Naming Children

I believe that naming children is somewhat essential for some reasons. As the elders often say, the meaning that implied in one’s name is relevant to his or her life. Even though it is not proven scientifically, however, it is obviously true that parents should name their children with sincerity.

Before I would name my children, right now, I don’t have any plans to get married or to have children. If I grow up to the age of marriage, I might work hard and enjoy my life. At least I don’t want to get married if I have an ability to afford my life and take care of myself. On the other hand, as circumstances could be altered, I would like to get married just in case if I have someone whom I love from my heart. I hope I would get married a little later than others do. My happiness of life is vital to me. I have a desire to relish my youthful ardor in my twenties as possible as I can. Then, if I meet my prince who had had a long wait for me, I might be willing to get married at the end of my twenties or the beginning of my thirties.

When I was a child, I used to say that I would have 7 children so that I can fulfill my motherhood and serve them unforgettable childhood. With 7 children, I can make a sports team and my house would be full of laughter of naive children as perfect harmony in family. However, as I am mature right now, I realized that having 7 children is unrealistic. As I have one brother, raising two children seem perfect in some ways. On the other hand, although I love my brother very much so that I couldn’t express and show all the loves and affections towards him, sometimes I wish that I would have older sister or younger brother. To children, it is auspicious to have many brothers and sisters whereas to parents, it is somewhat burdening to have many children.

I would like to name my children by turns which mean using one identical word such as Dong-Kyun and Dong-Eun. Also since I believe that it is true to his or her name as it implies, I want to name them as I want them to be. For a boy, I want him to be manly, sociable and well-mannered. For a girl, I want her to be affable, inner-beautiful and courteous. I will look for names that fit to what I want them to be. I like a name that is dignified and not common but easy to pronounce so it sticks to mouth and never forgets if one hears it. If I have a chance, I also want to name them using nature such as star, moon, sun, spring and so on. My mother would want me to name my English name as Candy who are a main character of animation. Since Candy is a positive, generous, and never in despair, my mom loves that name. As considered, it would be a great idea to ask my parents to name my children since they have wisdom of life and have lived longer than I have.

Stream of Consciousness, "What I want to be"

Since I was a little kid, there are a lot of things that I want to be. I wanted to be a pianist at the first time. I had played the piano since I was 7 years old. After school, I always used to go to piano academy. That’s what I used to do for my free time. Since then, I had a strong mind that I should be a pianist someday. I had practiced so hard and enjoyed playing the piano. Since I was young at that time, my skill of playing the piano was not so good that I only played the songs that are for little kids. When I played the piano at the academy, I used to listen to someone else’s playing. There was a girl who is older than me so she could play the songs that are common to people’s ears. That made my ears happy and it was such a pleasant sound. By looking up to her, I always had a desire to master the songs and play it to people so their ears could be satisfied with my songs. However, since I have been getting old, there was no time to practice the piano and focus on the piano. On my free time, I had to put more emphasis on other main subjects such as Korean, English, and math than piano. I finally quitted going to piano academy when I entered into middle school. And that is one of my regrets that I have done. I used to want to be not only a pianist but also a magician. I used to read the books a lot when I was young because after my academy, I need to wait for my brother so what I could only do is reading a book at the bookstore which was located near my academy. But the books were all about comic books, adventures, and girlish books since I hate some genres such as science fictions and documents. Most of the comic books that I read were about magic stories. Those were written by true magicians who were popular and famous at that time. They wrote them for children, thus describing easily to understand so that children could be interested in magic and into magical power. I was the one whom they aimed for. In the comic books, both cartoons and real pictures of doing magic were written. The most fascinating magic that I could remember till now is to make rabbits disappear. Magicians have their hats and inside them, the rabbits were not there. However, when they chant magic words, we could find out that rabbits are inside the hat! What a wonderful thing! I still could not figure out how they did that but I know it is just a magic which is a trick. Everything that I read in that book made me curious so I tried to do them and as you know, the consequence was a fail. As I am getting older, I realized that my dream for a magician is such an unattainable desire. When I entered into middle school, I would like to be both a patisserie and a teacher. Even though I used to have few opportunities to bake something, I really would like to bake cookies and decorate cakes. One day when I was in 7th grade, my teacher gave us an assignment which is to make a future business card including my job, my work, and contacts information. I was in agony whether I would make it as a patisserie or a teacher. Eventually, I wrote Eun’s Bakery on the top of my card and designated me as a baker. When I came to Saipan, my opportunities to bake something such as brownies, cookies, cupcakes and so on were plentiful since I have stayed with American Family. Even I cook Korean food when I miss Korean food. As these are processing, I started to realize that I feel so happy and rewarding when someone tries what I make and say “Thank you. This tastes so good. :D” However, I also realize that it is too late to be a patisserie and succeed as a baker. I once heard that in order to become a baker, one needs to go to France or some countries where deal with traditional and professional baking. After I said to my mom about it, we decided to set my baking desire as a hobby. Moreover, before I came to Saipan, the most realistic job that I hoped was a teacher. I love to teach and share my knowledge or help someone who needs me. I do my best when I teach someone to understand well. Therefore I used to tutor a boy who was in 5^th grade at the Joeten-Kiyu public library. But the problem is the subject. I have no idea at all which subject I will teach. I love history and English. If I become a teacher, I prefer working at middle school to working at high school. The country I will teach doesn’t really matter to me. Since I love languages such as English and Chinese, I also want to work at somewhere deal with English. I hope I would use English since I am studying abroad right now. Right now, I really want to be an agent of National Intelligence or a prosecutor. The works I desire to do are to find out and drive out absurdities and irregularities such as corruption. It is like suspecting of corruption. I really love to do that and think it is so coooooooool. So that I can deal with those and find out what is wrong. As I wrote previously, these are what I want to do; therefore, I am trying to do my best to accomplish my goals. However, I am not sure what I really want to do and what major I will be in. It is so hard and since I was a junior, I am getting under pressure. Okay. Let’s end up with my future. From now on, let’s just focus on stream of consciousness. Today we had a bake sale. Yesterday, when I went home, the smells of sweets were all around my house. Phyllis and Dan were baking since it was a holiday for them. When Phyllis does not have schools, she likes to bake or cook something. I was supposed to bring cookies for bake sale but we just decided to bring brownies and lemon bars. I never tried lemon bars before so I was not sure about the tastes. After I changed clothes, I was ready for baking them. For lemon bars, we need to peel off the lemons and squeeze them. I know it sounds sour and great. Since I love lemon flavor, making lemon bars was just perfect for me. In the meantime, Phyllis made a cinnamon garlic pork steak and some vegetables. At that time, Seri came up to my mind. Right away, I just called her and invited her. Phyllis and Dan totally agreed with that invitation. Cranberry-pumpkin cupcakes were already made and arranged on the Christmas plate since I arrived at home. Also the Christmas tree was decorated. The Christmas tree at our house is so real that we can smell of natural trees. It looks just perfect when it is bright at night. Okay so I had such a great meal and desserts last night. So did Seri. I was so hungry so I waited for a line and got curry for lunch. There were curry and jja-jang. Long time no see jja-jang. Haha. I had a hard time whether I would have curry or jja-jang. As so smart a girl, I got both of them and shared with Seri. We also bought lumpias. Soy sauce and ketchup were there for sauce but we thought Andy might have sweet chili sauce which is just perfect matching with lumpia. When we were about to ask Andy, we just saw that even Andy is eating them without sweet chili sauce. Therefore we assumed that sweet chili sauce was run out. So we had sushi, lumpia, curry and jja-jang rice. So good. After lunch, we had ice-keki for dessert and took Chinese class. Since Ms. Jang doesn’t allow us to eat in class, I needed to finish my ice-keki outside. Whatever. HAHA. Today was such a easy day for me. We watched video for English class, had a jeopardy and free time for History class, took a star quiz for AR class, took a quiz for Chinese class and I am writing this for my Journalism class. I need to write 2000 words and I am done with writing up to 2/3 of them. AHHH. My cheek hurts. This is resulted from what happened in PE class on Tuesday. My cheek is getting better. These days, Chris is sorry for my cheek. Actually, it was not his fault. It is not anybody’s fault. It was just an accident. I cannot blame anyone or anything for my cheeks. I am really okay to suffer from pain. However, the thing that I am most worried about is the scar. I hope that the cut would not scar over. No scar please.  Today I am going to my academy. I have such a big test so I need to study for them. Today my dinner is McDonalds. Since Dong-hyun is not at home today but at Guam, Dan wants me to eat whatever I want. Anyhow, the choices that I have are Subway sandwiches, McDonalds, or KFC. To me, they are all the same. The day before yesterday, I just had McDonalds for dinner. Whatever. I do not care. Because I am going to go to Korea next Friday! Today is Friday so only one week left from today. I am so excited of it. Maybe to everyone, going to Korea during a break is perfect. Nothing could be better than that. I heard that it was snowing this morning in Korea. Ah sounds so cold. I really want to be cold. I miss winter. Winter clothes are very pretty! Ahh.. Saipan.. well.. I am used to it so now, does not really matter to me. Tomorrow, my plan is to go shopping for Korea after I take a math court. Tomorrow’s math court is regional. Last year, I won and was one of the 30 students who got high scores. Even though I could not make a ticket for United States, it was such a good try to me. Tomorrow is Round 1. If I pass Round 1, I have a right to join the Round 2 which is held on January 7^th which means I cannot make it. I might be in Korea at that time. I do not want to waste of my chance to stay 2 days more in Korea. Ah I am listening to the music of 4men. 4men is a Korean singer group consisted of 3 men. They are all good at singing and have terrific voices. And the truth is ! I am going to go to their concert this winter! I just made a reservation for tickets with my friend at the end of the year. December 30^th is the day. Ah. Christmas is coming. Even if I am not a Christian, I just get excited when Christmas is coming. I think Christmas just makes people happy and excited. Share foods, presents, and love.. What a pleasant day! I am almost done with this writing. After I finish this writing, I think I have to study for my academy test. And have a dinner and go to academy and study! OHhh I am happy and thankful that today is Friday ! TGIF !  

I look best when I :)

I look best when I smile. I love smiling because that makes me happy and others happy as well. One of my philosophies is that people are happy because they smile. It’s not that people smile because they are happy. That is, smiling makes people happy even though they are not actually happy.

           I love to smile ever since I was born. I know my childhood since my mother tells me every time. According to her, when I was just a little kid, people who looked at me used to say that I am smiling at everything all the time. Even if I meet someone who is not close to me, I listen to them and do not bother others. As a result, my relatives used call me Smiling Angel. When my mother could not take care of me because my mother had to do something, I did not cry and just kept smiling and listened to my mother. Till now, I am easygoing and cool so I do not care much about things.

           My parents always tell me that I look best when I smile. When I look at the mirror or pictures, it is better to smile than to remain serious. My friends say that I look gorgeous when I smile with my eyes and laugh an innocent laugh. It is not a forced smile at all. I just laugh at something easily and smile unconsciously. For another reason, I don’t like to cry in front of people. I do not want people to look at me when I am crying. That might make them sad as well. I tend to cry about things that are personal when I am alone. I, however, am so impressed that I easily cry when I watch touching movie or books.

            Since I and my father love to take pictures of me and other things, I have a lot of pictures that I collected. When I see the albums of my pictures, I am smiling in almost every picture. Even now, one of my habits is that when I take a picture, my pose is that I open the mouth and smile. Smile makes you healthy and forgets about bad things. Not only I but also others would look best when they smile since it reveals inner beauty and favorable kindness.

           I look best when I smile. For me, it is crucial to smile at even tiny matters so that you can realize how thankful surroundings are. I could not imagine myself without pure smile on my face.

My favorite academic class

          

           I love my 7^th grade Korean class. In Korean class, we used to learn about Korean literatures, some stories and poems. Even though Korean is not my favorite subject, but history is, my unforgettable and favorite class is my 7^th grade Korean class.

As I am studying in Saipan International School right now, there is not Korean subject at all. Since I went to middle school in Korea, Korean class is like English class in Saipan. When I was in 7^th grade, I was curious of everything since it was my first time to go to middle school. In Korea, when we go to elementary school, we do not have subject teachers. Just one homeroom teacher teaches every subject so he or she is in charge of every subjects and grades in class. When you go to middle school, there are homeroom teacher and subject teachers who enter into the classroom only for their classes. Since that system was new to me, I was so excited to have subject teachers. As I remember, all my subject teachers were great except science teacher. When I first went to middle school, I did not know anyone since I went to the one which takes 15 minutes to get there by car. However, on my first day of Korean class, my Korean teacher asked us to write a story that introduces me. While we were writing, the teacher went around the classroom and saw how students were doing. When she passes by my seat, she stopped. She was fascinated by my hand-writing. Right after, she asked my name which indicates that she was impressed by me and tried to get to know me. After writing stories, she asked us to raise our hands and read it to our classmates. Since I like to talk and introduce myself, I raised my hands and she called my name. I somewhat created a sense of humor in my writing and expressed my features. I think that sufficiently impressed both classmates and teacher.  For me, a little student who just entered to middle school, it was a pride.

As the first day of my Korean class passed, I said hi and smiled at my teacher when I met her in the passage at school. In the following Korean classes, I always used to prepare the lessons for my Korean class. Her teaching style led me to organize what I learned well. She used to give us handouts so we had to cut them out to attach them to our personal notes. She made an attempt to open students’ minds and feel free to ask her questions.

In my memory, she is very kind teacher and uses tiny provincial accents that student hardly perceive. She was also pregnant at that time which made me happy since she had to leave when she gave a birth to her baby. Before she left, she called me and said good-bye in personal. She really encouraged me to study well so that I got excellent grade on the exams. After she left, I absolutely missed her and met her in the road coincidentally. It was last time to see her. The latter Korean teacher was also good and close to me, but I missed my 7^th Korean teacher a lot and even till now. 

My best holiday

Since there are many holidays all over the world, people might have their favorite holiday or unforgettable holiday they passed. I had the best holiday experience on Children’s day. I do not know whether Americans celebrate Children’s day or not, but in Korea we do. Children’s day is on May 5^th. As a holiday, students don’t go to school. The standard age of children might be the ones who are not in middle school. Young kids always hope that their parents would give presents such as toys, dolls, and going somewhere special for them. As the day says, it is the day for children. When I was young, I used to love that holiday and get excited when it came closer. However, now, I feel just thankful that it is a holiday. My best holiday, children’s day, took place when I was 11 years old.

Till now, I could literally remember the moment of that day when I went to an amusement park with my family. At that time, I was in 4^th grade. I think I desired earnestly for going to an amusement park called ‘Lotte World.’ Since it was children’s day, I kept asking my parents to go to Lotte World for children’s day. My parents said Lotte World would probably be packed with a lot of people since kids such as you would like to go there. When I kept coaxing my parent’s into going to Lotte World, they said you have to wake up earlier than before because we might have to leave home early in the morning. At that time, for me, it was really arduous to wake up early in the morning, especially 6. I was not sure if I could wake up. Since my desire to go to Lotte World was so strong, I made up my mind firmly. Before I went to bed, I prayed and prayed. By a miracle, the time when my eyes were just opened was 5:45. As I could not believe that my eyes were opened at 5:45, I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock again. It was 5:45. I was really happy to wake my family up. They were surprised that I woke up early and got ready for going there. On our way to Lotte World, in my dad’s car, I and my brother sang a song and got excited. As we expected, when we arrived there, there were a lot of people at the amusement park already. I and my brother had so much fun and rode many things. My dad bought me a monkey toy filled with air that I could hang it around my shoulders. I kept hanging it even when I was having lunch. We took a picture and I think I just enjoyed all the stuff there with my family.

In fact, I am really bad at memorizing my childhood. I cannot recall my childhood well but can specifically remember the particular scene in my childhood. But that day, children’s day when I was in 4^th grade is unforgettable ever since.

Mission statement

My job as a high school girl is to make myself in every aspect for younger girls to look up to, to make in every aspect of their lives too to become like me.  To accomplish this goal, I need to be the as good as my body and mind allows me to be.  It is definitely hard to maintain a good reputation.  Building up a reputation can take years but crumbling it down can take less than a minute.  My job is a hard one, but I will live to accomplish this for the little girls looking up to me.

             I have been in pre-job status from Pre-K to 8th grade.  Over these 10 years, I developed my brain and strengthened my body and heart to prepare myself for my years of high school, the years of my job.  I fell and got back up and repeated doing this multiple times to become as failure-proof as possible.  Despite the long years of developing, strengthening, failing, and fixing, I failed at my job.

             Freshmen year was great.  I was an exemplary scholar and a virtuous moralist.  I was expected to be smart and respectful and that’s what I was.  Teachers loved me and I learned to love them.  Among parents, I was a subject of high reverence and jealousy.  They wanted their daughters to become likes me.  Exactly my job description: to be a high school girl who, girls want to be and parents want their daughters to be like.  If my job was a job with commission, I would’ve been a millionaire.

             Everything was going so nicely and I should’ve been suspicious of upcoming bumps and ditches.  Sophomore year was a rough ride.  I told myself I would be great and be the best at my job, but that failed to happen.  My grades dropped and so did my reputation.  I don’t know what got into me that year, but I just didn’t want to study.  I never was in the mood.  All I thought about was playing with my friends and staying beautiful.  If there weren’t those little girls depending on my behavior, I wouldn’t feel bad about that year so much. I really did have fun that year, but that fun led to those girls losing their dreams and hopes.  Knowing this was a big punch to my stomach.  I wanted to hit myself and hide.  Instead, I got back up, like I learned in my 10 years of pre-job.

             This year, things are going as my job status requires.  There have been a few hard moments, but I got over it and am back on track.  I can’t be sure of what all the people say about me.  I know some people are still not thinking very highly of me, but I feel people slowly warming up to me.  Sometimes I just want to give up because I feel like nothing works out for me, but then I get reminded of those little girls looking up to me and put on a smile.  I think I’m doing okay.  Payment wise, I’m getting a regular salary.  The cherry on top is my mom.  Because of me being good, people always share how they’re so jealous of my mom and she gets so happy.  I don’t tell her, but I’m happy that I can do something to make her happy.

             I really hope I’m doing something beneficial to those girls.  I’m giving up some of the fun things for their future, so I pray that they won’t end up being nobodies that people don’t care about or love.  I hope that by me being good will help these girls to become the best they can be.

An occasion in which I took a risk and found it to be a good choice later

One of my slogans is that life is one shot. Since I am the one who do not hold a grudge and just take everything flowing away naturally, I do not care about risks. It I stand firm in my resolution, I just do it without hesitation. As a result, I have no regrets about what I’ve done. However, as human is willing to take a risk, I would encounter with an occasion in which I have to take a risk.  Among the risks I took ever since, the event that happened these days is coming to Saipan.  

Since I was a kid, I am really interested in language, especially English. When I was in 6^th grade, my brother had studied abroad in Australia. At the age of 6^th grade, I did not have any desires to go to other countries to study English. However, since I am getting mature and older, I used to dream of studying in the United States to study English directly. Even though I had learned English for 8 years in Korea, I would like to go to other countries which are traditional English so that I can experience directly. When I was in 9^th grade in Korea, I was ready for my mid-term exam. At that time, the flu was widespread so our school had a one-week break. In the first morning of break week, I had a morning call from my mom. She informed me that I need to go to Saipan the very next day so get ready. I was quite at loss what to do. Since I have only one day to get ready, I did not know what I was doing at that time but just arranged and bought some stuff. I called my friends and teacher at the day when I was planning to leave. I just knew that I will go to Saipan one day before. Even though I had a right to say no, I hoped I would study abroad. As a result, I took a risk and just left in one day. I cried a lot at the airport. I couldn’t make up my mind and put my thoughts in order. Fortunately, my older brother was in Saipan at that time. He also just knew that I am going to Saipan when I called him at the airport. He sounded like in blank dismay. That was my first time to take a flight and go to other countries. I went through all the procedures by myself. In the airplane, I cried a lot and made a firm determination and strengthened my mind. I decided to take a risk and was confident that it would be a good choice. Right now, it is already the end of 2011. I have been on Saipan for 2 years. Time goes so fast. I think coming to Saipan was a good choice. Since I hate regrets, I do not regret at all. If I do, I will try to make my minds set up again and make attempts to accomplish my goals. 

If I could travel back in time,

If I could travel back in time, I would like to go back the time when I was in 8th grade. Even if I have a chance to go back in time when it’s late 19th centuries or before, I just would like to go back to my childhood, especially 8th grade. There is a reason why I want to go back to middle school.

To begin with, my 8th grade is the time when everything started to change. To be honest, I am such an excellent and outstanding student in my middle school. I went to Seon-Hak elementary school located in Seon-Hak dong, near my house. However, I used to go to Yeon-Sung middle school which is located in Dong-Chung dong, where I need to take a taxi, bus or a car. I chose to go there since Yeon-Sung middle school is well-known for good education. My mother usually used to pick up and drop me off and sometimes I used to go to school by a bus. When I first entered into a middle school, I only knew 20 of all the students in middle school since 21 students including me got into that middle school. I was designated as 9th classroom. In my classroom, I knew no one at the first time. All my classmates were from different schools unlike me. Even though they knew one another well and I didn’t, I tried to get along with them and be close. Since I love to be a class leader or social things, I nominated as a class leader and selected. I had been a class leader for 7 years which means I was selected every year. My school year was just perfect to me. However, when I was in 8^th grade, I reached the age of puberty. I took a defiant attitude towards everything that bothered me at that time. I even used to ignore my parents and teachers’ advices or decorum. I did not study as hard as I did before and just hung out with my friends. People who read my essay may say that students or girls at puberty are just like that or they are all the same. However, I was different. I never worried my parents or bothered them at all. I studied and did my best all the time. That girl who was exemplary started to change and turned into disobedience. I skipped the academies and told some lies. Now, I regret all of things I did when I was at puberty. The time I realized my wrong behavior was the end of 8^th grade. But as things happened and passed, I am doing my best in the place where I am supposed to be right now. I feel really sorry for my parents every time whenever I think of that time.

I know I cannot go back or travel back in time. Even if I have a change to go back in time, I would like to change all the things and make my behavior perfect. But I know it would never happen and I will never let it happen again. I am and will be just satisfied with my life and what I am doing. 

When I open the door,

The doors could be considered as two sides when I get out of my room or get into my room.

Firstly, when I get out of my room and open the door, I see the vacant space in the house. There’s such a short aisle and Mike’s room. Between our room, there’ are a bathroom and three steps of stairs. In the evening, when I open the door and go down the stairs, there’s no one in the kitchen or living room. Since I stay with family who are not my own, it is somewhat empty and silent. After school, when I come home, Dan who is my host welcomes me with 7 dogs and 3 cats. We usually spend time individually but when I am free from my school works, every time I try to talk to him and communicate with him. However, in the evening, only radio in the kitchen is playing all day long and I barely meet someone in the kitchen or living room. Dan and Phyllis who live with me as guardians stay in upstairs. It is hard to meet them every evening since they remain in their rooms. They do not have their own children so at my house we are lack of communications. I think they don’t know how to get along with children or not used to spend time with them since they had lived without children but with just both of them for more than 10 years. Even in the dinner time when we only could see and talk we just dip and grab some food, thus going in to each own room to have dinner. Just in the room, each has dinner by himself. Consequently, we do not have a dining table which is thought to be useless at our house. To me, at the first time, it was hard to eat alone in the room without chatting or conversations since I used to eat dinner with my family and always have a conversation as I like to talk. However, I am getting used to it so it doesn’t really matter these days.

When I open the door to go inside my room, only things I can see are living things such as beds, desks, closets and books. My room is cramped but just fits for one person to stay. What I just want to change is the arrangements of my bed and desk in my room. It seems somewhat messy and stuffy. Since my room is cramped, I have a difficulty in arranging the things and making them neat. These days I am thinking of new ideas how to arrange them since I am depending on arrangements in a large way. I sometimes feel lonely as I spend my almost time by myself in my room except the time when I go to school or hang out with my friends.

As seen in two cases of opening the doors, I come up with an idea that I want to change. There should be a communication at my house. Even though each might be busy or tired after they come home and has a desire to take some rest, he or she should concern each other and makes attempts to speak at least. That way might be able to help make house more lively and harmonic. Not only I but also the others at my house may feel as I do since people are the same. Someday if I open the door, my house should be full of communications and laughter. 

My last thanksgiving

I have celebrated Thanksgiving Day for 3 years on Saipan. The first time I celebrated was one month passed from the day when I came to Saipan at the first time. Since I have stayed with American Family, celebrating Thanksgiving Day is different from the way I used to do it in Korea. I was expected to celebrate it because the culture is totally different and I have never heard or seen before. Last year, I stayed there with one Korean girl, So-Yeong. She was my roommate so we shared all the things each other since we know each other when we were in first grade. That year was my second time to celebrate Thanksgiving. So-Yeong was looking forward to celebrate it as well.

Two years ago, the theme of Thanksgiving in my house was traditional American style. We had turkey, fruit punches, jellies, and their traditional dishes. Last year, the theme was Thai style since Mrs. Villegas loves Thai food. As I and So-Yeong had never tried of Thai food, we agreed with that idea. On Thanksgiving, everyone in the house got up earlier than before and helped one another. Some arranged the dishes and table set and some cook with the help of a lady who is from Thailand. Mrs. Villegas used to go to Mai Thai restaurant so she bought some sauces from there. The smells of food were so good that I could not concentrate on setting the tables. With the continuous music, everyone was in a good mood. A big table which has a capacity for 15 people is decorated with a red tablecloth and candles. Chairs were covered with black clothes. The plates, forks, and cups were arranged. I was really hungry since the food was not ready on time. The kids were so excited that kept singing and played a Nintendo while we were waiting for our food. Eventually, the plates of food are all set on the table so that we can sit and dip what and how much each wants. After sitting on the chairs, we took a family picture. Mr. Villegas grabbed one article of today’s newspaper and read it which is about a Thanksgiving, thus appreciating something to whomever you feel valuable. Consequently, one by one, we said something that we are thankful to. After we prayed, we started to eat. There are cashew chickens, lumpia, pai-tai, Thai fried rice and fruit punches. Since it’s my first time to try Thai food, I just loved it, especially cashew chicken. After we enjoyed the meals, we helped out clean and played games.

This is what I did on my last Thanksgiving. Since I have stayed with Americans, this comes to new to me and became such a great experience. However, since I move to another American family, I am really looking forward to celebrate this coming Thanksgiving. 

The Incredibles

My childhood superhero is the incredible family. The time when I watched a movie named the Incredible at the first time is in 2004 when I was in 4^th grade. I had watched it more than 4 times. I am into the Incredible since I enjoyed a movie.

The family members of the Incredible are Bob (Mr. Incredible), Helen (Mrs. Incredible), Dash, Violet and toddler, Jack-Jack. Bob and Helen who are humans gifted with superpowers have married and raised three children, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Bob is so strong that he used to use his power in order to save the world. Helen is so flexible and extensive that her whole body is able to lengthen and stretch. Since she used to save the world as well, she and Bob could meet and get married each other. At first, their children did not recognize that they have inner powers which are innate. After their marriage, Bob quitted saving the world and has worked as a normal man. However, since Bob loses his temper at work, he suddenly reveals his super strength and loses a job. At that time, Bob receives a message from others and decided to leave as a secret to Helen. Bob pretends working at work and he goes to the robot world. While he is fighting with a robot, he knows that the creator is Syndrome who wanted to be a superhero like Mr. Incredible. Syndrome plans everything in order to take revenge for Bob. Later since Helen is suspicious of Bob’s work and the special designer who designs superhero customs, she detects that her husband is in danger therefore she needs to help him. She wears a superhero customs which are appropriate for their super powers. The family recognizes that the children have super powers as well and they also follow Helen in order to rescue their dad, Bob. The superpower of Dash is fast-running that no one can follow him. The daughter, Violet, became my favorite because it looks cool when she uses her superpower which is able to create a force shield. Consequently, the incredible family cooperate one another and boost their abilities to collapse the power of Syndrome. They overcome the difficulties and escape from the robot world. However, there is another problem which was a baby, Jack-jack. Since Jack-jack is a toddler, they left him at home and a neighbor is babysitting him. Since Syndrome recognizes that the incredible family escapes, he heads to their house to attack and kidnap Jack-jack who has superpower. When the incredible family goes back to human world, Syndrome brings a strong robot which can destroy the whole world. To prevent people who fear about a robot from ruling by the evils, the incredible family gathers all superpowers together and succeeds to save the world. I still can’t forget the feeling when they defeat the enemy. Since they are worried about a toddler, they run to their house but find out that Syndrome already takes a baby. As Bob and Helen launch a rescue attempt, Jack-Jack reveals his powers of transformation, forcing Syndrome to drop him into Helen's waiting arms. Syndrome tries to escape but his cape is caught in the suction of his aircraft's engine, killing Syndrome. It is so cool when the baby reveals his power. All after, the incredible family goes back to their normal life and lives happily.

As all things considered, the incredible family is my superhero since I was young. I’ve watched it for 4 times and still I would like to watch it again. Whenever I think of my superhero, I wish I could have the superpower to save the world. 

Kite Runner

The author titled the book as Kite Runner as everything in the book has changed since Hassan ran for loser’s kite after the tournament. When you think about the kite-flying, in order to fly a kite, there should be two people who are kite controller and kite runner. A kite controller is a main role who takes responsibilities for flying a kite as he controls and cut the others’ lines. Behind him, there is always a kite runner who holds the spool and supports the kite controller. With the combination of two of them, a kite-flying is processing properly. After the kite fighting, a kite runner runs toward a loser’s kite which is considered as a prize for a kite controller to gain pride of winner.

Based on this, a kite controller had been Amir and a kite runner had been Hassan. Amir and Hassan were together like brothers during their childhood. All the time, Hassan has been always behind him and supported him not only in kite-fighting but also in other ways. They used to spend most of time and read books. If Amir writes a story, it was Hassan who listens to it and boosters Amir. Amir could be described as a child who cannot do anything by himself and stand up for anything even for himself. He was just selfish which refers to a man who thinks of himself before others. On the other hand, Hassan is opposed to Amir as an adult who dedicated his life to Amir. Even though he was younger than Amir, Hassan was more mature than him.  

In this novel, the author put more than one implication into a kite. A Kite reveals both a situation in Kabul, Afghanistan and a relationship between Amir and Hassan. Since Afghanistan had been ruled by Russians and the Taliban, Amir and his dad had to flee from their own country. Since then, there were no more kite-fighting tournaments in Kabul as the Taliban banned children from flying kites. The tradition of Kabul is broken down, which implies that there is no freedom in Afghanistan.

A kite is also meant to be a relationship between Amir and Hassan. After the tournament, everything related to them started to fall down since Hassan got raped by other kids when he was trying to save a loser’s kite for Amir. After a break of their relationship, as a story goes in, Amir realized that Hassan always stood up for him and Amir, himself, couldn’t do anything during his childhood. As he heard Hassan’s story from his dad’s friend, he decided to give his rest of life to Sohrab, Hassan’s son as forgiveness. In the last scene, Amir suggested Sohrab fly a kite even though Sohrab refused to do, speak, and learn anything. Surprisingly, the first reaction from Sohrab was to follow Amir who was flying a kite. As Hssan used to be a kite runner for Amir, Amir eventually became a kite runner for Sohrab. That demonstrates Amir’s redemption and realization that he who used to be a child who thinks himself and stands up for nothing became a grown man and a kite runner who is in a second place.

In those ways, the author titled his book as a Kite Runner since he wants to lay more emphasis on Kite Runner than Kite Controller through Amir’s growth from a child to a grown man who eventually became a Kite Runner. 

How is lying justified?

Everyone tells a lie on occasion. As everyone knows, telling a lie is such a bad thing that people are not supposed to do. When is lying justified? How is lying justified? This could be a complicated question but a simple question as well. A wide array of people say that lying should be never done, but sometimes lying is acceptable when it is white lie.

A white lie makes life easier or more pleasant. The objective of lying is to save relationships and to prevent someone from hurting. Also lying is justified when people have a secret and try to keep that secret.

Lying is considered okay when people want to save relationships. For example, if someone asks, “how do I look with my new dress?”, then although you think it doesn’t fit well, you need to say, “Wow, you look just great in that dress.” In that way, your lying is acceptable since she would like your answer. If you tell what the truth actually is, she might not feel good about it. Telling a lie both makes her feel good and saves relationships.

There is another way of how lying is justified. That is when it is done to prevent someone from hurting people in physical and emotional ways. As everyone does, people get hurt emotionally when they hear something nasty from others. It particularly does when it is about appearances or one’s looks: they are ugly, not fashionable, and stinky. It is crystal clear that no one wants to hear it and there are no reasons for describing as them in that way. Since it is not a good situation to hurt someone else’s feelings, instead of saying a truth, people should tell a lie that makes everything nice. Moreover, in physical ways, they hurt themselves due to something someone says.

The last reason is to keep a secret. There are two types of people who keeps a secret and who do not keep a secret. Since it is called a secret, there are only few people or only you who know about that secret. For example, there is a surprise birthday party for my friend, Jessica. As it is a surprise party, I need to keep a secret and should not tell that to Jessica or someone else. Then, if Jessica asks, “Can you come to my birthday party? I would like to invite you.” and I might say “Oh, I am so sorry. I have an appointment with my family so I can’t make it.” If I would tell a truth, it does mean any secrets no more and our plans are going to be ruined. Therefore, I am telling a lie since I promised to keep a secret and not let her know about it.

         As I mentioned above, these are three ways to justify lying. Even though I do not recommend lying, lying is sometimes inevitable in those three ways. It would be better to set lying as a last option as a right thing to do.

Three happiest moments of my life

Three happiest moments of my life would be the easy topic but for me it was kind of hard because I’ve never thought of those before. What is the happiest moment in my life? I am kind of easygoing and positive. So I never thought that I am unhappy or unlucky. It sounds like typical but I am just happy because I am healthy and my family and friends love me. I looked back my life and tried to choose three happiest moments of my life. They are when I went to an amusement park with my family, when I went to elementary school, and when I was in 9^th grade.

To begin with, I could literally remember the moment of that day when I went to an amusement park with my family. At that time, I was 11 years old. I think I desired earnestly for going to an amusement park called ‘Lotte World.’ Since it was children’s day which is on May 5^th, Lotte World would probably be packed with a lot of people. When I said my parents that I wanted to go there, they said you have to wake up earlier than before because we might have to leave home early in the morning. It was kind of hard to wake up at 6 in the morning for me who was 11 years old. Before I went to bed, I prayed and prayed. By a miracle, the time when my eyes were just opened was 5:45. I was really happy to wake my family up. They were surprised that I woke up early and got ready for going there. We took my dad’s car and as we expected, there were a lot of people at the amusement park. I bought a monkey toy that I could hang it around my shoulders. I just enjoyed all the stuff there with my family. Actually, I am really bad at memorizing my childhood. Till now I almost couldn’t remember my childhood. But that day is not forgettable ever since.

The second moment I was happy was when I was an elementary school students. Since my brother had studied abroad, I was always with my mom and dad. I have been really close to my brother since I was a baby. Sometimes we fight each other but it’s just it. It never lasts over one day even one hour. We just enjoy playing together and talking and joking. When my friends or other people see us, they say we look really close each other. But my brother was studying in Australia when I was in 7^th grade. So for me, the school life when I was in an elementary was normal but happy and great. I got up in the morning and walked to school with my brother. After school, when we came home, my mom greeted us and gave us snacks. We both studied and went to academies. In the evening we had dinner with my dad and enjoyed our rest of day. I just missed those days a lot because I am here and studying alone. This really reminded me of moments when I stayed with my family.

The last happiest moment of my life is when I was in 9^th grade. During spring semester, I was in Korea and the top grade of middle school. Since I had been a president of class every year, I almost know everyone at school and enjoyed my school life. I met the best homeroom teacher who brought me interests in science. He was nice and I still keep track of him. I was just happy everyday and after school, my mother picked me up and had some snacks together. Then I went to the academy. On October which is my favorite month, I had a great birthday party with my friends and I just enjoy every day. The day before I left, I knew that I would leave Korea and study in Saipan. It just happened for one day. Behind my happy life, I just tried to find my new life. And these all happened when I was in 9^th grade.

Still I am studying in Saipan and learning English. I miss my childhood and really would like to go back to middle school in Korea. But I am just trying to be satisfied with my life now because this is what I chose. I miss my family and friends and country but this is for my future. My mom said to me to be positive and think positively then you will be happy and appreciate for everything. So I smile and smile and I am happy that I am here now and thanks to my dad and mom. 

My favorite hobby

My favorite hobby is searching for blogs which include personal reviews of cooking or trips. This sounds like kind of unfamiliar but that is what I do when I get bored. The time I started to search for blogs and read the reviews is my first vacation on Saipan.

The first time I came to Saipan is October. Since there was a problem with all the international students and visas, the governments decided not to let students who do not have permits go off Island. As a result, I had to spend my first winter vacation on Saipan. Honestly, there is no place to hang out on Saipan. What’s better for me was that there are more than 10 people at my homestay. So I could have fun at home with little kids. We played Nintendo, hide and seek, trampoline, cooked and baked. But since I slowly started to lose interests, I want to find something new. To spend time when I am alone, I used to search something in the internet and finally I am into reading some reviews that are written by bloggers after their use of new goods, trips to somewhere, and recipe. Especially, I like the site named Nate and it used to be called Cyworld. The manager of Nate looked for the top 30 or best blogs that include some information that is useful and helpful for lifetime. There are some categories such as beauty, trips, useful tips, and diet. The bloggers took the pictures and described the things.

My favorite category is trip. I feel like visiting to Japan so much when I looked at the reviews of trip to Japan. The professional bloggers use a special camera to take a picture and the qualities of photos are so good and clear that they really seem like real. As a result, the pictures of food look so delicious that I seriously want it. For real, I read the reviews of and tried to find that restaurant. I went there with my friend and tried what the blogger recommended. Of course, they tasted really good.

In the beauty section, the bloggers introduce the trend make-up skills and cosmetics that they wanted to recommend after they used them. Also for each season, they introduce the latest fashion and matching style. When I read the reviews of that section, I can know what the newest style is in this present day and age. I am pretty sure that more than half of girls who use Cyworld are getting information from that beauty section.

Another section that I like is cooking. It tells you how to cook, which food would be food for special days, cooking tips, or baking. Since I stay with Americans, I sometimes look for the recipes of some Korean foods that I really want. The recipes are written so neatly and specifically that everyone who is interested in cooking can try.

As I mentioned above, searching for blogs that are consisted of personal reviews is my favorite hobby. 

Something I wasn't looking for

I tend to find something I was not expected for when I organize messy things in my room or my cases. In that case, I find something that reminds me of my childhood. I like to collect things that are valuable for my memory such as letters since I was young and still now. But the problem is that I do not remember where I put them since I do not put an emphasis on the place. As a result, when I clean my room and organize my stuff, I usually find something I am not looking for. I can find not only some stuff I wasn’t looking for but I also can find myself I was not expected for.

A time when I came to Saipan and stayed with American Family is when I found something I was not looking for. When I was in Korea, I thought I like every kinds of culture all over the world including Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese, so on. However, I came to Saipan and realized that I do not like every kind of cultures and people. This is when I found myself that I was not looking for. Since I have stayed with American family for about 2 years, I felt something new about them and even about the natives on Saipan. Based on my experience, it can be said that I am kind of peaky about cleanliness and what kinds of people are they. I definitely am not blaming about what kinds of people they are but feeling that I miss my country and my people. I used to think that I am not peaky about people from other countries, but the fact is that I am. The culture how Americans live is so different that I feel uncomfortable. Also for the cleanliness, I usually wash the cups and plates again when I use it even if it is washed already. I think that’s from my mom. My mom is really peaky so she even does not eat food at the others’ houses. At the first time, it was kind of hard for me to live in that way. But now I am used to it. This is what I discovered even though I was not expected for it.

One day when I went to middle school in Korea is another example of thing I was not looking for. I was cleaning my room since I tend to organize my stuff if my room is so messy that I could not do anything. There is a box which is filled with a lot of letters from my friends or parents. When I clean under my desk, I discovered the notebook which seemed like a diary. I opened it and smiled as I saw what was inside. I had written a diary which is called exchanged diary with my friend when I was in 4^th grade. The cover of diary was pink and cute since pink was my favorite color. I used to exchange that diary with Ji-yeon who was my best-friend. Since I was in 9^th grade at that time, when I read it, the content of diary was childish and not important. Through that diary, I could recollect the memory of my 4^th grade when I was young and immature. I miss that time and my friend Ji-yeon who are not getting touch with me right now.

When someone finds something that he or she is not looking for, it might be come to his or her mind as positive or negative thing. But I think for me, most of them would be positive and something helpful for me. 

Go to movie with my b.f.

If I go to movies, I would like to watch action movies with my boy friend. Since I do not have a boyfriend, it is kind of hard to think of what kind of movies I would like to watch with him. Even though my favorite genre of movie is action movie, especially, the pirates of Caribbean, I am not sure whether my boy friend likes that kind of movie or not. I imagined the movie date with my boyfriend.

It would be sunny or rainy day since I prefer rainy day over sunshine. My boy friend would come to my house to pick me up and we would head to the movie theater. After we buy the tickets for movies, we would spend time together while we are waiting for the movie time. Almost everyone often eats something such as popcorns, hotdogs, or chips while they are watching movies. As I, however, do not eat anything during movie time, I think I don’t need to spend time to buy food. Instead of that, I would like to go to game room which is usually located on the same floor of Movie Theater. There are some different games such as shooting game, sports game, fighting game and music game. I hope that I would play the driving game with my boyfriend, competing for buying drinks to winner. If we have some time after we enjoy games, we would go to café since I love going to café.

When it’s time to watch movie, I would go inside the theater, find the seat and enjoy my movie time with my boy friend. There is no such special reason for choosing action movies if I go out movie date with my boyfriend. Not specifically, I would rather go to watch movies which are released lately so I can watch them with my boyfriend when we are having a date.

On the other hand, I do not like comedies for it looks kind of silly when it makes attempts to make people laugh by doing something funny on purpose. I hate that acting which gives no lesson to people who watch the movie. In my opinion, movies should teach a lesson for people by not only acting but also entertaining them. People should learn something from it even if they spend time on watching movies. The action movies often give me a lesson which is that the good always wins the evil. When the actors shoot guns and fight, that makes me interesting and nervous since someone would lose or die. When the evil is destroyed, that makes me have a smile and feel so proud of the actors whose roles are protecting the people or the valuable things that they want to save. Also in the action movies, they use high-quality technologies to produce movies and spectacle visuals. But since I am not interested in fantasy and unreal story, the action movies should not be about fictional stories.

After I watch action movie with my boyfriend, I might be happy about the fact that the good save the world and people. Since I am satisfied with my movie, I would have dinner with my boyfriend happily. 

Description of a picture

     Generally, the picture I posted above seems peaceful. By looking at this, I can see that the place of this picture is a park. Since there are some people at the park, it would be Sunday afternoon when everyone spends free time. On the right side, there are one gentleman and one lady who seemed like a married couple. The lady is holding a small black parasol to protect her from the sunshine. It would be probably sunny outside there. On her left hand, she is holding one pink dog and one brown cat which are playing each other. A big flower is attached at her hat and she has a wide-hip. Right next to her, her husband is standing; they both are looking at something. They might come to a park to take a walk on Sunday afternoon there. On the left side of the picture, there is one man who seems like a labor since he is having a cigarette on his hand and he is lying down with his frowned face. He is taking some rest after work. Next to him, a lady with such a big hat is knitting without saying. The man and the lady don’t know each other. Behind them, a black dog which would be probably hungry is looking for food. On her right side, a gentleman with a hat and walking stick is sitting down and enjoying his afternoon. He looks lonely since he doesn’t have anyone to talk with him. Behind them, there are two ladies who seem like mom and daughter. While they are sitting, a mother is holding a small blue parasol and her daughter is looking at flowers that she picked up. A daughter looks really quite and womanly. Right in front of them, another mother and daughter are walking by them. The mother is holding a red parasol and her kid which put on all white dress and hat is hold her hand when she is walking. On the left back side, there is a group whose members are two women and one kid. One woman is about to hug a kid who might be her daughter. Near them, there is one kid who wears pink dress running around. I can say her as another woman’s child. In the picture, there are some trees and a lake. On the lake, few boats are floating and five people are riding a canoe-looking boat. Back there, two couples are walking. The appearance of one couple from behind is kind of old. A lady is kissing his husband. Another couple’s appearance from behind is walking in peace. Near the lake, there are few people who are looking at the view of lake. Almost ladies in the picture are holding the small parasols since it is sunny afternoon. Also they put on their hats and women wear dresses or long skirts. When I look at this picture, I feel tranquil and serene and it is peaceful Sunday afternoon when people can take some rest. 

My most embarrassing moment

My most embarrassing moment is not that far from my recent memory. Because it just took place few months ago or maybe one month ago. I went to Korea for this summer and stayed since May. My school Northern Marianas Academy which became my old school always has the longest period of vacation among all the private high schools. Since it is related to Northern Marianas College, the agenda of NMA follows NMC’s all the time. I was planning to get my student visa from NMC since NMA is not certificated as a high school which can issue student visa for international students. A student who goes to NMA can take college classes for 2 years, Junior and senior years. However, as my teacher recommended take college classes since my second semester of sophomore year, I was taking classes in NMC. Before I went back to Korea for this summer, I tried to prepare for my student visa from NMC on May. Even though prepared all the documents that are required for my visa to be issued, NMC said they cannot issue a student visa for me since I am a high school student. So I went back to my high school teacher and what he said was they are just misunderstanding and just tell me just leave. He promised me that he would make sure that NMC would issue visa and send it to me when I am in Korea. So I just left with his conviction. I kept sending e-mail to him and calling him to be informed new things, but he kept saying Just wait and patient. Since he is a teacher and has responsibility for my visa, I just have no choice but to believe and wait for his replies. Miserably, he informed me that I could not get visa from NMC and enter to Saipan just one week ago before I am planning to leave. 

I had no idea what to do next. I just had one week left and what he said was that I cannot go back to Saipan since I do not have a student visa. As a result, I needed to transfer to another school which is already started 2 weeks ago. The very next day, he called me again and said that just come to Saipan as a tourist and go to Immigration office to figure out. I had no choice but to follow what he said. My parents were very angry and mad but the only thing that we can do is just go to Saipan and solve the problems. After my flight, I waited for a line of tourists. The immigration lady was a Korean and she started to yell at me when she knew that I have no visa and I am a student. I just started crying since she kept yelling at me and was falsely charged. I did nothing wrong and it was not my fault. She brought me to American guy and he let me enter as a tourist for 45 days. I kept crying and went to school to figure out my situation. Even though I did every possible option to figure out my situation for 2 weeks, nothing was changed but I just wasted my time and money. I think that I just cried every day and was mortified at being mistreated. Although I met the president of NMC, the result was miserable and right now I am doing my assignment at Saipan international School. I just enjoy my school life today and love being here. Just one month ago, it was my most embarrassing moment that I could not forget.