Hyeonju Oh / 9th post /Tues 9-11 a.m.

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

The interview was easy. First of all, my younger brother usually at home recently because the Korea SAT was over. So I just opened the door and asked what I wondered about his life. Now I think that I was too rude. Because of this situation, my mother scolded me. Anyway I notified him that I'll use the interview in my essay and he agreed.


2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like the most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

It allowed me to catch some grammar errors. And I was shamed and sad about poor pronunciation. I wondered why I am such a poor speaker. Reading aloud made my essay more realistic. It means that the interview is kind of story telling of one real human.


3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

There is nothing that I want to readers to understand. I asked the whole question that i want to ask and he answered sincerely. To make my essay more complete, I want to include much more specific descriptions about his room. I'm so poor at describing the scene. But I'm sure that it will helpful to readers to understand my brothers character.

Yukyung Bang/Ninth post/Narrative Composition Tuesday 09:00~11:00

201301511 Yukyung Bang

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

I thought it would be easy, but it turned out to be difficult. Because I interviewed my own sister, it was hard to keep a good listener's attitude. Also, as the interview went on, I had to add or skip the questions I had prepared in advance as her answers were much more different that I expected. If I do the interview over, I think I shouldn't prepare the questions expecting certain answers. And I would ask more detailed questions as too abstract ones can lead to an answer that does not correspond to the intention of the questions.

2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

What I liked the most when hearing my own essay being read aloud was that I felt how much I care for my sister. And there were parts that I did a good translation job of her answers and what she meant. 

3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

My essay was supposed to focus on the years for which we have not lived together and how much she grew mature and independent during that time. I included almost all of her answers in my essay, but I had to leave out how she became interested in the field of film because the essay became too long. In the next draft, I will figure out a way to include that information without making the essay too long. 

Moses Choi/ Writer's Plan for Revising/ Tues 9-11 a.m.

1. It was not difficult, but not easy either. Even after choosing a topic and the interviewee, it was little hard to think of the questions to ask, and decide which ones to ask. When actually conducting an interview, in many parts, it went differently from what I had expected. For example, the interviewee answered not the way I expected or predicted, or even she answered the questions that I prepared but not asked yet. If I am to do it again, I'd be more flexible with the preparation of questions, and also prepare some reserve questions.

 

2. Even though the interview did not go the way I predicted, the whole interview later turned out to be very consistent with one topic. Also, the topic was not even what I had in mind at the first place. Originally, my topic was 'getting a job in Korea', but it changed into 'getting a job in Korea AS AN WOMAN'. In that sense, I think it went well.

 

3. As I read it again, I found out that I barely described the interviewee herself. Maybe I could add some more detail about her facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures and poses, etc.

Do Hyun Lim/ Plans for Revision/ Narrative Composition/Tues. 9-11 a.m

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

The interview was more difficult than I expected. Even when done with a friend who is comfortable, the questions should be well prepared for it to go well and get sufficient information for a good essay. If I could do it over, I would not do much differently, but I could make the questions better now that I know the feeling of conducting an interview.

2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

I liked that I could get a different feel of my writing, more in the kind of a perspective of a third-person. It also reminded me of the interview, as if I was hearing the interviewee's voice because there were lots of quotes.

 

3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

I could add more detail about the excitement the interviewee felt when he was able to buy things he always wanted. There are also words may be considered ambiguous, so I may clarify them as well.

 

Kim Young Woo / 201203937 / Narrative Comp Tues/ Plan for Revising

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

The interview was actually easy for me. Perhaps it was because he was a very close friend of mine, and I felt very comfortable to ask him whatever I wanted without having to worry about whether I was being to insensitive or personal. If i had the chance to do the interview questions, I would focus more on the questions that I had no idea about. What I mean by this is that, I already knew some of the things about his situation, but for the sake of the interview I realized that I was asking him questions that I already knew the answers too.

2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like the most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

It seemed like I was telling a story about someone's real life. Also, I was able to hear the flow of the transition of the interview. I personally didn't like hearing it from my own voice, but it allowed me to hear all the errors in grammar and sentences that could use revision.

3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

I will try to elaborate more on what he learned from his experience in prison and also how he came to peace with himself with the friend who got him there in the first place. I will try to incorporate this part towards the last paragraph. Also, I would want to add a little more about the details of living in prison. I would add this in the part where he explained about the bird bath.

Changyu Kang/Ch.5 Essay Revision Plan/Narrative Composition(2) Tuesday & 09:00~11:00

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently? It was difficult because what interviewee said was different from what I had thought. Before interview, I made a hypothesis in addition to a series of question and it turned out to be wrong. Of course since it is just personal hypothesis, it might be wrong. But I think I didn't deal with the situation appropriately. If I had a chance to do the interview again, I will prepare several questions in case the situation which is different from my expectation. 2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice? First, I like the place we met. I proposed a bar to interviewee which made us feel comfortable and I think it made she answered my question honestly. And I also like the fact that I made a hypothesis before the interview. I think it gives interviewer a direction to the interview. In my situation, although I couldn't deal with the situation it was wrong, I still think it is way better than just throwing prepared question.   3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete. What I want to include my final draft is about inconvenient moments when she use smartphone. She generally content with smartphone services. She content with various contents and speed of smartphone, LTE service in this case. But she said it was very annoying whenever smartphone got loading. When she reads webtoons or watches video through smartphone, which is very often because she is 'smartphone dukhu', she can't endure even a momentary loading time. This fact was very interesting to me so I am going to include my final draft.

Kweonho Lee/ Plans for Revision/ Narrative Composition/Tues. 9-11 a.m

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently? Conducting this interview was not easy because it was awkward for me to interview my family member. Because we always had informal, daily conversations when we met, asking some formal questions was not familiar my grandma and me. However, we soon got used to it after a few minutes. If I had a chance to do the interview over, I would focus on some other aspects in the interviewee's life. Instead of focusing on her present life, asking about her childhood which is about half a century ago, would also be interesting to the readers. 2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?  What I liked about my essay was that the quotations were vivid. Before reading aloud in my own voice, I did not know whether my quotations were specific and appropriate or not. However, after reading them aloud, they seemed vivid enough to make me recall the memories of conducting the interview.   3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.  I'm considering adding some more information about my grandpa. Through the quotations, my grandma tells me that he was a dedicated, kind man but I didn't include enough information to help the readers understand his characters.  Actually he had a poor childhood. He lost his parents from The Korean War and had lived in Seoul with his little brothers. Since he had to take care of his brothers, he started working in the bank at an early age. He worked really hard and he was able to become a manager of the bank branch. Then, he met my grandma and married her. Because they had a big family with 3 daughters and a son my grandpa had to work hard to earn money for his family. He spent most of the days working in the bank.  I think I can include this information in the part where I introduce my grandpa briefly. It will effectively explain why my grandma loved him and missed him so much and thus make my interview more complete. 201202334 Kweonho Lee

Choi, Won-joon/ Plans for Revision/ Narrative Composition/Tues. 9-11 a.m

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

The interviewee was my friend Dong-cheol. So, it was really comfortable to conduct the interview but before long I came to know that this coziness could be a problem. While interviewing, my friend and I talked about other things regardless of the main subject of the interview. We talked about other friends, school works and information about part-time jobs, and so on. Additionally, as Dong-cheol did not concentrate on the interview, he answered in short words to my questions again and again. So, I had to question about more details repeatedly and try to draw his personal stories. If I were to do it again, I would let him know that this is my interview that is really important not only for my life in Iran but this Interview Assignment in Chapter 5. Then maybe I can expect his seriousness and sincerity toward the interview.

 

2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

 I liked the sentences with quotation marks, especially this part: "Congratulations! Won-joon, you're going to Iran next year!" I know that indirect quotations are also essential when writing down the spoken languages that had been interviewed. However, while reading my first draft, I felt the direct quotations are more understandable and interesting.

 

3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

When revising my draft, I'd like to add the description of Dong-cheol's reactions while talking. I'd like to describe and show his feelings through his facial expressions or behaviors and I won't just tell them to the reader. Detailed writing must be required when doing this.

Furthermore, I came up with other important questions that I didn't ask the interviewee. And those questions are not the questions that could be answered by him. So, I conducted an additional interview with another friend who is now in Tehran for his study. I couldn't but interview him through mobile phone, so I couldn't see his face or feel the atmosphere he was taking the interview. However, his lively experiences and anecdotes were so interesting that I want to add these contents into the next draft. 

KIMHYUNJEE/Plans for Revision/ Narrative Composition/Tues. 9-11 a.m

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

 

As I expected before, the interview was difficult for me. I interviewed my mom and it was difficult for me to come up with interview questions. I wanted the interview questions to connect one and another, and it was difficult to do it at first.

The only thing I would do differently next time is to have a voice recorder or something to (later) check if I missed any information.

 

2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

 

Although it feels weird reading it out loud,  I found grammar mistakes that I didn't notice before.  There were actually a lot of them. By reading, it made me think twice whether my grammar is correct.

 

3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

 

I think in the next draft, I want to add my mom's emotional stage. Reading it now, I noticed that I forgot to mention her emotions. Specifically, I want to add what my mom felt when she was compared to her brothers and her current emotional stage (how she feels now looking back). By including descriptions of her emotional stage, I think the readers will have a better understanding about my interview/mom.

Yousun Jung/Plan for revision/Tue 9-11a.m

​

1. Describe your own reaction to conducting this interview. Was it easy or difficult? Why? If you had a chance to do the interview over, what would you do differently?

I found it was much more difficult than I just had imagined. First, it was difficult to come up with the questions to make a narrative flow. I learned that I need some information about the interviewee before the interview. I never knew that I didn't know much about my grandma. If I do it again, I would ask about my grandma to her sister, my mom, and my uncles before I interview her.

 

2. Read your essay aloud and listen to the sound of the words. If possible, audiotape your reading and then listen to the tape. What did you like most about the essay when you heard it being read aloud in your own voice?

  I feel weird whenever I hear my recorded voice. It is different with what I know as my voice. I once heard that what I hear is the voice which already vibrated inside my body, therefore it is different with my real voice. Even though it sounds weird, I could find some of missed articles and awkward expressions. If I repeat this, it would be better to some extent.

 

3. What else do you want readers to understand that is not yet included in your essay? Write out these new parts and decide how you can include them in the next draft to make your essay more complete.

  I couldn't add about my mom. My mom used to say that her mother—my grandma— was not caring mom for her. She started to work in her early days, and she tried really hard. At the same time, my grandma also struggled her life. Both had no time to take a look at each other, but my mum felt sad when she looked back her past, especially comparing with other moms of her friends. It was a big topic for me, but I didn't know how to put it in a constant flow, without distraction.

Yousun Jung

 

Alyssa Yoo/ Plans for Revision/ Narrative Composition/Tues. 9-11 a.m

1. Conducting this interview was difficult because I had to come up with questions on my own and at first, I did not know what kind of questions I would ask to my father. I think I had a good start because I knew my dad to some point. If I could do the interview over, I'd ask him about his opinion on some topics more in detail. I think I asked questions that led to on the surface answers. 

2. I actually liked the last part of my essay when I read it out loud. Although I think I should make a few changes to my ending, I liked the way it sounded with a couple of direct quotes from my dad. I liked the quotes I got from my dad, but I think I can do better on the description and details of the interview setting. 

3. I should add more details about how many jobs my father had and how he never showed that he was stressed out about it in front of my mother and me. That way, I think my essay can be more dramatic. Also, I should add more details on how busy he was at his work in Korea and let readers feel that he really didn't like his job. From what I have now in my essay, it doesn't really feel like my dad had a hard time because I left out some of the details to make it short. I should reorganize my essay to make it so that none of the details are left out while at the same time, it's not too long and boring. There's actually a lot of revising to do for my essay. Also, I can combine some of the sentences to be less redundant. I do not have a strong message delivered to readers. When I rewrite my essay, I need to put in a message. 

Do Hyun Lim/Ch.5 first draft/Tues 9-11 AM

             My friend and I met at the café for the interview. I hadn't seen Will at school for a year, and he told me that he worked as a salesperson in a department store selling electronics. Considering that it is rare for a university student to have had a full-time job, I decided to interview him on his experience at that period.

             "It was not always easy," he started. "There were many stressful situations dealing with customers, especially those who try to refund without a valid reason." His cringed expression showed how annoying these situations were. Being an employee and a seller for the first time, which is considered as a "lower" position in the interactions with the boss and customers may have been challenging for him. He further told me that it was a chance to be in another person's position. "All the time I was a customer, and I suddenly became the person who sells. It helped me gain perspective of a different position," he added. Moreover, it made him feel not want to graduate. "I worked eight hours a day, with one hour of lunch." Having no time to study, meet friends or time alone made him feel tired.

             There were some difficulties, but he said his working environment was satisfactory, and that he enjoyed his work. When I asked, "Is there any particular reason you chose electronics salesperson as your job?" he answered, "I was always interested in electronics, especially headphones. The shop near my house just seemed like the perfect place." With the money he earned, he was able to do things he could not as a student, such as buying the latest headphone set with an amp and a laptop named Surface Book Pro. He had his laptop with him, and it seemed amazing because it was a thin wide-screen tablet while having a function of a laptop.

             We then moved on to more serious subjects. The gap between university graduates and high school graduates in Korean society is well known, but it was surely different hearing from a person who has experienced it first-hand. "Salesmen are considered as a high school-graduate job. The way they are treated by surrounding people within the workers and the society itself greatly differs." Honestly, I was not very surprised as I heard many stories similar to this, but it was new in that it came from a friend who was the same age as me. Many people were surprised that he came from a university in Seoul because they do not have professions in these fields. He further added that the wide gap between white and blue collar workers, are one of the main reasons why many people call Korea nowadays "Hell-Chosun." The interview ended with me hoping the day where people get equal treatment, at least interaction and communication-wise, will come.

 

Choi, Won-joon/Ch.5 First Draft/Narrative Composition/Tues 9-11am

Notifications before visiting Tehran

 

"Bzzz, Bzzz" My cellphone vibrated in my pocket while I was taking Persian conversation class. After checking the phone number 02-2173-XXXX, I came to know that it was from HUFS. As I was expecting the result of internship application that I applied for, I jumped out of the class and hurriedly clicked the green button on my phone to answer the call.

"Congratulations! Won-joon, you're going to Iran next year!" It was Dong-cheol, a friend of mine, who was working as a teaching assistant in the Department of Persian Language. On hearing the news, I was so excited that it almost felt like I was already on a flight to the city Tehran.

However, after hanging up the phone call, I realized I had nothing prepared to go to Tehran. All I knew was that I was scheduled to work and study there for six months. So, after class I called back to Dong-cheol and asked him. "Is it okay if I visit your office for asking some questions?" I was intending to get some information from him not just because he was a teaching assistant but because he had lived in Iran for four months last year as an exchange student. Then he replied, "Feel free to come here after 4 O'clock. I'm not busy at all then."

I prepared some questions and visited the office at 4:30. When I got in the office no one except Dong-cheol was in there and it seemed like he was just surfing any websites for killing time. Dong-cheol said, "I looking forward to seeing you. An hour before leaving the office always makes me doubt the clock if its battery went out." I laughed and sat down on the chair on the opposite side of him. It was a perfect condition for a bored interviewee to become interested in my questions.

I began an interview with my first question. "Which airline do you think is the best to go to Tehran?" He replied, "Until now, there is no direct flight from Korea to Iran. So, you need to transfer in Dubai, Kuala Lumpur or Istanbul etc. Choosing the airline is up to your choice, but I recommend visiting Tehran via Kuala Lumpur because it's costs almost half the price of others. Though, you need to give up shorter flight hours. Via Kuala Lumpur, it takes about twenty hours which means it takes four hours more than other airlines. Time or money, it depends on your situation."

After his recommendation, it became hard for me to choose through which city I should go. Before, I was thinking of going via the city Dubai that I wanted to look around just for a few hours. However, his word "half the price" made me agonize.

Then I moved on to the next question. "What about the food? Did you cook Korean food in the dormitory or go to Iranian restaurants?" Right after the question, he sighed and answered. "In my case, that was the real problem. I couldn't get used to their food because of the unusual smell. I think it's because of the mutton smell and it feels like a man who didn't take a shower for a year. I just couldn't eat. So, I bought materials there and tried to cook for myself. But meals that I cooked were even worse. Inevitably, I was forced to go on a diet. Meanwhile, there was one thing that I liked to have there. It was the pizza in the restaurant Pizza Khaneh(Pizza House in Persian) near the university you're supposed to go. I strongly recommend that restaurant."

I told him that there was nothing to worry about mutton smell, as I like mutton more than pork or beef. Then he frowned as if he smelled the mutton foods again and intensely said no with his hands. But Pizza Khaneh became the first restaurant that I know and I felt like going there before long.

Another important question was left. "What about the clothes?" As I knew that Iran had a regulation for clothes even for foreigners due to religious disciplines, I needed to ask for details about it. And he replied, "Compared to girls, boys don't have strong regulations. Girls have to wear russari, kind of hijab, and cannot wear clothes that are short or tight to their body. However, you just need to be careful not to wear shorts and neckties. But as you are going to live there from January to June bring appropriate clothes for their weather. Until February, it's colder than Korea and after May it will feel like your skin's going to burn out in the fierce sunlight. Be ready for that."

Thinking that I must buy a large travel bag for clothes, I asked the last question. "Were there anything that made you exhausted in Iran?" For a moment he whined while recalling his memory and started to say. "Yes, there was one thing that I hated than mutton there. For the first month when I visited Iran, I was really enthusiastic to experience every cultural difference in there. So, every weekend, I went for a trip to nearby places in Tehran or other cities. However, I don't know why but people's eyes were always staring at me as if they were monitoring a stranger and some people yelled at me "Ching Chang Chong!" It was really awful and irritating that I quitted traveling around. I was going to get mental diseases if I persisted to hang around more."

While I was working in the embassy of Islamic Republic of Islamic Iran, I had already heard about Iranian people yelling or whispering "Ching Chang Chong" to Chinese people's ears. What "Ching Chang Chong" meant was making fun of the pronunciation of Chinese. And as Koreans look similar to Chinese, they have been doing the same thing. While worrying, I made up my mind not to become agitated and just to ignore that kind of people.

When I was thinking by myself like this, he himself came up with another thing to tell me. "You'd better bring some kind of vitamin pills or nutritional supplements. Because the altitude of the land there is higher than Korea, students tend to feel tiredness easily and some of them suffer from headaches like high altitude sickness."

"Oh, I didn't know that. You gave me lots of new information," I said. Then he left me his last words that I can't forget. "To be honest, for me it was like a jail to study in Iran for four months because of that smelly food and "Ching Chang Chong". At the last fourth month, I just waited for time to pass away but it almost stopped. It went much slower than waiting for an hour in this teaching assistant's office before coming back home in Korea again."

After the interview, I got useful and practical information but lost my excited feelings. I felt like my dreams were torn apart into minute pieces. However, I appreciate my friend Dong-cheol for breaking my dream. Without him, I would have grown my dream-like expectation and in the end become totally disappointed and depressed. Thanks to him, I could be realistic.

Changyu Kang/Ch.5 Essay/Narrative Composition(2) Tuesday & 09:00~11:00

Smartphone vs Relationship Changyu Kang I conducted In-Depth Interview to figure out dependence of smartphone on 20s and the result it causes. I picked my friend as interviewee. She is my college friend and we have known each other for 4 years. I started from the questions related to smartphone using patterns to understand to what extent she depend on the smartphone to the ones related to the result. Before the interview, I made a hypothesis that '20s might make fully use of smartphone which means they enjoy all kinds of content smartphone provides and this makes 20s in nowadays tend to do many things by themselves not with others.' We met the bar located in Sinchon on weekend for interview. Actually I picked the place for interview because I wanted comfortable atmosphere which made interviewee respond to the question openly and sincerely and secondly, we both like alchohl. I started from easy one "How's it going? It's been a long time since we met." She said, "Fine, nothing special actually. And yes! It's really good to see you." We grabbed some beers as usual and talked about what we are doing these days. After about 15 minutes I threw prepared questions for this interview. "What do you usually do with your smartphone?" I asked her. "You know, I enjoy all kinds of smartphone's content. Read webtoons, Watch comedy programs, Use social media not mentioning kakao talk. For me, smartphone is the best toy." Her answer was somewhat what I expected because I have known her as a smartphone heavy user. And I asked her if she has ever felt kinds of guilty feeling because of the fact that her daily life heavily depends on smartphone. I expected yes but her answer was surprising. "No I haven't. I love the way I enjoy smartphone, I mean, it is casual joy. I can enjoy many things I like no matter which places I'm in and unlike computer which makes me feel as if I'm playing in earnest, I like ease feeling smartphone gives to me." Unlike many heavy smartphone users who regret themselves using smartphone too much, she likes her smartphone using pattern. I found one insight and moved on to find out next one. "Okay, then how about your daily life? Do you prefer to do things such as eating meal, watching movie, going travel etc by yourself or with your friends?" Her answer was different from what I had expected again. "Of course with my friend. I think things are more exciting with friend, even when I have normal meal It tastes better whenever I'm with my friend." After hearing her answer which was different from my hypothesis, I said "I thought you like being alone because you can do all the things with smartphone and you don't need colleagues for that" she answered that she loves smartphone but it doesn't separate her from friends, and she also love playing with them. To sum up my interview she is far more than smartphone user, she is 'a smartphone dukhu', which means she is obsessed with smartphone and she likes who she is. But this doesn't make her alone. She still loves playing with friends than alone with smartphone. I concluded, unlike my hypothesis, she's keeping balance well between technology and relationship.

Gitae Shin/p.153 Essay Assignment/Narrative Composition(2) Tuesday & 09:00-11:00

A Ray of Sunshine in Life

 

It was yesterday when I had my last phone call from my mom and the conversation was casual as usual. However, after a long time, today I decided to call her first with a specific purpose. She did not know the fact that she was chosen as personal interviewee for my assignment. A series of tones were followed by my mom's voice.

"Gitae, my son! It is surprising that you call me first. Did you have dinner?" my mom said with little bit of delight and gladness from my unexpected phone call.

"Yes, mom. I had dinner with my friend. How about you?" I replied in a nervous voice although shy may not have noticed.

Mom and I carried on an ordinary conversation for about 1 more minute. When she tried to hang up, I stopped her and asked her for a favor to be an interviewee for my project. She laughed at first and asked me for the reason why she was chosen. In fact, until this interview essay came before me, I had not paid attention to her life: how she was when young, what happened to her before and after I was born, how she supported me, and so on. As my topic was interviewing someone about his or her life and write about an important theme in that person's life, I came up with members of my family: grandfather, grandmother, father, and mom. My grandfather told me about his life many times, and so did my father and grandmother. Only my mom had not talked to me about her life and I knew that she put a lot of effort and sacrificed herself to support me, my sister, and my family. So I said to her that for this reason I would like to know about her life this time not just for my project but also for myself as her son.

She paused for a moment and seemed to begin to retrospect her life. I waited and a voice came out from my receiver, "Well, I don't know what to say, but I should start from the story of my teenager."

She was born in a small village in 1960. Compared to the fact that most people suffered from poverty caused by the Korean War which ended in 1953, she was raised in a wealthy family. Her father, my grandfather, ran a traditional pharmacy and owned almost 4 acres of land. In addition, there were more than 4 workers whose family belonged to my mom's family for generations even after the abolition of the status system. She told me that her early childhood was a very good memory because she needed not worry about money and never wanted for anything.

When she was 14, she alone moved to downtown quite far from her village in order to go to middle school. From that time, she lived in a lodging house, which meant that she had to stand alone. It seemed like she was good at studying during middle school, but she did not go to an academic high school. Instead, she chose commercial high school. Considering women's low entrance rate of high school at that time and high chance of getting secure job after graduation, her choice was never a bad one. Even though many graduates had a job as Korea was on the track of the industrialization, very few students were able to work in big companies. She was one of the few people who got a job in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

At age 19, my mom already earned relatively more money than her older brothers and sisters, and her annual salary was decent enough for her to live alone without economic burden. Nevertheless, it was not easy for her to adapt to city-life. "Seoul city was unimaginably bigger than and different from where I used to live, and people in Seoul were so indifferent one another. They seemed without heart," she recalled. She had no friends to hang out, so her life was routine: home, work, and home. She said to me that if it had not been for the earlier experience of living alone in her teen, she would have returned to her hometown within few months. Fortunately she already learned the true value of patience to endure hardships ahead, so she paved her way to new life in Seoul little by little. Not long after, she was known to her coworkers as a diligent and competent worker with 'lovely' dialect.

After 10 years, her life took a huge turn as she married a guy who is now her husband and my father. He and she had known each other since their high school period. My father managed to keep in touch with her for more than 10 years even when he was in army to serve the country. My mom and dad were so different people in many aspects. Unlike her, he was raised in a poor family, graduated from college, and worked as a public servant with poor salary in very small town near my mom's birthplace. She told me that at that time she was paid 3 times higher than him. So technically speaking, she was in a better situation than him in many ways, which meant that he could not give her incentives to marry him because she was able to meet better candidates. At all events, love is so strange thing that we hardly understand.

"Well, I guess I must have been blinded by love. I could have married better guy!" she said with playful voice. "Anyway, as soon as I got married, I had to give up everything I have achieved and built so far. That was the life of being a wife for one man." I could feel a sense of her frustration which she slipped out unconsciously. I could tell that for her it must have been a tough decision for sure.

Once again, she had to stand up and face all the difficulties by herself in new place where she had no friends but her husband and family-in-law. Although she lived apart from her family for a long time, dealing with things while carrying a baby was a totally different from what she had underwent. Also, living with family-in-law put her into isolated position. This time, her mother-in-law kicked into her life and became the main source of the pain. My grandmother treated her like a servant and criticized her all the time for no reason. My mom never fought back no matter how absurdly her mother-in-law acted. Except my grandmother, other people in the town became my mother's side because they knew how hard my mother worked and sacrificed her to support the family-in-law. After 2 years of this hard married life with my grandmother, my father was transferred to Andong where my mom used to live in her teen and she was finally able to take a small breath of freedom.

My family settled down in Andong and maintained relatively stable life, but it did not last for long. When I was 8, my father invested his and mostly my mother's money in the stock market. All of sudden in 1997 IMF crisis hit the Korea and the stock market collapsed. The money my mom saved for her family disappeared all at once like a vapor. Her voice was shaky on the phone, "I said to him over and over to stop investing money in stock market and, instead, asked him to save money as the way I have done." I could feel her desperation and frustration. "But anyway it happened and I couldn't just sit back and fall down because I have you and your younger sister. Although your father lost most of the savings, he had his job and I could work," She continued. She literally begged for a job by visiting many shops from door to door and applied for jobs advertised in help-wanted advertisements. She worked as clerk in underwear shop, insurance planner, and so on. Because of her limitless effort and sacrifice, the family became better off slowly. She opened her own small underwear shop in 2010 and put her all effort in running the shop. Now her business is stable and pays her quite a lot of money per months. Moreover, my father was promoted to higher position in his job last year.

After finishing listening to her story, I was so touched and impressed. At the same time I came to wonder something: "Mom, you have never tempted to escape from the reality? Like, for example, getting divorce with dad or abandoning family to find a new life for you?"

"Oh why not, Gitae? Of course. From time to time I dreamed being free from the reality because that was not the life I wanted to sustain." She continued, "But abandoning family was the very last thing on my list."

I did not know what to say with full of gratitude and sorry. With a joyful and happy voice, she talked over the phone, "You and your sister were lovely creatures which always made me smile after a very exhausting day from the work, and gave me strength to go on life. The value of my family is priceless. Look at you guys! I am so proud of you, Gitae. You are like a ray of sunshine in my life!"

Kim Young Woo/ 201203937/ Narrative Composition Tues

Surviving in Prison

Among my closest friends, one of my friend, Joseph, had a very spectacular life. Growing up in the streets of Los Angeles, we were heavily influenced by the African American gangster rap culture. Although I was lucky enough to move to the suburbs during my high school years, many of my friends were not fortunate enough to move out of hood, as we liked to call it, and were stuck in a vicious cycle of bad life choices. Sometimes, the bad choices of certain individuals have had significant impacts on another's life. This is the story of my friend Joseph who became institutionalised in the American prison system for more than three years for someone else's mistake.

As I got my voice note application opened on my phone, he looked very uncomfortable and asked me if I could distort his voice in anyway. I had realized that my friend was sort of unsure about this project because interrogation was something very familiar to him. I did not want him to feel like I was trying to incriminate him because for one thing, I knew he was in fact innocent of the crime.

I began my interview by asking, "So, can you tell me why you went to prison?" I could tell that he didn't know where to start, but once he began talking, the momentum took over and he started sharing his story. On November 19th, 2009, two of Joseph's friends decided that they were going to rob money from a random pedestrian on the street. However, when Joseph met up with the two friends afterwards, he had no clue what kind of horrendous act his friends had just done. Completely oblivious to what had happened, he entered a convenient store with one of the friend. He was not prepared for what his trip to the store would have on him. His life was about to change.

"The next day, while I was just resting at home, I picked up a phone call from Paul and he told me that he had bad news and for me to check the news online," Joseph told me in regret.  His picture was all over the news under the title Two Teenage Robbers Sought in Koreatown. The CCTV had caught my friend Joseph and one of the accomplice of the act together in the convenient store. I had to ask, "how did you feel when you first saw yourself on the news." He began to express, "I didn't believe it. I was kind of terrified, kind of tripped out (to lose your mind). I was so stressed at the moment that I began to get rashes all over my arms. I was so nervous. It wasn't a feeling that I could really describe. It was just crazy. I didn't know what to do, so I just slept because I thought I had to wake up from all of this." He ended up waking up to another phone call by one of his friend telling him that he had to pack his stuff and leave right away to somewhere the police officers wouldn't suspect.

For three months, he was on the run, without knowing what he was supposed to do. In the end, the detectives were able to distinguish who the two people caught on the CCTV were and began calling my friend's father. This eventually led him to turn himself in thinking that he would be able to prove his innocence since he actually didn't do it. However, I was confused because i didn't know where the friend, who Joseph was being framed for, was in all of this and had to ask, "didn't you feel angry towards Jason for putting you in that situation? Why didn't you tell him to just turn himself in?" He answered, "of course I was angry at him. I had so much emotions running through my head. I forgave him and then I would be mad again. I just had so much time and I drove myself crazy with these running emotions… Well I talked to him during those three months and he told me that he was going to turn himself in and take the fault." "But?" I asked. "He never went through with it and I just had to go to court by myself. I wasn't going to snitch him out (tell on him) and I knew at most, I would maybe do a couple months until the victim told the judge that it wasn't me because I was so certain he had never seen me before."

When he turned himself in, they immediately processed him and sent him to juvenile hall so that he could be trialed. However, on the day of the testimonial hearing, the victim who had three months to look at the pictures of the suspects online, had convinced himself that my friend Joseph was one of the two people who had violated him and took his money. During this time, my friend Joseph was 17 years old and he didn't know anything about law. His lawyer did not even show up to his trials. This confused teenager who was innocent and naive with whatever loyalty he had for his friend, heard his sentencing, 25 years to life. He told me he was devastated. He wasn't aware of the facts surrounding the case and thought he would only serve a minimum of 3 months to 3 years maximum only to find out that there was a kidnapping charge added to his sentence. In California, there is a law that states that if you force someone to move three feet out of their own will, you can be charged with kidnapping. He told me that after 9 months of juvenile halls, he gave up and accepted his fate.

When he turned eighteen, which is the age when one becomes an adult in America, he had to relocate to the big boys' yard, prison. I curiously asked, "Was it hard in the beginning?" He began explaining the layout of the prison he was at in the beginning, where he had to wait in reception in a single 6 feet by 12 feet cell until he was going to be transferred to another mainline prison. "This is when reality hit me that I was actually in jail. At least in juvenile hall, I was able to hang out with others in the day room and have yard time outside. But, my first couple months in reception, I was literally stuck in my cell almost everyday because I came during holiday season and all the staffs were back home with their families. The prison was understaffed due to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, so all the inmates were forced to stay in their cells without even showers most days and when they did give us showers, it was with ice cold water."

When he told me that they didn't allow him to shower everyday, I was baffled. However, he told me in prison, they had to make the most out of their situation and had to take a "bird bath" to wash themselves. He had to explain what bird bath was because I didn't have a single clue. "Bird bath is when you use a cup and the water from the sink to wash yourself," he explained.

The next couple questions were where I had received the most shocking answers: "Are the people in there really like what the movies depict them as?" According to Joseph, "There are so many politics and rules in there set by the inmates themselves to keep order. I thought that prison was going to be chaos myself, but i was shocked to see a system so elaborate and organized. But, the main thing is that everyone is very respectful towards each other. The kindest and most respectful people I ever met in my life have to be the people I met in prison." It was amazing to hear from someone who had actually witnessed himself to tell me that what the film industry had depicted in the movies, vicious thugs who were violent and almost barbaric, were just like any other person. He continued by telling me that people were very respectful towards each other in prison because disrespecting someone was the worst possible thing that one inmate could do to another. "A sign of disrespect in prison can lead to race riots and even lead to an inmate being murdered," he clarified.

"What was one thing you learned while you were in prison?" I asked my last question.

Amongst all his experiences, what he had learned was patience. He had endured long bus rides while being transferred from one prison to another in shackles from top to bottom on a very uncomfortable metal seat for twelve hours at a time, and also countless months of anxiety of what the outcome of his fate would be. He told me that without patience, he would have stressed himself to death. He told me that he learned the most valuable life lessons during his time there. Although he realized how precious youth was after spending his 18th, 19th, and 20th birthday in prison, he does not regret his time there. Even after finishing spending 3 years in prison and having to be deported to a country he had left when he was a baby, it was amazing to see how optimistic he was and how he forgave his friend even after putting him through all that trouble. I respect my friend Joseph because he was able to make the best out of his terrible situation and became a man in the stigmatised American prison system.

HyeonJu Oh/Ch.5 first draft/Tues 9-11 am

My little soldier

Hyeonju Oh          

 

"Sister, of course you already knew. My bed is not for your comic books. And about mandarins' peels, takes them back to your room later." When I kicked the door and rushed into his bed with mandarins like a usual, he said without any attention. The Korean SAT finished in last week, but his eyes were still stick on his desk. His old glasses were shining under the desk light. He kept reading a book. "Little you, I heard the news from mommy and don't even think that you can deceive me. The Military Academy c-h-o-s-e you!" I yelled for drawing his attention. His chair turned slowly. He looked at me with deep breath. I threw one mandarin to him with giggling.

Everything in his room was a symphony in brown and black. There were black cushions and black blankets were on the redwood bed and a small black dumbbell was standing under it. The wall was white. There wasn't any spot on it. The windows were up high and they were covered with curtains all day. But I knew that sometimes they flapped in cold winds in early morning and he enjoyed that kind of scene. All the gadgets on his desk were old. But nothing was covered with dust so I easily guess how he cares about his room. In overall his room was clean and well-organized.

"Actually I never thought that you wanted to be a soldier. Well I know that it is a really honorable job, but I felt that you always refuse to belong to somewhere. Is there any special opportunity to make you decide like that?" I asked him. Then he stretched his arm into the air shortly and touched backside of his neck slowly. "Well, when I firstly dreamed of it was 6 years ago. I was 13 years old and at that time, the North Korea attacked the Yeonpyeong Island. Although I was young, I could feel the negative tension between two groups. And I realized that the peace maintained by a lot of soldiers who died for this nation." He lightly grabbed the mandarin and I saw his big hands with vivid tendons.

"It is much earlier than I thought. But you know, you once said that you wanted to quit the high school. So I believed that you don't like to obey in a strict system. Are you sure that you can be well accepted in the army?" I asked. When he mentioned about his will for quitting the school, the conflict between parents and my brother was little aggressive. But now he answered silently recalling the past. "When I was in a high school, I was impatient. I couldn't endure studying subjects which had no relations with my goal. But now I thanks for all… all the subjects were helpful for the entrance exam."

After he answered, he stood up and collected the peels of mandarins. Because I ate most of them I felt guilty and so I followed him to the trash can. He wasn't quite tall but his body shaped like an athlete. I recalled days that my mother scolded him because he ran about 2 hours for a day in midnight. She might think that it is dangerous, but anyway he got muscles. "I remembered the times that you were young… now you are taller than I, stronger than I, and even cooler than I. After you go to dormitory, how can I live without you? I'll miss you!" I pretend to cry. But he suddenly ran fast and with closing the door, said. "I won't!" His room was locked and I had to go back to my room. Behind me, mother yelled "Don't bother your younger brother!" and the interview was ended like that.

KIMHYUNJEE/ Interview Essay Assignment/Narrative Composition(2)/Tues. 9-11 a.m.

My Mother

My mother and I are the total opposites. We have a different personality, different opinions and argue most of the time. We have ups and downs but just like any other mother and daughter, inside we understand each other. When I first asked if I could interview her, she was surprised. "You want to interview me? You never listen to what I say," she said. However, she kindly accepted to do an interview.

 

Taking a seat in the living room, I started the conversation. "How are you these days mom?" "Well, I have been busy with your sister and her school. Preparing your sister for university reminds me when you were a senior. Next year, your sister is off to college and you are graduating soon! Time flies, I feel so old now," she answered.

 

I nodded my head in agreement. I asked her the first question. "What were you like when you were my age?" "Unlike you", she stopped giving me a face and continued. "I enjoyed my college life. I went to the university that I wanted and studied what I loved. I had a great time."

 

Growing up, she was good at art. She enjoyed drawing and was praised by all her teachers. However, her parents never pressured to study art, but the opposite. She was told by bother her teachers and parents that her younger brother was better in art than she was. However, working hard and following her dream, she entered art school and majored in design.

 

"Did you have any concerns or struggles?" I asked. "Of Course I had," she replied. Just like you, during my junior and senior year, I was worried about my future. Some of my friends were moving, some were going to graduate school and some of them got a job." "You remember my friend who's a jewelry designer?" she asked. "After graduation, she went to a graduate school in America. I wanted to go to a graduate school too but I couldn't. Not only your grandparents were against it, but we didn't have enough money." Your uncles were going to university and I didn't want to be a burden." Smiling, she added, "That's why I always say to you, 'be grateful!'".

 

My mother didn't realize she wanted to go graduate school until she was a senior. Looking back, she wished she studied English and saved money for graduate school. Time to time, my mother would say, "I'm jealous of you and your sister". She wished she had parents like her to support her children studying abroad.

 

"How can I forget mom. You remind me at least once a week," I replied smiling at her. "Then what did you do after graduation?" I asked. "Instead, I got a job as a designer in a company. My salary was high and it wasn't a difficult job. However, I quit after working there for two years." She shook her head. "It was too boring for me. Instead, I became an art teacher."

 

"You could have moved to a different company, why an art teacher?" I added. She replied slowly. "Well, while I was working I thought about what I enjoyed doing. Then I remembered my time working as a part-time teacher at an art hakwon. I helped high school students who wish to enter Art College. It was fun for me so that's why I became a teacher.

 

Looking back, I don't think I ever saw my mom complain about her job as an art job. Although it wasn't an easy job, she seemed to enjoy what she was doing. I remember watching my mom as a proud daughter and constantly reminding my friends that my mom is a great art teacher.

 

I asked her a final question. "If you could say one thing to yourself when you were my age, what would it be?" She took time thinking about her answer. Then, she thoughtfully answered. "Just go for it. Be bold." She took a pause and continued. "I told you that I didn't go to graduate school because of money and my parents, but that's just an excuse. If I was confident and brave enough, I could have just gone to graduate school. If I really wanted to go, I could have earned money and left. However, I wasn't brave enough to do that. I was scared and thought too much about outside factors." Nodding her head she repeated, "Yes, just go for it. Be bold."

 

"Just go for it. Be Bold". Although she was saying it to herself, it felt like she was saying those words toward me. Going through a similar stage, I couldn't help but relate and felt a comfort through her words.

Alyssa Yoo/ Interview Essay Assignment/Narrative Composition/Tues. 9-11 a.m.

Diverse Experiences Shape Life

 

My father had come back from a wedding, and I was waiting for him to sit down on the sofa. The environment was familiar to both of us. There was a long, black sofa in the middle of the living room and a television right in front of it. I had told him in advance that I'd like to interview him, and he had said yes. So there we were, sitting next to each other, barely without the moment of silent awkwardness.

"Dad, how come you took Mom and me to America?" With glasses sitting on the edge of his nose, his natural gray hair stuck out on all sides. He had my grandfather's tiny eyes, but his personality was nothing like his. My dad was fast-tempered, talkative, and funny. When I threw out the question at him, there was not a moment of hesitation.

"In Korea, you can't talk back to your bosses. I was the kind of person who'd talk back to my boss if his ways were unfair. I even did not get promoted for a whole year for trying to tell everyone about my boss' wrongdoing. I thought things would be different in America. I was also tired of coming up with new ideas for my radio programs because people thought what was new yesterday was old." He went on about how stressful it was to come up with new ideas that people would show interest in. It was entirely up to him to create popular programs. I started to feel uncomfortable because I had not liked him in the past for not being home to play with me. He was always home late, smelling strongly of alcohol. I never understood my dad because he seemed happy when he came home, but as I talked to him, I realized he wasn't open about a lot of things.

My father used to work at the Korean Broadcasting System company (KBS) as a producer. As he was outgoing, he was the vice president of the Producers' Association. Also, he was friends with famous Korean baseball players. He even had fans in different countries since he was the host for some of his own programs. He had a stable and well-paid job, but he gave it all up to start doing physical labor in America.

"Hours and hours of physical labor made me want to give up my studies in oriental medicine. But I had you and your mother, which helped me keep going." I knew how hard it was for him when he was in America because he'd never done physical labor in Korea.

When he got a degree in oriental medicine at South Baylo University in California, he opened his acupuncture hospital. My dad already was fluent in four languages so he had no trouble communicating with his patients. His business was going well when he had to come to Korea because of his parents, who were both diagnosed with diseases.

"I wanted to still be an acupuncturist in Korea, but the only way I could do that was to go to university again. I did try, but after a couple of failures, I decided to go on with my life." My dad worked as a business man ever since, and he is a Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Paus International. He had diverse experiences, and he never regrets it.

"They say that people just see what they've experienced. I think it's true because I got to see the world in a different perspective after all these different experiences." It was time to wrap up the interview and just as I tried to thank him, he said, "Do what you love doing. You'll never get the same opportunity again. Take action for what you're passionate for, and you'll be happy. Although money does seem to be everything, it's not. I want my daughter to be happy." My father was never the kind of person to say something sweet like this. He was always indifferent, and he never complimented me for my accomplishments. This interview was meaningful to me because I got to know what my dad's thoughts were because I never knew them.

"Thanks, Dad. I appreciate it." I handed him a little snack for doing the interview. He laughed, and I smiled.

 

Yukyung Bang/Eighth post/Narrative Composition Tuesday 09:00~11:00

201301511 Yukyung Bang

People think they would know everything about their family. It's a huge mistake. I had also believed that I knew every bit of my younger sister, and those 16 years of living together before I left my hometown would not be a waste. So, when I decided to interview her, I did not know what to ask. While rummaging for my own memories about her to find the interview topic, I suddenly realized that I should focus on those years for which we have not been living together.

 

I left my hometown to live in Seoul when she was 17(She is now 20), the year she entered high school to endure those painful years to figure out her own identity and future. She said sitting next to me on my bed, "When you left, it was like I was being left alone even though you were the one who had to live by yourself." Being lost in thought, she stared into the air for a while. She finally opened her mouth and said, "It was the year when a lot of things changed. Suddenly, our home turned into an empty net after the baby birds whose wings got strong enough to fly left because you and Yuna(our oldest sister) were gone altogether. I remember sleeping alone in my room for the first time. That night, I had a nightmare."

 

However, she had no time for sorrow. She entered high school even before she got over the shock of being alone. She pointed out that looking back, it was better for her because she spent a lot of time with her friends at school and less time at home. As time passed, she got used to her new life and environment slowly. It seemed as everything was going well without a hitch. But a new problem arose. In her third year in high school, my mom and she had arguments continuously over the field in which she wanted to work: film.

 

"It was like talking to the wall. She wouldn't listen to me, and insisted that I should study. She treated me as if I was you or Yuna. There was no one who would listen to me at home. Because I was so tired of having quarrels with mom, I just shut my mouth and mom and I drifted farther apart. I regret that now but I was too young to understand her. But in retrospect, I think that was when I grew independent and mature, thinking about the future and making my own decisions."

 

Listening to her, I remembered that she called me much more last year than usual. She used to complain about how not understanding and inconsiderate mom was. I felt sorry that I just considered it as mere grumbling and did not care about it much. It was me who was being inconsiderate. She did not seem to recognize how I felt as I pretended to be busy writing down what she was saying. Concealing my feeling, I asked her what she did to change her mind.

 

"I joined a school broadcasting club. There I met a few friends who also had interest in film and writing scenarios. We met on almost every weekend to discuss ideas, write a scenario, shoot a movie, and edit it. It was such a low-quality movie but we submitted it to a local film contest for middle and high school students. We placed second. I showed the result to my mom, and she finally told me that I could study film. I was more than happy. After that, he supported me fully and even allowed me to get private lessons. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to enter my school."

 

Now, she's a freshman at an art college and studying film as she wished. I asked her what it is like to study film in college. She answered with a big smile that it is fantastic. A filmic world is somewhat different from the real world, where she can create from the characters to the background to the plot to the ending. "I feel free," she said. Even though she has to come all the way up to Seoul once a week because of field classes, she does not feel tired at all. She's passionate, enthusiastic, and definitely happy.

 

"Of course, it was a lot more difficult than what I had expected at first. Unlike when I was in high school, everyone else seemed to be better than me. There were students who had already worked in the field. But this time I knew that I had to go through all by myself because I became an adult and knew that no one, you, Yuna, mom and dad, were not always there to help me. What I learned was at the beginning of something, the fear and frustration is only temporary."

 

She's an adult. That was the thought that had never occurred to me. Because to me, she was always my younger sister so fragile and so naive. But, not anymore. She has grown up and become so independent and strong to stand on her own. I felt happy but somewhat sad at the same time that my baby sister is not a baby anymore.

 

"So, this is the last question. What do you want to do in the future?"

 

"I want to be a producer, or a writer, or a director. Oh, I cannot decide right now. I'm trying as many things as possible for now. Maybe I will figure out next year. Until then, I'm going to enjoy my freshman year. You know what? My friends and I am planning to go to Taiwan next month. It's going to be so much fun. Oh, speaking of which, can you help me with some reservations? You know I'm not good at English. Please? I already told my friends that you would help us..."

 

I smiled and said yes. She is still my baby sister.