Welcome To Korea:-)

This is an essay I wrote last semester to introduce Korea to foreign friends/visitors. I revised some errors and uploaded it :)

There are many things that represent Korea; Kimchi, Hanbok, Chuseok etc. It is indeed important to know what the ancestors were like, especially when you are trying to understand a country. However, I want to put aside all the Korean traditions which you might have read from tons of books. Instead, I would like to explain how the Koreans are like these days. Learning the ancestors’ life may help you to grasp a vague idea about our country, Korea, but that’s it wouldn’t be the most effective way to assimilate the overall feelings Korea might bring. Now let me tell you some characteristics that you wouldn’t find trouble in generalizing it to all Koreans.

First of all, Koreans unite well when necessary. ‘The Red Devils’ which became the trademark for Korean Worldcup rooting culture, and nation-wide fundraising and volunteering at Tae-an Peninsula supports this. In 2002, people were surprised not only at the result of the games, but countless of people running out into the streets to cheer for the Korean soccer team. Since then, the street-rooting has grown to be part of Korea’s unique culture which you can experience during the World cup season. They unified the color of their clothes, made their own songs for the soccer players, and set up time and place for rooting without any help from the government or a company. They maintained calmness no matter what. People were spotted cleaning up the streets after the games. There were no accidents or fights, since all the people maintained public orders. Also, in the Tae-an Peninsula’s case, Koreans united all together to help the desperate region recover from oil spills. Tens and thousands of volunteer workers came from all over the world, many anonymous people donated for the peninsula and a campaign which ensure people that shells from that area are safe to eat was directed by citizens. Some people are saying that after modernization, Koreans too became individualists, who didn’t care about other’s benefits. However, we can find out that it’s not actually true by just looking at a few recent events. We can see that Koreans have space to care for other’s in their mind, even though they are having busy lives.

Next, Koreans consider justice to be the most important value. They do their best to protect it, even if it’s the government which is trying to harm it. Few years ago, there was a big candle light protest. People were mad about government’s unclear definition and limitation on which kind of cow would be imported or not. All they demanded was the truth that was hidden under the veil, but the government refused to reveal it. The government tried to settle it down by prosecuting several organization and people. However, all of the Korean citizens gathered together in front of the city hall in each cities. They held out candle lights against police officers and threats by the government. Because of this, our government halted the speedy confirmation of the free trade agreement with US. An event like this is not an anomaly, because this is the way we gained democracy in the modern days. Many people were killed during the protest in the past, but they did their best to defeat government and to bring democracy to our country. Korean’s courageous actions toward justice were one of the pillars which formed the society, and is still supporting my country.

 

There are limitations in explaining about Korea on a piece of paper, since most of them are things that you need to feel it yourself by heart. I feel that many gorgeous aspects of my country were dropped out because of my lacking experience and knowledge. However, I would be glad if this has helped you to picture how Korea and its citizens are like.

Welcome to Korea:)

What KMLA Means To Me

I used to blush and try to avoid answering the question “What’s your dream?”. The first reason was because I didn’t have any outline of my future, and the next reason was because everybody seemed to have one. Whenever I imagined my future, I felt like my dreams disappeared into a misty fog and I would end up nowhere. Korea Minjok Leadership Academy is a light house which guides me through the thick fog; which tells me that I am going in a right direction in a right method.

I was a 4^th grader when I first heard about KMLA. At that time, KMLA was nothing more than a school to admire, a school far apart from my life. It wasn’t until 9^th grade when I reconsidered the school as a stepping stone for my dream.

My parents strongly disagreed when I explained to them my goals. They wanted me to be a doctor, since the two of them are both doctors, and insisted that I go to a normal high school near home, enter a Korean Medical College and become a doctor in Korea. I was frustrated for I had never seen my parents so stubborn on their point of view. However, I couldn’t give up, innumerable nights I spent lying in my bed, unable to go to sleep with the mere feeling that I was stepping closer and closer towards my dreams.

I had to prepare for all the exams that were necessary and finish the application essays all by myself. At that time, I was very desperate and even hopeless since I was never sure if I was going on a right passage or not.

Countless days had passed, which I spent in total oblivion, when the school informed me of my acceptance. I was so happy and relieved that I wasn’t able to say a word when I first saw the letter. If it were not for KMLA, I would be living a totally different life, floundering in the valley of failure and misery.

[Reading Journal + Movies]Blossoming Hope, Falling From Innocence and Friends

‘I drove out, parked, and cried for him(p.435)’

This is the part which moved me the most both in the book and the movie. Of course, the part where Chris, in the movie Gordie held gun and won the body over the threatening gangs was impressive and all the adventures were interesting. However, I believe no other words describe better about the sincere friendship Gordie and Chris had than that line. The movie also starts by showing Gordie crying for Chris in the car. There are many differences between the book and the movie, but to choose one big difference, I think the movie was more sincere in portraying the relationship between Chris and Gordie.

Chris and Gordie were close to each other in the book as well. However, in the book, the author focused more on the four boys all together. In contrast to the book, the movie kind of grouped the boys into two: Chris and Gordie, Vern and Teddy. The movie frequently showed the boys walking in two groups, keeping certain distance to each groups.

I believe this journey was an opportunity for Chris and Gordie to grow closer to each other. If it were not for the journey, I don’t think these two boys would have come up with a time to talk about serious things such as the milk money, about junior high school and of friends drowning you down. Also, they got to depend more on each other because they overcame hardships and challenges throughout the journey together. It must be true that all three friends must have meant a lot to young Gordie as he says “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?(p.341).” But to specify, Gordie must have felt more than just friendship towards Chris, an ‘emotion which speech destroys.’

This reminded me of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ movie I saw few months ago. It was also based on the story ‘The Shawshank Redemption and Rita Hayworth’ I was also impressed by the special friendship between Andy and Red. They were kind of like teachers to each other. Andy learned how to cope with the world along with the tremendous plan inside his head, and Red learned ‘hope’. The movie ends with Red and Andy meeting at the beach where Andy also dreamed of having his hotel there. It meant much more than just a reunion of old friends to me. It was as if the hope Andy gave to Red was being proved. It was like hope blossoming in the spring.

Every time I read stories of King and watched the movies I was surprised and at the same time glad that I had the opportunity to read his stories. I will continue reading on the remaining two sections of the book. Thank you Mr. Garrioch for recommending such wonderful stories!:)

    

To Become A True Leading School

All of the students are busy in Korean Minjok Leadership Academy not because of term tests, quizzes, and homework but because of an upcoming concert in November 19^th – the Minjok Music Concert. They use their meal time and sometimes even self study periods in order to practice for the concert. To practice and perform in front of almost 1400 people is a thrilling, exciting and an unique experience. However, what most of the students are complaining about is not the concert itself, but it’s main purpose – building the girl’s dormitory. The reasons why students are against the school’s plan are because of the inefficiency and unnecessary separation it would bring.

To begin with, building another dormitory would end up causing further inefficiencies. After the girls’ dormitory is newly built, the school would have to manage two dormitories. This would mean that they would have to operate two cafeterias, more laundry machines, and would need more dormitory parents. Doing so would cost the school more money to manage the dormitories, which would hinder the essential remodeling or renovation of other parts of the school. Also, because the students are separated into two groups in the campus, controlling students would be more demanding– one small mistake may cause great confusion among the students. These great inefficiencies highly overweigh relatively small advantages students might have after building another dormitory.

Next, separating the dormitory would bring inessential separation among students. If the girls and boys live in different building, which takes about 10-minute-walk to get to one from another, it would be unrealistic for the boys and girls to work together. This would mean that even homework, projects, or MPT(Minjok Peer Tutoring) which need collaboration among students would be only limited to same genders. Corporation of unique characteristics of each gender in group works would be impossible, and students would never be able to learn from different genders, which would interrupt the students’ learning opportunities. Also, since students would be strictly separated when out-of-class, it will be more difficult for the students to learn the different perspectives of each gender. This would take away the advantages of KMLA being a coeducational school. Complete separation of boys and girls seems to be somewhat an outdated idea.

KMLA advocates the Korean tradition; all the students wear Hanbok, the Korean traditional clothes, many students learn Korean traditional instruments, and students take classes in the Korean traditional houses. As it is stated in the school’s motto, becoming a global leader with ‘Korea in heart and world in mind’ is the students’ ultimate goal. However I don’t think this necessary to follow every traditional aspect, such as extreme distinction between genders, in order to become a true leader. Flexibility between the traditional concept and the widespread idea- that all the genders are equal and should work together- is also important. Building another dormitory for the girls would cause more side effects than expected. I believe this issue should be dealt with great sincerity and carefulness, instead of a one-sided decision of the school board. 

[Reading Journal] Falling From Innocence - The Body

Teenagers mature in various ways; through sophisticated books, terrible pains, sorrowful scars … Stephen King chose to show the maturing of the teenagers- the four boys- through the trip they went in a summer. Maturing of teenagers, which is one of the main themes, was present in various aspects of the story.

First of all, the journey itself meant growing up to the four boys, even though they didn’t realize in the beginning. However, after a while, they realized that this trip was more serious and challenging than they had expected in many ways, as Vern said “Maybe it shouldn’t be a good time(p.351)” Later on, Gordie reminisces the trip and the rail road they walked along as a “the rites of passage, the magic corridor where the change happens(p.402).” As they experienced many adventures and challenges along the journey, they had enough chances to grow out of their childish innocence and look back on themselves that they were matured enough to face death. Maybe the boys felt the same way during the trip because they believed the old boys didn’t deserve the body since “They had come in cars(p.410)”

Gordie was one who mature a lot throughout the trip. Gordie experienced a lot of hardships such as the leeches and Chopper, and overcame it with his own courage. I think these were opportunities which led Gordie to face his own true innerself apart from his brother and parents. Also, this journey led Gordie to self-realization. He actually thought himself parallel to Ray. I believe this was because Grodie suspected that Ray must have died in fear and feeling lost of his own identity after the accident. I think this is just how Gordie felt when his parents ignored him. However, Goride realized that he is actually different from the Brower kid- that Ray is dead and he IS alive. I think this realization meant so much to him that he believed “the most important things are the hardest things to say(p.293)”, and never told his adventure to anybody until he wrote this story.

A tree has to bloom, blossom and then shed leaves to finally bear fruits. The tree has to spend countless amount of time and after until the fruits ripe, but the fruits are delicious. I think this applies to maturing as well – it may be painful and challenging but once you get over it, the result is sweet.

[Reflective Essay] Building Hope

           

            Many ambitious students actively volunteer to teach students, to fundraise and to donate. I, as one of those students who are eagerly looking forward to participate in volunteering, am a member of a volunteering club, ‘KMLA Habitat for Humanity’. When I first entered KMLA and heard about the volunteering program which all of the club members participate regularly, I thought it would be a unique experience – just a unique experience, no more or no less. However, I had a chance to think over my first definition of the club activity when I went to Thailand this summer.

             Most of the students hesitated a lot before going overseas to volunteer not only because of the expenses but also the time that needed to be sacrificed. A week at Thailand would mean less time to study, less time to play with friends, less time to go to the theater and many more. There were 13 students all together who had decided that volunteering at Thailand would mean more than anything else, and off we went to Thailand.

               As most of the people would notice from the name of our club, ‘KMLA Habitat for Humanity’, we build houses for people who need help. There is ‘Habitat for Humanity International’ which controls and guides all of the volunteering worldwide. We were assigned a coordinator named Malinie and a house of 6m x 6m to build. I still remember our first moment at the building site – surrounded by new environment, mesmerized by the beautiful nature, and worries on our mistakes we may make during our job. I had never worked with a shovel before; in fact, I never imagined I would throughout my whole life. But there I was, on the pile of gravels, holding a shovel and trying my best to shove it through the gravels. It was people’ first time for most of the member to work in a construction site, but we did our best and followed the specific instructions given by Malinie. When we went back to our hotel after finishing working in the building site on our first day, everybody fell asleep right after taking a hot shower.

             For four days we actually built a house; we filled the base of the house with gravels, covered it with mud, mixed cement, poured the cement and covered the floor, piled bricks along the walls using cement, higher than ourselves. It was very tiring since none of us were used to extreme 8 hours of work a day, but nobody complained. All of us were thankful for the fact that we could actually help the owners of the house, Pong and Mon, that we were able to afford to come here and work, and were surprised at how delicious Thailand food was in every snack time and meal time. One day, we couldn’t finish the work assigned for that day. Malinie suggested that we leave the building site according to the schedule since we had to rest, and the owners would finish up the remaining work. A hot shower and a delicious meal was tempting indeed, but nobody left the building site; we all worked together to finish our work, and we were able to finish it faster than we expected. The owner of the house held each of our hands, thanked us almost crying when we got into the van to leave the site.

On the last day, we had a little ceremony to dedicate the house to Pong and Mon. All of their families and the villagers gathered in front of their new house, which was slightly unfinished due to time constraint, and we all had barbecue. They blessed us by tying traditional bracelets, giving us umbrellas and flying away fire-lit kites into the sky. The owners cried during the ceremony, which was especially touching for me, since I was surprised at what we were able to do for the owners, who were preparing to start a new life at the house we had built together.

What Habitat for Humanity had taught me was more than how to build houses and what to put in when making cement. It was my first time actually interacting with the people who I was helping, unlike donations or fundraisings that I experienced before. Also, I believe I felt proud when we were able to dedicate the house to the owners, since even though the work to build up the house was tiring, demanding, and difficult, we did our best. Habitat for Humanity has taught me that I could actually help people, and there are some people who cry thankful tears for our efforts. Habitat for Humanity has taught me that I would be able to make changes in world, which would change many people’s life. It also taught me that I don’t need to be a supernatural or a billionaire to help people; all I need is a devotion towards what I do, sincerity towards whom I help and a little courage to give up what I have and offer it to the people with less opportunities.

[TED Review]Jacqueline Novogratz - Escaping Poverty

One out of seven people die of extreme Hunger. This is not because there isn’t enough food – actually there is enough food to feed all the people on earth. It’s not because of an epidemic or natural disasters nor lack of technology. This flagrant situation is caused by the esoteric structure of the society and elusive attitudes of people against the people experiencing famine, and this applies to all the poverty that exists on Earth.

Jacqueline Novogratz talks about Mathare, a slum in Kenya. The big town was filled with poor, powerless and secluded people who lived along with drugs, violence and prostitution. Some people sell water and soap in order to prevent the owner from relegating their families out of scanty shacks, some struggle in garbage dumps everyday to find something to eat, and many other kinds of situations. This isn’t because of the people’s indolence, wickedness, or evilness; it is because they are never provided an opportunity to escape such vicious cycles. Jane, whom Jacqueline met, was one of those unlucky people. Jane told Jacqueline that she once wanted to be a doctor and also wanted to marry a good man. However, she ended up in prostitution, earned 20 cents or so a day, and still continued to live in Mathare. But her life changed when she encountered ‘Jamii Bora’ and was provided a chance to borrow money. She spent a year to collect 50 dollars, bought a sewing machine and started her new career as a tailor. She would buy second hand clothes in market, repurpose it, and sell it to people who would wear them in milestone events such as sweet 16 parties, birthday parties – events that people celebrate regardless of economic spectrum. She makes more than a dollar these days, and is looking forward for her new house she had provided herself. Novogratz says that the worldwide economic crisis is an opportunity for innovation and invention. She added that it was chance to renovate the world into a society where products and services were extended to all people, so they will be able to make decisions and choices for themselves.

Jamii Bora, introduced in Novogratz’s speech, is the largest microfinance organization in Kenya, which means ‘good families’. It lends money to people no matter how poor they are, under the condition that the people provided commensurate amount of savings. This organization nullifies the invisible barrier poor people face when trying to afford the bases of their daily lives. Also, Acumen fund introduced later in the speech, is a non-profit global venture fund that aims to solve the problems of global poverty. These organizations had similar characteristics to the Grameen Bank, which I read in a newspaper a few years ago. Grameen Bank was founded by an economist who wanted to solve the problems of poverty as well. Grameen means ‘rural’ or ‘village’ and lends money to people under the condition that they prove the people are using the borrowed money efficiently and are saving appropriate amounts. I believe such organizations exemplify how the individual organizations should help the poor people. I think such organizations would assuage the gap between ‘the haves’ and ‘the not haves’ by providing opportunities to suffering people.

The people like Jane do not need extraneous condescending or sympathies. Supporting them shortly and instantly does not appease them. Rather, the pragmatic systems which would ‘teach’ them how to start living on their own can actually make big changes. Prodigal and useless donation is no good for anybody - it may provide a day’s shelter or meal, but the fact that they have to be afraid of the new sun rise does not change.

There are many teenagers and students who are zealous in participating programs to help people experiencing extreme poverty. We read a lot about them, we hear a lot about them, and almost all the teenagers have their own opinions on the global poverty issue themselves. This is good sign, since out apathy would be more virulent to the people. However, we need to elaborate what we know to what we actually do to ameliorate the pitiful reality. We should do our best to minimize the amount of resources and efforts squandered by carefully examining and determining what the poor people really solicit.

“When I go HIV counseling, I always say 'Look at me. You are not dead. You are still alive. And if you are still alive you have to serve,'” This is what Jane told Jacqueline. We should learn from this brave woman who had changed her most depressing moments of life into a time of changes. Also, we should do our best for the next Janes.

Let there be no more people on Earth who suffer from lack of opportunities. Let people who had enjoyed much work for the neglected – to teach them how to catch a fish instead of catching tons for them. Let our grandchildren’s children read that one out of three people experienced poverty in history textbooks, not in newspapers. This isn’t just an auspicious hope; this is a world we all should work together for.