a half-eaten egg, a peach with a bite in it, some very dry kimchi, some of the ttang-soo-yook (fried pork in sweet sauce) from yesterday, and I’m speculating that that red stuff is parasite infested fish eggs. Not only does she have a food collection, but she also has a toilet paper collection, gum collection, and I heard that in her room, which I don’t ever dare go in, there is a whole newspaper collection over her bed. There was a 70 years gap in the 6 meter distance between our two rooms. Living here will be hard.
Young and I woke up at around 10 am the next morning and started our day with an amazing view of the Han River, and then we saw our great-grandmother peaking into our room asking us to come for breakfast. We immediately replied “No!” with a smile and loudly. After we each took a shower, Young and I took off, and spent our day with Young’s friend. It was fun, but not great.
Our great-grandma is also tri-lingual. She speaks Korean, Japanese, and a great bit of English, for her age. She was a teacher at one of Seoul’s top elementary schools as she put it. Young and I could tell that she loved being a teacher. Ironically we, my sister, great-grandma, and I, got to sit together on the couch. And my great-grandma began.
“SO WHAT SCHOOL ARE YOU GOING TOO!”
“TAEJEON INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL YOH*! (if speaking with elders you must add yoh)”
“AH… WHAT DO YOU MAJOR IN!”
“WE ARE IN HIGH-SCHOOL. HIGH-SCHOOLERS DON’T MAJOR YET YOH!”
“HEY YOUNG-JAE… YOU SHOULD MAJOR IN TEACHING. ALL GIRLS SHOULD TEACH. YOU SEE I WAS ONCE A TEACHER! AND UH.. I TAUGHT AT…..”
Like this, we heard our great-grandma’s life story, and I enjoyed it a lot, except Young didn’t because she had already had this conversation before, and she disliked how great-grandma told her all girls should major in teaching. After the interesting story Young left, but I stayed.
“HEY… LOOK AT ME. (and in English) NOSE, MOUTH, HEAD, HAIR, EYE, EAR, NOSE, HEAD.”
“WOW GRANDMA! YOU’RE SO GOOD AT ENGLISH YOH!”
“I WAS A TEACHER AT ONE OF THE BEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS HERE. YOUR GREAT GRANDFATHER HAD A JOB AND SO WE NEEDED TO MOVE SO I WENT TO THE LIBRARY AND STUDIED HARD TO BECOME A TEACHER AND…”
She told me another interesting story about her life, although some of it was repetitive.
“ (in English )NOSE, EAR, MOUTH, HAIR, HEAD, EYES… (Korean) WHAT’S ARM IN ENGLISH AGAIN?”
“ (in English) ARM!”
“WOW! YOUR ENGLISH IS PRETTY GOOD TOO!!!”
“hehehe..”
That was finally enough for me, so I got up and walked back into my room, where my sister was. She asked me what great-grandma and I were talking about so I replied casually: “WE TALKED ABOUT…” and then I realized I was speaking ridiculously loudly. My great-grandma is funny.