For ten years, I walked down and up the same road every morning and afternoon. The place where I call home was only a 3-minute walk away from my school. A weird named 33-story apartment 'Pavilion' was my home for 10 years and a rooftop of the building is keeping a lot of memory from teenage girl to grown up Yoona.
The rooftop was not open to public, not even to residents. Then how can I enter the rooftop? In my third year of living at this apartment, I found out that one stairways are linked to the rooftop with the doors unlocked. It was when I was in my first year in the high school. I am sure it is easy to imagine how serious the teenage girl's worry was. The rooftop was where I kept my happiness, sadness, and my daily emotions.
Long, never ending grey walls were surrounding the rooftop. A wide floor paved with green paintings reminded me of helicopter station. 4 rooftop ventilators on every corner of the rooftop was like a mosque even though it created uncomfortable sounds. If I walk 5 steps ahead from the entrance door, I could see the open view of my town, Bundang. That panoramic view was stunning that I never imagined going to any mountain to hike for the views. Looking at the panoramic view of my town, my worries and thoughts had simply gone away from me like balloons flying up to the sky.
On the contrary to the noisy sounds from the ventilators, it was the calmest place I have ever visited. There was a silence amid the city noises. Going through the hard time preparing for my blurry future life was not something that I was not expecting to have in my life. That blurriness suddenly came to my mind and whenever I felt miserable, I went up to the rooftop. At that time, the rooftop also seemed like it was covered with cloud that I could not see an inch ahead. However, all of a sudden, a chilly wind blew from nowhere and swept away all the blurriness both in my mind and on the rooftop. It was the most exciting moment that I could have on the rooftop feeling freshened and renewed. The rooftop did all this and that for 10 years for me.
I recently moved to a new house. I do not quite call this place my home yet. That is probably because I have not found any my place or safety zone in this place. I miss my rooftop a lot. It was full of joy and happiness that came after all the worries gone away. I hope I could go back to that place or maybe I might find similar place to the rooftop in my new surroundings.
I really loved your story especially because I remeber how frustrated I was during highschool and found my own place to have a rest like you did at your roof top.
ReplyDelete'In my third year of living at this apartment, I found out that one stairways are linked to the rooftop with the doors unlocked. ' and especially in third paragraph you described you place with detail. Also you used senses such as sight and hearing to give vivid image of the place such as 'panoramic view' ' On the contrary to the noisy sounds from the ventilators, it was the calmest place I have ever visited.'
Your writing reminded me of my past years when I was also preparing for the university entrance exam. The blurry future was the exact expression for me too. I enjoyed reading your essay especially in parts where you explained your feelings in a motion such as 'like balloons flying up to the sky'. Also the explainations you gave about the stairways, ventilators, views was clear enough for me to picture it in my mind. How I wish to have a special place like yours!
ReplyDelete-commented by Yeonjae Hwang