Jaemin Park/ch5/final draft

( A pianist in my mind)   "Why didn't you buy yours?" "Hey, it's family size!" "Family size...yeh..so, where's yours?" I came to interview my elder sister but now I am just watching her without a word. She is sitting here having family size ice-cream alone. For a short time, I regretted that I had decided to interview her, not my father. But I try not to watch her gobbling ice cream and imagine her, once skinny beautiful girl, who plays the piano. I really love her playing piano not only because she plays well but also because I majored yet gave it up long ago.   "It was awesome." She said with her mouth large spoon of ice-cream. When she was 20 years old she came to USA . As she suddenly changed to study piano again, my parents opposed to her plan. So she had no money to buy a piano. Nobody readily gave a job for this little Korean girl. She hardly got a job at the copy store because she had to earn money for tutoring. A gay with pink nail often came to make fun of her and sometimes she was laughed by other people because she couldn't speak English very well but she didn't care at all. She said because she only thought about piano she could stand all. Like this, she took the class in the afternoon and worked at night. She cut down on sleep practicing piano. "I can't do that again, I was fully absorbed in piano." The little Korean once nobody cared finally graduated with top honors. She said with excitement. "Everyone gave me a standing ovation!!" She said. I draw she's playing piano in front of the huge audience. Amazing! It's really amazing.   "Mommy" Hajun broke the silent when we lost in sweet memories. Now she is a mother of two sons. "Are you gonna play piano again?" I asked her glancing the empty ice cream box. "Surely, someday..." I see the old piano covered with dust over there. Looking forward to her playing the piano again, of course with skinny butt, I wrap up the interview.

Final draft chapter 5 Park Ye Jee 200904069

<FINAL DRAFT >                                     200904069 Park Ye Jee When my mother was young…   As soon as I saw the assignment, I thought of my family. When I tried to think about my family's history, ironically I didn't know much about that. So I decided to interview my family. I have total four members: Father, mother, aunt, brother. Aunt who is my mother's youngest sister has been living together since when I was 11years. My older brother is studying now abroad. So, in my home in Gwanju, three members are living now. On Saturday afternoon, I called my home to interview because I was living apart with them. My aunt answered the phone, "Oh, YeJee. Hello?" "Aunt, Hello. What are you doing now?" I asked her. "I'm just taking a rest because nowadays, my condition is not so good," she said. Her voice sounded she was sleepy. I was about to ask her history but I worried her condition and I asked her what my father was doing. "He might be taking a nap in his room," She replied, "But mother is awake now. Wait for a second." She said and called my mom. Without any choice, I decided to interview my mom. "My lovely daughter, what happened to you? You never call home first." My mom said in a pleasant voice. I told her that I wanted to know about when she was a teenager and asked her whether she could answer a few questions. She accepted it with pleasure. Her voice was so energetic that I thought she could tell her story for all day long. I asked her what it was like when she was a middle school student. She was silent for a moment to recall her life and started to say. "It was so difficult to live at that time. My family was not rich. So my parents had to earn money to raise me and my brothers and sisters. They worked really hard. My father was working in or near the sea as a fisherman and he was also a head of village. Because of which, he was always busy. My mother also worked by growing crops. So as you know, I'm the oldest daughter among my brothers and one sister. Can you imagine how busy I was, too? It was only I who had to take care of young brothers and sister while my parents were not home." Her voice sounded excited a little bit.   And she kept saying, "It was not the only thing that I had to do. I had to clean the house, make meals for brothers and the sister, go to a mountain and gather some pine cones to use them for firewood." "Wow, you did that when you were young? I didn't know that you even went to the mountain to fetch some cones." I almost shouted. And she said, "Besides, when I became a middle school student, I had do to live near my school with the first brother and my friend because the middle school was so far from my home. So when I go home on the weekend, I had to walk for 3hours."She recalled the time. I was really surprised my mother had to go home by walk at that time. "Why did you walk? Wasn't there a bus?" I asked. And she replied, "No. My village was so small that every bus didn't get there." I felt sorry to hear that and I was curious about her high school life, then. She said that as time went by, she wanted to be independent and to make money as soon as possible. So she moved from hometown in the south province of Chungcheong to another city which is called "SooWon", where there was a commercial high school. She had four classes and worked for eight hours in three shifts every week. I asked her, "How much did you earn at that time?" Mother didn't seem to remember exactly at first and guessed, "Probably two hundred thousand won? Yeah, it was only two hundred thousand won!" I thought it was almost miserable. And I became sad how much difficult she was. "Oh, what a sad it was! You got paid peanuts!" I was really shocked and felt pitiful to my mom when I imagined that my mother worked so hard with low waged in such a young age! "And by the time I became 22years old, I met your father!" She said. "How could you meet father? You were living in Soowon and father, he lived in Gwangju!" I wondered. "The hero of us was your grandfather. It would be when I was a high school student. Your grandfather visited the town where I was living in to run a new business. Then, he happened to know my father. My father was so generous that he invited your grandfather to my home even though they hadn't met many times.   When your grandfather saw me, he hoped to introduce his son to me. Then after a few years, your grandfather returned to his hometown, Gwangju and he invited my father and me to his home. So I met your father at that time for the first time! This is the story how your father and I happened to meet and marry!" She ended the story finally! "Wow! I think you and father are a match-made in heaven! This is amazing!" I was really excited and felt interesting to hear that. I felt it was like a drama. "Do you want to know anything else?" My mother asked me. "No. It is enough for today! What are you going to do now?" I asked.  "We will have dinner soon. Have a dinner! And take care of yourself. Always keep in mind! And buy and eat some oranges. Nowadays it's delicious! Two oranges in a day are good for your health!" She worried me. Our conversation always ends like this. "There you go again! Don't worry, please.  You have to take care of yourself. I'm young. Anyway, next time let's talk again. Bye mom! Have a good dinner." I hung up the phone. I was satisfied to know my mother's story and I could respect her more and more. Next time, I want to hear about my father and my aunt.

Final Draft of Chapter#5, 200800851 Chanil Kim

 I couldn't post it as a comment on my first draft because it's over 4,096 words.

 

Undeniable Memory

             What comes into your mind when you hear the word, war? Almost everyone might be thinking some desperate images showing that innumerable people die and many buildings are demolished, which is all that I can figure out about a war. Even if I served in the army, I do not have much idea of what a war is actually like. That is simply because I did not come even close to any sort of battle itself. Considering that my country has been thorough many wars before, I began to wonder how it would be like to experience any war directly; the older generation might have gotten first-hand war experience. I came to think of hearing directly from my uncle.

             My uncle is a Vietnam veteran. He was in the Marine Corps and applied for the deployment to Vietnam during its war. When I was young, I used to be afraid of him; he tended to say something very loudly and aggressively with his husky voice. In addition, his appearance looked little bit scary to me in part because of his tattoo on his right arm. Thus, I haven't ever considered asking him about his war experience; actually, it seems that he won't tell anybody anything about the story. I thought I could manage to convince him, so I decided to call him.

             When I called him, he didn't seem like he expected my phone call; we hardly have any conversation either on the phone or in person. He still welcomed me sincerely saying hello to me. Then I straightforwardly asked him if I could interview him based on his experience of the Vietnam War. His first reaction came through the phone after a short pause, "I guess I got nothing to tell you about that. I don't even remember much about that." He sounded like being embarrassed a bit, and I did expect that he was not willing to talk about his war experience. "Uncle, you don't need to remember all the details. I just want to hear your war experience and feeling about a war itself," I replied as carefully and politely as I can. After thinking about it without any word, he finally said that he would try to answer my questions as thoroughly as he can.

             First of all, I asked him how he happened to go to Vietnam in the first place. He explained that at that time when he applied for the deployment, he was just two weeks away until he would finish his service. Of course, my grandparents harshly opposed what he was going to do. "I didn't listen to my father when he tried to stop me from going to Vietnam. I just felt that I was supposed to participate in the Vietnam War," he said calmly, adding, "I didn't know why I felt like that. Now, I think that I was obsessed with the masculinity of Korean Marine Corps." Then I asked him, "Uncle, could you please describe how your life was like in Vietnam?" He actually interrupted me before I finished my question, saying, "I don't remember exactly what my life in Vietnam was like. It was definitely tough to stay in Vietnam, far away from my home country. One thing I remember clearly is that it was too sweltering there." I asked him if there was any special operation which he was on. "I was on so many operations that it's hard to tell you the detail. Every single operation was somewhat special to me, I guess," he reacted indifferently. He sounded like he refused to talk about the detail of actual operations that he was on.

Suddenly, I felt like asking him the question that would possibly be sensitive: "Do you regret what you did, by any chance?" He paused for some seconds and answered, "I'm not sure, but sometimes I think that I could have made another choice. I guess I was too young to make a good decision." I replied, "Then what makes you think that you did make a bad decision? Aren't you proud of what you did?" He laughed loudly for seconds and then continued to answer, "Of course, I am really proud of what I did in Vietnam as a Korean marine! What I am trying to say is that now I feel disillusioned with a war itself and that I could definitely avoid being in the middle of the war."

Frankly speaking, the Vietnam War was not our own war. The United States that was at war against the communist axis should prevent the southern Vietnam from being conquered by the northern Vietnam led by the communist party. Such a geopolitical situation made South Korea step into the war as one of America's allies. My uncle abruptly said, "I didn't care about any political or diplomatic thing at all. Even though the situation in Vietnam was almost the same with that of Korea after the Second World War, I didn't feel any sympathy. To be honest, I just wanted to show off that I was brave and tough enough to go to the Vietnam War as a marine."

 The final question was what he thinks about a war itself now. He replied, "I still don't know for sure, but one thing I can surely say is that a war is not good for anyone, even for the winner if there is any winner." He added quietly, "I was on many operations there in Vietnam and killed many Vietnamese soldiers. As coming back to Korea, I was very welcomed and officially rewarded for my service on the Vietnam War. However, I realized that there was nothing to praise or reward. Now I can't avoid thinking that I participated in the war against nobody and came back without any meaning. That's all about a war."

After hanging up the phone, I started to think of why he first hesitated to talk about his war experience. It seems to me that he probably doesn't like to reveal what he did as a Vietnam veteran and how he feels about it. Does he feel guilty or can't he remember his experience just like he said? I can guess that both are likely to be an answer. Conflicts involved in many wars and battles are still happening all around the world, and our own country is technically at war still now. Nonetheless, Koreans who haven't directly experienced a war can't feel how devastating it is. I am still unable to describe what a war might be like even after hearing from one Vietnam veteran, but I think I learned a very important lesson: There is no such a thing like victory at any war: everyone just loses whether they actually win or lose anything like territory.

Final Draft of Chapter 5

 

Rediscovery of family

 

As usual, I went to school and did my homework at home. What an exemplary life for a student. I have one younger sister who is 2 years younger than me. And she is the only one who works and has regular incomes in my family since both my father and mother retired from work and do nothing these days. I rarely have conversation with her, so I made an important decision - interview her for the first time in my life.  

 

At 7 o’clock, there was a sound of door open. “I’m home!” my sister shouted. My heart beats faster after heard her voice. I went out to living room and said hello to her with a welcome voice to show that I’ve been waiting her. Her eyes were bloodshot just like a vampire’s eyes. I hovered around her and asked useless things like how’s work? Did you have a good day?

“Are you OK? You seem unusual today. What do you want? Just say it” She replied. Her voice reveals that she knew that I’m going to ask her some favors. We usually speak to each other friendly only when we need some helps or have problems, especially related to money.

 

“I need to interview you for my homework” I said. She sighed with relief. She probably thought that I’m going to ask her for some money.

“Ah…Ok….what’s the question? I need to watch TV so finish it quickly” she said.

Her job is an art director who designs and directs advertising stuffs. And she’s been working for 6 years now– 3 years in New Zealand and 3 years in Korea. I asked her some questions regarding her job experiences.

 

“Tell me about when you first started design works, and how?” I asked her the first question of my interview.

“You’re my brother. But you don’t know when and how I started it? What a shame! Listen carefully. You know that I was in New Zealand when I was a high school student, right? I didn’t have any ideas about things related to art. But one of my art teachers suggested me to take her art class. At that time, I wasn’t sure about what I’m going to do for my future, so I accepted her suggestion without hesitation. I only had one year to prepare for university entrance. But I made it. I studied Advertising Design in university. I found that I really enjoy building creative things. And since then, I interested in design works” she spoke with flags flying. Her eyes were shining brightly just like stars in the sky.

 

“OK. I got it. Let’s move on to next question. You worked in New Zealand before and got a job in Korea now. Tell me some differences between New Zealand and Korean Company” I asked.

“This question is quite complicated. Make me thinking. Hmm…” She frowned to show her tiresome feeling. “By the way, do you know name of the company I worked? She said.

“No……” I answered and avoided eye contact with her.

“I knew it. Forget it. When I received one project in New Zealand advertising company, I had to do all the procedures alone like getting ideas, planning, and etc. I guess it makes me to have more responsibility about my work, and also gives me high level of effectiveness. Plus it makes me to work actively.  I think I easily got a job in Korea because of that experience. In Korea, there are only a few people who can do all the things by themselves. The working system is different in Korea. Each member of the team receives parts of the project. All they need to do is just work on their assigned parts. It takes long time to finish just one project compared to do it alone. And it also makes employees to work passively” Her voice rose higher and higher when she speaks about Korean company’s working styles.

 

She said that she never had overtime workings in New Zealand. And she told me that it’s ineffective pushing employees to work overtime unless their work is not finished in assigned time.

“What’s worse, they give me a project just an hour before leaving. Rubbish!” she said with anger voice. I saw razor beam coming out from her eyes.

“There’s no point to stay and start the project just an hour before leaving time. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that overtime working is the most useless part” she added. An old saying ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ flashed across my mind.

 

“I guess you definitely prefer New Zealand working style, right? Then, why you work in Korea, not in New Zealand?” I asked her the last question.

“I prefer to work overseas but I don’t want to live by myself. I already spent long time alone. More than 10 years! That’s enough. I want to live with my family. You don’t know how lonely it is to live alone in foreign country” she answered. I felt sorry after hearing her saying because I didn’t really care about her when she was in New Zealand. I was busy looking around and enjoy myself when visited there. What’s worse is that I rarely called her.

 

The first interview with my sister successfully finished. It was a wonderful time having a little bit of conversation with my sister. No matter she works or not, she was just a little child in my eyes. But now, I realized that she’s not a child anymore. She cares our family a lot, and knows more about social things than me meaning that she’s a big girl now. In addition, she becomes one of my mentors, even though she’s my younger sister. Rediscovery of my sister! So proud of her now!

 

Interview Junseok Kang

200600056         Junseok Kang

           Short Life

We started talking with my friend, Cecile. We talked about the terrible memories we had. At first we started as a joke. But things became serious. She started talking about hers with a shiver.

           "I was young when it happened." She said. "My family was on the vacation. And we went to the country side to take a rest. I don't know why but I had bad feeling. Then it happened." She shivered with a fear. "What happened?" I asked her with curiosity. "Did I tell you that I used to climb? Well… I was in the climbing activity club. I was quite good. Then I was afraid of doing that day. But I didn't want to miss the chance. There were not many chances to climb on a good mountain. So I decided to try." I still can't guess where this story is going. "There were many other people to climb. I said hello to them and chatted. We just talked for a short time but we can have the bond between climbers. One of them there was old guy and his son. He was also spending a holiday and he wanted to have a good time with his son. He was delightful and funny guy.

           She finished her coffee and started talk again. She was nervous because she doesn't have much experience. When she was preparing climbing, she met the old guy's son. He was around her ages. They became the friends. He has more experiences in climbing, he gave some advices on it. They had some conversation. She started to have some good feeling toward him. On the day, they met on the climbing place. They were in different team. So they started with their own.

           His team started first. His father was the leader of his team. His father's role was that he climb up ahead of others and setting up the rope for others' safety. When she was watching their performance, it happened. Her friends' father made a mistake of rope setup. The guy following up him who was his son directly fell from 10m height cliff. Unfortunately he didn't make it. She was so shocked and couldn't talk and move. She started to cry with fear.

           After that day, she never climbs again. She said that she has started to cherish her life and the moment she lives now.

 

 

Chapter 5. Bora Hong. final draft

A German in Korea, A Korean in Germany

- Interview with Dario Joseph Lee Konieczny

 

 

 

As I was grown up in Poland as a Korean until I became 15 years old, I know how hard it is to live as a foreigner in other country, where everything is different. I had hard time establishing my identity and accepting my own culture. And I also acknowledged the importance of adapting in the new society.

 

Dario Joseph Lee Konieczny also had gone through this. He was born in Germany in a small city near Berlin between Korean mother and Polish father. In 1978, his mother moved from Korea to Germany and worked there as a nurse. In late 1960's and early 1970's a lot of nurses and miners immigrated to Germany by the demand of german government. When Korea started to recover from the Korean War during that time, a lot of people accepted the proposals working in abroad to earn money. And so was his mother. She met her husband there while working and got married.

 

I asked him how his childhood was like. "I was a normal kid. I went to German kindergarten and then German elementary school. Nothing really special, but I was a trouble maker like other boys." he answered and had a sip of coffee. "When did you realize that you were different that other kids?" I asked him again. In few seconds silence, he answered. "I didn't think I was different, but special. Because my other classmates could only speak German but I was the only guy who could speak German and Korean."

 

When I was about to ask him the other questions that I prepared ahead, he added with little bit of hesitation. "But I knew, I had different appearance in a way, and sometimes the bad guys used to make fun of me, just because I have dark hair and smaller eyes than them." Because I had the similar experience like him, I could feel how much he got hurt from them. "How did you feel? Did you hate yourself? or Have you ever blamed your parents or the your background?" I asked him again, and thought of my past. Because what he said reminded me of my own teenager days. "Well..... I haven't ever had those feelings in Germany. But in Korea. Yes! Several times." he grinned and continued his words. "I still remember the first day when I visited Korea. I was a little kid. I guess I was like 8 years old or something. Everybody adored me but sometimes the old people stared at me when I was with my mom. And some rude people used to shout at me like 'Your dad, the Yankee guy must have left your mom. you poor little thing.' And whenever I heard those kind of unpleasant things, I felt bad and started to be offensive to Koreans. Sometimes I really hated myself, because I look different than other korean kids. I prayed one night to have a Korean father. It was an awful thought to think of it now. But as time went by, I realized that there are a lot of good and nice people too. They treated me same like others. Some told me that I look like an actor or I am handsome. Maybe that's why I became to be confident with myself. " He finished his words with smile. However behind his smile, I could feel how it was tough to go through all kind of things step by step.

To change the mood I asked him what made him love Korea and stay here. "I always thought that Korea is one of my parts in my heart since I was little. I tried to learn Korean from my mom and Koreans in Germany. I kind of got the impression that Koreans are all warm-hearted. I don't know exactly from when. But I always thought of moving to Korea and teaching students German." He replied. " And as you know, I love Korean foods, and I think the Korean girls are the most beautiful in the world. Maybe that's why I want to stay here forever" he added and laughed. After few seconds, he broke the silence and said " But the biggest reason why I love here is because I am a Korean." After I finished his sentence, I was touched. Because I have known him for several years, I also know that he loves Korea so much and his friends here. He always tries to learn and accept Korean culture and language without doubt.

 

I saw his happiness in his life during the interview. Even though he had tough time, he overcame it very well with his positive thoughts and attitudes. Of course we need to welcome and understand the people with open mind as the number of multi-cultural families is increasing in Korea, but they also need to try to accept the different things and adapt in this society. I felt the warmth after the interview with him. As I know how hard it is and confusing, I want to pat everyone's back to cheer up who is undergoing these difficulties.

Kwang-Jin Lee / Chapter 5. 1st Draft

Interview with a Vegetarian

 

 

    I play bass in College of English rock band, Crimson Red. I have done quite a lot performance in past 2 years with a number of vocals, guitarists, drummers and keyboard players. But the person who I played the most with is So-yeon Shin, a female drummer. Usually, a drummer is considered as a part which a powerful and muscular man has to play. But So-yeon has done various performances very well and she's even a vegetarian! Because we have done so many performances and practices together, we became very close. And I was always curious about how a meat-rejecting girl could do such an energetic play.

 

I asked her when she decided to be a vegetarian and why. "I decided to be a vegetarian 3 years ago," she replied. "There is a singer named Jonsi in Iceland. Many vegetarians start their vegetarian diet because of their health or concerns for the environment problems. But I just followed Jonsi's vegetarianism because I was a very fan of him."

 

"Stop eating meat just because of your idol seems quite interesting," I said. "But is there any more reasons? I think stopping something you have done for almost past 20 years could be quite hard and there might be more causes to your firm decision."

 

To my question, she grinned at me. "Actually, it was not a FIRM decision," she said. "I started vegetarian diet in thought that I could quit whenever I want to. But anyway, that decision continued till now." Then, she seemed to think carefully as she was putting her hand to her chin. "You know, I like music very much," after a while she started to speak. "And I searched a lot about Jonsi and his music, and I found out that he was a vegetarian. There were even recipes and cooking videos that he uploaded on the Youtube. So, I realized that the vegetarianism is one of the important parts of his life and music. I wanted to understand his music through following his vegetarianism."

 

I grinned at her, too. It was quite interesting that a famous musician could change someone's lifestyle to this level. I also like music, but for me, I was just listening to someone's songs. I wasn't interested to the people themselves who played even my favorite songs. So I asked her if her vegetarianism actually helped her to understand his music more.

 

"Yes," She replied with a clear voice. "I felt that Jonsi and his band, Sigur Ros, played songs which are nature-friendly. Hm.. It may sound weird." She laughed out loud. But then, she started her talk in a calm voice. "Whenever I listened to their music, I felt like I was walking in the green forest peacefully. That's why I expressed their music as 'nature-friendly'. And after practicing similar life with him, I think I can now see and feel some things that I couldn't before."

 

These days, there are some entertainers who say they are vegetarians in South Korea. And there is news that is saying the populations of vegetarians are growing. But still, there are many bias and difficulties to them because there proportion is not very big yet. I asked So-yeon if there were some difficulties and problems to maintain her vegetarianism.

 

"The most difficult thing is having meals," She replied after a big sigh. "There are plenty of restaurants of which their meal includes meats. But it is so hard for me to find a place where the meals don't include meat source. The cafeteria in HUFS campus doesn't offer meals that vegetarians can eat. Even the Gimbap has ham in it." But her face became bright in an instant. "But I'm quite lucky. There are lots of people who are considerate. My younger brother especially show concerns about my meals when my mother is cooking. Many of my none-vegetarian friends gladly go with me to restaurant that serves meals that don't include meat. And you know what? Do you remember when you suggested our band members to visit vegetarian buffet together? It was my first visit with none-vegetarian friends to the restaurant for only vegetarians. I was very excited and thanked you guys for your concerns."

 

Actually, I was very surprised to hear how the visit to the buffet meant to her, because I just offered the visit to experience new things that I have never done. I was quite happy to hear that she really liked it. And I thought that moment was the right time to ask about some sensitive topics.

 

"Many Koreans think that the meat provides us to sustain a healthy life," I asked in a careful voice. "Didn't vegetarian diet make you weaker or cause nutritional unbalance?"

But she seemed to have questioned like that many times before. Without a bit of unpleasant look, she asked calmly how I thought about her. "Do you think I suffer malnutrition? You know, playing drums requires a lot of stamina. And I have never passed out!" She again laughed out loud. "Being a vegetarian is not just stop eating meat without any other alternatives. I don't eat meat, but I eat beans or nuts instead. And other nutrients can also be provided through other none-meat foods."

 

As a last question, I asked her: "Is there anything you want to say to the people who are considering being a vegetarian?"

 

"Don't be too serious," she said, "to be a vegetarian. If they think that being vegetarian is too strict, it becomes more stressful. As I said, I started to be a vegetarian in thought that I could quit whenever I want. If I thought, 'I will never eat meat until death,' I couldn't maintain my diet. Just think like, 'Let's expand my days of eating healthy.' With this thinking, I could get rid of my desire to have meat till now."

 

At the end of the interview, she said that the vegetarians shouldn't blame and criticize meat eaters. She explained that those comment only makes hostility of none-vegetarians. She was right. I remembered when a vegetarian tried to preach how the meat-eating habit was cruel. I was just very angry and it just ended as my bias toward vegetarians. She said just showing that the vegetarian could also, or more, live healthy could make influence to other people. And she was the person who was practicing as she said.

200901527 Paek Haegyung Ch.5 First draft

Chapter 5. First Draft

 

     Nowadays in Korea, there are many soap operas in which the main character is a teacher. For example, there is "School 2013" which covers the story about the problems that might be current important issues at school. Watching the program from time to time, I seriously thought of the teaching job and how should teachers do when things do not turn out the way I wanted. How to be a good teacher has been always a matter of primary concern since I decided to become a teacher. I did not know how to treat students and felt afraid of becoming a leader of a class. I thought I had not enough both direct and indirect experiences of that kind. Yet it was hard to make a conclusion and find a solution to the question. I thought I needed some help or advice from others and there was one professor that went through my mind.

Last semester, I met a professor in one of my major classes. She was a professor and a teacher in high school at the same time. So she had many firsthand experiences at school and in every class, before moving on to today's topic, she would talk about some tips for teaching job and useful knowhow to deal with problems that she learned from her experiences. Her stories were always moving to me and I thought her attitude toward teaching was exactly what I thought ideal: she thought keeping close relationship with students is crucial in teaching that teachers should never forget nor ignore. From then, she became my role model for my future teaching life. Therefore, I decided to call her to ask for some advice.

 "Haegyung, it's nice to hear you again. How are you doing?" She answered the phone with welcome voice. I was thankful that she recognized my voice. I thanked her about the last semester and asked her that I would like to interview her. She said OK and our interview began.

I told her that I was having trouble concerning teaching job because I did not know which way to go in order to become a teacher. "Especially, I am not sure I will be able to control students who cause problems and who do not want to study," said I. "Did you ever had any experiences that you had problems dealing with students?" "Well, yes… Of course I did have troubles when I started teaching." She replied. "It was the third year that I fell into a dilemma." She added and went on telling. She said, at that time, she got into a serious trouble, almost the biggest trouble in her teaching profession life. She thought she was doing right to students but they seemed to ignore her sincerity and did not listen to her. So she felt useless and even became skeptical about teaching itself. Seeing the students who caused troubles however she admonished, she asked herself who she was and why she chose teaching as her job. "Then, how did you overcome the dilemma?" I asked her. "After some time, I realized that everything was my fault." "What does that mean?" "I just wanted to change students. But actually the one that should be changed was me. Also I realized that the reason why students turn on me in anger is because they are stressed out due to many exams and their insecure future and not because they hate me." In her calm voice, I recognized sincerity and true love for students.

Finishing the interview, she said that I would become a good teacher and encouraged me to try to find my own solution to each problem that I would face at school. "You will make it. I believe you." She added, "but don't forget one thing. Students should be your primary concern. You never waste time when you try to understand students. They know if you love them. That is the very teaching" I thanked her for spending time to me and hung up the phone.

After all, the most important thing that she thought teachers do was to make a close relationship and keep it under any circumstances. I knew it from what she told in the last classes. But I was really glad and thankful to hear about her hard times and how she could overcome the dilemma. One day, I hope I will be an admirable teacher like her and tell students who want to be a teacher about my own stories.

201003568 - Wonchull Choi - Chapter 5, First Draft

An old wound of a lady

 

"Can we please stop this?" said she, my auntie, seeming to be fighting hardly back the tears, right after I got both of her depressed look and her answer to the question about her later life as a single mother after her divorce.

She isn't actually my real, I mean, bloodgiven aunt, but she has been more than that ever since I was born, building a relationship with my mum entitled as "a best friend".

She used to work together with my mum at a judicial scrivener office since their twenties and also coincidentally, has been living in our neighbourhood. So she used to take the place of my mum, whenever she wasn't able to take her responsibility for her role as one's mother, such as being on duty as a snack lady on the field day, because of her office businesses. (She kind of quit her job for several personal reasons later then, such as her marriage, so was she able to help in my mum's childcare.)

"I got married to a man who has been literally one and only male in my life a bit later than those at the age of me. I… had loved him and sort of devoted myself to support him with his daily necessaries at least for 10 years by sacrificing my precious youth, believing in him and hoping that someday I would get married to him like for ever and ever." so she cleared her throat and started to open her lips, as I first brought up my request whether she would allow me to interview her. She continued with her bitter smile, "I had arranged all the wedding gifts including the wedding ring and purchased the house, of course the furniture, too. Even though all the people surrounding me including my parents were absolutely opposed to my decision, I got married him, because I loved him so much that all the sayings 'one cannot love and be wise' and 'everyone gets blinded when loving', looking back now, could be just all mine." She somehow seemed as if she was still longing for those sole love hours in that she believed to be truly loved.

Shortly after her marriage, however, she had figured out that her husband were looking elsewhere than her and acting irresponsibly for their marital life. All of sudden, she had become to have a baby, but still, her husband's irresponsibility got even worse day by day. He used to work at an interior company then, but it was just an edgy result after a journey of numerous resignations. With no consideration as a breadwinner, he had kept quitting his job only if there was anything unsatisfactory related his occupational environment such as co-workers or off hours. Another resignation, then his announcement of setting up his own business. All the capital had to be raised by her and thereby she had lent out the money from her friends and surrounders. "I had done it to keep my love and marriage. At that moment, I thought that kind of decision would resolve the problems at hand, the one best way. Not a moment had I considered of a divorce with him in the beginning, because if I would've, at that moment, I thought I would become a nonperson not only among the family members but also in the society. I know how awful and foolish I was." She rattled off without a break, staring at muffins on the table that I brought for her from one of my favourite cafés. "But, you know what, I had to break out of this vicious circle. Not only for myself, but also for our… no, MY baby, the reason I live. I had sued for divorce and then there was such a long, chocking time. I still don't understand why he didn't agree with that, even though he had showed me his mind being somehow sick of me by fooling around with other women."

Everything related to the divorce suit, mercifully, went very well for her and she also was awarded custody of her daughter, too. However, earning a livelihood as a single mother after her divorce, particularly in Korea, seemed to be not going in order. There were problems everywhere. She had to go through all sorts of hardships, such as those prejudices of others and thereout coming occurrences, in the process of resuming her work for living and even after, pretending as being deaf and blind, only for her daughter.

"I had even opened and managed this little cart bar once, because for almost every employer, doesn't matter what kind of company I applied for, I was just an unlooked-for employee. Well, I truly had learned a lot that even money can't buy by undergoing those trials. Those have become kind of solid rocks in my deepest inside and then driving forces for being one's qualified mother. I don't reproach him or regret of all kinds of  decisions, that I made back then and up to now, anymore. And you know what? All of them at those moments do belong to me, which means, repenting of those moments leads to injuring my own prestige and myself. For one reason or another, a matter of the most importance is that I'm really satisfied with my current life and it even brings me joy everyday." So did she seem to want to conclude by saying this. I didn't say any more, rather threw my hands in with typing and expressed my appreciation for the interview by hugging her to the top of my bent. (And it was actually not just my appreciation but also my sorry for everything she had to endure so far and deep admiration of her, of course.)

200904069 Park Ye Jee

FIRST DRAFT <CHAPTER 5> 200904069 Park Ye Jee As soon as I saw the assignment, I thought of my family. When I tried to think about my family's history, ironically I didn't know much about that. So I decided to interview my family. I have a total 4members in my home: father, mother, aunt, brother. Aunt who is my mother's youngest sisters has been living together since when I was 11years. My older brother is studying now abroad. On Saturday afternoon, I called my home to interview because I was living apart with them. My aunt answered the phone. "Oh, YeJee. Hello?" "Aunt, Hello. What are you doing now?" I asked her. "I'm just taking a rest because nowadays, my condition is not so good," she said. Her voice sounded she was sleepy. I was about to ask her history but I worried her condition and I asked her what my father was doing. "He might be taking a nap in his room." She replied, "But mother is awake now. Wait for a second." She said and called my mom. Without any choice, I decided to interview mom. "My lovely daughter what happened to you? You never call home first." My mom said in a delight voice. I told her that I wanted to know about when she was a teenager and asked her whether she could answer a few questions. She accepted with pleasure. I asked her what it was like when she was a middle school student. She stopped saying for a moment and started to say. "It was so difficult to live at that time. My family was not rich. So my parents had to earn money to raise me and my brothers and sisters." She was born in a small village near the sea in the south province of Chungcheon. And she was the oldest among brothers and one sister. She had three younger brothers and one youngest sister. She explained that her family was poor at that time and while grandfather and grandmother were going out to work, she had to take care of her brothers and the sister. It was not the only thing that she had to do. She had to clean the house, make meals for brothers and the sister, go to a mountain and gather some pine cones to use them for firewood. "Wow, you did that when you were young? I didn't know that you even went to the mountain to fetch some cones." I said. And she added, "Besides, when I became middle school student, I was living near my school with first brother and my friend because the middle school was so far from my home. So when I go home on the weekend, I had to walk for 3hours."She recalled the time. I was really surprised my mother had to go home by walk at that time. "Why did you walk? Wasn't there a bus?" I asked. And she replied, "Yes. My village was so small village that every bus didn't go there."  I felt sorry to hear that and I was curious about her high school life, then. She said she wanted to be independent and to make money. So she moved to another city which is called "SooWon", where there was a commercial high school. She had four classes and worked for eight hours in three shifts every week. I asked her, "How much did you earn at that time?" Mother didn't seem to remember and guessed, "Probably two hundred thousand won? Yeah, it was only two hundred thousand won!" I thought it was almost miserable. And I became sad how much difficult she was. "Is it almost done? Do you want further story?" asked my mom. "No, but if I have something I want to know, I will call you again. Bye." I hung up the phone and I could respect my mother more. Because she experienced hard time during her youth, she wants to give us everything as far as she can. Next time I will try to ask another story.