The most luminous and impressive home I've ever lived is nothing else but my home in Paris. I was eventually lucky enough to have the possibility to pass my whole childhood and most of adolescence in such a romantic place, the dream of everyone to come once in their lifetime. It actually occur to people when thinking of Europe as small charming cities where the shape of years can be felt due to the low-rise buildings and the whole culture's preservation. What is remarkable about the area my apartment building stands is that actually it was the automobile plant just near the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River. Even though high-rise building is normally forbidden or under thorough restraint by the city due to the Fire Services Act, not only was it recently built in the 1970s but also is a residential skyscraper in the heart of Paris.
The exterior of the building was plain simple design in a white monotony compared to other skyscrapers but the interior was pleasant and comfortable to live in than anywhere else with especially 6 modern and spacious elevators which is really rare in EU to even have an elevator in a building, 2 elevators going to the underground parking, 2 to the lower-story apartment and 2 only dedicated to upper-story apartment. Moreover, the unique feature of this apartment is that all the inhabitants address the problem to one top guardian named Eli, a tall and thin men with a mustache like Charlie Chaplin with always a smile hanging on his face; he is aware of everything and taking care of these things rapidly and accurately; nobody would deny that he is actually a genie.
Concerning my apartment, even though it was recent built, the previous owner decorated as other typical French apartment gloomily and above the wooden floor with a great amount of dirty rugs. So my parents decided to remodel it completely; actually the construction work took 8 months in total, being definitely a big project. It is now unified into a white as snow, from the ceiling to the floor; that's why when my friends first visited my home noticed it was like a psychiatric hospital. Additionally, we also displayed a great amount of mirrors like the famous mirror room in Versailles Palace with one additional peculiarity which is the sliding mirror doors sometimes connecting and separating the living room with that of my brother. The most important and unique thing of our house is the floor spread with authentic Italian white marble; that's why as in Korea or in other Asian culture, we could wander at home without wearing shoes. However, we had to pay a price in exchange for it which is, in one hand, to endure severe winter as I found myself walking on glaciers from the polar areas and, on the other hand, take care of the floor a lot. Thanks to that, we were living all year round in a garden full of lemon trees.
All these characteristics, in addition to living in the 26th story and the existence of the large windows, enable us to not only have a great view of whole Paris like the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River just in the close proximity and a bit farther the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, the original Statue of Liberty and the Montmartre, but also let in more sunlight, reflecting from every side of the house which make our home more spacious and luminous than it already is. It was surely beautiful when the weather was good but, even more, when it was cloudy, windy or rainy day because we could see the heavy grey clouds moving extremely fast and hear the rhythmical and musical sound of the rain falling over the window, which made me feel pensive, sometimes comforted or guiding me into a semiconscious condition.
This place is important for me and my family because we have spent tremendous amount of good time there altogether. My mother used to cook a variety of food but especially Korean food such as Bulgogi with her special savory sauce that remains secret gathering our family in a single place, the living room for dinner; it was the happiest, the most delicious, the warmest moment of the day, after a long, hard and stressful day from work for my father whereas for my brother and I from school. On weekends, my parents used to make Kimbab also one of my mother's speciality to go on a picnic nearby; she used typical ingredients but the harmony made a synergy effect. The reason why I like this place is that I have so many good memories like the first time I had a big birthday party by inviting a magician and all the same grade classmates which was at least about 60 children. I still remember the magic trick she made to entertain my friends which was so amazing at a child sight. That is why, when I returned to Paris last summer to my original apartment, I felt overwhelmed and at the same time impatient to see and be again at my 'original' home. When I set my first step to the door, I felt at 'home' once again, finding my other half left here; my identity was united and complete. All the past memories passed through my mind like one piece of a movie. Nothing has changed except for the blinds that faded into yellow due to the sun. It did not smell like once we lived there but it was the same cozy place.
Hello Joo Hyun~ This is Kyeong Ju. :) The whole time I was reading your essay, I could clearly picture your beautiful home. Every detail seemed to be carefully written and I envy you for having such a special childhood memories. The best part about your essay for me was the moment you stepped into your home again in Paris. That moment where you found your "other half" how your identity was "united and complete" again really gave me the warm feeling. Your essay has very descriptive details about the exterior and the interior of your house so then I got curious what your room looked like. Maybe you could tell us about your room too! You have used sense of touch by describing your home as cozy and warm. Also, I liked how you used various sense of sights such as heavy grey clouds moving extremely fast through your window and sense of hearing with the rhythmical and musical sound of the rain falling outside your home. I found your home very classy but I felt warmth, love, memories and peace at the same time. I bet you wrote about this place because your childhood memories remain with your Paris home. I enjoyed reading your essay so much! Maybe if you revise later on, it would be great to include more sensory details other than sight.
ReplyDeleteHi Joohyun this is Dana Eun from the writing class.
ReplyDeleteI must say that you are lucky to have such a beautiful house back in Paris!
What I liked best about this essay is the fourth paragraph where you described the view of paris from your home. I liked how you mentioned landmarks and how the weather affected the mood. It was well described.
However, some parts were not really clear for me as the structure of the house wasn't that much described. You mentioned some details like the mirrors and the floor but not enough to make me visualize the house. Also I couldn't quite understand the part where you mentioned lemon trees.
You appealed to the visual and auditory senses mostly. I liked "a tall and thin men with a mustache like Charlie Chaplin " and "hear the rhythmical and musical sound of the rain ".
Though your writing is great, there could be some imrovements made to make it even better. I suggest that you put more details about the structure of the house and the decorations. You mentioned how it had white walls and marble floors with mirrors but I couldn't quite imagine the place. Did you have your own room? Where was the kitchen located? Details like those could help you improve the writing.
Thank you for sharing such a great writing and see you in class!
Haven rising above Parisian sky
ReplyDeleteHave you ever had a place meaningful and unique to you? For me, it has been the haven rising above the Parisian sky! This was a place where I had actually spent most of my life. When people think of Europe, it occurs in their mind, small cities where the shape of the years can be felt due to the preservation of the low-rise buildings and the whole culture in itself. However, what was remarkable about my place was that it was previously automobile plants. Even though high-rise building was normally forbidden or under thorough restraint by the city due to the Fire Services Act, not only was it recently built in the 1970s but also has been a safe residential skyscraper with exceptional view on Paris.
While the exterior of the building was a plain simple design like Lego block in a white monotony compared to other skyscrapers, the interior was totally different! Uncommonly, there were 6 elevators which were each dedicated to their own purposes: 2 elevators going to the underground parking, 2 to the lower-story apartment and the others to the upper-story apartment. Indeed, it is still really rare in EU to find any elevator in a building, even in the most luxurious five star hotels; having actually 6 elevators, not the classical ones but modern, spacious as well as fast ones as we can easily find in Korea, was astonishing. Moreover, the unique feature of this apartment was that all the inhabitants have been addressing their problems to one top guardian named Eli, a tall and thin men with a mustache like Charlie Chaplin or Mario’s best friend Luigi with always a genuine smile hanging on his face; he was aware of everything inside this building and took care of these things accurately; nobody would deny that he was actually a genie.
Concerning my apartment, even though it was recently built, the previous owner decorated as other typical French apartment, gloomily and above the creaking wooden floor with “dirty” rugs. So my parents decided to remodel it completely; actually the construction work took 8 months! Nevertheless, it has been now unified into a white as snow, from the ceiling to the floor; that’s why when my friends first visited my home, they used to say “Is it some kind of a psychiatric hospital?”. Additionally, we also displayed built-in mirrors like the renowned mirror room in Versailles Palace with one supplemental peculiarity which was the sliding mirror doors that sometimes connected or separated the living room with my brother’s bedroom. It was actually convenient to keep a watch on my brother who tend to be easily distracted. The most important and unique thing of our house has been the floor spread with authentic Italian white marble; that’s why as in Korea or in other Asian culture, we could wander at home without wearing shoes. However, we had to pay a price in exchange for this convenience which was, in one hand, to endure severe winter as I found myself walking on glaciers from the polar areas and, on the other hand, take care of the floor a lot. Thanks to that, we were living all year round in a garden full of lemon trees.
All these characteristics, in addition to living in the 26th story and the existence of the large windows, have enabled us to not only have a great view of whole Paris like the Eiffel Tower, the Seine River and the original Statue of Liberty just in the close proximity and a bit farther the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the Montmartre, but also let in more sunlight, reflecting from every side of the house which made our home more spacious and luminous than it already was. Friends admired for the scenery, saying “We have never thought that Paris was such a beautiful city! It is totally different to see it from the field of vision.” It was surely wonderful when the weather was good but, even more, when it was a cloudy, windy or rainy day because we could see the heavy grey clouds moving extremely fast and hear the rhythmical and musical sound of the rain falling over the window, which made me feel pensive, sometimes comforted or guiding me into a semiconscious condition.
ReplyDeleteThis place is important for me and my family because we have spent tremendous amount of time there altogether. My mother used to cook a variety of food but especially Korean food such as Bulgogi with her special savory sauce that remains unfortunately secret, yet, gathering our whole family in a single place, the living room for dinner; it was the happiest, the most delicious, the warmest moment of the day, after an exhausting day from work for my father, and from school for my brother and I. On weekends, my parents used to make Kimbab, also one of my mother’s specialty, to go on a picnic nearby; she used typical ingredients but the harmony made a synergy effect. The reason why I love this place is that I have so many good memories like the first time I had a big birthday party by inviting all the same grade classmates which was at least about 60 children. I still remember the magician’s trick she made to entertain my friends which was so amazing at a child sight. That is why, when I returned to Paris last summer, I felt overwhelmed as well as impatient to see and be again at my ‘original’ home. When I set my first step to the door, I felt at home once again, finding my other half left there; my identity was united and complete. All the past memories passed through my mind like one piece of a movie. Nothing has changed except for the blinds that faded into yellow due to the sun. It did not smell like once we lived there but it was the same cozy place.
Have you ever had a personal haven of peace? For me, it was the haven rising above the Parisian sky! Normally, when people think of Europe, it occurs in their mind, small cities where the whole culture has been well preserved with especially intact low-rise building despite the time and tide. However, what was noteworthy about my place was that it was previously an area of automobile plants. Even though high-rise building was usually forbidden or under thorough restraint for safety issues, the government approved in the 1970s to build resident skyscrapers in this South-West area of Paris.
ReplyDeleteWhile the design of the building was merely simple like a single Lego block compared to other skyscrapers, the interior was totally different! There were uncommonly six elevators, each dedicated to their own purposes: two elevators going to the underground parking, the other two to the lower-story apartment and the rest to the upper-story apartment. In fact, it is still really rare in EU to find any elevator in a building, even in the most luxurious five star hotels; having actually six modern elevators as we can commonly find in Korea, not the classical ones with little space, was astonishing. Moreover, the unique feature of this apartment was that all the inhabitants have been addressing all kinds of issues to one top guardian named Eli, a tall and thin men with a mustache like Charlie Chaplin or Mario’s best friend Luigi with always the tiny creases at the corner of his eyes and a genuine smile hanging on his face; he was aware of everything inside this building and took care of them effectively; nobody would deny that he was actually some sort of a genie or a wise man!
Concerning my apartment, even though it was recently built, the previous owner decorated like other typical French apartment, gloomily and above the creaking wooden floor with dirty rugs. So my parents decided to remodel it completely; actually the construction work took 8 months! Nevertheless, it has been, then, unified into a white as snow, from the ceiling to the floor; that’s why when my friends first visited my home, they used to say, “Is it some kind of a psychiatric hospital?” Additionally, built-in mirrors were displayed like the renowned mirror room in Versailles Palace with one supplemental peculiarity: the sliding mirror doors that would sometimes connect the living room from my brother’s bedroom. It was actually really convenient to keep an eye on my brother who used to be easily distracted. The most remarkable thing of our house has been the floor spread with authentic Italian white marble; that’s why our typical Asian custom of removing the outdoor shoes at the front door could be respected even in a western country. Despite its convenience, we had to pay a price: endure severe winter, in one hand, as I frequently found myself walking on glaciers from the polar areas while, on the other, take care of the floor a lot. Thanks to that, we were living all year round in a spotless garden filled with lemon trees!
All these characteristics, in addition to the fact that we were living in the 26th story and surrounded with large windows, have enabled us to not only have a great view of whole Paris like the Eiffel Tower, the Seine River and the original Statue of Liberty just in the close proximity while a bit farther the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris and the Montmartre, but also let in more sunlight; such reflected light actually made our home more spacious and luminous than it already was. Friends admired for the scenery saying, “We have never thought that Paris was such a beautiful city! It is totally different to see it from the field of vision.” It was naturally offering a nice view when the weather was sunny but, also, when it was a cloudy, windy or rainy day as the opaque veil made the scenery solemn as well as impressive, making us wondering about the world beyond. Besides, we could observe the heavy grey clouds moving extremely fast and hear the rhythmical and musical sound of the rain falling over the window, which made me sometimes pensive or comforted.
ReplyDeleteThis place was indeed important for me and my family because we have spent tremendous amount of time altogether there. My mother used to cook a variety of food but especially Korean food such as Bulgogi with her special savory sauce that still remains secret, yet, gathering our whole family in the living room for dinner; it was the happiest, the most delicious, the warmest moment of the day, after an exhausting day from work for my father, and from school for my brother and I. On weekends, my parents used to make Kimbab, also one of my mother’s specialty, to go on a picnic in a nearby park; she used typical ingredients but the harmony made a synergy effect. The reason why I love this place is that I have so many good memories like the first time I had a big birthday party by inviting nearly fifty classmates. I still remember the magician’s card tricks she played to entertain us, so amazing at a child sight. That is why, when I returned to Paris last summer, I felt both overwhelmed and impatient eager to see and be again at my ‘original’ home. When I set my first step to the door, I felt at home once again, finding my other half left there; my identity was united and complete. All the past memories passed through my mind like one piece of a movie. Nothing has changed except for the blinds that faded into yellow due to the sun. It did not smell like once before we lived there but it was the same cozy place.