Saturday, October 31, 2015

Yeonjae Hwang/Chapter 4 draft/Tuesday 1pm

 

The building was actually turned out to be a two story high café. Later I found out that it was originally a house but the family members renovated it to a large café. The place was not that far from where I lived, however to my surprise it was my first time knowing the existence of it. As I entered the place, I was first amazed at the interior and its cozy atmosphere. Because the time I visited was quite early, not many people were there and I was able to sit around the corner, which always is my favorite spot. With delicious hot cocoa served, seated at my most preferred seat where there seems to be absolutely no disturbance, great instrumental music streaming into my ears, and finally with the touch of warm sunlight reflected by the large window made everything around me stop. It was a moment captured for my entire life. I simply loved the place and the atmosphere. I enjoyed watching people outside walking pass by, the leaves falling to the ground, and cars moving slowly and steadily in a sound motion. There, all my combined feelings of anxiety and worry were melted away. Instead, it was altered to peacefulness. It was the first time I could relax and the first satisfactory time spent by my own. From that day on, whenever I want to take a rest I go there early in the morning and of course take the most preferred seat. I order other delicious menus and literally enjoy my time being there. Particularly, I love to visit the place during winter seasons as the coziness and beautiful scenery appears more dramatic to me. Especially on Decembers, I always have a strange ritual of my own in terms of sending Christmas cards to my close friends and relatives. So with a bunch of cute cards and stickers, I run to the cafe and start to write one by one.

 

Tuesday1pm~3pm/Week8-First Draft/Sieun Kim

My house in U.S changed my studying abroad life to a valuable memory. I was a timid child and had passive attitude before I lived in U.S. So I always worried that I won't make many friends in America. But it was different than I expected. Life there gave me a chance to experience variety of things with many new friends. I had lived in an apartment not many things located inside when I had lived in Korea but in U.S, I lived in a house much larger than my apartment in Korea. It was a three-storied house with a swimmimg pool. My room was on the third floor. Since my room was small, there was only a bed setted for me and some dolls I played with. But other rooms were big enough to play. In my study room, there were supplements for art, for example, some drawing books, crayons, markers, and stickers.There also was a computer so I played games and sometimes wrote poems. I often took a bubble bath in the bathroom, cooked in the kitchen and did school assignments sitting on a rocking chair in the living room. In the basement, there were camping equipment, tools needed for house repair thrown on the floor and my father's car. One thing unique in my house was that there was a tree house in the garden. The tree house was decorated similar to an attic in other friends' house. There were a little TV with DVD player, toys and blankets. I climbed up to the tree house whenever I wanted to take a rest and watched a movie. My friends visited my house very often because there were many things to do and could play on my tree house. So it was not difficult for me to have many foreign friends and adjust to new school environment.

Ha-eun Jeong/First Draft of Chapter 4 Essay/Tuesday 1 p.m.

             I went to an international school located far from Seoul, my hometown, both for my middle and high school life, so I had moved to there with my mother. Since my real house was in Seoul, we had to buy most of furniture again when we got into an apartment there. My room was not as a comfortable place as the one from my original house for the first several weeks. It could not be any simpler than having just a bed, a desk, and wardrobes in a room. So I missed my room in my house back in Seoul, and my room here, for then, seemed so foreign to me as my first days at school were as well.

             However, as the time passed and as my mother started decorating my room for me, I started to get used and attached to my room. She put bright green curtains with thin, opaque layers, placed an air freshener and a vase filled with beautiful flowers on my desk, and a coffee table next to my bed, and bought me some books to read and put them on the coffee table. She was the one who helped me get adapted to the new environment and grow fond of my new room as well. Thanks to her efforts, my room soon became my favorite place. Whenever I was back from school, the first thing I did was diving into my bed. It became such a relaxing place for me, and it was where I could find comfort in during my six years of stay there. During summer days, my balcony door was always open so the wind came through the window, and those bright green curtains were swollen by the wind and reached the end of my bed. I could hear kids playing outside through the open window, and smell the scent of flowers and the pine tree air freshener mixed together… God, I still miss my now-old room so much.

Bo-won Kim/Chapter 4 first essay/ Tuesday 1pm

Ironic Bus

Number 1224 doesn't mean Christmas Eve to me like many of you would have thought but rather something that brings back my memory from the past. Thinking back to the past, I no more have to face the harsh reality that I'm facing now. It's as if I'm going back to the kid I used to be full of hopes and dreams.

 

"So we gotta take the bus to get off Cheongnayangri station…" A man was talking to a girl next to him. The girl was about the age of 10, two big eyes staring at her father's gestures. Looking vacantly at his gestures like his little daughter, I heard the girl mumble something in her mouth. The sound of wind blowing heavily disturbed me from concentrating on what the girl's saying. After the wind had calmed down, I could hear the number 1224 clearly. The girl was murmuring "number 1224…1224… 1224…" for several times and asked her dad, "dad, so it's the bus number 1224, right?". "That's right. But don't worry. I'll be here until you get on the bus." The girl put a big smile on her face after hearing what her dad said. His words seemed to have relieved her.

 

Hearing the bus number 1224, soon I became a kid waiting for the bus just like the girl next to me. I share my past with the bus since I was an elementary school student. For more than six years, I have taken the same bus at the same bus stop and possibly with the same bus driver. Whenever I see the greenish thing appear around the corner of Hagye station, my heart bounced with adrenaline soaring up. "I had to take that bus." That's the first thing popped up in my head. "If I couldn't take it, I couldn't make it in time for the first class and eventually I had to get punished." The rational thinking continued after few seconds. And finally there came a quick decision, which obviously had already been made. "I hate to get punished so I have to take that bus no matter what." But the problem was that I wasn't the only one having that in mind. Everyone's adrenaline was soaring up. When this happened, it meant that there is going to be a war in a second.

 

The war broke out. The weapons for the soldiers were usually their speeds and their skills. The fastest person gets on the bus and people who lined up after he or she get on the bus one another. Winners held their straps as their trophies and the defeated had to give up their hopes to get on the bus and aim for the next bus. Usually, the bus driver decides who the last winner is by closing the door when the bus is full but there were some who couldn't abandon their dreams. They climbed up for one more chance. In the winter, situation got worsened as soldiers are armed with heavy clothes.

 

However when the bus driver brought an end to this war and closed the door, there came a peace like nothing had happened just before. People helped each other by sharing their straps, which were there handles just before. People helped each other by giving seats to the elderly. In the bus, seats were more than a trophy. People helped each other by pressing the buttons instead for those who couldn't reach the button and cry out for help.

 

I have experienced this irony throughout my school life with the bus number 1224. I've seen nasty things, I've seen heart-warming things, I basically saw everyday things almost every day in the bus 1224. I no longer have a chance to get on the bus 1224 nor I don't have a time but the past memory I share with bus 1224 will be deep inside my heart. The bus 1224, the most popular territory every soldier from Hagye station bus stop had aimed for, will always experience the same thing over and over. It will declare war and end the war as always but inside it, there will be a peace as always.

 

Sangjee Lee /CH4 Essay 1st draft/Tuesday 1.p.m

 

  If someone asks me where the most memorable place in my life is so far, I have to say my front yard when I lived in Pochen. There was three paths that leads out from the front yard. I used walk through the first path to go to the elementary school. It leads out to the most crowded parts of the town. Second path was the path I loved the most. There was this small rusty door that leads out to the second path and when you open it, patches of rice paddy spreads out in front of you. Also our neighbor grew a lots of corn along the side of the door. It was a perfect place to play hide and sick. As a child, I didn't have much toys or watched television because there were everything outside the house. MY sister and I always found somethings that interest us in our front yard.

 When spring comes, my grandmother used to take us when she go out to pick some shepherd's purse which is called Naeng-I in Korea. When you walk out to the first path, you can find tons of fresh green herbs alongside the path. The small hillock alongside the path was covered with green herbs. The earth was still hard and cold which was the hint of winter but amazingly small green herbs with fresh smell peaked out from the ground. If you saw hint of green at the beginning of month you'll see the hillock covered in green after few weeks. I remember three of us at the small hillock with the bag full of herbs. The earth is cold but if you peck it with a hoe to dig out herbs, it broke easily. It felt so soft and cool grabbing the soil with bare hands. The Naeng-i smelled so fresh and unique that you can pick a smell even from far away. When we came back with bagful of Naeng-i, grandmother brew some stew with it and we had wonderful dinner together.

 Summer was a great time to catch a tadpole and frog. When summer begins, my sister and I used to go out to rice paddy every day to check if there are tadpole yet. After the rice planting, we could see lots of tadpole hiding between rice patches. As soon as we see it, we used to go inside the house to find something that we can catch tad pole. We scooped a water that had little tiny black tadpole just like finding treasure. We spend all day catching tadpole before mom calls us back to eat dinner. We put all the tadpoles we caught inside the huge bucket with the water from rice paddy. The strange thing was that tadpoles started to disappear after few days. The mystery was solved after I spent almost every second in front of that bucket. I noticed that they started to grow legs and when they do, they starts to climb up the bucket to escape. When they make it to the ground, they didn't have any strength to go to the water so they died. After seeing one tad pole dead on the ground with only back legs, I and my sister never caught a tadpole again.

  When winter comes, every inch of tree and plant covered with white frosty snow. It was a perfect time to skate on the rice paddy. As whether get colder, water in the rice paddy starts to froze. At the beginning of the month, it is little bit dangerous to skate there since you don' know if water froze to the center. The water is quite shallow, so even if you fall in to water you won't drown in it, but you'll get bad cold. So my friends and I always wait till the end of December to go skate on the rice paddy. We didn't have any skate but it was slippery enough. We spent hours on the rice paddy or throw snow ball in our front yard.

  After I turned 13, I moved to other place and there was no front yard. I haven't visited my old house since the day I moved. Almost ten years had passed, and I am afraid that all the things I remember would be gone. I'm sure it changed a lot, and that's the main reason I don't want to visit there. That place was a huge part of my childhood memory. If I see this place all changed and things I remember don't exist anymore, it would break the happy memory of my childhood.

Yoona Kim / Chapter 4 Essay First Draft / Tuesday 1pm

For ten years, I walked down and up the same road every morning and afternoon. The place where I call home was only a 3-minute walk away from my school. A weird named 33-story apartment 'Pavilion' was my home for 10 years and a rooftop of the building is keeping a lot of memory from teenage girl to grown up Yoona.

The rooftop was not open to public, not even to residents. Then how can I enter the rooftop? In my third year of living at this apartment, I found out that one stairways are linked to the rooftop with the doors unlocked. It was when I was in my first year in the high school. I am sure it is easy to imagine how serious the teenage girl's worry was. The rooftop was where I kept my happiness, sadness, and my daily emotions.

Long, never ending grey walls were surrounding the rooftop. A wide floor paved with green paintings reminded me of helicopter station. 4 rooftop ventilators on every corner of the rooftop was like a mosque even though it created uncomfortable sounds. If I walk 5 steps ahead from the entrance door, I could see the open view of my town, Bundang. That panoramic view was stunning that I never imagined going to any mountain to hike for the views. Looking at the panoramic view of my town, my worries and thoughts had simply gone away from me like balloons flying up to the sky.

On the contrary to the noisy sounds from the ventilators, it was the calmest place I have ever visited. There was a silence amid the city noises. Going through the hard time preparing for my blurry future life was not something that I was not expecting to have in my life. That blurriness suddenly came to my mind and whenever I felt miserable, I went up to the rooftop. At that time, the rooftop also seemed like it was covered with cloud that I could not see an inch ahead. However, all of a sudden, a chilly wind blew from nowhere and swept away all the blurriness both in my mind and on the rooftop. It was the most exciting moment that I could have on the rooftop feeling freshened and renewed. The rooftop did all this and that for 10 years for me.

I recently moved to a new house. I do not quite call this place my home yet. That is probably because I have not found any my place or safety zone in this place. I miss my rooftop a lot. It was full of joy and happiness that came after all the worries gone away. I hope I could go back to that place or maybe I might find similar place to the rooftop in my new surroundings.

Jeongsoo Hwang / Chapter 4. First Draft / Tue 1pm



The gift from the heaven


 

 A few years ago, I went to Bohol, Cebu, Philippines. I heard it was one of the most beautiful islands in the Philippines.

 A big ferry carried me and my friends across the deep blue sea. It was very hot as we had expected but fine enough to enjoy the journey. As soon as we arrived at Bohol, we headed for the chocolate hill. In fact, I expected it would have been named because this island would have produced lots of chocolate, the factory exploited Filipino workers and finally the chocolate hill would be the history of the painful history. I also thought as an alternative that the shape of the hill was like Hershey's Kisses, which gave the chocolate hill "the chocolate hill." Actually, when I passed through a forest, it was normal one to me. When I reached the top point, which makes visitors enjoy the whole scenery of the chocolate hill, I couldn't say anything. It seemed that the great plain consisted of the green forest with a great deal of broccoli and there were upturned bowls tanned to dark brown color here and there as if somebody would have thrown them out. Although I looked down the landscape, I couldn't believe it was created naturally. Rather, it was likely to be made by a brilliant art designer, who wanted to relax the people sick of the routine.

  Before the wonders disappeared, I happened to meet the most beautiful beach in my life. The sun hurried to go whether it had something to do. As if it left reddish footprints in the sky, the sky would get colored beautifully by the setting sun. I felt the sky in Philippines was too low, I could be colored, too. I tried to find a hammock, which could made me see it peacefully. As soon as I lie down on the hammock swinging lightly, I fell into the sky. In other words, it came to me with no hesitancy. I closed my eyes and reflect on myself. No matter who I am, no matter whom I was with, no matter what I meant for, nothing bothered me at that time. As the setting sun emptied room to thousands of stars, I could believe the starry night came true in real life. I felt all the people in the world could have their own stars because of the great number of stars. I cannot forget the night hundreds of thousands of stars came to me and the day my heart was reddening like the sky due to the setting sun.


 



 

 

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Youjung Kim/Final draft of Chapter3 essay/Tues 1p.m.

    My Father 

 

"Wow, he looks like Tom Cruise. I'm falling in love with him!"

This was my friend's reaction upon seeing my father for the first time. I have always felt proud of my father, because I knew that he was not like any other fathers.

    My father is lean but muscular. He has played soccer every week for years. I think that is why he is a well-built man for his age. Wrinkles on his face show he is not young, but his hazelnut eyes are bright and shiny, like those of a young man. He has a radiant, almost boyish smile on his face, which shows his personality. He has such a good sense of humor that he never fails to make the family laugh even in the most serious situation. He is a person who makes everyone laugh at a family reunion.

    My father place a great value on education. He said, "You can never have too much knowledge. There is no end when it comes to educating yourself. Learning is what makes you human. I find joy in learning various things in the different fields, and I hope you do too." When I think of my father, I always picture him reading books. His study room is filled with numerous books about different topics. He reads books about science, economics, history and so on. Sometimes he reads books for hours without even taking a short break. As much as he loves gaining knowledge from books, he is a huge fan of music. He listens to classic music in his car and his office. Not only he enjoys listening to the music, he tries playing it himself. He even has his own electric piano and guitar, and almost everyday, he practices playing the piano and the guitar on his own.

My father and I like to take a stroll, or watch movies together. I also enjoy going to the soccer field, and watch him play. Sometimes he shares his old memories, like when he was dating my mother, or when he was a highschool student, which my sister and I enjoy listening to the most.

    My father's motto in life is 'happiness.' When I was going through a difficult time in highschool, he handed me a book called 'How to be Happy', and even gave me small tips on how to be positive and happy. He would sing a song to me, and say "When you feel down, you should try singing. Singing makes you happy."

    To me, he is a fresh breeze blowing on my forehead even in the hardest, toughest time, reminding me that life is not about sweating it out. He once said to me, "Happiness is the most important value in your life. You live, because you want to be happy. You always have to remember things to be grateful for in your life, and try to stay positive no matter what."

    He is an evergreen, because I know he is always there for me, when I need him the most. I feel fortunate that I can proudly say, "My father is the best father in the world."

Monday, October 19, 2015

Sieun Kim / Chapter 3_final draft / Tuesday 1pm

My Grandma, Hyoungran

Hyoungran is my grandmother. She is a small lady with a black hair. She does not look like a grandmother. Actually I don't feel like being with a grandma when I am with her. I was greatly surprised when I was noticed that she is already 74. She told me her story and it was same as what I learned in my history class.

Hyoungran was the first person I saw after I was born because she was the one who was handed me to from the doctor. I do not remember her face of the moment I first seen of her but I can guess that she would have hold me smiling sweetly and hugged me warmly. I know she had acted like it because I have seen her taking care of a puppy at her house with a smile and warm hug after I became an adult. She likes babies and small animals. Anyone can realize that she is a warm-hearted and generous person when they meet her.

Her friendly smile opened my mind. She became a best friend to me. We met very often since we lived in a same neighborhood. We went shopping together, talked about what happened last day each other, cooked together for our family, and studied together. She always listened to what I say with heartfelt reactions. She practically raised me until I became an adult. I could gain valuable experience with her and establish my values through her.

Now, we don't live in a same neighborhood but I visit her often and she always welcomes me. I believe that I am a very lucky person to have a precious grandma like Hyoungran. I love her so much and like to spend time with her. And I know I am a special child to her, too. 

Harim Kim/Final Draft for ch.3/Tuesday 1pm

                                                          True Believer


I met Yuna Kang last semester, as a newcomer at a press I have been working until now. I still remember the moment when she first walked into the room I was waiting. With the small, brown glasses she always wears, she seemed like the nicest person you could be around. Frankly, I could not feel anything special about her appearance. But like always, first impressions are not good enough to define someone. Her stories were one of the most fascinating ones I have ever heard. Also, I was quite amazed by the upright honesty of the stories and her life. It is her fifth year at HUFS, and those five years are more than spectacular.


We like to meet at a cafe near campus. She is currently the vice student president of our university. That day, she was quite dressed up. I asked her why because I recall her wearing jeans and sweaters everyday because she lives in Il-san, where is two hours away from Imun-dong where the campus is located and she was always busy. But now, as a vice-president, she meets new people everyday. "Dressing formally makes me more confident, I guess." She answered. I understood her. She wants to look responsible and trustworthy at any circumstance. The new dress code is just one of the efforts she is making. Before asking her formal questions I prepared, we chatted awhile. I, as an editor in chief of the magazine she established two years ago, the interview was a great opportunity for me to listen to the bottom of her heart.


She has always been serious about journalism. She always put an emphasis on how reporters should treat writing. So, for me and many other people, it was quite shocking when we heard that she was going to run for the school vice president. She is a natural-born journalist and she is so good at getting data and writing a decent articles with years of experience. I was so curious about the reason she changed her position at school. She laughed and took a  sip of the iced Cafe Latte, and laced her fingers. "Well, it's a long story." And with a nice cup of milk tea, I was ready for a long story. 


Yuna dreamed to be a professional journalist since she was a middle school student. During her term as an editor in chief at the school newspaper, the dream seemed to be not far away for her. But after the forced-resignation, she felt miserable and lost all hope about the power of journalism. She felt that the pen could be mightier than the sword only when representatives with certain power help them. That is the reason that made her run for the school vice president who represents students and has the right of decision for many school affairs. 


"I'd say I'm ambitious because I would really like to empower and support freedom of speech on campus. " She first talked in a strong tone. Her eyes glittered every time she talked about her agenda and dreams. Watching and listening to a person speak with a strong belief gives me chills every time. One afternoon was never going to be enough to understand her. As the conversation continued, I was touched by the bona fide affections she got for the fellow students and also for the community. She is a living example of 'an iron hand in a velvet glove.' She believes that a firm conviction and devotion could change every problem we tackle. Defining Yuna is not an easy task. One thing I am sure is that she is one of the strongest person I have ever met. 

Lee Chaehyun/Chapter 3 Final Draft/TUE 1PM

My mom is a very energetic and diligent person. She is quite lean and slim, because she always keeps a healthy diet. She has a short and black hair, a round face, eyebrows that are strong-willed as steel, but also has big black eyes that reveal she is an affectionate, warm-hearted person. She is the one that influenced my thoughts about importance of managing one's time.

During the weekdays she is very busy, yet always manages her time very well. My mom gets up early in the morning at six, makes us breakfast, and prepares to go to work. Working as a pharmacist, she do not come back home until 7PM. After she comes back home, right after changing her clothes, she goes out again to do her evening exercises, which is the part that she impresses me the most. I always ask her, "Aren't you tired? Your legs must pretty hurt." I've worked part-time in her pharmacy for a couple of weeks, and seen her so busy that she doesn't have time to sit down and relax for a while, except during lunch breaks. Then she replies, "Yeah, they hurt, but if I don't go working out for even a single day, I don't feel very refreshed." I always tell her I don't understand the part she relieves stress by working out, because I hate exercising. She says, chuckling, "You have to be diligent like me if you want to lose some weight." Then I can't say a word, because she's right.

Besides her daily working and exercising hours, my mom attends a study group once in a week, to study more about the medicines and their prescribing instructions. Her pursuit of learning is very strong; she thinks learning does not go with age. After the studying session ends, she comes back home very late on 12 AM. Recently, she also started learning how to use DSLR camera. She has great interests in taking pictures with it, and regards it as one of her new hobbies.

It is not only me that was surprised by the way my mom always keeps herself busy. She told me braggingly, that her friends were also impressed and had said, "You look as if you're living 48 hours a day, not 24 hours."

As I am a very lazy type of person, always lying in bed until the very last hour, I once asked her, "Don't you feel very tired, making yourself so busy almost every day?" "Of course I feel tired." She answered. "However, as long as I have enough strength to carry out this routine busy life, and as long as I have time for these self-developments, I feel thankful for it." I was utterly impressed by these optimistic thoughts of hers, since I acted totally opposite of her; I don't like to be busy, I hate going out of bed, I hate exercising… I have always been lazy, although I was more than twenty years younger than my mom. Her words changed my thoughts about managing my own time effectively.

Nowadays I try to get up early, try to go to cafes to study in the weekends, and try to go walk the dog in my free time. The lesson my mom gave me also significantly changed my former routine life of going to school in weekdays and staying in bed all day during the weekends. I will always keep her words in mind, and maybe try to go working out with her and get to like exercising someday.

 

Yeo Eun Ki/Final Draft for chapter 3/Tuesday 1pm

We talk over occasional long texts, my friend and I. She's attending a small, private college in Louisiana and I'm a student at HUFS. We haven't seen each other in three years. We don't even talk over the phone. And there hasn't been an exchange of selfies to remind each other what we look like. It's somewhat an odd, quirky friendship that may seem puzzling to some people, but it makes that just makes it even more meaningful for me.
  I don't exactly remember the first time I met her. And how we got to be friends, I honestly cannot say. But what I do remember is that before we became friends, I was intimidated by her slightly superior attitude, her poker face, and the wry smirk that played on her lips. Sometime in our freshman year of high school, we realized we had more in common than we thought and we slowly became friends. Now when I picture her in my mind, I can remember distinctly that she had bright hazel eyes that intensely stared into mine, and freckles scattered across her pale face. Her expression was usually impassive, bordering on bored. I could never really tell what she was thinking until she flashed a smile or directly told me how she felt.
  They say first impressions aren't everything, and I fully agree with that statement. Little did I know that the girl I had been slightly intimidated by would have one of the biggest hearts and funniest jokes I've come across in my twenty one years. My friend Rebekah, or Bekah as I like to affectionately call her, and I share very few personality traits. She is a scientist; cool, logical, and objective. I, as a budding literature student, can be sensitive and moody. As a future chemical engineer, she spends her times in labs while I read Forster and Fitzgerald. But somehow, with our shared love for books and sarcasm and general fondness for each other, we make our friendship work. She tells me she enjoys my long rambling messages because it seems very much like my character to write like so and I never get offended by her short and somewhat distant replies because I know that's just Rebekah. But she always cheers me up with an encouraging text when I tell her about a disastrous class presentation, and is always ready with a sound and clear advice when I send very long message in hysterics. One of our mutual friends once said to me, "Rebekah seems very serious, but she's very kind, isn't she?" And she is. Last year, I texted her a very long message because I was upset and wanted to talk to her. Telling her my problem and the amount of stress and worry it was giving me, I sent the message and hoped she would reply back soon. One minute later, she was texting me, telling me not to worry and very practically offering advice on what I can do. I immediately felt better…until I realized I had forgotten about the time difference and had texted her at 4 in the morning. I was so surprised, but she said she had woken up because of her phone vibrating to relay my messages to her. She had thought it was a big emergency.
  Rebekah and I haven't actually talked to each other in a long time. Instead, like the young, modern adults we are, we text each other a few times a week. And I can still hear her dry, witty tone in my head as I read each message she sends me. While I ramble on in my messages about the woes of an English major and keep her informed about everything from my unsuccessful relationship attempts to the strange aspects of Korean culture she might find interesting, her messages are parallel to her personality; straightforward and blunt. Uninterested in dating, she calls the boys in her classes 'idiots' and changes the subject back to the latest season of Doctor Who. She is the only person I know who will tell me she is going to bed early so could she please text tomorrow? And she is also one of the funniest people I know. Her messages to me are usually very serious, yet her dry humor makes me laugh aloud every time. Her observations are clever and her remarks amusing.
   Though I don't know when I'll see my friend again, our frequent messages to each other keep us in touch. We are not the type of friends that get upset if the other forgets to text back for five or six days. The bond between us can seem shaky to outsiders but it is actually quite strong. And I can only hope our connection stays strong for a long, long time.

Ha-eun Jeong/Final Draft of Chapter 3 Essay/Tuesday 1 p.m.

             It was on my first day in New Zealand, on July 5, 2006, when I first met Joanne, who is my best friend today. My first impression of her was unforgettable; she was wearing her school uniform t-shirt and trousers, and she was barefoot when she came out to greet me and other newcomers. She definitely did not seem to be bothered by cold weather; only her red cheeks reminded me that it was winter there. Neither she nor I really expected, or knew, that we would become best friends in the future.

             We did not really get along until after several months, not because we did not like each other, but we just had different groups of friends. Joanne had arrived here to study abroad months earlier than I did, and I had my own friends who came here with me. We used different rooms (and even different houses for some periods) for a while, so we did not really have a chance to get to know each other more. We finally started to get close after we came to Korea for a few weeks and left for New Zealand again. Ever since we went back to New Zealand together, we got to use a room together, which made us very close to each other.

             We did so many things together since we became roommates. We went out to buy some snacks together whenever we felt like it; we went to a nearby park together to take a walk; we sometimes changed the arrangement of furniture in our room together when we got bored; we played our favorite CDs or turned on our favorite radio channel all day long; we visited our drum teacher's house together and had lessons together, and so on. Even until now, we still talk about memories of those days and never grow tired of talking about them, and we have never run out of topics to chat about.

             After spending so much time with her, I found out that she was a naïve girl, just like my first impression of her, and she always loved sharing things with others. She liked to cook, so whenever she cooked she made food for all of us, not just for herself. Although both of us were only child, she was better at taking care for others, and I learned such consideration for others from her. Now, after almost ten years we first met, she has become a gorgeous, independent city girl majoring in industrial design. She still likes to invite me and our friends to her house to serve nice food she makes, and she never forgets to buy souvenirs whenever she goes travel. Although I miss some naïve parts of her in the past, such as walking barefoot with her cheeks red, I love her the way she is, and I am sure she does the same on me.

Eunwoo Kim/My heaven-sent friend_CH3 Final essay/Tue 5,6

My heaven-sent friend

 

 His name is Shin Yo Han which means John from the bible. His father, who is a pastor, named him like that. I have known him since 2013. I met him on the bus on the way to the workshop for the overseas volunteering program. Actually, he was a friend of my friend Bora from my university.

 "Hi, aren't you a friend of Bora?"

 "Yes! Oh, are you Yo Han? I've heard of you from Bora. Nice to meet you!"

 What a coincidence! I and he were planning to go overseas through the same volunteering program. That was our first meeting. Our next meeting was consecutively coincidence. I attended a summer camp called TGLC(Tomorrow Global Leaders' Camp) and I saw him being a campus reporter. I was amazed at him doing such an awesome work as an university student. Just in time, the <Tomorrow> magazine was looking for the new campus reporters, so I applied for it. Since I and he were preparing the same overseas volunteering program and working as campus reporters for the same magazine, we spent time together very often.

 He loves singing. He has baritone voice which sounds very soft and nice. He loves musical, jazz, and old pop. He always dreams to be an actor on a stage. Being a high school student, he lived in a dormitory. One day, he sang a song named Merry Chri by BOA, a female singer, in a restroom in his room. Since he sang so passionately, other students from upstairs declared him to a teacher. However, his passion toward singing never ended. Still, whenever I am with him, I see him singing very often. We sometimes sing African a cappella together and it is so much fun. If I get stressed sometimes because of many works, we sing together and it is one of my best stress relievers.

He is a well listener. Whenever I write articles for the magazine, it is never easy to me. If I am stuck while writing, I call and tell him everything about how I want to write this article, what the structure is to express my thoughts, but how I get stuck while writing. Then, he would say while listening "Oh, really? I got what you mean. But why do you want to write it in that way? Is there any special reason that you want to write like that?" He throws me some more points for me to think about it deeper, then somehow my problem becomes nothing later on. When he sympathizes with me struggling and having some problems, I am able to organize my thoughts better.

He is the best buddy to get some advices. One day, I fought with one guy friend because he said something rude to me. I was so mad at him and called Yo Han with high temper. I told him everything what happened and waited to listen to him reacting to sympathize with me. However, what he said was "Did you ask why he said like that to you? There must be a reason. I hope you guys talk each other deeply." instead of "Oh, he is so bad." At first, I felt bad because he didn't agree with me, but that made me to stop being angry and think about the friend's heart who made me angry. If Yo Han only just agreed with me, my mind set would stick to the thought that the guy friend is the bad one and I am the right one. I was thankful to my friend who made me to stop being upset and think rationally. I am really happy and lucky to have a friend like him.

Sangjee Lee /CH3 Essay Final /Tuesday 1.p.m

My Dear Grandmother

201302361 Sangjee Lee Tuesday 1 p.m.

She always smelled like a clean laundry. It was a soft and cozy smell that whenever you go near her, you get relaxed and want to take a nap. She was quite petite approximately 155cm. Her face, hand, and feet were all petite. She didn't have many wrinkles despite her age. There were few deep lines across the corner of her eyes and soft smile lines adored her face.  Her hair was always pulled back into neat bun and she wore plain binyeo, Korean traditional ornamental hairpin. She brushed her hair first thing in the morning. She said she used to have a thick and luxuriant hair but as time passes, her hair became very thin. Despite what she said, I thought her hair looked gorgeous like silver star. She brushed and brushed before putting on camellia oil, and then made a bun with binyo. She didn't wear any make up but she never forgot to do this little ritual even when she did not feel very well. After she did her hair, she wore soft pink cardigan that has small white flower prints all over it and skirt in pale blue-green. The whole thing looked almost solemn.

 She was always the one who woke up the earliest. I used to wake up by the sound of her sweeping a front yard.  The outside was still quite dark with the faint light that had a colour of soft grey. She patted the dogs and fed them early in the morning .Our two dogs loved her the most and followed her everywhere. Every time I try to play with them in the morning, my grandmother used to say, "Now, now, don't go near the dogs while they're eating. They can bite you .Above all, you don't want to wake up your mom and dad. They have to go to work and they need some sleep. Why don't you get some more sleep? It is still early." But I always refused to go to sleep and she knew I wouldn't, because she always gave me an apple after saying that. I sat on the chair eating apple and watched her while she finish sweeping the floor.

One time my mother got so angry that I did something that she told me not to do numerous times. Looking at her face, I was so scared that I did the one thing I thought was the most effective way to avoid punishment from my mother: hiding behind grandmother. Through lot of experience, I got to know that my mother seems to give up punishing me every time I hide behind my grandmother. Grandmother smiled softly and hid me behind her long skirt. Then she said, "I think she already learned her lesson. She won't do it next time, right?' while I nodded furiously. My mother sighed deeply and stopped being angry with me. I thought my grandmother had magical power.

Every time I woke up at dawn and saw the room filled with blue greyish colour and refreshing air, I think about my grandmother. She had a face of the dawn. She didn't express her emotion much but made everyone around her peaceful and warm. I never saw her get angry or upset. Also I never saw her laugh out loud or get excited. Memory of my grandmother always takes a special place in my heart.