Forgetting What I Thought I Knew — Part 1
There are more and more days when I feel unfamiliar with myself.
Like when English suddenly feels comforting after living surrounded by Swedish —
or when it hits nearly 20°C and I suddenly think, “Oh wow, it’s summer already.”
Or when I realize, way too late, that I haven’t spoken Korean in months.
I’ve become so used to these new versions of myself that the old me sometimes feels like a stranger —
and that’s exactly why I started the Forgetting Arc.
Remembering What I’ve Forgotten
Whenever I get the time, I try to trace back what I’ve forgotten along the way.
I think of the excitement and nervous flutter I had when I first immigrated.
I had dreams, I ran toward them, and when I finally reached a small hill and looked back —
I realized I’d drifted off the path I thought I was on.
I didn’t know this path existed.
I didn’t know I was even walking it.
But maybe that’s what makes the journey inside this Forgetting Arc surprising, strange, and kind of fun.
The Me Who Wrote, the Me Who Lived It, and the Me Who Reads It Now
Maybe it’s because I write things down — tiny memories I can return to sometimes.
But the me who lived those moments,
the me who wrote them into words,
and the me reading them now…
We share the same memories, but feel like different people.
I didn’t know back then what I know now.
And maybe that’s why today’s me exists —
but still, that past version of me feels awkward.
While living each day as a version of myself I didn’t know,
I tuck the version fading from memory into the Forgetting Arc.
If you would like to see the original post in korean click here
What Is the Forgetting Arc? — Part 2
Realizing Things Have Become Just Memories
One day, a Chinese intern joined a neighboring department.
When I asked, I found out she was born in 2002.
My thoughts went wild:
“Wait, interns are born in 2002 now?
If this were Korea, I’d be asking her about the 2002 World Cup.
Does that mean she was born when I was still in elementary school?
And when she was in elementary school, I was already in high school?”
And then — out of nowhere —
I remembered corporal punishment from my school days.
So I asked her,
“Did you ever get hit by a teacher?”
She looked at me like, “What kind of random question is that?”
and said she’d never experienced anything like that.
On my way home, I looked it up —
apparently, corporal punishment has been banned in Korea for over 10 years already.
The Korea I Knew Is Gone
That’s when it hit me.
The Korean school life I experienced is already gone.
And while I’ve been learning about Sweden,
my memories of Korea have been fading —
piece by piece entering the Forgetting Arc without me noticing.
The Korea I knew
is slowly getting buried under the sands of time.
Which means I can’t go around talking about “inspiration” or whatever anymore.
The Korea in my memories exists only in nostalgia.
Kids today aren’t getting smacked twice on the butt
for talking in class like back then.
I completely missed the timing to talk about change.
The version of Korea I wanted to change
is already gone.
If you would like to see the original post in korean click here
What Is the Forgetting Arc? — Part 3
Why I Forget — Misunderstandings
Whenever I look at Swedish society through a Korean lens,
I end up misunderstanding things —
and those misunderstandings become part of the Forgetting Arc too.
During a hiking trip with coworkers,
I talked with Chinese and Russian dads whose kids study in Sweden.
They said their children seem too relaxed in school —
completely different from their own competitive upbringing —
and insisted kids back home could never study that way.
That reminded me of something my wife once said.
“Every Education System Has Its Own Struggles”
When I told her,
“You guys have it easy in school here,”
she pushed back.
She said the Swedish system has its own challenges:
less pressure from competition, sure,
but because no one tells you what you must do,
you have to decide everything yourself from a young age —
and take full responsibility for the results.
From my Korean perspective, I never saw that side.
Letting Go of Old Lenses
The more I learn,
the more I try to step away from my familiar ways of thinking
to avoid misunderstandings rooted in the lens I grew up with.
That process — letting old assumptions fade
and forming new ways of seeing —
is exactly what the Forgetting Arc is about.
If you would like to see the original post in korean click here
