rv Hosteller 10-Portland

        4. Hosteller

 

 In Portland

 

      2.

July 22nd

As the gutter life of this city gets more and more accustomed to me, 

I go more and more often to the embankment of Willamette river.

Sometimes in the morning I turn my steps on my way to Central Library

 in spite of myself toward the embankment. In the afternoon

I walk along the river almost everyday. And I come to prefer going

to the river embankment, keeping to myself, than to café or Pioneer Square

to come along with many youths,

In the city the contrast between light and shadow is deep and wide.

Pioneer Square midday is filled with sunlight and  laughter. on the contrary,

The atmosphere of Joice Hotel of the third class where I started to work

 is dull under the shadow of gloom and pathos on the long-term lodgers

who seem to have no place to go to visit and no one to love or

to be loved by. In the corner of the room for a long-term lodger

who gets hysterical  the bed is covered with bloodstained bedspread 

and in men's restroom are there a garbage can where a couple

of used syringes of morphine and Marijuana stubs catch my eyes.

When I come to Portland I got my heart to be too full for words ,

having a feeling of happiness that for the first time I become

a true traveler. But  in a way I get surprised to see homeless

neighbors 'roaming here and there'.

Yesterday Ken who helped me to have a part-time job at Joice hotel

left for Alaska. He wanted to go there to become a well-paid sailor

of a deep sea vessel to catch king crabs.In the present circumstances,

he said, was placed he couldn't bring his wife in Vietnam to his side,

adding that 2 years have passed since she was married to him

at their hometown of Vietnam.

And this morning a Mexican-American roommate asked me

to join him for a serious thing in relation with James,

another roommate as a long term lodger here,

which embarrassed me. Below is the talks between us:

: Hi, Moon, a moment please.

: Okay.

: Eh, I would rather go out to the embankment with you.

:  Good.Then you look somewhat serious. 

: (by the riverside) Frankly to speak, we have to do something

in relation with Lee in our room,You know he is a psychoneurotic.

Ordinarily the guy is gentle and good-mannered,

However, he often gets emotionally unstable, You know

a man under his mental disorder can causes dangerous problem.

Last night he made a disturbance in the room, shouting  I am a FBI

to keep watch on him and hurting himself with a knife

while there were no one but the guy and me in the room. 

He even said all of employees here are spies for the Federal Government.

: Really? Unbelievable.

: So, I want you to do one thing for it.

: What's that on earth?

: This morning I discussed with David, you know, the clerk of front desk,

and we concluded that he should be confined to a sanatorium for the insane.

Then as we don't know where his family live, we have to solve this problem.

 I agreed that I will be a witness, Then he said there should be another witness

more for it. Would you mind signing as a witness?

: What? Hey, Gabriel!  How can I do it ?

: I know that the guy gets on well with you.

:Hi, Gabriel. I dislike his highly religious-mindedness

and that he smells of Marijuana by him. but I don't think he has given

to others including me a feeling of uneasiness or offensiveness.

 Furthermore,it is just a week since I have meet you and James.

Hi,Gabriel. I can't do that.

At the embankment of Willamette river, Portland

Mn

Currently, it's serious mental illness.
....

A person to be more witnesses besides you..

-......Marijuana is the statement you want to share know well.

has become the world's so unrealistic.
 

July 27th

Now I listen to a gypsy singer singing an unfamiliar song which

arouses my curiosity, reminding me of the rough voice of Pansory,

a Korean traditional song before an out-door stage of flamenco performance

at sunset in Pearl Square not far from the downtown.

This is the first time for me to have a contact with flamenco! 

At the end of the first half of the flamenco performance 

I turn my face toward a man viewer by him and say to him:

' Hello, A strange song, isn't it ? Ah... You seem

to really enjoy this monotonously harsh sound

of Ay! Ay! Ay' .

" Of course I love it. How would you like it?"

"To me the sound is completely unfamiliar, but not bad..."

"Oh! I am Bob living here as a carpenter. Nice to meet you",

 

We exchanged such words of greeting , and he introduced 

to me a woman looking in her twenties on the wheel chair at his side. 

'This is Ann, my daughter.

We two live here in the downtown'

"Hi, Ann!, I am Gohk from Korea, a traveller", 

I introduced myself , giving a smile to her, but she does not give me a word,

 "......."

 "?......."

 To her daughter keeping silent he said again,

"Ann, This gentleman is here to see our Pearl festival", 

and turning his face toward me,

he passed a line of hint about her in a lower voice,

"Hi, Moon , Ann remains just 5 years old in mentality."

Then I lost no time in replying to Bob,

sensing the situation, 

"Oh!, ........Bob. you must be a flamenco afficionado!" ,

and again whispered to her as if to a little girl,

" Hi, Ann, you love flamenco, too? '

 

Bob replied,

"Ya. We are flamencos. Flamenco is indispensible

for both of us. As for me, it has become a of my life",

adding with his eyes toward her daughter again,

"Ann likes baile, particularly Alegrias, more buoyant and more rhythmic.

She even dances it on her wheel chair,"

"Hi, Ann, Your father said you dance alegrias well.

It is a beautiful dance?",

I said with my eyes turned to her,

and after a pause to her father,

"Today this is my first encounter with the cante siguirryia,

but strangely it seems not unfamiliar to me. Furthermore,

on listening to it, I felt tears gathering in my eyes. 

As you know, I have never been present

at the flamenco performance before,

neither did I hear it sung."

 "I got it. Oh, Gohk, you must be hooked by flamenco.  

From now on, I am sure, you will be unable to resist

its lure  any more",

he replied with a significant laughter and added,

" if you are okay , I will take you to a flamenco cafe 

named Albaisin 5 minutes walk away by the riverside.

There on saturday You can see a live flamenco.

And remember 'no vino, no flamenco'!

No art without intoxication!"  

" Interesting! I heard that flamenco is a traditional dance

of Spain. Is it from the gypsy culture ? is it right?",

I asked. To this question he gave me a long explanation of it,

" Sure. It comes from Andalusian Gypsie. and at this time 

flamenco mainly consists of cante( singing), baile( dancing)

and toque(guitar playing), which come to be all distinctive arts

in their own right and can stand alone,but it is not just theirs.

It now come to be universal beyond the geographical boundary. 

As, you know, it is much more than just dance, just song.

That flamenco originated in the outpouring of suffering, lamentation and

protest among the gypsies and other oppressed peoples of Spain.

So, flamenco in its awesome spontaneity is in him who can suffer

from the world and feel within him

- like the dawning - an irresistible urge to cry out." 

At the Pearl Festival

Moon