Thanksgiving ? Turkey ?

        Because we don't have a Thanksgiving in Korea, everything that I did on this Thanksgiving was really new. We do have a turkey and some people eat it but it is not usual in Korea. So it was my first time to eat turkey. It was not bad. hahah. It was actually great! I really loved mashed potato and yam. I talked to my mom that I had a turkey and she said that she also wants to taste it. I was sad because my parent were not here with me on Thanksgiving but I really thanked God and my uncle's family to be here with me. Even though I can't not live with them and can't being with my parent, I am so happy and lucky to be here with my uncle's family and study here at BYU. :)

Love you Mom!!

        Every mornings, my mom and I skype. I always started a day with my mom. Talking with my mom in every mornings is always sweet and make me happy. Since I was young, my mom has taught me how I can be diligent, how I can be kind and nice, and how I can be passionate on studying. My mom was the best mentor of me and I could grow up as a good person because of my mom's great teaching. I have never doubted what my mom says and I have never disobeyed my mom's teaching. Although my mom and I are not in the same place now, we are always together. We are a good friends and she is the best teacher in my life. Love mom!! <3

Personal Narrative Draft

           “Hwajung, you are so beautiful.” This is was what Benjamin said when he held my hand. He was taking a Korean class after he got back from his mission in Korea and we were a study buddy. When we met first, he asked me to be his study buddy, and I answered “yes, I will.” Since it was my first month here at BYU, everything was new and fun for me, and I was glad to have a study buddy to learn how to speak in English better. When we had our first study time, he kept saying that “you are so pretty” and I did not believe what he said because it sounded as a matter of courtesy.

            “What are you doing tonight?” he asked me after our second study meeting was over. “I will do my homework” I answered, and he asked me again, “where?” I said “in the library.” He smiled and said that “then let’s study together. I want to see you again tonight.” I was surprised when he said that, but I pretended to be nonchalant. We met again at that night and study together in the library until midnight. While studying together, he often stared at me but I tried to do not care about him. “Where do you live?” he questioned me after getting out of the library and I let him know where I lived. He said that he would take me home and I did not refuse his kindness. Walking with him to my home made my heart flutter. When we reached my place, he asked me again, “what is your plan for tomorrow?” “I will go to my class and study as usual” I said. He laughed and said “good night” before he left.

            Next day, He sent me a message to ask where I was, and we studied together in the library again. As I guessed, he took me home again, but it was kind of different from yesterday. While we waking to home, he wondered that what I think about getting married American guys. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that before.” I replied. On our way home, there was a duck pond where a lot of ducks live, and he asked me take a walk for a while over there. Being with him made my heart beating. And all of a sudden, he held my hand and said that “Hwajung, you are so beautiful.” It was sweet and I liked what he said. I was shy but I said “thank you” and we walked with holding hands. He took me home still with holding hands and gave me a big hug before I got into home. After that night, we often had dinner and watched movie together. We enjoyed taking a walk after studying together. Sometimes, we drove to Y Mountain which is the representative place of BYU to see the night view. The night view of Provo was amazing and romantic. I was happy for being with him.

            One day, one of my friends told me that she saw Benjamin having dinner with a girl. She said that it looked like a date. She recommended me to ask him about it. I hesitated for few days because it could be just a dinner with a friend, not a date. When we went to drive to Y again, I could not resist the curiosity and questioned him about that dinner. He was kind of embarrassed about my questions and he said “Hwajung, we are not a boyfriend and girlfriend, and we are just dating to get to know each other.” This was a huge shock to me because Korean people never hold hands or hug if they are not in a relationship. Holding hands, hug, and kiss apply to only couples. Thus, I considered our relationship as a boyfriend and girlfriend naturally. I was really shocked and embarrassed but I could not berate anyone. It was just a cultural difference between two different countries. 

           Cultural differences and culture shocks exist in every country when anyone visits a different country. 

According to all of countries’ different history, environment, and education, their table manners, greeting 

manners, and lifestyles are different. Although it is always hard to accept different culture as I also 

experienced when I came to the America first, people can get used to experiencing different cultures and 

understanding the differences by accepting them with open mind.  People should accept the differences as 

cultural differences, not discriminations   

             

Being faithful..!

        Recently, I could not really focus on what we discuss at church whenever I attended the church meeting. After I got baptized about two years ago, I had never had any problem on my faith. I always attended the church meeting with happy and spiritual mind. It was my first time to went through the weakness of my faith. At first, I was too much lonely because I needed to stand alone here. My family and friends were not here, so I could not talk about my problem with anybody. I just really missed my mom and dad and I needed them so badly.
        Today, I also went to church and stand in the sacrament meeting, but did not listen testimonies at all. After the special musical had been done, one of girls in my ward bared her testimony. She said that she works at MTC . One day, she was too cold to walk to home form her work. She hoped somebody could pick her up and get home safe. And all of a sudden, one car pulled over on the side of her and it was one of our ward's guy. Thanks to him, she could get home warm and safe. She said that she felt love of the Lord at that time. Her testimony suddenly woke me up. I noticed that the Lord always loves me even though I wander in His gospel.... Thank you so much and love you God! :)

Am I doing Okay..?

        I know I ask this question by myself every semester, but whenever I ask, I couldn't say "definitely yes!" Especially, I couldn't be sure about my English all the time. By losing the confidence about my English, I keep thinking whether it is okay to study Journalism here at BYU. I will need to write everything in English and I may not be able to get revised on my paper. It means my writing could be hard to read or understand for my readers. I will be very very sad if they feel awkward when they read my writing or they don't want to read it anymore.
        So, I am considering changing my major. Some people said that a major doesn't affect my career in the future a lot, but I want to learn what I will use in the future. It will take some more time to choose what I will do in my college life and in my future career, but it is too much painful to stand here and find it.... :(

Topic for research paper !!

        My journalism class makes me keep thinking about the life of journalists. The class book was really interesting. I knew that government sometimes controlled the media but didn't know any case about it. Through that book, I could see the example how the government regulates the media and also how people try to reveal the real truth. I was really curious some more examples and events about those, so I want to cover about this in my research paper.

       

My mom is mad at new technology!!

        My mom got a new phone!! It is a Galaxy S2 from Samsung and it is just so smart. When we skyped in this morning, she was really mad at her new phone because she didn't even know how to write a text. It was kind of funny for me but she was really serious and tried hard to be familiar with her new technology.

        But, actually, she went through all these process when she got her last phone. :) She needed to ask me every function of her cell phone or computer when she accept them for the first time. I still don't know why it takes so long time for the older generation, like my mother, to get used to use new technology, but it is pretty sure that it is very hard for them.

        I was so sorry because I couldn't help to get accustomed her new phone this time because I am here, in Utah, but it will be a good practice to get familiar with using new technology without me.

        Like as my mom's case, almost every older people don't be happy with living in new technology (especially in Korea as my experience, haha)  but some of them are interested in new technology and try to be familiar with it. For example, my grandfather really enjoys getting new information about the world by surfing the Internet. He and I talk on the Internet messenger and he sometimes visit my mini homepage to see my pictures and comment on those.

        Anyways, I hope that my mom can be familiar with her new cell phone, so that we can text through Kakaotalk(Korean free messenger via cell phone) soon! :)