Episode #10 - My country

     One and a half year has passed since I left Seoul with my two kids.
     So I am in the state of excitement in the fact that I am going to Korea for two months as soon as I finish this quarter.
     On the other hand, as after I go to Korea, I have plan to deal with some part of work in my language institute, I am a little worried about coming back again after two months.  Because according to my character, if I did not know about the situation well, I could ignore it, but if I came to know it, it would seem hard for me to leave Seoul ignoring it with a lot of work undone.
     Half happy, half worry...

Episode #9 - 'Respect' Culture

     My elder girl prepared the 'magic show' for Talent show in her elementary school last year when she was in the third grade.
     Honestly, I did not want her to prepare the magic for the talent show. Because I thought that she was better at dancing or playing the piano than doing magic.  It was only two months that she had  taken magic class when she was in Korea. In addition, it was hard for me to help her do well in doing magic,which I didn't know, as I was busy at that time.
    In the end, she did magic on Talent show.
    The result was big failure....
    The background music stopped while my girl was performing magic, she was so embarrassed that she forgot the next magic, and she managed to end her magic, crying.
    Unexpectedly, however, the audience gave her a big hand and after she came down back to my seat, people next to me praised her.  If she had been in Korea, she could have been teased by her friends.
    I felt and learnt 'respect' culture in America.
   

 

Episode #8 - Disposable stuff

   Paper bags, paper towels, ziploc bags, swiffers, paper plates......I am not unfamiliar with using disposable stuff any more in America.
   On my little girl's first field trip in the kindergarten, I used the pretty plastic box for her lunch as just I did in Korea.
   However, I was embarrassed to see her lunch untouched opening the box to wash.  My girl told me  that chaperone moms collected only kids' paper bags, they got on the bus with their backpack left in the classroom, so she should share her lunch with her teacher.  :(
   Though as my girl couldn't speak English, that kind of accident happened, the problem was  that I didn't know the paper bag written in the letter referred to lunch.
   Since then, I have realized that disposable stuff accounts for a great deal amount of American life.
   Most Korean hesitate to use disposable stuff, even some people including me in the past feel guilty using them.
   Me in the present?  I am struggling not to use them, but I find it hard, as 'convenience' goes to 'addiction' easily.
 

Episode #7 - Culture Difference

         
     My little daughter is a type of girl who sticks to stuff she likes and makes it the habit of sucking her thumb. Still, I cannot throw her favorite pillow cover and shoes away which have already worn away.
     It was time for my little girl to go to kindergarten as soon as we got to America. I had warned her to stop sucking her thumb before she went to kindergarten. Though she got stressed, I didn't want her to get teased by her friends due to her habit.
     However, it was not long before I came to know three girls in her classroom had  the same habits of sucking thumbs; one girl among them even carried her piece of blanket she used:)
     In addition, any of their moms didn't seem to care about it, and any kids didn't tease them with their habits. So my girl came to suck her thumb again.   
     Most Korean parents tend to restrict their kids' behavior strictly judging from their thought, but now I have no idea of what is wrong and whis is right.
     I just follow the old saying:
     "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

Episode #6 - Misconception

  
      Whenever I imagined the character of Americans, I always come upon idea of adjectives such as brave, aggresive, outgoing, extrovert, and so on.
      So, I worried about my little daughter a lot before I got to America, because I thought that she was so shy that it took a long time for her to adjust a new environment and new people, she would be the only girl not to say a word in her classroom., and then she would be seperated with others.
  
   However, unexpectedly I have encountered  several kids and people who were as shy as or  more than my kid;  In the end, people are  similar all over the world.

Episode #5 - Good Luck "Love"

     Honestly I cannot say I am a real Christian, as just one year and a few months has passed since I started to go to church, and I don't  have strong belief in God as yet.
     However, I could say I have, at least, realized the principle of  Jesus' love now, thanks to which, I have gotten refreshed from the bottom of my mind, and had chances to look back my love toward my family or those who I am close to. Even if I am sorry that I came to know about the God too late, it should be fortune I got in USA.......

Episode #4 - Good Luck

  LittleFreeLibrary
in front of one house

   

My love, South Pasadena

     In fact, the reason I have posted my bad lucks in America so far is that there have been only a few things to write about bad sides. In short, I have much more good events, experiences, precious memories, and benefits that I have had since I got here.
     The best thing is that I came to live in South Pasadena.
      I will never forget this city even after I come back to Korea and I will miss it so much.
      I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea, so I am familiar with the urban life full of a bunch of vehicles, tall buildings and apartment complex.

For sale! Lemons!

Houses covered with trees

My kids' favorite park

               









     However, since I got South Pasadena, I have lived in totally different environment from my homeland. All the houses with one or two-story are covered with the beautiful flowers and thick trees, some of which have fruits. On the way home from school, my kids sometimes enjoy picking up the fruits.
     Some house set up 'Little Library', where anybody can check out books for free in the way that I take a book leaving a book.        
     Others are selling the fruits from the trees in their houses. I bought one fresh lemon last week. :)
     I cannot help loving this city!!!

Episode #3 - Bad luck

So far I have posted my stories of bad luck, but I think that whenever I have something bad to happen, I come up the idea that there is 'the principle of the conservation of luck :) That's why thanks to a couple of tickets and last accident mentioned in the previous posting, I had been more cautious and careful of driving in California. So, it seems like that I don't need to worry about the fine and accident for the time being, as I had had enough pain to pay those bad luck:)

     The degree of my third bad luck is also exactly equal to that of my good luck.
     Recently, I got a tutoring job of Korean by chance. However, two days before I would have a Korea lesson, the battery of my car died out in the morning, so I had to use the public transportation to go to campus for TESL564. I walked a lot that day drawing my backpack with the computer. On Saturday, I met the student, and I got paid, which was big enough to me, good luck.. Then I turned on the computer to start Korean lesson with computer, but the computer didn't work.
OMG!!  Nowadays as I take computer class, I can't live without computer. I bought a battery of car and a Mac with the money I got that day.
     In the end, my balance is 'Minus....'

Episode #2 - Bad luck

This is also a story about a car...
I had driven for almost 20 years in Korea before I got here.
I have never had a big or serious car accident except light fender-benders.
One day last fall, I was on the way home with my kids after pick-up them.
I drove into the parking lot, and the moment I took a left to go to my site, I seemed to look off for a very short second. I didn't see a pillar. My car got a serious sidewipe on the left with the pillar. It took more than two weeks my car to get fixed:(
I was stunned by that situation, rather than the accident itself, when I wasn't even in any big hurry, the pillar was big enough to notice, and, on top of that, I had been very cautious of driving a car at that time, as I had already got a few of tickets. Of course, I admit it was my fault, but I felt like that it was sort of inevitable.
So, it was the second case of bad luck.

Hi, everyone!
Welcome to Jennifer's blog!

I got here in the USA to take TESOL course in graduate program in California State of University in LA.
I wanna write about my unforgettable stories, events, culture shock, misconception, travel, and so on.... which I have experienced in the USA so far.
Let me begin with my bad lucks on the car in America.

Episode -Bad luck #1

I still remember when I got my first ticket in the USA.. Stop sign!!
It was September, 2011, when was only one month that had passed since i got here America.
A policeman stopped me when I was on my way home being so excited after passing the written test in DMV. :o
I was told I missed the stop sign-however, I didn't remember exactly-.
The policeman didn't admit my international driver license, saying that it was no use in California.
In the end, a few weeks later I got a terrible amount of fine, almost $800, as the violation of two issues; stop sign & no driver license.  I couldn't believe the price of my fine because it was such a big amount compared with that in Korea. :(