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-eoguiyaeogangdyoli, eoneu-idanokosila
My beloved one…You must rest. -

This is a part of a song 〔JeongEup Sa (井邑詞)〕 in Baekje. This phrase is interpreted as a wife earnestly appealing to her husband who has gone a long way to make a living to ‘put down his burdens somewhere and have a rest……’ Just like the folk song passed down for a long time tells us, love is a cherishing heart. Are we having enough rest? For my beloved one, or for my beloved self?

Squirrels take a rest after they spin a treadwheel. But humans do not want to stop the wheels in the factory. With so much logic emphasizing speed, productivity, and efficiency, only a little space is left for ‘rest’. Modern people dream of having the best rest for a fatigued body. Some philosophers regulated modern society as ‘1)the tired society’. We crave ‘healing’, and the market sells ‘healing’. But it would be a sad paradox if these people were not only abusing their health for a mere performance but also long for ‘healing’ and ‘mind control’ for another performance.

ACC has prepared a time to unwind and have a rest while looking back at parts of your life that have been neglected, even though it is not grandiose ones. The course unfolds by looking around the interior and exterior of the hall while listening to the storytelling of the professional commentator. Then, the visitors get to experience various cultures of Asia, such as the scents, teas, handcrafts, and more. We introduce you to an hour worth of resting time enjoyed inside the city with the unbraced mind.

- Crapemyrtle and Farfugium japonicum, the Time of Lilyturfs -

It is only appropriate to start the summer journey under the red flower shade of ‘crapemyrtle’. That way, you can enjoy the crapemyrtle flowers waving at you. After measuring the body temperature and verification at the ACC Special Tour guide booth located in front of the culture creation center, a simple souvenir, a cool bottle of water, and a handy fan are granted. You’ll then see a green camping chair. While waiting for the commentator to start, feel the temperature of the breeze, sitting on the chair. A short drizzle of a summer shower has passed by. I intentionally did not use the umbrella and just felt the rain.

The tour leads the visitors to look around different spaces every month. The space for August, ‘Sky Garden Zone,’ covers a sky garden with green grass and seasonal flowers along the terraced deck to the art theater. I finally started to say hello to the plants that I was wondering about every time I passed the beautiful garden of ACC, thinking, ‘what is this flower?’, ‘is this a fruit?’, and ‘What would it smell like?’. Hosta-leaf, Grandiflora, Dumotier’s Daylily, Sweet Osmanthus, Stiff-shrubby Cinquefoil, Angelonia, Hackberry, Japanese Quince, Hydrangea, Montane Aster…birds and insects…I should apologize for not recognizing the residents who live in ACC all year long. I take a step forward while listening to the kind guidance of the commentator.

“A flower does not bloom beautifully for hundred days.
An innumerable number of flowers fall and bloom again
When they fall again, another flower bud blooms
and this is how the crapemyrtle is bright for a long time”… Do Jong Hwan [Crapemyrtle]

A tree that blooms red flowers all summer long—crapemyrtle blooming for 100 days—which skin so soft by peeling every year that even monkeys slip and fall. There is a crapemyrtle, so there is a shade to have a rest under in scorching sun. I looked up at the sky, which was spread out to the season of the crape myrtle blooming pink, wrinkled petals. Of course, we humans wouldn’t know how time passes by for trees and flowers.

Looking down, there are lush green leaves that seem to be hiding the instep of the crape myrtle. Farfugium japonicum is a wild flower that blooms last until winter. It blooms yellow flowers and boasts vitality even at the beginning of winter. When I heard that these thick silver leaves become a shelter and a roof for many insects and bugs, I lowered my head. It seems that even though no one observes their beauty, the silver leaves have been embracing a lot of things. My mind was tickled when I thought about the ones living under the warmth of the things that live a whole life.

The lily turf that casts a violet light under a heavy shade—with the floral language meaning ‘a continuous joy’—is a landscape plants that serves a crucial role as a ground cover in places that have shade all year round. It is beautiful in full bloom, but ripe black fruits are polished like marbles. As the fruits are also used as medicinal drugs to treat cough and fever, all parts of the lilyturf, including flowers, leaves, and fruits, provide joy.

One green activist mentioned how people get to understand as much as they know, begin to love the things that they understand and learn to cherish the things that they love. After listening to the stories of the plants, even the smallest hidden leaves look a lot lovelier. It would be too sad if the only things that we cherish in our minds are the stress from our daily lives. How about cherishing the stories of plants?

- Foreign culture experienced at the tip of our fingers, Indonesia Batik -

I look around the garden while listening to the narrator and move inside. Entering the library park bamboo garden with green bamboo, it’s a lot cooler. I cool down for a bit and start to make a business card wallet using the batik fabric on the table. When is the last time I’ve held a needle? Am I shaking…? Even threading a needle is so unfamiliar to me. The only pressure my hand feels when it comes to clothes is when I press them softly with my finger to order them online. I push hard the needle with my fingertips.

The Indonesian Batik has been designated as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, and the term ‘ambatik’ originated from Javanese, meaning a fabric with dots or spots. Indonesian Batik, which is also called ‘the emperor’s clothes’, or ‘royal costume’, is so called pinnacle of Indonesian handicraft technology. How did this fabric with colorful patterns come to be?

The secret is in the hot wax. First, draw a motif with dots and lines using wax. The areas where the wax is applied will not be dyed. Repeating the process of soaking the fabric in one color and removing the wax with boiling water, you will end up with many colors. Thinking that a pattern in a piece of fabric holds the culture of the Indonesians, I couldn’t help but stare at it for a while. I wouldn’t comprehend how much effort it took for this batik fabric come across the sea to Korea to be handed into me.

I’m all thumbs with crafts, but no need to worry. Kind guidance is provided. I was surprised to see that one hour had passed by while making the business card wallet. Then I thought traveling through time with a time machine wouldn’t be too difficult either. We all have experienced how time flies by when we’re with a special someone or experiencing something special. Adding some comfort to it made my rest even more successful.

- For those who want quite a smart rest -

Rest—In psychology, it is an emotional state with low tension without any awakening that might be caused by anger, uneasiness, fear, etc., coming from living things. As long as we exist, being nervous and feeling pressure would be one of the states that we cannot avoid. But it would be problematic if 2)the sympathetic system is activated due to emotional pressure and influence the human body negatively and cause problem both physically and emotionally. Resting both your body and soul and relaxing from time to time is as important as breathing.

Where can you find a place to rest? A picture you took in Southeast Asia with a blue ocean and brilliant sun in the background and you holding a cup of tropical drinks under a beach parasol is beautiful. But more and more people restrain themselves from going on a big trip with a large carbon footprint after thinking about the recent problems of climate change. These days, people started the culture of ‘the right trip’, rather than harming nature just to have some rest. Are you looking for a place to take a minute away from your daily lives without having to look for some unfamiliar place? If that’s your case, I recommend the special tour arranged by ACC. I guarantee quite a smart rest for you all.

1) A modern society where all members are fatigued by voluntarily and continuously exploiting and exhausting themselves for the future. – Daum Encyclopedia
2) The sympathetic System: A nervous system connected from the thoracic vertebrae and the lumber of the spinal cord to internal organs. The working realm is wide and is operated by external stimulations, such as stress and fear. – Daum Encyclopedia

• Written by Nana Park. tonana@hanmail.net
  Photo. In-ho Hwang. photoneverdie@naver.com
  
  2021.09