Kim-Chi and Pizza

Kim-Chi is a Korean traditional food, and Pizza is an American food.

A famous Korean speaker said, “Open your mind and look at the world.” It signifies we make steady progress toward our goal. Most young people have their goal, and they study for their goal. It is a very important to them. However, when they go somewhere to achieve their goal, they get lost their translation. And then it makes them sad. This happen to me, too. Three years ago, I came to Chicago to reach my goal, but I lost some valuables. I really miss my friends, family and my real language, and these things make me melancholy.

I have lost my best friends. They live in Korea, and they seem like my soul mates. When I lived in Korea, I spent a lot of time with my friends. Actually we had fun. For example, one day my best friend Young Mi called me, and she said, “Jung, I watched a movie called Breakfast at Tiffany’s. ‘It is a really wonderful movie, and I have a good idea.’ Will you meet at Lotte?” Lotte is a very famous department store in Korea. I asked, “What kind of ideas do you have? Young Mi did not answer my question. Actually, she just hung up the phone. Anyway, I went to the Lotte to meet Young Mi. When I met her, she wore a very fancy dress. She looked like Audrey Hepburn. Truly her dress reminded me of Audrey Hepburn of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I was a little bit surprised by it because her nickname was copy girl. It means she always tried to copy someone or fashion. Anyway when I met her, she gave me a mask. And then she said, “Put on the mask, and today we will steal something.” That day I was very sad because my mother and I argued, so I wanted to cause a little problem. I decided to steal something. We entered a small body care shop, and we stole some small soap. After that the department of police caught us. I already knew that would happen because this was not a movie. However, when we went to the police department, Young Mi said, “I just wanted to be like Audrey Hepburn” The best surprise was that the police understood her, so we just enjoyed seeing a detention house. It was one of my best memories of top 10. At that time I had a lot of fun with Young Mi. However, I am not able to have fun anymore since I moved in Chicago. International students are really busy, and they also have their old friends. When we meet international students at the class, we do not connect with each other. It means we just say, “We are friends”, but we are not real friends.” We just look like friends. For example, last semester I met a Korean friend I will call “SY”. I talked about a lot of things to SY, but she made me embarrassed. One day, my other friend G and I had a misunderstanding which was he already had a girlfriend, and I did not have a boyfriend. Sometimes I just make jokes. When he said, “Jung, I have a girl friend, I said, “Oh! G, you are a betrayer.” I just wanted to joke around. However, when SY heard this story, she made gossiped about me. SY told about me she liked a G, but I was not. After that my Korean school friends talked in whispers about me.

I have lost my family because they live in Korea. I really want to see them. When I was a middle school student, my nickname was “Seven eleven.” It is the same as the store name because my grandparents, my parents, my six siblings and me. The total is eleven, but my siblings and I are seven, so my nickname was seven eleven. When we all got together, my house got noisy. If I wanted to say something, I would raise my hand. After that I could say something because we are big family. For example, Korea has two New Year celebrations, and that day my family gathered together. At that time I could not say anything because too many people wanted to speak about their life and tell a funny story, and a big family also has a lot of happenings. For example, thirteen years ago my father called us, and he said, “Oldest Haw Lee you have to take care of your younger sisters and brothers, and second Duck Lee you have to clean the house, third Young Lee you have to wash the dishes and Fourth Jung Lee you are an errand girl. Okay?” Actually, I did not know what happened to us. However, the next day we knew what happened to us, my mother got pregnant. My father just wanted to make things easier for his wife. It was just happening because at that time my mother’s age was 43. She was old, and she thought she was in menopause. Before my parents went to the hospital, my father’s face was smiling, but my mother face was tearful. When my parents came back home, their faces got switched. After that we laughed till we cried. We said, “How many children does he want?” However, when I started to live in Chicago, I could not connect with them. Actually Korea time and Chicago time has a time gap. It is really different. So, I cannot call them, we cannot share anymore about my family’s outrageous happenings. It seems like a practical talking. Sometimes my parents called me for shopping or sending money. I am international student, and I do not work. My parents support me, so they send money. When I need some money, I just call them. And then I said, “Father, I do not have money, so could you send money for me?” After that they send some money for me. Sometimes my mother calls me when they need something. For example, last week my mother called me, and she said, “Daughter, your younger brother Min is going to get merry, so could you buy a pair of shoes for him? I said, “Yes, mother.” After that I rang off the phone. When my parents or I need something, we call each other.

I have lost my translation about Korean. I am forgetting my own language. When I lived in Korea, my language was Korean. Then I could speak very well, but now I cannot speak Korean and English very well. I have lost much Korean. I think, I am an alien because of that I am somewhere between English and Korean. It seems like a pizza or Kim-chi. My school has many Koreans, and sometimes I talk with them. When I speak Korean, I am not comfortable. However, I am also uncomfortable to talk with American friends. It is really weird. For example, my classmate Da yond is Korean. One day I was talking with her about the school system. While we were speaking Korean, some parts of Korean words I could not remember. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I could not remember them. Last winter I went to Korea, and I met an American visitor. His name is Peter. When I met him, he asked directions for Kyoung Bok Kung which is a famous Palace of Korea. However, I could not explain very well. He said, “How long have you been in America?” I said, “Almost three years.” After that he said, “Your English is really poor.” I was shocked.

As you can see, I have lost my friends, family and my language. When I realize the lost these things, it makes me melancholy. After all this time, I cannot make fun like a joker, I cannot enjoy my family’s outrageous happenings, and I cannot speak Korean very well. Some people say challenge is beautiful, but the challenged can get lose a lot in translation. However, we should challenge for goal. A famous Korean speaker said, “By losing something, and you can get something.” It means if you lost something for your goal, you can also get something through your loss.