3 ghost stories in Changyong elementary school

There are three ghost stories in Changyoung elementary school.

1. The school has wooden floors. The way to clean them is to using candles. The first group of students rubs the floor with candle wax. And then the second group of students scours the waxed floor with pebbles. It is easy to fond pebbles near the train station. At last, the third group of students clean the rest of wax with clothes. The wooden floor is worn down so the edge of the wood is not clean. It is common that the students get the splinter of wood in their fingers while they clean the floor. According to a rummer, a student was dragged by two other students on the floor. At that moment, he got a big splinter in his knee. So he had to cut his leg and no one could see him again. After that accident, students can hear a floorboard creak at 9 o'clock. They think it is a ghost. Children as we were, I and my friends want to hunt the ghost. we sneak in the school. There are some doghouse in the building. Like Korean traditional houses, the houses made of wood have to be built on the ground. First, putting the foundation stone and then laying a wood floor. To make ventilation, there are some holes on the lower part of building. Students can easily break the hole. But now the building's structure might have changed a lot, so I am not sure we can still find the holes. 

2. There was a toilet over there. Now it is gone by the renovation of the building. Students are afraid of going to that toilet because they can hear some sound. Especially, girls cannot go there. There was a rummer that there are someone dumped babies there. Think about the Middle ages. People abandoned babies a lot at that time. Do you know the Yulmock Park near the guest house?  The park used to a crematorium. It was crematorium for Japanese and Chinese, and people dumped their stillborn babies there. Even I have seen them at that time. Therefore it can be true that someone disposed of babies in the toilet. At that time we did not have medical facilities. The mothers cut the umbilical cord with scissors or teeth so they often were infected with tetanus. This is the background of the toilet ghost story.

3. There was a tree next to that building. According to legend, the person who cut the tree accidentally cut the tail of dragon also. So of all days, there was the rain on the day of our picnic. I preyed for not having the rain before the day of our picnic. 

summary of 5 night walks so far

please feel free to add if something's missing or wrong.
잘못되거나 빠진게 있으면 덧붙여주세요.

1st night walk with expodium
we didn't plan the route and took turn to lead the group. one needed to explain the reason for their decision of the route or what they've found through their. it was really to just experience what night walk is and what baedari area is.
1. we have discovered closed tunnel which prevent noise from 'the outer world' and perhaps to demonstrate 'saving' baedari & the eco park.
2. we have discovered small narrow alleys in between dodgy small hotels.
3. we have discovered the highway was already built except for the baedari area, the unfinished road which leads to nowhere, disconnected.
4. we have discovered a fake hill/tunnel near joo-gong apartment, which is to ....... (can't remember, can anyone help?)
5. lots of moving company ads were sprayed on the street.
6. we have discovered some huge monument of Yi Sun Shin at some elementary school which i can't remember.
7. we have discovered a labyrinth like local market (joong and market), which is going to be redeveloped.

익스포디움과 함께한 첫번째 night walk
경로를 정확하게 계획하지 않고 차례대로 그룹을 인도했다. 리더 차례가 되면 왜 이 장소를 택했는지, 이 장소에서 무엇을 발견했는지를 이야기했다. 나이트워크가 무엇언지, 배다리가 어떤 장소인지 감을 잡는 시간이었다.
1. 우리는 터널의 문이 바깥세상의 소음을 배다리지역으로부터 차단하기위해서, 또는 배다리 지역/에코 파트를 보호하기 위해서 닫혀있음을 달견했다. (우리가 출발할때 사진을 찍은 지역)
2. 우리는 좁은 골목길 사이의 의뭉스러운 작은 여관들을 발견했다.
3. 우리는 산업도로가 배다리 지역을 제외하고 이미 건설되어있음을 발견했고 그 완성되지 않은 도로는 어디에도 연결되지 않은채 끊겨있었다.  
4. 주공가파트 앞의 언덕/터널이 가짜로 만들어져있었는데 이것은... (이부분이 정확히 기억나지 않는데 기억나시는 분?)
5. 벽에 이삿짐센터 광고가 많았다. 
6. 지금 기억나지 않는 어떤 초등학교에 이순신장군 동상이 있었다.
7. 미로같은 중앙시장은 재배발될 예정이다.

2nd night walk with expodium and two historians.
it was almost like taking a guided tour, so less responsibility to individual members and less participating/freedom. also the pace of the walk was rather fast, and somehow we felt that the group is divided into two instead of one collective group. given information was not so interesting for many of us, so we couldn't really relate it to our personal memories/imagination.
we have come into this conclusion that we want to take it slow and get lost without historical fact about the location.

익스포디움과 두명의 역사학자들과 함께한 두번째 night walk
어떤 면에서 가이드 투어를 하는 것 같았고, 리드하지 않기 때문에 책임감이 적었고 참여를 적게 했고 자유가 적었다. 걸음이 좀 빨랐고, 연합된 하나의 그룹이 아니라 그룹이 둘로 나뉘어지는 듯한 느낌을 받았다. 역사적인 사실이 주어지는것이 재미가 없었는데 이는 우리들이 장소에 관해 상상할 여지나 기억을 연관시킬수 있는 부분을 제약하는 듯 했다.
그래서 우리는 다음에는 지도나 역사적 사실 없이 길을 잃는듯한 느낌을 경험하기를 원했다.

3rd night walk with expodium, locals and 6 people (nikos, 샘, 보경, 광식, 상섭, 나래) guiding the group.
each of us came up with ideas to practice nightwalk.
the initial ideas were followings.
1. walk backwards
2. do not talk while walking
3. walk with eyes closed, holding together.
4. tell a lie
5. talk in their own language to each other
6. do some interesting activities while walking.
each of us took turn to lead the whole group and took any of the 6 ideas when we thought it's the right time for a certain activity. we spontaneously added/modified ideas as well.
there was a small argument/conflict during the walk when narae pointed out the small door in-between two houses and told us it was a residential area for old giant lady who lives on her own which was obviously a lie but some of the local participants got upset. fact vs fantasy
so then we let the local lead us back into space beam. and we all shared ice-cream and discussed what we felt during the walk. we felt that we are a collective one group, and got to know people we didn't know before, enjoyed making up stories about ourselves, discovered that we can't really fake body language etc. it was more about relationship with other people than surrounded environment. for instance i didn't even take one single landscape photo of the area.

익스포디움과 지역주민이 함께한 3번째 night walk. 니코스,샘, 보경, 광식, 상섭, 나래 리드.
6명이 각각 나이트워크를 할 하나의 아이디어를 생각했다.
처음 생각했던 아이디어는 다음과 같다.
1. 뒤로 걷기
2. 말없이 걷기
3. 눈감고 앞사람을 잡은채 걷기
4. 거짓말 하기
5. 각각 출신 나라의 말로 서로 대화하기
6. 재미있는 방법으로 걷기
각각 적당한 시간에 원하는대로 리드를 했고 다른사람이 낸 아이디어로 자신이 리드하거나 아이디어를 수정하고 자유롭게 더할 수 있다.
중도에 작은 마찰이 있었는데 나래씨가 두 집사이의 공간을 연결한 작은 문을 보고 다리가 긴 거인 독거노인이 살고있을거라고 상상을 해서 말했더니 지역민께서 저것을 사람이 사는 공간이 아니라 창고인데 잘못된 정보를 정달한다고 언짢아하셨다. 사실 vs 상상
그래서 우리는 그중의 한 주민께 스페이스빔으로 되돌아가는 길을 인도해 달라고 리드를 부탁했다. 우리는 아이스크림을 나누어먹고 이번 나이트워크가 어땠는지 이야기했다.  우리는 하나됨을 느꼈고 몰랐던 사람들을 알게되었으며 자기 자신에 대해 거짓말을 지어내는것을 즐겼고 몸짓으로는 거짓말을 할 수가 없다는 것을 느꼈다.  이것은 주변환경에 관한것보다는 사람들과의 관계에 대한 것이었던 것 같다. 예를들어서 나는 세번째 나이트워크를 진행하는 동안 건축물이나 풍경사진조차 한번 찍지 않았다.


4th night walk by 6 of us (joris, 샘, 보경, 광식, 상섭, 나래)
we have collected questions which could relate to the baedari/incheon area and the night walk.
and we have combined 3 ideas together for this particular night walk. 
1. road signs which try to manipulate the way we think 
2. the statues (mainly commissioned by a government/ organisation) which try to lead us to think in a certain way. (propaganda) 
3. cctv cameras which symbolise controlled society.   
we roughly planned the route by the tour guide map/ mainly chinatown & the 'freedom' park area. 
we have learned that general macathur was the important figure in incheon.
the walk was more of research process than a collective experience so we felt like walking individually.
also what we are going to gain through the night walk was already expected so less unexpected surprise/discovery.
less fun.


4번째 나이트워크 (joris, 샘, 보경, 광식, 상섭, 나래)
배다리 지역, 나이트 워크와 관련된 질문을 각자 한두개씩 가져왔고, 3개의 아이디어를 하나로 묶어서 하나의 나이트워크로 구성했다.
1. 우리의 생각을 조종하고자 하는 표지판들
2. 우리의 생각을 어떤 방향으로 인도하고자 정부단체나 어떤조직에 의해 커미션된 기념비물들 (프로파간다)
3. 통제되는 사회를 상징하는 cctv들
우리는 관광지도를 보고 대략적인 루트를 차이나타운과 자유공원 근처로 정했다. 맥아더장군이 인천에 대단히 중요한 인물이라는 것을 알 수 있었다. 
이번 워크는 하나된 그룹으로서의 경험 보다는 개별적인 리서치같아서 마치 혼자 걷는것과 같은 느낌마저 받았다.
이번 워크를 통해서 달성해야 할 결과물이 이미 어느정도 예상하는 바가 정해져 있 었기에 걷는 과정에서 우연히 발견하는 요소가 적었고 지루한 느낌을 받았다.


5th night walk by 6 of us (joris, 샘, 보경, 광식, 상섭, 나래)
so learning from the previous walk, this time we wanted to go back to the collective walk, and walking without a fixed route or map.
following are the ideas we brought for the walk.
1. take photos of interesting part of what we see and each of us gives one photo to 광식. those will be used as collage materials for gwangsig.
2. imagine and tell a story about a certain place.
3. share past memories on certain place/ same but not the same place, it could be memories of the school but about different schools we've been to when we were kids.
4. make pairs, one person would think of one interesting thing that we saw during the walk, and the other person would try to guess it by questioning up to 20 times.
5. share one annoying thing/experience about the area we've walked through.
6. pick up the most beautiful flower/plant we've discovered during the walk.
we had many unexpected local participants during the walk, telling us history/memory/experience about the area.  people who live there immidiately noticed that we are 'the outsider' so they wanted to talk to us out of curiosity.
율목동 Yul-mok-dong area had small narrow alleys, having such a close physical distance in-between houses might have stimulated community spirit. also we've discovered  a nice meeting point right in front of their house where people brought their own chairs to sit around for chitchat.

5번째 나이트 워크 (joris, 샘, 보경, 광식, 상섭, 나래)
지난번 나이트워크의 경험으로, 이번에는 우리가 좀더 그룹으로써 하나되어 함께하고, 지도나 고정된 루트없이 걷는것을 원했다. 
우리가 생각해본 아이디어는 아래와 같다.
1. 흥미로운 요소를 찾아서 사진을 찍고 그중에 한 장을 광식씨에게 줄것 - 광식씨가 콜라주함
2. 어떤 장소/사물에서 이야기를 상상해본다.
3. 어떤 장소/사물에 관한 과거의 기억을 이야기해 본다.
4. 길에서 본 재미있는 것을 각각 생각하고 짝을 지어서 스무고개를 하면서 그것을 서로 추측해본다.
5. 산책하며 발견한 한가지 짜증나는 것을 얘기한다.
6. 산책에서 발견한 가장 아름다운 꽃/식물을 딴다.


우리는 산책동안 예상치 못한 지역주민의 참여를 경험했다. 그분들은 지역에 관한 역사, 본인들의 기억, 민원사항을 우리들에게 이야기했다. 그곳에 사시는 분들은 우리가 외부인이라는것을 즉각 알아채시고 관심을 가지시며 이야기하셨다.
율목동은 집과 집사이의 골목의 폭이 매우 좁았고, 물리적으로 좁은 거리를 가지는 것이 가까운 공동체를 형성하는 요인이 되지 않았나 한다. 
우리는 집앞에 각자 자신들의 의자들을 가져다놓고 담소를 즐기는 만남의 장소를 발견했다.

collage

길 한 모퉁이에 사람들이 의자에 앉아 이야기를 나누고 있다. 밤이 깊어 흩어지는데 이 곳에서는 문을 열고 계단을 거슬러 올라서면 미지의 바램이 가득한 꼭대기로 오를 수 있다. 그곳엔 어떤 미래가 기다리고 있을까? 그러나 꿈이든 아니든간에 CCTV는 참으로 열심히 기록-감시하고 있다. 

짦은 NightWalkers 이후 동료 작가의 image를 모아 collage 를 통해 보니 영화 ‘The Truman Show’가 떠오른다. 과연 SHOW의 주인공은?

2012.7.26/Incheon/KOREA

<Newspaper Scrap>

"올해 104대 추가 … 구민 안전 만전"

서구, 방범용 CCTV 상반기 운영실적 발표 / 인천일보 / 2012년 07월 26일 (목)

인천시 서구(청장 전년성)는 구민의 생명과 안전을 위해 설치·운영중인 방범용 CCTV의 상반기 운영실적을 25일 발표했다.

주요 실적으로는 작년까지 288대이던 방범용 CCTV 카메라를 올해 104대 추가한 392대로 확대 설치하였으며, 연초 방범관제센터 견학실을 개방하여 고등학교 및 유치원, 청소년학과 대학생 등 190명의 방문객이 견학하여 큰 호응을 얻고 있으며 유명 드라마의 촬영장소로도 활용되어 안전지킴이로써의 이미지가 부각될 전망이다.

아울러 방범관제센터의 CCTV카메라를 통해 음주운전, 상가절도, 오토바이절도, 청소년비행 등 총 18건을 검거하였으며, 범죄수사목적으로는 332건의 영상이 제공됐다. 서구는 올 하반기에 20여대의 방범 CCTV 카메라를 추가 설치할 예정으로 경찰서 및 주민들과 협의하고 현장 실사를 완료했다.

특히 어린이, 청소년 범죄 예방을 위하여 더욱 적극적으로 방범관제센터를 홍보 할 것이며 방문객들에게는 소정의 기념품(호루라기)을 제공하고 있다.

구 관계자는 "구민의 안전보장과 함께 범죄, 사고예방을 위한 신속한 대응체계를 갖추고 있으며 CCTV를 24시간 운영하여 야간과 주말에도 구민의 생명과 재산을 보호할 수 있어 구민의 안전지킴이로 자리 잡을 것으로 기대한다"고 말했다. /문희국 기자 moonhi@itimes.co.kr

Conversation with Incheon people

The birth of cicada     

We found some cicadas hanging on a gate, a telephone pole, and barbed wire on the top of the gate. Some of them are about to cast the shells. We can see green bodies of cicadas coming out of their shells. Some cicadas already left behind their empty shells. The cicadas only live for the short period of time during the summer but they have to stay in their shells for 7 years. So people can hear the song of cicadas often during the summer. But their singing is very loud and harsh, it is hard to stand to listen their song. 

We come up with a fiction about this house. it is empty now but a obscure singer used to live there. She always wanted to be a popular singer but she failed and died in that house. So the spirit of her could not leave the earth and then rebirth as cicadas. That is the reason why the cicadas harshly sing a song only short of time like her. 

Escaped Snake

There are three old ladies walk toward us. All of them are curious what we are looking at. "What is it?"  We pointed cicadas and their shells. "They are just cicadas." They lost interest and passed us by. One of them told us "well, this is nothing. If you go to Yulgok park, you can see a lot of cicadas." "Ah, are there many cicadas?" "Of course. The park is full of cicadas. I just move to here a month ago. Yesterday, I passed by the pet shop which sells reptiles on the main street. And suddenly a snake crawled out of the store and came close to me. I screamed out. But no one came out of the store at all. I called police but they said I had to call 911. So I phoned 911 and they came here to catch the snake. The store owner said it was not a snake but a lizard. But it was a snake. I was left in a state of shock and I had to stay in bed. The other old ladies came to my house to cheer me up. On the top of it, the store smells a lot. I complained about the smell, so the store owner put a piece of wood to block the hole, but still stinky.  

Yoonhee boutique

This is a fiction. This boutique was established by a woman, Yoonhee in 1872. This building was burnt during the Russo-Japanese War but it has been rebuilt. However, this building was wiped off by the bomb during the Korean war. Because of the war, the first generation of Yoonhee passed away and then the second generation of Yoonhee took over the boutique. This traditional Korean-style house shows the popular architecture style at that time. General MacArthur who appointed commander of the US army in South korea was invited from the president, Lee-Sungman. So he needed new clothing for go to the reception and tried to find the most famous tailer in Incheon. The picture in which general MacArthur wearing Yoonhee boutique clothing poses with president Lee-Sungman still hung on the wall in the Blue House. The son of second generation of Yoonhee was a gay so it was hard to be accepted in Korean society. Indeed he was adopted into Dutch family. He got married to man and then the couple works as fashion designers. They incorporate a lot of leathers and lubbers in their clothing, and this is why we can see leathers and lubbers on the roof of 'Yoonhee boutique'. The reason why they keep running the boutique in Korea is that they want to promote the state of gay as well as gay culture in Korea. 

One room town

It was a narrow alley. One window is opened and the light is on. Shortly I can see a man who pokes his head out of the window. "What are you doing here?" "We are just taking pictures." "Do you know what this town is?" "No" "This town has a lot of one-room apartments. The building behind you is also a one-room apartment. Though this apartment is not the one. So there are a lot of poor people who have to work as a day laborer. This town is know as the deprived town. The city had plans to redevelop this town long time ago, but they already spent all their money to establish new towns such as Songdo…so there is no money left for the redevelopment of this town. There are some houses who still do not have gas lines laid. By the way where are you heading now?" "We want to go to Yulgok park." "Ah… that park used to have a swimming pool but it no longer exist. It would be better for you guys to know about the history of the park. Oh, there is my wife. I have to go." He quickly disappeares. 

The disappearance of Cats

"Are you taking photos of cats?" One old lady approaches to us and points at the camera with her finger. "We sometimes take a photograph of cats." "Do you take a cat picture?" "We take pictures of everything." "Oh…I thought you are the people who are taking care of cats." "What is going on?" "I what to give a information about cats in this town. The people who live in this town take cats and sell them to the dog soup restaurants and health food stores. I have provided cat's food in this street for 30 years so far. This town was used to have a lot of cats. I have put cat's food here and there and feed them. But recently I barely see the cats. The people caught them for making food. The dog soup restaurants need cat meat because the coast of dog meat is so expensive. Also the health good stores which sells gaesoju, medicinal broth strained from dog meat cooked with various herbs, uses cat meat instead of dog meat. They took even kittens. They put sausages and meats in the cage and wait for the little kittens to come inside of cage. That is the way how they catch the kittens. I have been introduced at a television show twice before. It was about cats. The TV show wants to report what I am doing one more time but I refuse their request. Because they don't give me any money. The government  gives the support fund for cat food once one person have more than 40 cats at home. But like me, the person who gives food for the street cats cannot get the support fund. The person who took the cats from the street can get the support fund and then they earn money for selling the cats to dog meat restaurants or health good stores. I don't know where I should report about this terrible story. I want to say this story to you guys because I have heard that you take the cat photos. Please help me. They will kill all of cats in this town. I cannot get pocket money from my children because they think I waste their money to get cat food. So I have to use part of my old-age pension to buy cat food. If you take care of cats well, you would get good luck or vice versa. There is one lady who cannot have babies for 11 years. One day, she brought a street cat to her house and take care of it. And then the cat gets pregnant. Before long, she also becomes pregnant. After she gives birth to a child, her mother-in-law complains about the cats. So she has to get rid of them. After several days, in her dream, the cat bits her child's head and takes the baby. Surprisingly, the baby is burning up with fever in reality. In the end, the baby dies."

Get lost in Lu-1 city.

"We got lost…how we can get to the Chungra city?" "Turn right and go strait. Pass the Remian apartment complex, you will get there." "Do you still live here?" "I am the president of housing association. Only 3 families are left in this town. We could not leave our houses because the negotiation was not fair. By the way, we will move out in 3 days. We finally get what we want. We stick to here even though other people already moved out. There are 5 families up there will be move to new houses in the end of August. In deed, all the people who used live in detached houses no longer stay here. The government made a wrong decision about urban redevelopment projects. The person, like me, who owns a house here only gets 200 million won for the compensation price of land. But with that amount of money I cannot buy a new house like this in other area. This compensation does not make sense. Of course, there are still some people do not move out. They are the tenants who do not own the house. They do not want to leave here since they do not get any compensation. Without proper compensation, moving sideway is impossible. I will move to Bukpyung because the government give us a new house there. It is not that far from here. This redevelopment project is in fail because of the LH Housing Corporation. It is a very bad company because it is debatable whether or not the local people were ever properly compensated. I hope that in the future, we have better politicians. Did you see the burnt house over there? The house was not on fire by accident but the firemen practice fire-fighting procedures in that house. I don't afraid of anything since I have lived here over 30 years."