| My Friend Seoyeon Jihoon Yoo 201301135 EIT
I still remember the first time I met her. It was October, 2009 when I went to my school in the Philippines called the International School of Manila for the first time. I was quite astonished by the size of the school, and at the same time worried by encountering so many foreigners of different ethnicities and ages. For a middle-school girl that just came from Korea leaving all her friends, it was just so much to handle. Having finished my morning classes, I was to go to the canteen to eat lunch, but I was struck with fear as I didn't have any friends to eat with. With a deep worry that I will have to eat alone, I went inside the canteen, and that was when I saw Seoyeon for the first time. She saw me coming inside the canteen, and with a bright smile on her face, she stood up to greet me. Frankly speaking, her first impression was not that good, as she was surrounded by her foreign friends, making her seem less 'Korean'. However, that first impression was changed right away. She kindly asked me questions like when I got here, how my morning classes were, where I live and how long I'll stay, and she introduced me to her other Korean friends. Because of her help and kindness, I was able to meet other Korean friends, and my worry of being alone vanished completely. Her sociability made me feel like I've known her for ages and soon enough, I realized the reason why she was surrounded by many friends disregarding nationality. She was a happy virus in our school. Every time a new semester began, a lot of students were full of stress and sighs, but Seoyeon was different. She would be so happy by seeing everyone in school and meeting new teachers that her laughter was able to be heard in every parts of the school. Even her way of introducing herself to the classmates and the teacher was peculiar. In my case, I would be timid and shy and just tell them my name, nationality, hobby and hurry to my seat. But in her case, she confidently told the class her name and nationality, and then said "well there's one way to memorize my birthday. Just remember one-one-two-two. Get it? November 22!" It was so memorable that I still remember it to this day, where about six years have passed. There was one noticeable thing that happened because of Seoyeon's 'happy virus.' In school, there was an invisible but unbroken wall between Korean students and other students, as we used to hang around by ourselves, speaking in Korean. However, the person that tried to break that wall was Seoyeon. She did not defer to go and talk to others, nor did she try to disguise her personality like normal people do when they encounter a stranger or someone that they are not used to being with. Her way of treating others, even the strangers, always seemed like talking to an old best friend. Because of her effort, or in other words her ability to socialize with others, that never-broken wall started to have bits of cracks, and eventually was collapsed. Now we are over being middle school girls, and we are university students, me in Korea and Seoyeon in the US. The distance between Korea and the US is unthinkable, and communication is forcibly cut off because of the time difference. Usually at this situation, the relationship begins to wear off not because of any trouble or quarrel, but because of the situation, even if people don't want to. However with Seoyeon it is different. Once in a while she would not only ask me how I am doing, but also talks about herself, how her studies were, what happened with her friends in the US, what happened in school and so one, even if it's so late in the US. It is as detailed as to being able to visualize how she's doing there. And whenever she comes to Korea, she still treats me like she did in ISM that it seems as if we are back in middle school. Her innate ability to socialize and influence is truly unimaginable. She is still spreading her happy virus to everyone, and I am sure that she will, in the future, influence everyone in a positive way. |
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Jihoon Yoo/character sketch first draft/Tuesday 9am
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Final draft
ReplyDeleteSeoyeon, the Happy Virus
Jihoon Yoo
201301135 EIT
I still remember the first time I met her. It was October, 2009 when I went to my school in the Philippines called the International School of Manila for the first time. I was quite astonished by the size of the school, and at the same time worried by encountering so many foreigners of different ethnicities and ages. For a middle-school girl that just came from Korea leaving all her friends, it was just too much to handle. Having finished my morning classes, I was to go to the canteen to eat lunch, but I was struck with fear as I didn’t have any friends to eat with. With a deep worry that I will have to eat alone, I went inside the canteen, and that was when I saw Seoyeon for the first time. She saw me coming inside the canteen, and with a bright smile on her face, she stood up to greet me. Frankly speaking, her first impression was not that pleasant to me. She seemed very tall, about 170cm, even though she was on her flat shoes. Also, she had a long black hair that was coming down all the way to her waist, and had fairly dark skin that was because of too much tanning. At the moment of entering the canteen, she was surrounded by her foreign friends, talking freely without any hesitation or shyness. All in all, everything made her seem less ‘Korean’. However, that first impression was changed right away. She kindly asked me questions like when I got here, how my morning classes were, where I live and how long I’ll stay, and she introduced me to her other Korean friends. Because of her help and kindness, I was able to meet other Korean friends, and my worry of being alone vanished completely. Her sociability made me feel like I’ve known her for ages and soon enough, I realized the reason why she was surrounded by many friends disregarding nationality.
She was a happy virus in our school. Every time a new semester began, a lot of students were full of stress and sighs, but Seoyeon was different. She would be so happy by seeing everyone in school and meeting new teachers that her laughter was able to be heard in every parts of the school. Even her way of introducing herself to the classmates and the teacher was peculiar. In my case, I would be timid and shy and just tell them my name, nationality, hobby and hurry to my seat. But in her case, she confidently told the class her name and nationality, and then said “well there’s one way to memorize my birthday. Just remember one-one-two-two. Get it? November 22!” It was so memorable that I still remember it to this day, where about six years have passed. There was one noticeable thing that happened because of Seoyeon’s ‘happy virus.’ In school, there was an invisible but unbroken wall between Korean students and other students, as we used to hang around by ourselves, speaking in Korean. However, the person that tried to break that wall was Seoyeon. She did not defer to go and talk to others, nor did she try to disguise her personality like normal people do when they encounter a stranger or someone that they are not used to being with. Her way of treating others, even the strangers, always seemed like talking to an old best friend. Because of her effort, or in other words her ability to socialize with others, that never-broken wall started to have bits of cracks, and eventually was collapsed.
However even though Seoyeon liked to meet and socialize with new people, it never meant that she was negligent towards her friends. She was more like ‘the giving tree’, a tree from traditional Korean Children’s literature that gives everything to people, even if that meant harm or damage to itself. She never ignored hardships that her friends were going through whether it was small and big, and always looked for ways to help her friends. On the other hand, when something good or something to celebrate happens to her friends, she would be so delighted as if she was the one getting all the congratulations, and congratulate the person with all her heart. In her, nothing seemed fake.
ReplyDeleteNow we are over being middle school girls, and we are university students, me in Korea and Seoyeon in the US. The distance between Korea and the US is unthinkable, and communication is forcibly cut off because of the time difference. Usually at this situation, the relationship begins to wear off not because of any trouble or quarrel, but because of the situation, even if people don’t want to. However with Seoyeon it is different. Once in a while she would not only ask me how I am doing, but also talk about herself, like how her studies were, what happened with her friends in the US, what happened in school and so one, even if it’s so late in the US. It is as detailed as to being able to visualize how she’s doing there. And whenever she comes to Korea, she still treats me like she did in ISM that it seems as if we are back in middle school. Her innate ability to socialize and influence is truly unimaginable. She is still spreading her happy virus to everyone, and I am sure that she will, in the future, influence everyone in a positive way.