| My friend Chaerim 201301918 Hajin Ahn (EIT) I met her when I was seven and had just moved into a new apartment. Even before I met her for the first time on stairs, her mom and my mom seemed to be familiar with each other already. They had a conversation over the intercom. We moved to 6th floor of Hyundai Apartment and Chaerim had been living in the 2nd floor of the same building for ten years, even before we were born. I walked down the stairs and was just about to push a door bell. At that very moment, I felt someone standing behind me. It was her, Chaerim. That was our first meeting. She had her hair tied at the back, carrying a bag for her music schools. I was pretty chubby then and my skin was relatively white whereas she was darker and skinny. It was obvious that we had different body types but we resembled each other for our small noses and mouths. Just as we had planned, our face turned red and had an awkward greeting. I could sense instantly that she was as timid as I was. Thinking back, I guess she also knew that we had a lot of common in our personality because we got closer to each other very quickly and had a great fun with Barbies as soon as I entered her room after the short greeting. I thought I found a soul mate for the rest of my life even though I once regretted the thought later on. Since then, we did everything together- going to school, attending lectures, returning home, doing homework, and having meals and so on. It was much difficult to find something that we did not do together. We were always next to each other, and that might be a cause for our one year's conflict. Being the youngest child of a family with three daughters, she monopolized her parents' affection and this made her extremely stubborn. She never knew how to yield to the other and when she failed, she ended up crying like a five years old girl, squatting on the ground. I still remember the day we had a big fight. As her mom and my mom were of the same age, we often slept over at each other's home. When she came to my house, I always made her sleep on my bed while I had to sleep on the floor. I always thought she would do the same someday if I continued respecting her. The day I promised to sleep at her home came but I had been suffered from high fever for the past few days. I called her to put off our sleeping over but she obstinately refused to give up. Like a log, I went to her house in spite of being sick. Her mom brought us a thin layer of a quilt and asked Chaerim to let me sleep on the bed. I always hoped the quilt would have been thicker so that I did not have to feel stiff waking up. Just as usual, she lied on her bed and I had to lay out the flimsy blanket. I was still waiting for her to give up her bed. She said, "Turn off the light. I cannot sleep if it's bright." I was stunned. I had never expected her to be that much selfish before then. Having a fever, running nose, and a cough, I couldn't bear further and shout at her. "Please! I'm sick of you right now. You don't know how to care about others. Of course you don't because you rather make others uncomfortable." After pouring out all my anger and criticism toward her, I dashed out of the house. As it was not the first time I felt she ignored people too much, I could not stand it anymore. While walking up stairs, I could hear her yelling and crying like a baby taking out her favorite doll. We did not meet each other for six months although we did run into each other time to time on the way to school. Whenever I saw her, she was trying to take the lead and do whatever she wanted to do. She made her friends choose same menu for their lunch, and buy the same school shoes. Gradually, friends around her started to alienate her. More and more people talked behind her back. Her shoulders that once showed her confidence dropped and her face grew somber. I hardly saw her on the playground where we used to play house together. I felt sorry for her. She tended to be shy but never hesitated to get along with others. I recalled out memories of hanging out together and decided to talk to her. I visited her house after school and we had a conversation over an hour. She had become much thinner and her room was not tidy anymore. It was different from the one I saw on the day of the 'fight'. She asked me for advice on how to become friends with people again. I knew it would hurt her but gave her frank comments on what she had been doing wrong. This time, she did not cry out loud, she just shed little tears of remorse. After our reunion, everything changed. Her long-forgotten smile and laugh was evidently back. Her face still turned red when meeting people for the first time, but even when she became closer to them, she never talked like a stubborn captain of a big boat as she did before. Since then, I could often see her listen to other people. And even until today after my coming back from China, we often sleep over at each other's home and now she became much more mature and considerate.
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Monday, October 13, 2014
Hajin Ahn/character sketch first draft/Tuesday 9 A.M
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Final draft
ReplyDeleteMy friend, Chaerim (Final draft)
Hajin Ahn
201301918 EIT
I met her when I was seven and had just moved into a new apartment. Even before I met her for the first time on stairs, her mom and my mom had a conversation over the intercom and wanted Chaerim and me to become friends. My family moved to the 6th floor of Hyundai Apartment and Chaerim’s family had been living in the 2nd floor of the same building for ten years, even before we were born. I did not expect what to happen then. I had no idea how much I would be irritated and entertained because of her.
I walked down the stairs and was just about to push a door bell. At that very moment, I felt someone standing behind me. It was her, Chaerim. That was our first meeting. She had her hair tied at the back, carrying a rectangular pink bag for her music schools. I was pretty chubby then and my skin was relatively white whereas she was darker and skinny. It was obvious that we had different body types but we resembled each other for our small noses and mouths. I still remember one of our neighbors thought we were twins at first.
Just as we had planned, our face turned red and had an awkward greeting.
I cleared my throat and said, “Are you Chaerim?”
“…… Yes……Hi”, she replied.
“Hi. My name is Hajin. May I……?”
Instead of finishing my sentence, I pointed to the door. She did not make sound to say yes but nodded in approval. I could sense instantly that she was as timid as I was. Thinking back, I guess she also knew that we had a lot of common in our personality because we got closer to each other very quickly and had a great fun with Barbies as soon as I entered her room after the short greeting. I thought I found a soul mate for the rest of my life even though I once regretted the thought later on. Since then, we did everything together- going to school, attending lectures, returning home, doing homework, and having meals and so on. It was much difficult to find something that we did not do together. We were always next to each other, and that might be a cause for our half a year's conflict.
Being the youngest child of a family with three daughters, she monopolized her parents' affection and this made her extremely stubborn. She never knew how to yield to other people and when something did not work well, she ended up crying like a five years old girl, squatting on the ground. I saw her talking back to her mother and refused to eat what she did not like many times. She always refused to come home but to stay outside and that might be reason for her dark skin. She often strutted as she was an owner.
I can never forget the day we had a big fight. As her mom and my mom were of the same age, we often slept over at each other's home. When she came to my house, I always made her sleep on my bed while I had to sleep on the floor. I always thought she would do the same someday if I continued respecting her. The day I promised to sleep at her home came but I had been suffered from high fever for the past few days. I called her to put off our sleeping over but she obstinately refused to give up. Like a log, I went to her house in spite of being sick. Every time I visited her room, I was surprised by all the messes she had made. She had her clothes on the bed and toys on the ground. Even when we watched TV together, she never put the remote control back. Later, her mom brought us a thin layer of a quilt and asked Chaerim to let me sleep on the bed. Just as usual, she lied on her bed and I had to lay out the flimsy blanket by myself. I was still waiting for her to give up her bed.
"Leave one light on and turn the rest of them off. I cannot sleep if it's too bright or too dark”, Charim said indifferently.
I was stunned. I had never expected her to be that much selfish before then. Having a fever, running nose, and a cough, I couldn't bear further and shout at her. "Please! I'm sick of you right now. You don't know how to care about others. Of course you don't because you rather make others uncomfortable." After pouring out all my anger and criticism toward her, I dashed out of her house. As it was not the first time I felt she ignored people too much, I could not stand it anymore. While walking up stairs to my home, I could hear her yelling and crying like a baby whose favorite doll was taken.
ReplyDeleteWe did not meet each other for six months although we did run into each other time to time on the way to school. Whenever I saw her, she was trying to take the lead and do whatever she wanted to do. As always, she seemed to be shy at first, but when she got familiar with others, her attitude changed. She made her friends choose same menu for their lunch, and buy the same school shoes. Moreover, she was willing to stand in the middle at all times. Gradually, friends around her started to alienate her. More and more people talked behind her back. Her shoulders that once were the symbol of her confidence dropped and her face grew somber. For some time passed, I hardly saw her on the playground where we used to play house together. I felt sorry for her. She tended to be shy but never hesitated to get along with others. I recalled our memories of hanging out together and decided to talk to her. I went to her house after school and we had a conversation over an hour. She had become much thinner and her room was in complete confusion. It was worse than the one I saw on the day of our 'fight'. She asked me for advice on how to become friends with people again. I knew it would hurt her but gave her frank comments on what she had been doing wrong. This time, she did not cry out loud, she just shed little tears of remorse. I saw the diffident girl after such a long time.
After our reunion, everything changed. Her long-forgotten smile and laugh was evidently back. Her face still turned red when meeting people for the first time, but even when she became closer to them, she never talked like a stubborn captain of a big boat as she did before. Since then, I could often see her listen to other people. Even until today after my coming back from China, we often sleep over at each other's home and now she became much more mature and considerate. Once, I thought I was not a good judge of people and regretted that I treated her like my soul mate. However, after all the incidents, I realized she is good-nature but just had no one to give a harsh criticism on her weakness. I hope her to remain as my best friend and a soul mate for good. Finally, I’d like to appreciate her for understanding my straightforward way of talking for our 14- year friendship.