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!