Bittna Lee/ Final Paper: I'll Not Have to Check My Schedule/ ISS 2016

The different experiences I had and the choices I made throughout my life has made me who I am today. I was shaped by various aspects such as what school I went to, what kind of friends I made, what kind of books I read and even what kind of food I ate. However, one of the biggest experiences that has changed me was backpacking through Europe. I had a chance to travel around Europe by myself for a month two years ago when I was 21. During that time, I learnt that it is okay not to have plans sometimes.

I was going to Goettingen, Germany for a semester for a language course programme and I went there about 5 weeks before the beginning of the semester to spend that time travelling. My plan was to find a Wohngemeinschaft, a flat share of Germany also known as WG, within a week and then to go on my trip. However, I did not know that WG was always in short supply and how difficult it was to find one. It had almost been a week, but I still had no good news regarding the WG. I was very stressed because I had already bought the tickets and booked the hostels for my trip. Yet, I could not leave until I find a place to live for when I come back to Goettingen. I was frustrated because it did not go according to my plan. Then something unexpected happened. The owner of the hostel suggested that I get a WG from the hostel. He told me that he is renovating a building next door to open a WG style hostel where 4 bedrooms share one kitchen and two bathrooms. He offered to rent the only single room for a very reasonable cost. My bad luck had just turned into good luck.

After my housing was settled, I had thought that now everything will go according to plan. My plan was to visit Prague, Vienna, Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Interlaken, Basel and Zurich during my one month trip. I had sorted out how many nights I would stay in each city, which were about three to four nights. I always had the whole day ahead of me filled with where I would go, what I would eat and see. Nevertheless, I encountered on a problem I did not anticipate in Rome. On the day before my departure, I dropped my camera and broke it. I could get it repaired with the help of the hostel owner but I was told that it would take two days to fix. I had to make a change of plans and decided not to go to Bologna. I was somewhat disappointed because I felt my perfect itinerary was ruined. I cancelled the hostels I had booked in different cities and stayed in Rome. I was not very excited to stay two extra days there because I had already been to every tourist attraction I wanted to visit. Later that evening, three German students checked into the hostel. We began to talk to each other and they invited me to join their trip. With my new friends, I tried out a different style of travelling. I went to an authentic local Italian bar that night, sunbathed in the Spanish squire for hours and napped and read a book underneath a tree in a park. We did not plan anything but just did what we can as we went along. I didn't do anything special but it was the best time I had in Rome. The broken camera that I considered to be unfortunate turned out to be a very fortunate event. I made new friends who I still stay in contact and saw a new aspect of Rome I did not see before.

All in all, through these experiences, I learnt that not planning out everything and knowing ahead is not frustrating but exciting because you never know what kind of experience you are going to have. Although my plans did not work out, the results turned out to be even better. I was able to get a brand new room with new furniture for a rent lower than my budget, make new friends and enjoy the beautiful city of Rome the way I have never enjoyed before. These were the moments that made me realise that it is okay to change plans along the way. That is the beauty of life.

Bittna

 

Rachel(Juhyeon) Lee/FINAL ESSAY/ ISS

Keys to My Life

 

I was always looking for the answer through my whole life. I couldn't explain who I was and I was unsatisfied with myself. Looking back through my life, there were some big keys that brought the 'real' me.

 

*Being a Bad Student in Korea

 

"If you keep skipping your class, I might have to call your parents. Korea is not developing because of you people!" My homeroom teacher in first grade of Daeduk Junior highschool scolded me while hitting me with his class attendance book. 31 homeroom students staring at me and my three friends who skipped the first and second period that day. Humiliated, but dignified looking right at my teacher's eyes which just made him more angry. The whole day, I had to stay in the teachers room writing a letter if apology. I wasn't sad at all since my friends were with me. Back then I thought we could control the world, but now I know how stupid it was to think this way. Living this way, my grade got worse. Out of 272 students, I only obtained 241.

Since my friend Yunseo's parents were away often, we used her house as a drinking place. We could easily get drinks asking her brother to buy them for us. We were almost lost, vomiting in her bathroom, sleeping without blanket in the middle of her living room and so on.

 

 

*Big Liar

It was dark enough to go home but I was playing video game at my friend's house. We ordered chicken and when it just arrived my father called. When I picked it up I could tell that my father was upset, he said to come home right away with his angry voice. So I did. When I got home mom was inside her room with doors locked. Father sat in the couch and told me to sit on the floor on front of him. I sat down. He brought my report card and almost threw it at me. In my mind I was saying " OH GOSH. I'm so dead. He found my report card I was hiding for more then a month?" Yes. I have two things to confess. First, I hid my grades in my room. To be more specific, I wrapped it around with wrapping paper and put it back in the plastic bag so that it looked new. I never thought my parents would look it there. Second, I lied about my grade when my parents asked and told them that report card will not be handed this time.

I could hear my mom crying and saying that I'm not her daughter anymore and couldn't believe that I have done this. At that time I finally realized how awful I was as their daughter and as my teacher's student. My mom didn't cook or say a word for a week then. I stayed at my room reading and studying because I was feeling sorry towards my parents. Oh wait, I wasn't studying, I was crying the whole time regretting what I had done.

 

 

*Star in ESL class

 

After a few months, my parents called me and we sat around the table. "You know that your aunt lives in Canada, right? I think you'd better stay there with your aunt for an year to look back your life and study English." I was shocked to hear that, because I was enjoying my school life and I thought I could restart as a good student. Above that, I didn't want to live alone far away from my parents and friends! I said "NO! I'll never survive alone!" After struggling with parents for few weeks, we had a deal. My mom will go to Canada with me. I thought it was a good deal so I went to Canada with her. I got into international school, Woodman Jr. High. In my school, there was a class for ESL students, English as a second language. ESL teacher, mrs. Anderson liked me a lot in the first place. I strtill don't know why she cared me so much but I'm always thankful for that. She showed me around the town and kept helping me with English as if I were her daughter. After three months of 'hard training', my ears for English was open.

Mrs. Anderson stared to call me the star of ESL class. I was proud of myself. One day teachers from Korea came for workshop to look around my school and discover the difference between education in Korea and Canada. She called me to her office and asked me to help translate during the program and I did. I actually did really well. That day she called my mom to visit and she told my mom how great I was in English. That day she bought me a guitar.

 

 

*Having struggles

 

Even though I was good enough in ESL class, I couldn't keep up my work in other classes such as Social Studies or Language of Art. It didn't help that I started to hang out with koreans more and my English was not improving at all. The same semester, I was in the band playing flute. Mrs. Green, my band teacher was giving me a hard time since I couldn't understand what she was asking me to fix so she kept scolding me in her class. I was humiliated.

Another problem I had at school was with Steffany and Louis, I think I will never forget their name because they stole my stuff. It's not like my whole bag was missing, but I still was pissed off. I brought a really nice eraser and I put my name under the paper that was wrapped around it. It was missing. I somehow looked through their pencil case and I noticed that they had stolen it. They kept stealing my stuff and I was annoyed. So I confronted them and said " If you steal my stuff once again, I'll tell our homeroom teacher." They said "No you won't. I mean you can't. Your English isn't good enough to explain what happened. You suck!" Wow, that hurted me so much. It was harsh.

 

 

*Returning to Korea

 

After one year of staying in Canada, I returned to korea. When I was in first grade of highschool, my homeroom teacher asked me to help as a representative of a class because I was sitting in the front of the classroom. If I were old me I would have said no, but I gained some confidence in Canada so I accepted it. I became a real representative eventually. My teachers started to like me and my classmates were asking me for help. I was useful! I studied harder to get good grade and to help classmates. I was chosen to be the representative for all the classes of my grade. I became more and more confident and could actually get into HUFS, my dream university!

 

Now I'm working hard to keep good grades and trying to get many experiences as possible. Even the life in Canada wasn't always fun, I became real me and now I love myself!

 

 

Phoebe / "Ignorance on the Law no one can Justify"

            Chinese Immigrants in the 18th century suffered discrimination at every level of society. They denied the entrance of the aliens into what was regarded as a land for white only. After passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Laws not only prevented new immigration but also brought additional suffering to the Chinese. The "In the Land of the Free" was exposing the discrimination Laws and the Humanity of the Chinese but  I want to figure out how important the law nowadays that can affect our entire living. That can be brought miserable life not to oblige rules.

             In the story parents obey Laws of the white country.The Laws that become leeway to separate the the son and parents . Hom Hing was patiently waiting for government decision regarding his son, like what he do before waiting his family after twenty moons. The father image was nothing while Lae Choo become miserable, the obedience mother was encounter difficulties while waiting his son like crying all night, not eating and upset. She felt depression that came to the point that she didn't figure out what happen around her house. the devoted mother continue hoping that law will give them freedom to be with their little one. Lae Choo life that full of lights become dark. One day, James Clancy as a represent the typical american of the time period and situation. He is a very stereotypical depiction of Lawyer. The heartless sharks looking to make money off of people who need them. Lawyer is simply desire for the money and not for the safety of the boy. And Immigration officers give the parents unfair treatment. The officers that seems to care only about the law and their instructions. 

              "Thus was the law of the land complied with" this is the quotes that show our gratitude to oblige the rules. Nowadays every country have their own Laws and culture that we followed people. What if Laws didn't exist we cannot gain peace, this was become our guide if this is not existing we don't know the legal and illegal actions in this world. The purpose of Law isn't punish people for their transgression, their purpose is to give every citizen a safe place to stand.

                I conclude that author give sadness and suspense to the story and it comes to read between the lines to think what was happen that came to focus on the parents love for their child, but the story was pointing the law separate the family. Sometimes we need to obey the Law rather than what we feel is morally right. I had experience, my brother and I was first time to go out of country vacation. He is under age (below 18) , Immigration looking for travel clearance for children authorized by our parents allowing me to accompany my brother. The point is what if we have no idea about the immigration rules in entering under age children, we can't pass the immigration, our consequences are we didn't visit the beautiful places and experience the delicious foods of Korea, also we feel upset and our effort to make those vacation become useless. The Law become guidelines for the good actions for us to follow so that we avoid cruelty. Ifs theirs no rules we will kill, abuse people and other inhuman behavior freely. People will act accordingly if theirs a law. 

                My essay writing was all about ,following the rules for us to avoid bad experiences resulting of not complying the rules. Discussing the importance of the Law in each people life.

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Marcelo / ESSAY-II Final / ISS

An Important Choice to not Regret

It is easy to see in Tito's story that some people just make the wrong choices in their lives. So when they realized that there is no time anymore to start over they just  feel down about their choices. It was what happened to him. Even though he loved his children, money was more important. He had to maintain his "fake" luxurious lifestyle. I want to analize the fact people make wrong choices and its consequences as well as their feelings.

 

Life is about making decisions. We have so many choices to make every single day and these choices will draw the life line of an individual. Everything that happened is a consenquence of a previously action. Sometimes we can learn after a wrong decision and make it again so that we can learn through our mistakes, sometimes not.

 

It is hard to predict if we will make a wrong choice as well as the measures of its consequences. If Tito had known that the food he were about to eat would kill him he would not eat it. We don't know what happen after our decision. All we can do is keep us safe and have uncertainly avoidance to our actions. People are guide by feelings. Even if someone is cold enough to feel anything, their attitudes will affect people around them. Nowadays society are structured in images. Not necessarily images that we can see but images that we can draw in our minds. Thus people tend to keep the desire of to be seen and to be imagined. They need to be good looking everytime, but to reach this they have to get money. Money is the main resource.

 

I don't want to be sorry in the end of my days on earth. I want to live as much as I can without any regrets. I only have one chance to live my life and then die happy, satisfied, full. That's why we have to keep on our minds the assumption in which does not matter how many attempts you have to try to make it right you get keep trying.

 

Tito had choosen money above family. He was greesy enough to see what he was missing as well as the reason he should to be sorry. But he didn't feel anything about this. He was selfish. He died alone. 

 

Bittna Lee/ My Experience 2/ ISS 2016

The different experiences I had and the choices I made throughout my life has made me who I am today. I was shaped by various aspects such as what school I went to, what kind of friends I made, what kind of books I read and even what kind of food I ate. However, one of the biggest experiences that has changed me was backpacking through Europe. I had a chance to travel around Europe by myself for a month two years ago when I was 21. During that time, I have learnt that it is okay not to have plans.

 

I was going to Goettingen, Germany for a semester for a language course programme and I went there about 5 weeks before the beginning of the semester to spend that time travelling. My plan was to find a Wohngemeinschaft, a flat share of Germany also known as WG, within a week and then to go on my trip. However, I did not know that WG was always in short supply and how difficult it was to find one. It had almost been a week, but I still had no good news regarding the WG. I was very stressed because I had already bought the tickets and booked the hostels for my trip. Yet, I could not leave until I find a place to live when I come back to Goettingen. I was frustrated because it did not go according to my plan. Then something unexpected happened. The owner of the hostel suggested that I get a WG from the hostel. He told me that he is renovating a building next door to open a WG style hostel where 4 bedrooms share one kitchen and two bathrooms. He offered to rent the only single room for a very reasonable cost. My bad luck had just turned into good luck.

 

After my housing was settled, I had thought that now everything will go according to plan. My plan was to visit Prague, Vienna, Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Interlaken, Basel and Zurich during my one month trip. I have sorted out how many nights I would stay in each city, which were about three to four nights. I always had the whole day ahead of me filled with where I would go, what I would eat and see. Nevertheless, I tumbled on a problem I did not anticipate in Rome. On the day before my departure, I dropped my camera and broke it. I could get it repaired with the help of the hostel owner but I was told that it would take two days to fix. I had to make change of plans and have decided not to go to Bologna. I was somewhat disappointed because I felt my perfect itinerary was ruined. I cancelled the hostels I have booked in different cities and stayed in Rome. I was not very excited to stay two extra days there because I had already been to every tourist attraction I wanted to visit. Later that evening, three German students checked into the hostel. We began to talk to each other and they invited me to join their trip. With my new friends, I tried out a different style of travelling. I went to an authentic local Italian bar that night, sunbathed in the Spanish squire for hours and napped and read a book underneath a tree in a park. We did not plan anything but just did what we can to as we went along. I didn't do anything special but it was the best time I had in Rome. The broken camera that I considered to be unfortunate turned out to be a very fortunate event. I made new friends who I still stay in contact and saw a new aspect of Rome I did not see before.

 

All in all, through these experiences, I have learnt that not planning and knowing ahead is not frustrating but exciting because you never know what kind of experience you are going to have. Although my plan did not work out, the result turned out to be even better. I could get a brand new room with new furniture for a rent lower than my budget, make new friends and learn how to really enjoy the city.  These were the moments that made me realise that it is okay to change plans along the way. That is the beauty of life.

Bittna

Yana / Essay 2 \ 2016

    Our life is always unpredictable. We can't know what happens tomorrow. On the one hand it's interesting, on other it's scary. So we have to appreciate and live every moment of our today. We should live not holding back our feelings to not to regret later. 

    This text is about Agustin "Tito" Urena who had a sudden heart attack. He could reconcile with his children, could get on with his wife if he knew that thi would happen exactly this day. But death does not mercy anyone, appears suddenly, and takes from you everything you have. So every moment of our ives is very important. 

    In my opinion, Tito was so greedy to money that he forgot about the real values of life. For example, when a person is aging and needs of some help, love from children, but if he had changed them for money, all he will have will be money and nothing else. 

   Why we keep to refer to our life as if it's infinite process? We're always thinking that we have a ot of time and delaying everithing to "later". Usually we do not appreciate that we have, casually miss some great opportunity (which we will regret about) because of laziness or under the influence of fears and anxieties. Why this reaization comes too late? But we really nee to die to live? Everybody have no idea what people feel before "going to the another world". In example of Tito, death comes suddenly and person even have no time to think about other things except of his death. 

   Death is a natural process, like a ife. Imagine immortal already o tired to ive a very long and endless life that he wants to die.  Imagine immortal already so tired to live a very long and endless life, he wanted to die. It's like that doomed to death really wants to live.

So we need to appreciate our lives. Ask yourself from the future, and what do you like to do and change in your ife.

Bittna Lee/ At the Edge of the World/ ISS 2016

At the Edge of the World is a short story written by Krys Lee, a Korean-American author. The novel is about a smart but a unique 9 year old boy Mark Lee, also known as Myeongseok Lee, and his family living in the United States. They were one of the few North Korean immigrants that the States let in. Although Mark's family looks like a typical family of immigrant in the US, his family is not a traditional family. Mark's father is not his biological father. Mark's mother conceived him by a Chinese farmer she was sold to when she was 16. Mark is very well aware of this fact and this sometimes made him insecure. His bully at school would say that Mark's father couldn't really love him because he wasn't his real father. However, what I have learnt from this story is that family is family, no matter what shapes and sizes they come in.  

 

In the story we can see that the father is very supportive of what Mark says. He also does not want to deter Mark's curiosity. Whenever Mark asks question such as how bad the North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un is his father would try to answer him opposed to his mother who thought these questions are inappropriate. Also, when their new neighbour introduced herself as a shaman, Mark asked "What does a shaman do?" His mother, who is a devoted Christian, said, "Keep quiet!" Whereas his father said, "He's just curious." We can also see the fathers affection towards his son when Mark says " I'm going to be a heart surgeon and buy Omma and Appa a house in Beverley hills." and the father responds by saying "It's good to have a son!", while cutting him the best slice of cake. (p.30)

 

We can see how the father thinks of Mark when he is fighting with his wife. The mother and the father was in a big argument because the father had engaged in Shamanism in an attempt to see his dead brother who he misses dearly. The mother said she was not going to let her son be infected by his inability to live in the present. When Mark tried to make peace between his parents, his mother said, "Don't protect him. He's not even your biological father." When the father heard this, he got extremely upset and said, "He's my son, too. That's what we agreed. We mad this family together…" (p.43) I think if I were the child, I would have been deeply hurt by what the mother said if it wasn't for the father.

 

Although we can see that the father loves Mark very much, it mentions that the father does not express his affections with words like I love you or Sarang hae. (p.41) However, at the end of the book Mark's father said "Mani Sarang handa", I love you very much to Mark. He also hugged Mark and stayed tight around his neck and shoulders. (p.49) I think this might have not been easy for the father if he is more used to a traditional father figure. It was nice to see him stepping out of his comfort zone to show his love for his son.

In conclusion, I believe it is evident to the readers that the father loves Mark and that his feelings are genuine. In the begging of the book, I doubted the father's affection for Mark because he is a step-father. Nevertheless, the reading proved me wrong and I am glad it did. I feel that this is an important lesson, especially in the modern society where there are various forms of family, that it is a true family, regardless of blood, when the family members love each other. I think blood is thicker than water does not apply anymore.

Bittna Lee