All language subtitles for Sung Hyung Cho - (2009) Home from Home.en

WELCOME TO FRANKFURT

Thousands of young women have come
from South Korea to Germany since the 60s.

They gave the Germans medication,

washed them and combed their hair
year after year.

Some fell in love with German men,
got married and started families.

But they never stopped dreaming
of their homeland.

After more than 30 years,

three of them returned with their German
husbands to live in the "German Village".

HOME FROM HOME

A HEIMATFILM BY SUNG-HYUNG CHO

Are you measuring something?

One, two...

Did you get everything?
- Yes.

Something's in there.

Come out of there!
You're disturbing the film shoot.

It's a kind of pheasant, a peacock.

Look.

How sweet!

Oh, how sweet!

A puppy?
- Yes, look!

He's still young.

Now you'll get some water.

Stop that!

Here.

Now.

Short explanation: if it rains a lot here,

it could, and I emphasize the word "could"...

The water could get clogged up
and run into this crack.

99.9% of the time, that won't happen.

But because of that 0.1%,

I feel a sense of security

when I've sealed it up
with weatherproof silicon.

Then I can feel at ease.

I don't want to place a pot
under a leaky ceiling if there's no need.

Those are the details

that a German craftsman
normally finds important.

Armin, finished?
- Yes!

Should I make some coffee?
- Yes, that'd be nice.

Look!

How large is he?

Put your hands together
and bow three times.

We have to do this three times.

One.

Two.

But I believe in my God, Lord Jesus.
- Let's enter Buddha's body.

It's 15 metres.

Beautiful.

You can bow here three times too,
but I don't feel like it.

Yeah, we'll do it all.
- Alright, then I'll do it, too.

I believe in my God.

Don't fight over religion.
- OK.

Goodness!

Believers stick a gold leaf
on Buddha's body while they pray.

They press with one finger, then the other...

Something like this.

Step forward and try it.

You can also make a wish.

I wish for our well-being and health.

Good. Put it with the others.

Hopefully our wishes will come true.

And now we give 10,000...

Bring that along.
- What's the minimum that you can donate?

We'll donate later.

Don't forget the donation.

You can put the donation into that.

So that your wishes come true.

I think we should...

Donations over there.
- Where?

There's the donation...

You can put it in there.

Should we put in one or two?

That doesn't matter.

Yeah, fine. One for each of us.

When you've put in your donation,
you have to... -Come on.

Bow again.
- Fine then.

This is a bit too much for me.
- A bit too much. That's enough now.

He'll pray for us.

My prized possession.

A German concrete mixer. Brought it with me.

It built our house in Mainz.

With concrete and mortar.

Older than 28, I think 30, 31 years old.

When we came here, it was 28 years old.

It runs like an old VW beetle.
Just wanted to plug them:

those were cars back then,
and you could afford them, too.

It just keeps going.
I have a replacement motor from an old one.

Just in case something breaks.

Then I'll have it when I need it.

The oven. Did you check the oven?

You didn't check it?
- No, I didn't.

Yeah, it's getting dark now,
the sun is setting

behind the mountain.

Come in. Oh...

This is my wife.
- Please come in.

Now we have to drink coffee.
- Yeah, come on, Willi. It's cold.

You can fly to Germany at some point.

To visit your son.

Yes, I could.

Maybe.

Have a cup of tea.
- No more for me.

Drink the rest and I'll give you another cup.

You have to drink a lot.

And your pill.
- Yes.

Antibiotics.

God almighty.

WE WISH YOU A LOT OF LUCK
AND MONEY IN THE NEW YEAR.

THE BUDDHISTS
FROM THE MIRUK TEMPLE

We want to protect Namhae from fires.

In order to maintain our valuable forest,
the following regulations apply:

Walking in closed-off areas is forbidden!

When burning grass or agricultural waste,

you must remain at least
100 metres away from the forest edge.

Children and the mentally ill
may not play with open fires.

The same goes for the elderly.

I never would've dreamt

that when I retired

my old job would be my hobby.

You train to do one job,
then spend your life doing something else.

And at this age, you have
to provide for yourself, more or less.

That's why you do this.

Young-Sook

lived in Germany for 37 years.

She was with me for 34 of those.

And when we retired...

She had always been keen on returning
to Korea, her old home and my new home.

I said, why not? We can live in Korea
for the last 20, 25 years.

The way I once learned it, this is important:

once to the right

and once to the left.

Otherwise,
when we blanch the sausage in a pot later,

it turns if they're all to the right or left.

And this way...

It remains still. Once right, once left.
They cancel each other out.

Wait. The thick one.

One?
- Yes, the whole thing.

Of course, sure.
- And...

Liver sausage?

The ground pork.
- No liver sausage?

Not today?

Koreans don't like it...

Liver sausage? It's a big hit here.

Just the right amount.
You won't believe it. Exact.

You just counted it, now be quiet!

Satisfied that you've got something to eat?

If we don't see each other again today...
- We're here.

Happy New Year.
Do you have fireworks at least? - No.

You don't? Me neither.
- Too old for that.

And why should we
celebrate New Year twice, eh?

Once is enough.
- We all live according to our own calendar.

Exactly.
- This is the German Village.

We don't bother anyone else.
- Right.

Take it easy.
- Bye.

And say Hi to Young-Sook for me.
- Right. Bye.

One, two, three!

One, two...

That's our house!

I'm a paparazzo!

How much? 100...?

147.

Over 77?

That's not bad.

We don't have to do anything.
- The higher number is a bit much.

It's not bad.

I thought you'd have to take another half.

But that's fine.
- You see how good I look.

My blood pressure
couldn't have been too high. -Good.

I don't need to measure mine.
- Fine.

With that blood pressure,
I can stick around for a while.

But now,

they're even later than usual.

There are so many beautiful things
here in Korea.

Really.

Why do people always have to spoil that?

Lack of punctuality, and so on.

It's always the same.

That's crap.

My God, what's going on here?

Come here.

You've got so thin.

You've got too thin, brother.

Your belly got small, too.

Too thin, but what can you do?
- You look good!

Now take off your jacket.

Hang it over there.

Wait a second. Alright?

When they bow,
you have to do it too, at least a little.

Yeah, I'll do it too, at least a little.

I wish you health
and good luck in the new year! - Thanks.

May all of your hopes and desires
be fulfilled this year.

You were sick?
- Yes, but not very sick.

Stay healthy and don't fall ill!

You've both got thin.
Hisuk, you're always getting thinner.

He says you should stay healthy
and wishes you lots of luck.

They wished you very good health.

So that we see each other
and get along for a long time.

We all want to live happily together.

Should I hug my brother?

Me too.
- I want to be hugged, too.

Listen...

What's it called?

Yesterday, yesterday.

Yesterday.

A Korean, fishing.

Then... with the car to the shop.

Down there at the inlet.

Tomorrow, the next day, the day after that.

In the spring.

In April, April. OK?

In April, fishing.

No, no, here a bit less.

Slowly.

Another one of these conversations,
my goodness!

The German Village.

There! Watch out!

Here's the house.

Right, there it is, the second photo.

My wife is hanging up the laundry.
And there is the extension.

We're in there two times.

There's the bay and the island.

There's South Korea,
Korea's most southern point.

Not far from Japan, Fukuoka is here.

China is over here.

As you can see.

Here's the city of Tsingtau, well known...

from when it was a German colony,
but not for long.

What splendid weather.

Ten years ago,
there were hardly any women drivers.

And women's participation
has been a turn for the worse.

Come on!
- Haven't you noticed?

Rubbish.
- What about today?

Remember when we were in Hanam?

At two or three in the afternoon,

a real...

migration of ladies.
- Yeah, the men all go to work.

But that's got nothing to do with it.

Women suddenly drive cars

and are influencing the traffic.

It's good that women can do that.

Yeah, maybe they're more careful.

They're not more careful, they can't drive.

I didn't just hear that.

But that's the way it is.
- I didn't just hear that.

When a woman is driving a car in front of me,

I'm always more careful.
- Oh, nonsense.

Let's put on music,
I don't want to listen to you anymore.

I'll put on your favourite singer, though.

Even if I can't stand it

and my heart is heavy,

I can't say a word

because I'm a woman.

We're driving straight ahead.
- You dirty bastard.

Get out of there, dirty bastard.
- Straight ahead.

I can't get out of here.

You filthy pig.

He drove like that on purpose.
- Yes, that was a man!

A woman would never do that.
- Absolutely. -Yeah.

Don't be so restless, take it easy.

Then you sweat better.

This is what you call paradise.

For you, not for me.

On this side, it's not...
- The other side is much...

warmer.

The other side is much hotter.
I'm going over there to sweat fast.

I don't know.
- Yes, I'm going to the other side.

You sweat faster in the other room.

Whoops.

You sweat much faster over there.

Oh my. Oh my, Ludwig... Oh, my.

You get hot very fast.
- Alright.

Easy does it.

You sweat right away.

Does it have to be such a struggle at my age?

They could've made the hole a bit bigger.

And how are you?
- Go over there.

You'll sweat really fast. It's really hot.

I can already feel it coming out.

All the people who worked
in Germany as guest workers,

they sent money home
for their families and relatives.

Then they made use of the tax laws

and applied for an end-of-year adjustment.

She did that, too.

The difference was, she tried to cheat me.

Of course, it was obvious,
because it deviated from the norm.

Well, then she had to come back to us.

You know how it is, being out and about...

She looked good. I did too at that time.
I had a bit more hair.

Let me tell it!

He asked me

if I had time at the weekend.

I thought:
"Listen, you can't do it like that.

You can't have people come to you,
listen to their personal details

and then ask them out on a date."
So I thought: "No, not like that."

"I don't have the time", I said.
Then he asked:

"What about next week?"

So I said: "No, I don't have the time."

So persistent! He asked again:
"Do you have time in three weeks"?

I thought: "I can't always say no.
I have to say yes at some point".

I said: "Yes, I'm free in three weeks."

Three weeks later on Saturday,

he picked me up and we drove off.

Along a country road,
straight ahead, then to the left

then to the right... He drove me around
for about an hour and a half.

Don't exaggerate.

But... it was an hour and a half.

No...

That's the way it was for me.
- Finish up.

And then at some point

we arrived at a swing-caf�.

So we went in.

That place was perfect!

100%!

I felt so at ease.

Really, I had never experienced that:
I felt so at ease.

Then he asked me to dance.

Actually, I couldn't dance at all.

But he led me so well,

I thought I could do any dance.

I felt like a dancer.

I could dance beautifully to every song.

We danced so nicely.

Afterwards, we drove home.

It was 10 or 11 o'clock.

He drove me up to the hospital clinic,
the nurses' hostel where I lived.

Then he got out of the car
and opened the door for me.

I thought:
"Now you've danced with him all evening.

He'll surely kiss you."
That's what I thought.

Then he opened my door.

He escorted me out,
gave me his hand and said good-bye.

I thought: "He didn't even kiss you.

How terrific!"

The old days, you know! I thought...

Then he asked if I had time next week.

I said yes right away.

That was the crucial moment...

that you...

I got lucky yet again.
- Right.

That's garlic.

This is the best-known
area in Korea for garlic.

There are different kinds:
spicy, less spicy, what do I know?

There's a garlic museum
here in Korea, in Namhae.

They took the stones out of their yards

and built these walls everywhere.
What else do you do with them?

The roofs were all covered with straw
years ago. Now they have corrugated iron.

When the iron starts to rust,
no problem, put a new layer on top.

Everything looks new. The old iron is below.

Here you can see the old iron.
The new one has been put on top.

Here's a mailbox
that's been crooked for five years.

For one month, it was straight,
but apparently its nail is rusty again.

It's crooked again. Five years,
since I arrived here. I notice these things.

Otherwise, everything's alright.

It's about time some of these were torn down.

Weigh it now!

I'll do it myself if you're so slow.

Don't look at me like that.
If you're that slow, I'll do it alone.

It'll be faster.

Armin, two grams isn't that much.

Young-Sook, I weigh them, not you.

That's 59, not 60.

Yes, I think like a German
through and through.

I was only born in Korea.

My way of thinking is completely German.

I can't live any other way,

because I was completely integrated
in Germany for 37 years.

Yes, yes, that's the way it is.

Why did we decide
to move to the German Village?

The cultural exchange
between Korea and Germany.

It was the idea
of a former district administrator.

But...

We've kept our side of the deal
and they haven't. That's not right.

They claimed

there'd be an emergency button
in every house

that's connected to a hospital.

Then they'd know there was an emergency
and would send a doctor.

What's become of that? Nothing.

A health centre was supposed to be built.

What became of that? Nothing.

We saw the property in its natural state,

which was perfect,
so I made our building plans.

What did they do with it?

Now we're like mountain goats.

A retirement community
on land that's so uneven,

you can only shake your head.

It weighs 60.

This is finished, Armin.

This is 60, so why are you adding to it...?

Do you want to throw the rest out or what?
- Make another one.

Yeah?
- Like always.

Then make another.
A big one and we'll make it a cheese roll.

Yeah.
- Right?

Here on the side.

That's always there, so often,

whenever I look at it.

It hangs...

That's the way it is with food.

You weren't like that before.
- No.

But when you get older, you slobber.

Afterwards, when you're finished,
you can clean it all at once.

Right.

"The German Village."
That name shouldn't be allowed.

Only three real Germans live here.

Other than that, even our Korean wives
have become Korean again.

So it sometimes happens
that men propose and women dispose.

In a Korean way.

And that's the way it's been here:
nothing that was once planned

has been realised, unfortunately.

We're the ones who have been affected,
not only affected, but cheated.

This is supposed to be
a retirement community,

it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman,

but it's important
that you be Korean and German.

A community for those two groups.

It's supposed to be a token of gratitude
for the nurses and miners

who worked in Germany
and sent their money back here

to help support their families.

And as a means

of helping to increase
this country's economic power back then.

And now people live here
who have no right to do so.

They bought cheap land,

built three-storey homes and bungalows.

It's forbidden and fraudulent.

The original reason for this village was:
"Namhae's population is decreasing

and we have to do something
to counteract that."

That's one reason why
the German Village is here.

"We can kill two birds with one stone:

showing gratitude for the nurses
on the one hand,

and helping tourism on the other.
People will come and live here."

But, Baby, that was the first mistake.
They only bought here.

Less than half of the houses are occupied.

They're registered, but don't live here!

Not even half. Maybe one third.

The other two thirds are just rented out!

That's cheating!

The rent goes to Germany
and nobody pays any taxes!

The extent of this fraud is unbelievable.

Stop it now. Stop. Just stop.

Well, they're all individualists.

Some complain it's not like
they had imagined it in Germany.

But this is Korea.

Things are different here,

people are a bit more outgoing.

No one wants to be ordered around.

It's not easy.

You have to live and let live
for the sake of community.

If you always do your own thing
and rub people up the wrong way,

nobody will want anything to do with you.

Everyone wants to be praised a bit.
Most people don't want to hear the truth.

You have to have the right touch
when dealing with people here.

Silence is golden
and keeps you out of trouble.

He's going to run that thing aground.

Right.

This is a fishing port.

Steamers go by occasionally.

You can also buy fish.

Where can you find that in Germany?
You live by the sea

with mountains behind you.

A house with a sea view,
what big city has that?

People would pay a lot for that.

You have to consider that.

In Germany,
I'd be looking out of a three-room flat,

watching children play in the streets
and people run to work.

I run to work myself here:

taking care of weeds in my garden
and mowing the lawn.

It's better here.

It's like being on holiday, every day.

Sometimes you travel
to take a break from your holiday.

It's not my homeland
in the traditional sense,

but I still like it here.

Let's have some schnapps!

Mr Willi likes spicy food.

He likes Korean food a lot.

Mr Willi, to your health!
- Thanks.

To a long life!

Why don't Mr Theis
or Mr Straus come here?

Theis Young-Sook?

Straus-Kim. Woo-Za.

Woo-Za?
- Woo-Za Kim-Straus.

I'm getting a headache.
- This is a nuisance, right? Problematic.

Yeah.
- I'm not a problem.

That's your fault, mayor.

As administrator of the German Village,
you should get them to learn the language.

It's really difficult.

They don't speak any Korean?

He speaks a little.
- Bulgogi, Mulgogi, Soju...

Yes, he knows the dishes and drinks.
- Beer, meat, water.

Important, so you don't starve.
- Head of lettuce.

Dog meat.

When you've married a Korean woman,

you should try to learn Korean.

These Germans have lived
with Korean women for years.

They probably feel superior
because they're German

and don't put any effort
into learning Korean.

German men think women should obey them.

Thanks to their wives,
they don't have communication problems.

But if they live here,
they should converse with us as well

and make an effort.

Hierarchies have no place in a marriage.

Now you have to learn Korean.

You walk your dog around here, don't you?

When we cross paths, we'll say "Hello".

And the next time we see each other,
we'll say even more.

That's how to live with each other, right?

Mr Willi does it right. The others don't.

He goes for a walk every day.
- I see him every day.

He always walks by our house.
- Yes, that's right.

Schnapps!

He's got one!

He's got one!

Quick, have you got it?

Yeah, yeah.

Good!

Look. Oh, Ludwig, wow.

Great. My goodness.

Can you grab onto it?
It doesn't have any spines?

They don't have any spines.
- No spines...

The poor thing, let's throw him back.

Beautiful!

One, two, three!

I'm flying! I'm flying!
- Look!

Oh, country of mountains,

of mountains and forests...

I have to say something right from the start.

In four-voice or eight-voice choirs...

In choirs, there are always four voices,

and sometimes four lower voices:
first bass, second bass,

first soprano, second soprano...
All in all, there are eight.

The soprano is always the lead,

he sings the melody. Alto...

That doesn't concern my singing, Armin!
Don't give us that crap!

May I finish what I'm saying?

You're not even singing! So keep quiet.
- I'm just explaining something.

Eight voices,
there aren't always eight parts.

It's a four-voice chorus.
- They're six at the most,

but that's unusual.

There aren't any pauses or anything.

All four voices are the same.

Just different tones.
- Alright, sing.

If you're not looking at it,
I'll put it here. - Right, sing!

How my heart throbs on bright days!

How my heart throbs on bright days!

My eyes watch as the sky turns blue,

and my heart trusts both of them!

I didn't move to Germany

in order to earn money.
I had another reason.

Back in secondary school,

I had a boyfriend.

And he went to Germany.

He already had a university degree.

Back then,
all of the miners who went to Germany

had attended university
and were young and quite strong.

Healthy young people. They were selected.

They had to be a certain height,
they were really tested.

Not everyone with a university degree
was permitted to go to Germany.

It was cutthroat competition.

I wanted to go to Germany because of him.

I hoped

that when I arrived there,

my boyfriend would visit me.

But he didn't.

That went on for weeks.

During that period,

I didn't know anything at all.

It was terrible. And then I learned

that he was no longer single.

Of course, that was
a very big disappointment for me.

I spent a couple of days alone

and considered what to do next.

"Now you live in Germany.

And you have to integrate yourself

as quickly as possible."

And so it was.

I thought: "After three years,
you can see how things are."

They told all of us
we'd receive German lessons for six months.

But because only four of us ended up
in the little hospital,

they didn't give us any German lessons.

You don't understand anything.

And even with the best will in the world,

if you can't communicate with people,

you are nothing.

That's why I decided that learning German
would be the very first thing I'd do.

So I took German lessons
from a retired teacher.

I paid for it out of my own pocket,
but it was worth it!

Because I...

If you can't communicate, you're not...

Yes, you're an inferior person.

Step and turn, cha-cha-cha.

Two hands, cha-cha-cha.
Two hands, cha-cha-cha.

Three hands, cha-cha-cha.
Step and turn, cha-cha-cha.

In your row, cha-cha-cha!
Step and turn, cha-cha-cha!

Stay in your row, Willi!

On the line!

Please stay in your row
or the formation will be a mess.

His wife helped him in German.

Attention!

Everyone ready?
Now, music and go!

Unfold your cloths!

Unfold them!

Everyone together! One, two, three!

They get the bottle for just one more week.

I went to Germany in 1971.

Before that,
I worked in a public health department.

I lived with my son,
my daughter and my mother-in-law.

Our standard of living

was relatively high,
but it wasn't sufficient.

We could just about survive on my wages,

but we weren't able to purchase
things like new clothes.

I wanted something better for my children.

Back then, they couldn't get
a good education in Korea.

That's why I fled to Germany.

I had to leave my two children

and entrust them to my sister-in-law.

Suddenly, there was talk of divorce.

We never really lived together.

Two nights after our wedding,
my husband disappeared to Seoul

and I stayed with my parents-in-law.

He only came back twice a year,
for Thanksgiving and New Year.

Back then, a film was being shown in Korea:

"Bad Luck in Marriage,
Bad Luck with the Kids".

Then, while saying goodbye at the airport,
I was told:

"Bad Luck in Marriage,
Bad Luck with the Kids.

Don't bother coming back."

It didn't affect me very much,
not until after I'd arrived in Germany.

It broke my heart.
I had to leave my children!

Nobody said: "Stay here".
They said: "Don't come back".

That's why I learned to fight in Germany.

When I went to work in the morning,

I didn't think of Korea anymore
and was full of hope.

I was as happy as a child.

But then, in the nurses' hostel,
I was overwhelmed with sadness.

I couldn't even eat. I couldn't stop crying.

And I wasn't the only one.
We were all like that.

Cry at night, work during the day.

Our eyes became so puffy,
they looked like they were closed.

In the evening,
it didn't matter if you were 40, 50, or 60,

when the sun went down, you were homesick.

I thought I'd live in Korea again
at some point.

But now that I've come to live here,
I think of Germany as my homeland.

We have no homeland
and that's the tragedy of our lives.

It was staggering.

I felt a great sense of emptiness,
although I was back in my homeland.

I've lived here for six years,

but the longer I live here,
the more I think about Germany. It's odd.

My homeland of days past

is in a blossoming valley.

Peach blossoms, apricot blossoms,

tender azalea blossoms.

A splendid, colourful floral palace

adorns the village.

We once played there.

And still long for it.

Blossom village, new village,

my old homeland.

When the south wind

blows across the green field,

the willows dance

on the stream in the valley.

We once lived there.

And we still long for it.

Enough.

Thank you, oh thank you.

No, this one up top.
- Yeah, fine.

No, let's drink from this one.

Let's have a toast.

Cheers.
- Cheers.

Buddha. Cow-Buddha.

Cow-Buddha inside.

But his tongue is so long!

Look.
- He's rolling it.

Rolling and then swallowing.

They've trained him.
- Look, now that one's doing it.

I've never seen that before.

Sister, it's too tight for you.

Stuff your tits into it.

Not like that. Pull it up!
- That's how to do it.

Let's really celebrate.

Let's celebrate in complete harmony.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The days go by too fast.

Let's celebrate in complete harmony.

Ari, Ari, Arirang.

Sri, Sri, Srirang.

Ari, Ari, Sri, Sri,
I'm going over the mountain pass.

One, two...

It's blinking, look.

The light, it's blinking!
- Don't move!

Don't move!

Long-nosed grandpa!

Long-nosed grandpa!

Hey, come on! This is Germany!

That's really funny!

Hey! Don't go out through there!

Come through here!

Please don't step on the flowers.
- Yeah.

Go through the gate.

Go through the gate, not anywhere else.

How did you get in here?
- I...

You have to use the gate.

Leave through the gate.

Close it now! You're a really bad person.

But the police are supposed to protect us!

Come on, park the car in front of our house.

Come here. In front of our house.

So nobody gets through.

You're supposed to protect us!
- What's the problem?

Too many cars here, too many people.
- Too much noise?

People just come right in!
- Just like that?

They do it quite often.
Please solve this problem for us.

It's not just today. It's totally sick.

I came here to live.

These Koreans don't care
if we're dead or alive.

Now you can wear only shorts.
- Yes, yes.

It's warm enough. At home, you can do that.

At the butcher's shop, I wear long trousers.

Fingers together.

Like a shovel.

Yes, close your mouth.

That shut her up for three seconds.

Again, and there you go.

Wunderbar!

Nice!

Would you please come to me?

I don't need your hands.

You don't.
- The water is salty.

Look, when I swim,
my hands are always like this, you know?

When they're like this,
the water goes through and you sink.

Like a frog.
- Yes, but...

I should be like a frog!
- Right, be like a frog.

But frogs have webbed hands.

Oh, my.

It's hot.

Yes, why did I come to Germany?

Yes.

Well...

Why?

I simply ran away from Korea to Germany.

I just ran away.

I didn't want anything to do with Korea.
Nothing. I was so sick of it.

So I took off.

It was also a good opportunity back then.

And as a trained nurse,
you could go to Germany.

I was married back then.

My husband was the oldest son in his family.

And I was supposed to give birth to a son.

I was supposed to bear a son.

Instead, I had a girl.

That wasn't a happy situation.

He was angry
that I had given birth to a daughter.

He already had a girlfriend back then.

He had a girlfriend and I thought:

"It doesn't matter,
I have a job and I'm still young.

I have my child and this isn't working out."
So I took off.

When I think back, I'm not very sad.

I'm only sad when I think about my daughter.

Then I'm always sad.

When I left Korea,

I had to leave my daughter with my husband.

I had to.

He said:

"Give me

back my child

and you're never to see her again.
If you promise me that,

then you can go.

Otherwise, take her with you.

But back then,
I was allowed to go, but children were not.

And he had his whole family back then, right?

Six months later,

my daughter's aunt began

writing me letters.

His new wife

wasn't treating her well.

And I was supposed to take her. But I had...

a three-year contract.

I couldn't leave Germany for three years
or pick her up.

That time was
so horrible and difficult for me.

I couldn't sleep at night.
I took loads of sleeping pills.

I still had to work.

And these letters kept on arriving
telling me to take back my child.

Then...

I met Ludwig.

I said: "I have to fetch my daughter.

And I could never be with you
if she's not with us.

If you accept my daughter

as your own child,

then we can come together.

He said: "Alright, then fetch your daughter."

I fetched her and they said:

"You promised

never to see her again".

I said: "I don't care.
You can shoot me, but I'll shoot you back."

So I went over to their place
and took two people with me,

and a policeman, and I got her out of there.

Dear Community, here is your mayor.

A message
from the Agricultural Cooperative:

If you'd like to store something
for the winter...

You can receive seeds
for radishes and Chinese cabbage from us.

You should give us your order
by tomorrow in town hall.

In accordance with the extreme heat warning,
the following rules apply...

Since I've been back, my life's been good.
People living here

are between 60 and 83 years old.

We've accomplished almost everything
we had hoped for.

Right now, life is good in this village.

Only death awaits us. I should start
preparing for the final journey.

People talk about tree burials.
The ashes are scattered under a tree.

For example, if this were a tree,
we would scatter the ashes here.

A German tree
is supposed to be planted here, a linden.

They're beautiful.

Everyone has already decided
where their graves should be.

We're carefully preparing for it.
We all know that we're going to die one day.

I don't think it'll cost very much.
We just have to get a tree and plant it.

I think that the German Village...

will be almost deserted in 15 years.

We won't all be dead then,
but 70% of us will be.

We all have to go down that path.

After death,

we, the first Koreans in Germany,

want to stay together.

That way,
there'll always be a German Village, right?

People will say
we went abroad and accomplished a lot.

This is the end of the line
where everyone meets up. It's nice.

We'll talk to each other in the grave:
"Oh, that was a difficult life in Germany"!

Do we have another spoon?

Hot.
- Then I'll put it back.

Men become stubborn
when they get older, don't they?

Men are so weird.

We don't see it like that, do we?

Bloody rascals!

Mutts.

Bloody rascals!

So what's new?

Are you going to the sea?

Why haven't you come by for so long?

Mother, when did you go to Germany
and when did you return?

1973, and in 2002 I came back.
- You came back in 2002?

Thank you for inviting us
to the opening of the restaurant "Hamburg".

We all hope
that the restaurant will be a success!

Applause, and now the song "Encounter".

Our encounter

wasn't a coincidence.

It was

what we had

longed for.

I can't forget you.

You were my fate.

I can't do anything about it,

it'll remain for eternity.

Don't look backwards.

Don't regret anything.

Don't shed any tears.

Please don't let me see them.

I love you.

Subtitling by SUBS Hamburg
Matthew Way