Heesum Tea Room

Sarah, thank you for taking the time to leave this review. We appreciate your time and effort with this review. Sarah, for a very long time, I tried to figure out all the nonsense of my life. That was all my younger life. Trying to figure out life—the life which doesn't make sense at all. I diligently and lazily pursued that journey; I traveled, I dropped out of school, I went back to school. I moved across continents, learned several languages, and met people. I wish I could say, after all that effort, now everything seems to make clear sense, but it doesn’t, Sarah. It really doesn’t... But because I spent so much energy and time on it, I have some humble realizations on this topic. Whether I'm young or old, wherever I am, whatever I do, life doesn't make sense, and that's what it's supposed to be. Nothing in this world is supposed to make sense. This is not mathematics, and even numbers don't add up sometimes. Whether you’re inside of the chaos, or looking at the chaos from a distance, chaos is chaos. But Sarah, when I have some distance, and look at the fire and battlefield from a far distance, I think can try to make sense out of the disorder, and I think that's what life is all about. Everyone deals with their own chaos, and everyone has to find sense out of it. Just like we talked about the harmony in Eum Yang (Yin and Yang) Philosophy. Tea gave me that distance. It never solved, and it will never solve any of my chaos, but it gives me a pause and distance from the fire. I want to clearly say this: I don’t hate life, I don’t blame anything or complain, and I even sometimes love the nonsense. That nonsense brought you to our space, and we shared tea. You live 13 hours away from the tea room, and it doesn’t make any sense that we met, in the most beautiful and loving way. I wanted to share this with you this morning, and with all the other people who come reading our reviews here. Thank you, Sarah, and thank you to all the people who read this. You see, we’re not 'that kind' of a tea room- 이제 아시겠지만, 우린 '그런' 차실이 아니예요- Jason.

Thank you, Aila, for leaving us this detailed review. I love reading these reviews, not because I want to feel good about our business, but because I want to use these to share another untold stories with people.Some families would own a small mountain or field for a family burial site in Korea, and this is called a Seonsan (ancestral mountain or ancestral tomb). There is a saying, “A crooked tree guards the ancestral mountain." It means all the nice-looking trees are cut down young to be made into something important, and only the ugly, crooked ones are left to guard the tombs. So, it’s an irony.It is hard to stay sincere and honest, and to hold onto integrity. It’s a fight—a long fight and battle—and no one asked me to take this road. I took a train yesterday and walked for 16km to see a traditional kiln from the Joseon dynasty. For a 90-minute tea ceremony session, I don’t have to have this deep knowledge about pottery, nor do I have to see the kiln in person. But I took that walk out of responsibility and out of my own curiosity.Some days are hard, and some days feel so empty. Some days are fulfilling. I felt fulfilled yesterday after 16km-walk. I also went to three museums and met a family of potters, and we talked about the Joseon Baekja that they have been making for about 300 years.No one told me to stay and guard this empty mountain. But maybe because I’m the crooked tree, or maybe because I’m the tree that survived, I get to take this walk. And I appreciate you noticing my honest walk.It’s a walk—a hard, long, and lonely one—and I’m not even too sure how long I can keep taking it. I’d just go see some kilns and tell stories to people who comes to my mountain.Jason

Thank you Emilie for this beautiful review. I hope you are enjoying your last day in Seoul.I was walking on the street today, and it was a busy morning. I had to run some errands and also was expected to fix something in the afternoon. I needed a tiny piece of plastic or metal, but nothing was in the toolbox. While I was walking on the busy street, I noticed there was a small piece of metal on the ground. Nothing like a nice piece of metal, just a small piece. Something I really needed and was looking for.I had been walking around for a very long time; I moved around. I was busy. Do you know the feeling when you’re missing something for a long time, so that you get to have such a clear image of it, because you do not have that in possession? Like a footprint on the fresh snow, it becomes so obvious.Instead of finding it and keeping it only to myself, I started to share them with people. And when I do that, I want to do it right, carefully, in a loving way, and sincerely. I am nowhere near to a perfect person; I’m not being humble, I really am a small person. But I accept that; at least I acknowledge it and I try consistently.We are never near to the people who know everything about Korean history and culture, but we go to museums, school, palaces and find people who we can learn from everyday. And when we do that, we try do it right, carefully, in the most loving way, and sincerely. Because we’ve been on this mission for a while.한국에 좀 더 자주 오세요 에밀리, 그리고 오시게 된다면, 꼭 미리 알려주세요. 또 만나요 우리.제이슨차실희섬.