Jeong Hae Joong/the final draft of oral history/tuesday11

 201003224 Jeong Hae Joong

 

Time Machine

 

     "Do I have to live in this place?" was the utterly unexpected answer I got from my uncle. I was suddenly saddened. What else was I supposed to tell him in that situation? When I heard this, I had to say that it was astonishing in a kind of sad way. That answer from him was still resonating deeply across my mind. Even though I got some those kinds of answers from him, I thought I'd got to know kind of the history of my family. I thought that in a big picture, this short ten-minute long interview might be just my family's unheard history but be a noticeable part of the whole Korean history in the 1980s.

 

Interestingly, there are many social good or bad phenomena or events happening right now across one country or even the world. Something big, small or important is taking place across time and places such as globalization or technology revolution. As a matter of fact, I think, there was always something worth listening within people' lives in the tide of the changes. I think one of them is Ichonhyngdo, a term to describe that more and more people go to major cities such as Seoul, Busan and Incheon to move in at some period. Actually, I knew that my grandparents on my mom's side used to live in a small town in the super countryside near Hong Seong and moved to Seoul in the early 1980s. I was curious about a story why they went, what they did for a living, and part of the face of Seoul. So I decided to interview my uncle about his early life in the 80s.

 

     Before beginning of my interview, I thought of the current Seoul itself which represents absolutely modern things like skyscrapers in the downtown or Gangnam and is full of vitality to compare what the city was like at that time. Now, how super-big it is in every perspective like the population. Even more, many exciting places such as theme parks, COEX and tourism spots to go and interesting things to do are all there, attracting to its visitors. Well, I was quite sure that the capital city was always as it is as now in the past.

 

I began my interview with a no brainer, simple and easy question: "when did you move to Seoul from your hometown?" He answered, with no one-second hesitation, that "the whole family moved to the city in the early 1980s." When I got this, I noticed that it was just about a little more than a decade before I was born.

 

Then I asked the next question: what the family moved to Seoul for. He said "At that time, there was almost nothing to do for his parents for a living in the town. So we just moved to Junggye-dong, Seoul." When I heard this, I thought that it didn't make sense because Junggye-dong is one of the most affluent districts in Nowon-gu. It sounded like that they didn't have money and went to the affluent district. It sounded absolutely contradictory. So I soon asked him a kind of following-up question to make sure that what he really meant. I said "Where? You lived in Junggye?" With his one hand scratching his head, he looked like he should have mentioned something to help me understand what the area was like in the 80s. He replied, "At first, the whole family lived in a small room in Junggye-dong. Even though Junggye-dong is nowadays so affluent and well-developed part of Nowon-gu, which has a nickname of Daechi-dong of Nowon-gu, the district used to be so barely developed that we lived in a town so called "panjachon" for a while. Literally, we lived in a small room with no "usable and clean" bathroom. Panjachon was like very small, very old and bad conditions houses were so closely and densely built. It almost seemed like a big connected structure. There was a public washroom for each three house. It was so uncomfortable that I did never have a shower in a relaxed way. We also used kind of coal to heat the room in the winter, which was kind of less effective or just bearable."

 

Getting to know this fact, I became more curious about his thought and early teenage life in Seoul. So I gave him a question about the first moment he came to the city. After thinking quite for a couple of minutes, he took a long and deep sigh. He looked like he really went back to that moment.  And then, he said in a slow and calm tone that "I thought my family was so poor. My life would be so rocky." He continued to say that when I saw the room, I asked my parents a question "Do I have to live in this place?" While listening to him, I was sorry for him.

 

Another question was about the jobs my grandparents did for a living. "What did your parents do for a living?" I asked.

"My parents, so your grandparents, did so called "nogada," he said. This term is used to describe to name some hard jobs like construction workers in a not "polite" way. I later found from him that my grandparents did not get highly educated well for doing so called "professional works."

 

My last question was this: "Have you ever regretted your choice to move in the city?" he said that "Actually, we moved a lot. At a time when Junggye-dong was being developed, we moved to Sanggye-dong. And when Sanggye-dong was being developed, we moved again to Danggogae. You know, we just kept moving to more and more outside of Seoul because we had no money to afford to live in a developed area. It was just out of budget to do. But I've never regretted that I lived in Seoul with almost no money. I thought living in that kind of circumstances made me to work hard so much. Living in Seoul gave me unshakable motivation to study hard to have a big house with some bathrooms."

 

     When I finished interviewing him, I got humble and sorry. I mumbled, being left with almost nothing to say. I can't imagine what it was like to live in the small room like my uncle did. It was like I was running back in time for a short time to the past of Seoul with some three dimensional guidance. Even though I was not born yet at that time when the family moved, I could picture what it was like in the 80s. Of course the city had super-rich some areas, however, it also has dark sides, too. It's like a coin. Every coin has the two sides. It is same to the city. Although it didn't take that long time to talk, this time was a whole different story that I had expected to listen. It was deeper and real, not a story made up for a film. It felt like this interview was more than just peering, but pouring into the past. 

Yoo Hongsang/ Improved language samples/ Tue 11-1

1. First, we made an appointment, met, and went into the restaurant. → First, I made an appointment with him to interview him for the purpose of getting useful information in relation with job markets. We met in Jongak, and went into the restaurant nearby for lunch. 2. This is amazing because many other friends of mine failed even in most of the document screening. → This is amazing because many other friends failed even in most of the document screening. 3. I also asked him about what his priority is in choosing the companies. He said, ''I want to go to the company that guarantees the working years until the retirement age.'' → I also inquired him about what his priority is in choosing the companies. He replied, ''I want to go to the company that guarantees the working years until the retirement age.'' 4. It is getting more and more difficult to enter the big companies due to the bad economy. → It is getting more and more difficult to enter the big companies due to sluggish market(economic depression). 5.  At that time, she was 'just good', not unbelievable or super excellent. → At that time, she was 'just good' but was not enough to be unbelievable or super excellent. 6. Probably, it is to safe to say that she has a big ambition. → Definitely, she has a big ambition. 7. This ambition woman top her priority on her family rather than her dream or ambition. → This ambitious woman topped her priority on her family instead of her ambition. 8. It was the biggest pride I have of all experience I had. →  It was the biggest pride of all the experiences I had.

Kang Dabida/Improved language samples/ Tue34

1.     But I know a person to whom all the terrible accidents happened in just two years. è  But I know a person who has suffered from severe accidents in just two years. As the saying goes 'it never rains but it pours', his stories exactly fit into place.   2.     I met him in HUFS in 2012. Because we major in the same department, Media Communication, we used to hang out with other friends too. è  I met him in HUFS in 2012 and we became close for having many things in common, including the same major, Media Communication. We used to hang out a lot in Imundong with other friends too.   3.     Before long, I found it out easily that he is a man with all the bad luck. è  I don't want to be rude, but whenever I see him and listen to his stories, I can't help but feel pity for him. Because he truly is a man with the bad luck as if he were cursed from somebody.   4.     He is a positive and energetic man. è  To describe him a little, he is a positive and energetic man. It's hard to imagine from his charming personality that he had gone through bad accidents.   5.     I suddenly wondered why on earth bad things which might happen to a person once in his or her lifetime happened continuously to such a hardworking man. è  It came into my mind all of sudden, why on earth such a hardworking man had to experience so many bad things, to others which might be once-in-a-lifetime accident.   6.     He said with embarrassingly smiling, "Let me first exclude the happenings that occurred due to my clumsiness." è  He smiled embarrassingly and said, "I should exclude the happenings that occurred for my clumsiness, shouldn't I?"   7.     "I'm way too much unlucky to just call myself unlucky." è  "To look back, I feel like I was the unluckiest in the world."

Kim Kap Whan / 5-10 improved pieces of language / Tues 11

1. The way a snake creeps, sticks its tongue out, and peeves is really loathsome.

→ The way a snake creeps and sticks its tongue out is really loathsome.

2. Looking back on those irreplaceably good old days

→ Looking back on the good old days

3. Some children from the village would go to the mountain, to the field, to the hill, and so on, alone or in groups to play outside or for other purposes if the weather was good.

→ Children from the village would go outside to play whenever the weather was good.

4. One bright, beautiful Sunday morning in autumn when I was a middle school student, about at the age of 14 or 15. I climbed up a mountain ~

→ One bright, beautiful Sunday morning in autumn when I was a middle school student, about 14 or 15 years old, I climbed up a mountain ~

5. His name is Sae-ram now at 9 in second grade.

→ His name is Sae-ram, 9 years old, a second year student in elementary school.

6. I have never seen the innocent smile like that, which still holds ancient mysteries.

→ I have never seen an innocent smile like that, which makes me happy.

7. he has been notorious for his popularity.

→ he has been famous for his popularity.

8. What a ache!

→ What an ache!

9. meaning "My hometown is situated at the southern sea. The deep blue seawater I can see~."

→ meaning My hometown is situated at the southern sea. The deep blue seawater I can see~.

10. Therefore, If you wanted to find a place to play in, there were playgrounds anywhere.

→ There were playgrounds anywhere to play in.

11. Sometimes, the place suddenly would make me feel poignantly homesick,  

→ Sometimes the place suddenly makes me feel homesick,  

LoYunSeo(노윤서)/Final draft of Oral History/Tues.11

<Her Passion to Go to University>

The person whom I interviewed was my mother's sister. A few days ago, I read an internet article about an old woman who took college examination this year. The older woman is seventy seven-year-old now. She tried to realize her dream that she becomes a student of a college. As soon as I saw the article, an aunt came across my mind as she also had determined to enter into college in her much later years. When her age was 60, she entered into a university. So I decided to interview my aunt to hear full detail story. 

 

 She is the oldest out of twelve brothers and sisters. Since she has been living in America, I have had rare chance to meet her directly. I have seen her three times until now. At the last time when I met her, she looked so happy. So I asked her why she looks so joyful. She said like this at that time.

 

" I really, really want to be a college student for whole my life. And now, I finally success in realize my desperate dream. So I would not have any regrets if I died right now!."

 

At that time, she was 62-year old so she has got wrinkles round her face. But her passion for learning made her look so beautiful. I was impressed by her desire to learn. But I did not know detail history of her at the moment.

From that moment, four year has passed, I tried to be aware of her story.  

 

Although she has lived far away from Korea, she has often given phone call to relatives who live in Korea to say hello. Whenever I contacted her on the phone, she always said to me, "Do your best in school! The chance to study is the most precious thing in your life! So cherish every moment during school life."

 

So I was fed up with that nag so I avoided talking with her.

 

I hesitated whether I should interview her or not. I thought that there might be an awkward silence between us because I have never contacted my aunt for four years. But I really wanted to know her history so I punched out her telephone number. As I started conducting the interview, I did not expect that I would be grateful for the opportunity to study without any limitation which I took for granted before that interview.      

 

I rang her at about three in the afternoon of local time. She answered the phone with strained voice because my mother had already told her that I was going to interview her. I was also very nervous because of awkwardness, so an air of silence filled between us for a while. To put her at ease, I told some funny jokes. Fortunately, my efforts made comfortable atmosphere for interview. Then I began telephone interview with notebook. As first question, I asked her the reason why she gave up the idea of going on the college in her high school days.

 

She said that she did well in high school as she had a strong desire to learn. But she had to give up studying when she was in third grade of high school because of historical discrimination to women in Korea. In 1940's when she was high school student, there were scanty opportunities for women to go university in Korea. Especially, as my grandparents belonged by origin to the gentry, they considered her dream as family dishonor. At that time, Korean people thought that all women should devote themselves to taking care of her family at home. The women who attended university were considered as people of low birth.

 

 "In the day when I pestered my father for going university, he scolded sternly and said to me that 'you are the family dishonor!'. I am tenaciously asking for going school, then, finally he cut my hair and kept me in my room. Even though I had no hope to see my dream come true, I could not give up on my dream." 

 

 No matter how hard she tried to remain calm, she could not keep her voice from trembling. After a quiet stillness prevailed for a while, I asked next question about what she did after she failed to achieve her goal. At the moment, that question wrenched a sob from her and her voice broke with emotion. Even though I could not see her face directly, I could feel how she felt pain when she looked back upon the harsh past.

 

As soon as she graduated high school, she went to Seoul to be out of her parents' control. In Seoul, she worked at a factory during the day and she worked as a roasted sweet potato seller at streets during the night. Moreover, she did any part time job that she could find to earn money in her spare time.

 

"I tried everything that I could do such as a shoeblack, a street sweeper, and a person who clean apartments… I have done anything to earn money to go university. At that time I was amazed by my desire toward my unachieved dream. The all heavy tasks did not matter to me. Nothing was more important than my dream.

 

  Since early years, she had grown up like a princess until she ran away from her. Because of noble birth, her nanny did everything for her. So I assumed that it had been really hard for her to earn money in Seoul without any help. But she said that she had never given up on her dream. To her, Giving up on her dream meant the same thing as dying.

 

She made the best effort to get money for university. However, it was impossible to earn enough money to go university. So she got married with one man and she immigrated to America.

 

"As I was raising my two children with my kind husband in America, I still was that little girl who had been eager to study in university. The dream has never faded away."

 

Eventually, she enrolled at a country college in order to achieve her academic goal in her later years. She said that she is the happiest person on earth now. Despite of her age-related memory loss, she got scholarships for outstanding students. I believe that her passion for studying overcomes her old age.

 

After I interviewed her, I realized the reason why she always told me "Do your best in school! The chance to study is the most precious thing in your life! So cherish every moment during school life.". Going school and studying that I took for granted is everything to my aunt. I realized how precious the chance to become a student at a university is.

 

She is the most shining person of anyone I know because she got the dream and realized the dream. But the best reason why I respect her is that she has never give up on her dream despite of lots of difficult situation.

Kang Dabida/ Oral history 2nd draft/ Tue 34

The unluckiest guy   What are the odds that an average person would go through several accidents in a low? Not really high. But I know a person to whom all the terrible accidents happened in just two years. I met him in HUFS in 2012. Because we major in the same department, Media Communication, we used to hang out with other friends too. Before long, I found it out easily that he is a man with all the bad luck. I felt sorry to ask him if I can interview him about his accidents. But he texted me back "yes" without much hesitation.   It has been a quite a long time since I saw him. I welcomed him in the Apple Lounge in HUFS. He is a positive and energetic man, I suddenly wondered why on earth bad things which might happen to a person once in his or her lifetime happened continuously to such a hardworking man. I asked him to tell me from the recent accident. He said with embarrassingly smiling, "Let me first exclude the happenings that occurred due to my clumsiness." Losing the cell phone or wallet was not a big deal. It happened to him so frequently that he's a bit of immune to it.   He started talking with a sigh. "I'm way too much unlucky to just call myself unlucky." His friends and he were drinking over the dinner two months ago. Suddenly, the girl next to him dropped the Soju glass by accident. As he reflexively turned his face to where the sound came from, some of the broken pieces of the glass got into his eyes. At first he thought pouring water into the eye would be enough. After few days later, he couldn't help the feeling of irritation that he went to see an eye doctor. The doctor said any sort of glass piece was found, luckily. However, the worst part was that instead of pieces of the glass, there was calculus or the stone in his eye; from a piece of the broken glass to the calculus. What an absurd happening! As a result, he had to spend almost one and half an hour, taking it from the eye with the syringe   The more serious one happened in April last year. I remember how much I was shocked to see him at that time. His face was black and blue all over, he limbed his leg. He was on his way back to home, riding a bicycle. It was around 1am. Suddenly a group of Chinese people came out from somewhere and threatened him for nothing. "I tried to get out of the situation again and again." said he with bitterness. The people must have been the racketeers. They were mad at the fact he did not surrender, and pushed him down. Then he fell down to a rock and chafed against the ground. "I blacked out, and when I opened my eyes, I was at home. There was blood everywhere in the blanket, not to mention my face. And I have no idea how I came back home." He said the more serious problem is some nerves in his cheekbone and the teeth did not recover. Later he found out through the CCTV that was recently installed nearby his house. In the CCTV, he was carrying his bicycle to home at 5am. He said "My mentality forced me to move and go home even if I can't still remember."   Even before perfectly recovering himself from the terrible accident, he had gone through another one in September. Again, he was his way back home from Norangin. It wasn't that late. After the racketeering accident, he mentioned that he tried not to hang out late as the night. As he passed the crosswalk to take a taxi, several young people came up to him. "And I fainted. When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on the ground. Everything was gone except for my cell phone."   "If I were in your situation, I would be mentally so shocked that I'd stop schooling and take a rest." I said anxiously. "How were you able to put up with all of the horrible situations back then?" I asked. "I didn't. Or I couldn't. What was scariest was that I began to think like 'This accident happened to me, because it is me. I myself is the bad luck.'" He spoke with aplomb as if he was referring to someone else's story. I did not know at all he was having that much serious accident or that much pain. To comfort him, I said "just forget about it. It could have been a lot worse".

Kang Dabida/ Oral history 1 / Tue34

The unluckiest guy   What are the odds that an average person would go through several accidents in a low? Not really high. But I know a person to whom all the terrible accidents happened in just two years. I met him in HUFS in 2012. Because we major in the same department, Media Communication, we used to hang out with other friends too. Before long, I found it out easily that he is a man with bad luck. I felt sorry to ask him if I can interview him about his accidents. But he texted me back "yes" without much hesitation.   It has been a quite a long time since I saw him. I welcomed him in the Apple Lounge in HUFS. I asked him to tell me from the recent accident. He said with embarrassingly smiling, "Let me first exclude the happenings that occurred due to my clumsiness."   He started talking with a sigh. His friends and he were drinking over the dinner two months ago. Suddenly, the girl next to him dropped the Soju glass by accident. As he reflexively turned his fact to where the sound came from, some of the broken pieces of the glass got into his eyes. At first he thought pouring water would be enough. After few days later, he couldn't help the feeling of irritation that he went to see an eye doctor. The doctor said any sort of glass piece was found, luckily. However, what was worst is that instead of pieces of the glass, there was calculus or the stone in his eye. As a result, he had to spend almost one and half an hour, trying to take it with the syringe.     The more serious one happened in April last year. He was on his way back to home. Suddenly a group of Chinese people came out from somewhere. "I tried to get out of the situation again and again." said he with bitterness. The people must have been the racketeers. They were mad at the fact he did not surrender, and pushed him down. Then he fell down to a rock and chafed against the ground. "I blacked out, and when I opened my eyes, I was at home. There was blood everywhere in the blanket, not to mention my face. And I have no idea how I came back home." He said the more serious problem is some nerves in his cheekbone and the teeth did not recover.   Even before perfectly recovering himself from the terrible accident, he had gone through another one in September. Again, he was his way back home from Norangin. As he passed the crosswalk to take a taxi, several young people came up to him. "And I fainted, when I woke up, I found myself lying on the ground. Everything was gone except for my cell phone.    "How were you able to put up with all the situation?" I asked. "I didn't. Or I couldn't. What was scariest was that I began to think like 'This accident happened to me, because it is me. I myself is the bad luck.'" I did not know at all he was having that much serious accident or that much pain. To comfort him, I said "just forget about it. it could have been a lot worse".

Jun-hee Kang/ Interview essay 2nd draft/ Tues. 11 am

 

 

                                                      Dream Big

           Sitting on the window side watching outside and listening to classical music was not boring at all, while waiting her. Few minutes later, I could see her walking fast as she could showing that she was little bit late. Had a long hair with a long black coat and having a huge guitar bag on her back, which was big as her height made me laugh.

"Sorry I'm late, I had the concert practice that will be on December". She sat down on the other side, putting down the guitar bag.

"I understand, Ice Americano?." I said as I stood up.

"Bingo!" she smiled.

When she had some cup of coffee she looked at me with curiosity.

"What made you to have an appointment with me? We usually hang out on weekends don't we?"

"Well, we do but this is something different, it's more likely to be called an interview, you know asking some few questions and tell your stories."

She giggled and replied, "Then do I have to introduce myself? Like my name is Min Deul-lei taking a part on bass guitar of SugerBowl?" She was holding a coffee and leaned to the sofa.

Recently, she went to practice a lot because there is a concert on Christmas Eve. It wasn't that famous of her group, but had some offers to be on stage. She was been in 'SugerBowl' for about 8 years playing bass guitar. I was wondering if she can really continue to play guitar on stage because I saw her how tired and stressful it was.

"What makes you continuously do the band? You always grumble when there is a concert or practice?" This was what I wondered from long time. She told me that it was because she loved the sisters who were on group but it seemed there was more than that.

"You know what? When I was in college I had an opportunity to go to France, in other word we say the country of art." She closed her eyes as if she was remembering how it was.

"Artist over there, they are totally different from us. What could I say, freedom? Their performance, gave me something that one day I would really like to be one of them. Later, that 'something' was a freedom. Don't want to talk a lot about Korean system here being an artist. But I could say that it is somehow trapped. I still dream myself, even though I earn little, one day I can feel the freedom as I saw the artist playing their performance to the people." She was keep smiling when she talked about France. It gave me an impression how she wants to visit again.

"Well I though your parents are pushing to get settled so.." I could not continue the question because she was stared at me fiercely.

"It is not a good manner to ask does questions in front of the lady directly."

I told her to not misunderstand my behavior, true or not, I asked as a part of interview questions because her age was enough to get married. Most of her friends got married already but seemed she doesn't care. She told me that she was planning apply one of the University in France to learn more on art.

"Definitely, I know you don't know French at all. How are you going to learn?" I was worried how things might turn difficult without knowing any foreign languages.

"Oh, seemed my boyfriend did not told you yet, I am learning French with him. You know he graduated in France." Her eyes was showing confidence and eagerness that nothing will stop her to go to France.

I could see outside people rush themselves going home or to take dinner. Realized that I was hungry. As we came out from the cafeteria I saw her back, carrying a big guitar bag that I hardly see her but she had a big dream. Her courageous steps showed she knows the path and could overcome those hard, challenging and difficulties. I envy her about her dream that does not concern on any troubles.

 

201201914 An yumi/ Interview Essay 2nd/ Tue 11am

A Company Man Who Became a Carpenter

 

When I picture my father in my head, many images come across. In some pictures, he is standing imposingly in his black suits with a suitcase and a fancy golden watch is shining on his wrist. In others, he is sitting on a squeaky chair wearing a lousy sweater and old denim overalls with sawdust all over his clothes. The change of the way he wore did not change any bit of the fact that he is my father. His daughter was too young to get curious about the story that changed his clothes. I am now 21 years old and wanted to know the entire story of the time that he suddenly resigned from the company and moved alone to other place leaving his own family.

 

My father and I were driving through the downtown, Seoul. He came to Seoul nearly every other day because of his work. The colder Seoul got, the more layers of clothes he added up. That day he was wearing a black down jumper on a brown-red sweater. And a check-patterned muffler surrounded his neck. His wrinkled eyes were looking at the road but ears were open toward me talking to him. We were passing through a huge intersection in Jong-ro when I asked my father to answer a few questions.

 

My father used to work for a well-known company. He did so well that he was promoted to the position of section head in 4 years which was about 4 years shorter than average. He was one of the most promising employees in the company until he decided to quit. I asked what made him quit the job that most people would admire. He answered as he gazed at the lights leaked out from a number of windows in tall buildings standing one after another along the road. "As I got promoted, I had to make more and more lies. I was too naive to face the reality that what business leaders mostly do is deceive people. I couldn't bare it. I got paid a great deal for making some lies up until late night every day. You know just, one day, I realized I just simply cannot keep doing this anymore. Once I thought about quitting the job, it did not get out of my head. What else could I do? I just quit."

 

He continued to say. By quitting he managed to free his life from something that he did not want to do, but the cost was huge. All of a sudden, family income cut in half. Fortunately, my mother had been working as a public school's teacher, so we did not have to go out onto the streets. But that did not ease my father's feeling guilty. "What did mom say?" I asked. The car stopped by another red light turning on. He took his right hand off the handle and pat on my head. "Your mom is the best woman in the world. On the day that I told her that I quit the job, she said to me 'You do whatever you do and I will support, but at least be responsible. You are a father of one child.' What an amazing woman it is! Thanks to your mom, I was able to pursue what I really wanted to do." A number of passengers were walking across over the front window. At some point, passengers disappeared and green light came on. "Then, what did you want to do?" I asked. He answered as he stepped on the accelerator, "I wanted to be a carpenter."

 

One of his old friends worked as a carpenter in Pa-ju, and he went there to help and learn a carpenter's work. "Why carpenter, dad?" I asked. "I don't know. Maybe I wanted to make something real," he answered. He worked there as an assistant of his friend, learning about carpenting for more than 4 years. During that time, I saw him about twice a month. I was very young. It was even before I went to elementary school. Whenever I went to his workplace, father gave me a piece of a wooden board. I used to spend time drawing something on that board. My father and his friend called that piece of a wooden board kirib-pashi, and I liked how the word was pronounced. It probably was some kind of carpenters' words originated from Japanese. I really loved so-called kirib-pashi, but as my father left Pa-ju I had to say good bye to all of those kirib-pashies.

 

He left Pa-ju, and started to study about lighting design at home. "Why did you suddenly stop working there and decided to study?" I asked. "When you follow what you want, the doors keep opening. Working as a carpenter, I met a lot of people working in construction and actually worked in many construction sites. And I got fascinated by the lighting part of construction and it inspired me a lot. I started to get interested in lighting design. And all of a sudden I felt a great, desperate need for studying. For my whole life, I had never felt such a sparkling desire to study. Someday, you will also feel that need, that strong need of studying if you let yourself follow what you really want to do." He studied for another many years from lighting, electronics to how to do CAD, all by himself. "I remembered that period as the most dazzling time in my life, and it was possible because of your mom's full support," he said. "I owe your mom a big time. I repay her for the rest of my life."

 

As he studied, he met people with the same interest and started a small lighting design company. Now he is the CEO of that sound company. "What is the point of working as a carpenter for more than 4 years?" I asked. "Now, because of those four years, I am a designer who also knows how the things are going on the sites. That makes me very competitive! Above all, I would have not discovered my interest and talent in construction and lighting design if I did not quit the former job and decided to work with woods! Even the years of working in a big company helps me now manage my own company!" He answered with a big smile on his face. He said he has met hundreds of people and has done hundreds of tasks to reach today's him. And whenever he was challenged by new things, he did not get scared. He considered them as another door which would lead him to see another aspect of himself.

 

           "That gate has a great lighting." He took a picture of some building's gate with his phone, waiting for another red light to turn into the green light. "So, do you enjoy what you are doing now?" I asked as I saw the pictures he took right before. "I love my job. Because of it I can now be driving with my daughter in Seoul. How couldn't I love my job?" After listening to his delightful voice, I asked the last question. "What do you think is the best choice you've ever made in your life?" He kept silent for a while and answered. "Quitting the company. Oh, no. Scratch that. Marrying your mom. You must tell this to your mom."

201001450 Hyun Ju Park 박현주

Intermediate English Writing

Interview Final Draft

 

My Uncle

 

It is quite interesting to know deeply about someone's life who I didn't know well before. And this is what I experienced when I heard the story of my uncle. My aunt recently got married again. So I have new uncle, thought he is very easy-going person, I had often felt like he was a stranger in my family until I got to know more about his life through the interview and I feel much closer to him now. What I felt when I first saw him was that he lives young. Even though he is 39 years old now, not only the fact he is wearing many piercings on his ears like defiant early 20s but also the way he thinks and speaks make him very approachable person for my age.

 

Like his unusual looking, he told me his life also has a lot of ups and downs. He had suffered from unexpected accident twice in his life all of which changed his attitude to his life. But, it caused totally different results. First one is when his father passed away. By the first, he started becoming rebellious and getting crooked. He said, "I started smoking when I entered to middle school. And throughout my schooldays, I did many bad things escaping from my mom's eyes." Firstly, he sounded a little bit hesitating to say these things but he was honest to tell me that he had been too defiant at that time towards his mother and many things after his father's death. His father had run solid business related to boiler but his mother had to take over the business of her husband. My uncle added that he was not interested in studying, so he learned art in high school and he hardly entered to an Art College. But because it was not his willing to study in college but his mother's desire, he soon quit studying in the college. After then, he changed his major to mechanical engineering and continued studying several times in different colleges, but he kept failing to continue studying in one college. He remembered that these days he enjoyed affluent life and didn't get any hint of having desperate incident which was coming closer to his near future.  

 

Second unexpected accident happened in his life is when his older brother died from the car accident, leaving his wife and two children. All of a sudden, he became only guy in the family who had to run the business of his family and who was in charge of his mother and the family of his older brother. He said that he thought a lot about his future life and his situation in his brother's funeral. And he decided to help the business of his mother and brother so, he had his hair cut which he remained pretty long until then. Firstly, he ran a Japanese restaurant in Hongdae and his sister-in-law ran a bar downstairs for a certain time. He said, "Our restaurant was kind of famous place in Hongdae and first, business went well. But things changed in IMF, Korea." He sighed and kept saying "Almost all the businesses we had bankrupted and we suffered from the huge loss. So it meant that we lost even our economic capacity after my brother's death. Things got tougher and I had to find my job by myself after then." I imagine that it was hard for him to start from the beginning. He also mentioned that he met my aunt at that time. Actually, they had known each other for 10 years as neighbors before the marriage.

 

 After all, now my aunt is also included to his family. And my uncle has tried to support his family from then. He said through his life he got to understand cherishing his family is the best and most important thing to do in life. Actually, his sister-in-law died from unexpected accident as well few days ago. So, what he was telling me today was his honest feeling and love about his family, I believe. Lastly, he also recommended me not to take it for granted having a beloved family near me but try to treat them with respect and love. It was a lesson my uncle gave me through his life.

Choe Kyungyo/Oral History 2nd Draft/Tue 3,4

Interview with a job applicant

 

According to the OECD, Korea has the largest percentage of university students among OECD members. 84% of Korean high school students enter college in Korea on average.

 

Consequently, more and more people who graduated from colleges find and want good jobs. Due to technological advances, however, manpower is getting unnecessary. Many jobs that used to require a great number of workers are now rapidly being replaced by machines.

 

Today, it is very common to see articles on the Internet that say "Companies have decided to reduce the size of employment". Even some companies often announce that they are not hiring this year.

 

As a typical university student who must be going to face up to this harsh realities in a few years, this current situations worry me a lot. I am deeply interested in this unemployment crisis so I chose it as a topic for my interview.

 

Fortunately, I have one person who is exactly fit for this interview. She is my roommate, Hye-jin. Simply introducing her, she is at Yon-sei university and majoring in politics and international studies. She is attending one of the most reputational universities (so called, 'SKY' in Korea), also having a very good GPA, a high TOEIC score and other different certificates, thought she has not gotten a job yet.

 

For this reason, it was difficult to ask her this interview. She, however, gladly accepted my interview. It took about 30 minutes to interview her and I hung on every word she said throughout the interview.

 

She gave me a lot of practical, valuable information and even advice about the overall recruitment.

 

At first, according to her, basic hiring process generally consists of the following three steps-the document screening, personality & aptitude tests and interviewing.

 

Of the whole steps, she particularly felt difficult in the second step, because most applicants prepare personality and aptitude tests after passing the document screening process. But the problem is that the given time between the two steps is very short.

 

When I asked her "What do you think is your weakness as a job applicant?" She selected two without any hesitation. "My sex and major" She said. "I believe most companies prefer who majored in business administration or at least economics to who did the humanities. If I could go back to two years ago, I would major in business administration." She sincerely advised me not to give up double majoring in B.A no matter how difficult it is.

 

And she added her sex is another barrier that hinders her from being hired. I asked her to elaborate on that. She said, hiring women costs companies much more money, because women need more welfare than men. For example, maternity leave, menstrual leave make companies to hesitate about women applicants. When she was telling it, it looked like her face was saying "It is unfair! I can't select my sex"

 

She pointed out that one of the biggest factors that increases fierce competition is the huge gap between the large and mid-sized companies. In all aspects, such as the salary, welfare, large companies are too much better to the mid-sized ones. It causes more and more applicants to avoid mid or small sized companies.

 

She mentioned not knowing the exact date for the announcement of the result is another painful part. She described it as a "torture". She said "Waiting vacantly is just like a torture. All I can do is just enter the website and check over and over again."

 

At the end of the interview, she added her expectation about future job market. "For 10 years from now, it will be getting harder to get a job. In about 20 or 30 years, however, it is going to be relatively easier because of rapidly shrinking population"