2010 summer intro writing: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Week 2 Paragraph First Draft

June 30, 2010

Ho Won Lee

An Ideal English Teacher

An ideal English teach should be moral. For example, one should be fully committed to teaching without having other things in mind such as wasting time doing inefficient stuff and losing track of the class schedule by doing irrelevant stuff outside the course guideline. Also, one should be sincere to oneself in a sense that one will be responsible for developing the students in the course that one is teaching. In addition, the teacher's motivation to teach should solely come from guiding the students in an academic way without intervening one's emotions or personal desires. To rephrase this, the teacher should only be focused on teaching during the period of instruction. Lastly, the teacher should treat and evaluate the students in a fair and appropriate way without hurting the students mentally and physically. This means no physical contact and profanities or no abusive language of any kind being tolerated. If one makes such mistakes, one should be responsible for one's actions and apologize deeply to the victim. No matter how skillful and educated a teacher is, if one hurts the students in an immoral way, one has given a painful memory to the student that will be a scar to the student eternally which will have a disastrous effect on the student's positive growth; and this will outweigh any kind of academic knowledge the student would have gained no matter how sophisticated the material might be. Consequently, the most important characteristic of an ideal teacher would be the level of morality of the educator.

The Worst Waiter

The worst waiter that I encountered was the rudest service worker that I have faced in my short life and I cannot wait to tell you about this. I met the waiter in a restaurant called "Spring Rolls" in Canada. Her first impression was very cold as an undertaker so I didn't expect a good service from her in the first place, thus I decided to be psychologically as prepared as possible by being as magnanimous as I can. While I was sensing her mysterious enmity against me and keeping my composure and guard at a highest level spontaneously, she did something that I never saw come. Just when I was least expecting it, she held my chair with me sitting on it and moved it aside like a bag of garbage as she took the dishes away. Believe me, I have faced people who went as far as they can go to be rude verbally during a service but this was the first time I met someone who swiftly used one's physical force to make me feel devalued. Her quiet action had a thousand times stronger effect than a verbal confrontation. The server at Spring Rolls is the waitress who I pick as the most infamous waitress I have encountered who planted a fear of females in my psyche.

2nd week pragraph(first draft)

2nd week paragraphs(first draft)

SC200601302

Eunji Bahk

My cousin, Urlika

It is like serial question. When I meet new people, we normally talk about several personal information such as hometown, family, job or major for breaking the ice. Everytime I speak out that I am studying Swedish in my university, everyone asks me the reason why I chose it. Honestly, it was about 4 years ago and I was only 20-year-old girl, which means I didn't really give a lot of thought when I chose my major at that time. I thought it seems just cool to learn foreign language and before I met my cousin Urlika, I still couldn't find the proper answer to the question and it makes me feel just bad.

My cousin Urlika lives in Uppsala, Sweden. More precisely, she is my mother's younger sister's third daughter. When she first came to Korea and appeared on some TV program helping Korean adoptees who wants to find their Korean family, I didn't even know my auntie had third daughter. When she decided to give her daughter up, she was just so penurious that she couldn't raise three kids, my mom said. My auntie, however, always felt guilty and missing Urlika so much, but had nothing to do with it. The only thing she knew about her is her Korean name, Ji Won. After 24 years later, Urlika wanted to find her Korean family and she finally met my aunt and her two brothers.

I was just so astonished when I realized she sent to Sweden and had lived in there, as I was studying Swedish. I felt even some kind destiny. She and I instantly became friends and talked a lot of things from her story of life to what made her find the family in Korea. She had constantly been suffering from the feeling of being abandoned from her parents in Korea, but one day, she suddenly realized that deep down in her heart, she just wanted to find herself and know her mother's country. Luckily, she was young that she could find the information of her relatively quickly and easily. Thus, she found my aunt, her mother, and met whole family including me. She could barely understand and just babbled Korean and just like many old generation in Korea, my aunt didn't have any knowledge of Swedish or even English. As I knew Swedish and the culture a little bit, I could communicate with her more easily, so I could help my aunt and her to understand each other. I was so impressed that I could do something with my Swedish even though I also almost babbled it. I went to Uppsala to study Swedish and meet Urlika last summer, and had a wonderful time in there. She is also planning to come and visit us, which makes my aunt brimmed with happy joy juice in her blood.

Although I didn't think enough when I chose my major 4 years ago, I found some great reasons and motivation through this experiences. So, how could I not love her and this magical language?

The Worst waiter Ever

I never saw those kind of bright smile before , when we first walked into the newly opened vegetarian restaurant in downtown, and my friend Lauren also thought so. What's more, he was so tall and very handsome. Although dishes were a bit disappointing and we complained about a little bit too much boiled cabbage, he was just so kind and never lose the smiley face.

Since that day, Lauren and I couldn't stop going to the restaurant almost everyday just to see the waiter. A few days later, however, we suddenly realized that we were not the only girls who thought that the cute waiter were hit on us. In fact that all of waiters and waitresses were so good-looking in the restaurant and all women sitting in the chairs and eating the bad food believed one of the waiters was into them and all men believed one of the waitresses was into them as well! We quickly paid the bill and just fly to our dorm. We laughed so hard and finally talked about the bad, bad food in the restaurant.

Later, we were told that the owner of the restaurant hired only good-looking servers as a marketing strategy and made the waiters serve only women and waitresses serve only men, and also ordered them give smiley face to every customers in any cases. The owner thought that the tactic would attract more customers but eventually he had to give it up, as every men began to flirt with the waitresses and women also didn't leave the restaurant until it was closed at night.

Lauren and I still feel embarrassed when we talk about the restaurant and laugh at ourselves how naive we were. Apparently, he is the most handsome waiter I have ever met, but because he broke our heart so badly, he is the worst waiter in my life ever.

Week2 First Draft/ Kim Juhee

200703910 KIM Juhee

My Favorite Cousin

I have many cousins, but most of them are younger than me. So I usually have to take care of them, or sometimes help them to study or do assignments. It sometimes bothers me, to be honest, but I know that I should do it because that's what my cousin sister has done for me. There is only one older cousin sister for me, and I love her so much. She's 3 years older than me, but she has always been like my best friend. She is very humorous. Whenever and wherever my relatives gather together, she leads conversations and makes everyone happy easily. She knows many funny stories of herself or her friends, and her way of telling the stories makes them much more fun. So she gets along with old people very well, and also she's good at taking care of kids. And she is a very optimistic person. Even when she failed to pass some exams or couldn't get a job, everyone worried about her. But she always said she's ok and that she is just going to try harder than before. At last, she got a job in a library which she wanted, and everyone was so happy about that. Above all, she's very considerate. When I was a child, I was a quiet and shy kid, spending most of time at home alone. She and I lived in the same apartment at that time, and she started to take me with her hanging out with her friends. At first I didn't like her doing that kind of things, but as time goes by, I realized that she was trying to make some friends to me. Thanks to her efforts, I could make many friends and my personality changed a lot. We again are living in the same apartment now, but since I'm staying in Seoul, it's hard to hang out with her recently. But she's still my best relative, sister, and friends of my mind.

How to Obtain a Driver's License

Many Korean people want to get driver's license as soon as they can, because driving is such a useful skill to learn. But as we all may know, driving can be so dangerous that we have to learn it with much care. Here are the steps we should take to learn how to drive and obtain driver's licenses. First, we have to register for a driving institute. It is also possible to learn how to drive from your family members or friends and take a test, but I do not recommend it. Since those people are not professional teachers, they are not likely to teach you many situations you have to deal with on the streets. So it is better to use institutes. When you are done registration, you will receive some books to read through. Firstly, you should study that book to take a written test. The test is needed because before you start driving, it is essential that you know the basic rules and signs on the streets. Only after you pass the written test, you can start driving inside the institute. Beware that you are not yet allowed to drive outside, because you don't have a license. The courses in the institute consist of easy roads and some complicated ones like S-shaped course or parking lots. You can practice there several times and then you can take a test. It is usually not so difficult because it's the same course where you practiced many times. After you pass it, you can finally go out to the real roads. But it still does not mean that you can drive on the roads by yourself. You must accompany your instructor beside you, or it is very likely for you to get in some trouble. With the instructor's help, you can learn how to drive on the roads safely. After a few days of practice, you finally can take the final exam on the roads. You should observe all the traffic signals, speed limits, and many other things. If you pass it, you can finally obtain your own driver's license, meaning that you get the right to drive.

Semi Park

My Ideal English Teacher

It might be easier to come up with bad English teachers than ideal teachers. Even though I have learned English over than 10 years meeting a number of teachers, I can hardly come up with ideal English teachers. However, among a very few of good teachers, I know someone who deserves to be called an ideal teacher. Her name is Makiko who is a teacher at American English Program in California State University Eastbay. I was not a student of her class, but an observer as a student of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate program. On the first day of the class, I was disappointed that she was a non-native speaker. She had strong Japanese accent and seemed too lenient. She just let students go. For example, she did not even say anything when they came to class late or did not do their homework. I criticized her teaching on my observation papers saying she didn't have any passion. However, as the time went by, I realized students in the class worked harder than in any other classes. I could see they were so motivated, participated, and even confident. Even though the majority of students were Asian, who were more likely to be shy, they were so active in the class. I had to find out what made them to be like that. It was Makiko's respect toward her students. She did not speak a lot, giving a lot of chances for students to speak aloud. Then, she did not correct their mistakes. She always appreciated each student's participation. She also built up the relationship with her students out of class too. She liked to talk about what's going on their lives and ask about any difficulties to follow her class. Those things made students feel comfortable with her and free in the class not being afraid of making mistakes. One day, I asked her how she knew students would work hard with that freedom. She said the time when she was a student influenced her teaching style. She learned English for a long time in Japan and America, and she was one of shy students. She said if her teacher gave any kind of pressure on her, she got anxious so she couldn't study well. Because of that, she became a teacher who respects students rather than having authorities. It was completely right. Over 5 different classes that I was observing at the same time, the class was the best. My last observation paper was totally different than the first one. I wrote "When teachers respect students, students respect the teachers and that is how good English classes are made!"

How to obtain driver license

Even though people think everyone passes driving test at once, it's not true. One of my friends took the test for three times. What was wrong with her? First, she took only two weeks get it. She didn't have time so she wanted to finish in a short time. She practiced driving every day for more than four hours including weekend. It was the first mistake that she made. Don't do it! Since driving requires a lot of skills and they are trained in that short time. Of course she couldn't pass the driving skill test. If you are really busy, find a place which is really close to your house instead of taking such an intensive practice. You can practice for fewer hours for more days. Next, except the driving skill test, you have paper test about driving rules. Don't spend too much time on the second test. If you are not a dumb, study for about five hours. You can easily pass it. Some people study so hard on the test and pass it, but there's no prize. Once your score is above 70, it doesn't matter whether you get the maximum or not. Spend time on Practicing driving instead of the easy part. The last thing that I can advise you is "don't hurry". A lot of people make mistakes at the last step. It was the thing my friend failed. She was so confident and careless after going through all the steps. Then, she didn't step on a line which she had to pass. She should have gone farther but she was too excited thinking she's done. She got zero score for that, so she unfortunately had to do it over from the beginning part after a month later. Take your time! If you don't make those mistakes, you will easily get a driver license.

멋진 연인부터 글로벌 네트위크까지! 윈도우 라이브 메신저가 도와드립니다!

week2 first draft

200701393 Park Jun Hyung

30 JUN 2010

The worst waiter

The worst waiter I met in Sydney

Have you met the worst waiter in a fancy restaurant? Most waiters and waitresses are hardworking, professional people, and many circumstances are out of their control, from food preparation to seating time. But there are always a few bad apples (or just bad days) in any industry, and we've all probably been on the receiving end of rude, indifferent, or just plain baffling wait staff behavior. I've seen the worst waiter when I visited Sydney last winter. My friend in Sydney brought me to the famous Italian restaurant. When we waited in line the waiter was speaking to the couples in front of us rather rudely. We tried to not be bothered by that, but when it came to our turn, she very rudely asked us to chill out and wait. I was shocked and my friend was very angry. When she returned to her spot, she snatched the menu and said "Well, come on". We followed and discussed that we were going to ask to speak to the manager. We were seated and did ask. She literally started yelling at us in the middle of this place. I was so embarrassed and ashamed that everybody in the restaurant was staring at us as if we were the people who demanded unreasonable favor to the waitress. After just getting over the situation by talking to the manager, the worst experience kept continued. We ordered a fairly high-priced bottle of wine and when our waitress, the same person who yelled at us, attempted to open the bottle and she broke the cork. Instead of retrieving a new bottle, she shoved the rest of the cork into the bottle -- sticking her finger all the way into our bottle and dipping it into our wine. She wiped her finger off on her apron and attempted to serve the wine to us like it was no big deal. The night dealing with the worst waiter at DEROSA, an Italian restaurant in Sydney, was my worst experience from any of restaurants.

How to obtain driver's license

It's easy to get driver's license

Many people who just turns 20 try to obtain driver's license and this is almost like a coming of age ceremony in Korea. However, there are some people who lose their confidence in obtaining driver's license. Are you one of them? If so, following steps could help you to realize how easy it is to get driver's license. First of all, you have to get physical examination. You should get the physical examination at one of government-designated hospitals. If you are a normal person who does not have color blindness, there will be no obstacles for you to pass the examination. Next, you should decide which license you would obtain; 1^st class or 2^nd class. 1^st class license is for people who can drive both manual gear shift car and automatic transmission car while 2^nd class license is only for automatic transmission car. After the decision, you should take a written test. It's not difficult that many people who pass only study on the day before the test. After that, you take the functional test after receiving three hours of instruction in any driving academy. You are asked to drive the car through some complicated courses that is installed in the academy. It is easy to master the course if you register for 15 hours of practice in the academy. Then, the last step is left for you to complete the whole task. You take driving test on the road as a real situation. Before the test, you may be either learned by the instructor in the academy or learned by anyone who has more than 2-years of driving experience. When all tests are successfully finished, you finally obtain driver's license with your face and name on it. Although the procedure may seem a little bit complicated, you will have no problems in confidence toward the tests if you follow these steps above. Once again, it is easier to obtain a driver's license than you think. So, why not register yourself at the academy right now?

1st draft of Week 2 paragraphs

Jun. 30, 2010 - Week 2 paragraph 200701804 Shin Jeong-chul

Topic – A president I would vote for

A Man of Honesty and Generosity

The precepts my family has been sticking to for decades are honesty and generosity. Even when it comes to electing the leader of Korea, my serious consideration is given to the values. The role of the president is to lead the millions of people to one goal – the country's prosperity. As the representative of one nation, he ought to be an exemplary figure of the people to show the greatness of the people. Also, the representative is who gathers a variety of opinions of people with different backgrounds and maintains the system effectively. Listening to individuals' opinions –no matter how different they are- is one of the virtues of a president of the democratic state. If a president lacks in both values, people won't follow him and the leadership would be at the peril. It means, soon, the collapse of one society. To keep this society sound and safe, the president I'd gladly vote for next election will be a man of honesty and generosity.

Topic – How to throw a surprise bithday party for a friend?

Make Familiarity Unfamiliar

Have your sleep ever been disturbed by your concern about what kind of birthday gift you should prepare for your best friend? Do you want to give him something special at this time? Making familiar things unfamiliar often gives a great impression to most of people. Throwing a surprise birthday party for your friend is one of the examples. However, people misunderstand preparation for a surprise party is a challenging work. But it is not true. First of all, you and your friends make a team and lay a scheme for the surprise birthday party for your friend. The scheme should contain how many people will take part in, who will take what roles, when it will be held and what sort of dishes you are going to cook. After you finish cooking, setting the table and place everyone in the planned locations at your friend's home, draw curtains over the windows to block out the light to make it so dark that everyone can hide themselves in the darkness. Now you should make a phonecall to one of your team member, who is told to accompany the hero of the party beforehand, to bring him home. En route the house, the companion should pretend to be absolutely normal as if the day would be the same without any drama. You'd better dispatch two watchers as a small team near to the house. When the target gets to the Marginot Line, they send a message to the person in the house and inform the target is approaching. When the bell rings and the lock begins squeaking, everyone should be ready to surprise them in their positions. When the door opens, set off the firecrackers and shout out loud, "Surprise!" Your friend would be at a loss, being scared to death for a short time. Later, he will get the picture of this wonderful conspiracy and will hug you with a great smile and loud laughter. There seems too many things to prepare for the split second. However, this is investment for your friend. All you need is a good preparation for it. By making familiarity unfamiliar, you can present one of the most impressive birthday parties to your friend.

Week 2 -first draft

200703360 Choe Byoung bin

How to find a rental house in Seoul

Finding a place to stay in downtown Seoul is difficult and annoying since this huge city is crowded with over 10 million people. There are several ways to find a rental house, depending on what kind of house you are looking for. You can find lodging house or home stay room through many internet communities. Flyers are often used in a university town. In this case, face to face contract is established and you should take a risk because you don't know him/her financial conditions well enough to make a contract. That is why people prefer real estate agency when finding a house. Real state agency plays a financial guarantor role so that you can rely on them. Real estate agency workers will offer you several choices as soon as you ask them your conditions and requirements. For the next step, you go with agency employees to see the place in person and decide whether you are going to rent that place. Making a real contract with that agency is the only thing that awaiting for you. After filling out identification and financial status sheet, presenting identity card and paying for the commission and rental fee, everything is settled. Real estate agency makes whole process of renting a house a lot easier with some commission fee.

A good English Teacher

A good English teacher is the one who is generous. I really respect my middle school English teacher because she was so open-minded. For example, every two week, she wanted us write a heart-felt letter to her about the class. Mostly, we wrote what was good about this class or how this teaching method made us feel. Based on these little advices and feelings, she tried different kinds of teaching method. She strived to create the most effective way to teach us English. For instance, she taught us pop songs and made us to analyze the lyrics. After that, she asked us to write down our feelings about the song. It was very effective way to learn English because not only learning pop songs was interesting but spilling out our own thoughts about particular song made us to think, react and develop our own creative ideas about the topic. After the semester, we even made our own play out of those pop songs and performed during the school festival. Because she respected us and put our feelings into consideration when teaching, she is remembered the best English teacher ever for me and my friends.

week 2 paragraphs (first drafts)

Knowing the Waitress Can Be Rough

Shinjae Sung

Assignment date: 30/06/10 (first draft)

You'd think knowing the waitress at your favourite bar would be helpful- but it isn't. Knowing the waitress is the worst thing possible for both the waitress and customer. A few months ago, the first day on a waitressing job, I had an embarrassing encounter with a certain customer. But first I should describe the bar. A tiny lounge bar selling liquor and an assortment of different tasting tobacco (apple mint, raspberry etc…) smoked through an Indian water-pipe or "hookah," it opened only after dark and constantly had diluted tobacco smoke and beastly cigarette smoke pouring out of every single person there. My friend, Chay used to call the place, "A smoke filled cherry pie" with all the red faced drunks. But the Indian hookahs were what made this place so popular. Every table ordered one or two of these glass containers shaped like sitting elephants with long trunks that coughed up portions of light, sweet smoke that made you feel gay and drugged. It wasn't just the tobacco that was different. Even though I was the waitress, table orders were taken by whoever was manning the counter that night. Depending on how good the counter manager was that day, the waitresses at times had to juggle furiously with switched orders. If it hadn't been for a switched order I might not have bumped into a customer who took the same lecture as I did at the time. The first problem was that I knew him from school, a place we all put on a nice mask to hide the fact we are individuals with wacky pastimes. Then there was the fact I had made the mistake of bringing him something he hadn't even ordered, hence the reason I bumped into him in the first place. We eventually said hello and I was on my way again delivering various water-pipes. But he seemed more bothered than I was because he kept watching me move to and fro from the kitchen and out again to wait tables. This wasn't all. Each time his girlfriend tried to be affectionate, he'd turn and try to lean away casually. What was worse was I could see this, his girlfriend could see this, he could see this and it turned into a nice big quarrel. We had no relation whatsoever other than that we were in a lecture together only containing a handful of students. I'm guessing one reason was he didn't want a classmate to think he was less of a gentleman because he seemed so nice in class. It wasn't just him; I always prefer keeping my personal life separate from whatever I have at college so people will look at me like an average student. When you know the waitress for whatever reason, things get overly uncomfortable. Another possible reason is that nobody likes having someone you know from some other place like church or college serve you food when they're usually studying or praying right along beside you. The worst waiter or waitress you can ever have is someone you know, so I'd take a butterfingered waiter over someone I know any day.

Wasn't It Your Birthday Last Month?

Shinjae Sung

Assignment date: 30/06/10 (first draft)

Pretend to forget the date of someone's birthday and it'll buy you the chance for the best surprise party. The most important rule in creating the perfect surprise party that nobody would ever expect is saying you forgot about it and making all preparations secret. The first few steps are similar to what any birthday party would be like. First, choose how many people will be invited and stick to closest friends because a surprise party can be a bit overwhelming for your birthday-person when finally revealed. The number of people must be established beforehand so that location can be decided. The more people, the larger the venue will be. When choosing location, as it is going to be a surprise party, the places the person most often visits such as home, school or work is the best way to go. If there is a route the person takes daily such as the park or a certain street, it might be fun to get a small party ready there after getting permission from locals. Even in situations where there is a party venue that you are set on using, you can find out if this person has anyone around them with a birthday in the same month and pretend it is that person's party. Then you can easily take the real birthday-person to a further location saying it is someone else's party. Then comes contacting everyone to make sure the secret is kept and everyone must act oblivious of the birthday and the party. Keep in mind that there are always those who aren't so good at acting, so these people will need to be kept away from the birthday-person as the party date gets closer. Afterwards, on the day of the party, one person must keep in touch with or be with the birthday-person for most of the day so the plan won't suddenly change course. It is surprising how many times people just decide to do something on their own for their birthday, believing everyone has forgotten. I once had a surprise birthday ready only for the birthday girl to go get drunk on her own and come home five hours after the party was meant to start. By then, everyone had gone home and all that was left were soggy crisps and a few measly drops of wine. Finally, at home, work or whichever place you choose for the party, get everyone in perfect hiding places so nobody gets caught until the lights come on. Instead of just turning the lights on and saying, "SURPRISE!" it might be more original to be in a dimly lit room (like the workplace after hours) where the birthday-person doesn't have to put the light on right away and can walk about suspicious of nothing for a few moments (in the workplace you could even have some people pretending to work late) until everyone springs up and gives that person a happy fright! Throwing a party in itself isn't an easy task but with surprise parties, as long as you put enough effort into making the birthday-person oblivious of the party's existence, you're bound to succeed in making it a birthday to remember.

1st draft for week 2 paragraph (Process/Example)

How to throw a surprise birthday party for a friend

200701508

Jiyoon Bae

Dear Kevin. I’m really glad to hear that you are going to throw a surprise birthday party for my sister. And it is good surprise that you are actually planning to cook for her. I am very happy that I can help you with my recipe. French Onion Soup is her favorite and I believe you won’t have any difficulty cooking it. You should prepare enough food that can serve 8 people who will be at the party for her. Make sure you prepared all the ingredients you need before cooking. The ingredients are 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 4 large onions, 2 to 5 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon sugar, half of teaspoon dried thyme, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, half of cup dry white wine, 2 and one quart of beef stock, 2 tablespoons brandy, 6 to thick slices French bread, and 3 cups of grated Swiss cheese.

Now you are prepared to cook. First, in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the butter and oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 to 12 minutes until they are soft and beginning to brown. Second, put one garlic clove aside, finely chop the rest and add to the onions. Add the sugar and thyme and continue cooking over medium heat for 30 to 35 minutes until the onions get brown, stirring frequently. Then sprinkle the flour over and stir until the rest well blended. Stir in the wine and stock and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam from the surface. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in brandy. Next, rub each slice of toasted French bread with the remaining garlic clove and place them in the 8 soup bowls. Fill the soup bowls about three-quarters full with the onion soup. Finally, float a piece of toast in each bowl. Top with grated cheese, dividing it evenly. Wait 30 seconds so the cheese begins to melt and bubble. Cook this French Onion Soup according to this recipe and get every credit you deserve for the delicious meal as well as the surprise birthday party for my sister. With love, Joanna

The love I found in between

200701508

Jiyoon Bae

Have you ever needed someone special, not so close to you nor so far from you? I have. Sometimes you feel your family cannot give enough comfort to you. It is not because of their apathy but because of their too much closeness; too much loyalty and love that makes you feel helpless and unable to ask or demand anything more from them. You already love them too much, and they love you exactly the same way. You don’t want to bother them with your frustration or depression. Of course they will give you steadfast love and support whenever you ask them, and you are so sure of it. Tragically, that doesn’t make you ask them every time you need it. Yet you want to vent your bitterness to someone. Maybe you could look to your friends. This time, however, you cannot turn to them because they are strangers, after all. They haven’t owed you anything and you can’t just ask them to listen to all your frustration and worries. They have no obligation to listen to you or care about you. It is true that friends can help you out of trouble of course, yet you cannot ask it for free. Friendship is not that simple. You cannot get their affection or care as if you use ATM and get your cash.

In my case, when I needed someone special in between family and friends, my aunt gave me all I needed. Having my aunt, in that aspect, gave me my exit from the loneliness and frustration I had when I was studying in Tokyo as an exchange student last year. She was in her 40s and I was just 20 years old at that time. She was working in a law firm located in one of the most expensive district in Tokyo, and I was living on my meager scholarship, saving every yen as possible. No, definitely we didn’t have much in common. However, we had such an extraordinary friendship. It was thanks to my aunt’s generosity, understanding and affection. She was generous to me, buying me expensive meals and drinks every time we met. Thanks to her, I could let go my stress living on such a limited budget when I was in such a fabulous restaurants and bars in Tokyo with her presence. Everything just looked good and tasted good when I was with her in those places and that felt like almost catching a glimpse of heaven to me, because I had to eat every meal at the cheap and dull student cafeteria at that time. Another thing about her that made me so relieved was her understanding. She talked to me as if she was talking to an old friend and listened to my every trivial worries and complaints about Japanese people and culture even though we were never really close until I came to Tokyo, Japan. She didn’t treat me like I was a spoiled, unthankful girl who got so much that one didn’t deserve. She never preached I should “suck it up”. Instead, she just listened to my relief and gratitude. And there’s her affection that made me almost weep when I was so lonely and felt suffocated living in Japan, surrounded by too many Japanese people who were die-hard reserved, silent and callous. All the things she gave me, from my birthday presents to all the happy and relaxed moments spent with her, were out of her sincere affection toward her niece whom she never met until she turned 47; still single, after having spent all her life struggling against the glass ceiling in Japanese corporate culture, and against the still-existing discrimination toward Korean Japanese in one of the most insular, closed-minded community in the world. I found unconditional love in between my family and my friends. That’s why my aunt is my favorite relative.

1st draft for week 2 paragraph (Process)

How to throw a surprise birthday party for a friend

200701508

Jiyoon Bae

week two-1st draft

Seon Hae Shin

Date: 30 June 2010

My Best Cousin

Does it have to be a friend to be a best friend? Well, for me my cousin is one of my best friends, who help me whenever I am in trouble. Out of my 13 cousins my favorite and closest one is Ji-Min who’s just two years older than me. We weren’t very close when we were young because we did not have many chances to meet each other. However as we grew older, and as we both started to live in Seoul we became a real support to each other. Whenever I go through a trouble or have a concern that’s even too difficult to discuss it with my friends I call her up and ask for her help. Then she helps me with all her efforts to solve my problems with me. For example, once my body wasn’t in a good shape but it was kind of hard to discuss it with my friends so the only choice, since my parents weren’t next to me, I had was to ask for her help. I asked my cousin if she could come with me to the hospital and guess what the answer was. Of course it was yes without any hesitation. Also last winter, when the weather was freezing cold, my house’s boiler had burst which made me feel like I was standing on the ice on a bare foot. Not just the floor, water made me feel as if my finger was going to chop out, I was like living in an igloo. To spend the night safely my only hope was my cousin. Even though I hadn’t met her for the whole semester her first words were “come quickly.” These days it’s not easy for both of us to meet frequently because of my school and her work. But whenever I need her help or she needs mine we call each other at anytime and ask for it because we are family and in the same time best friends to each other.

Let’s get a Driver License

Achieving a driver license is not the most important thing in our life, but it’s a convenience license if we have one. To achieve the driver license in Korea you have to go though several steps. First, you have to decide which kind of license you are going to aim for. In Korea there are three kinds: 1jong bo-tong(a license that allow you to drive both automatic and stick), 1jong dae-hyeong(a license that allow you to drive big trucks or buses) and 2 jong bo-tong( a license that allow you to drive only automatic cars). Then you have to do checkups to find out whether you are appropriate for driving a car or not. For example, color blinds can’t drive because it’s harder for them to see the signal properly. After you figured out that you are the most perfect person to drive, then you try out for the written test. It’s done by few clicks on the computer so you can find out whether you passed or failed right away. In order to pass the test you must pass 60 points for the 2 jong bo-tong and 70 points for 1 jong bo-tong. When you passed the written test next you’ll have to visit near academy and must get three hours compulsory education and have to pass another test called functional test. The functional test is a test done inside the academy where it looks like a real road in a small version and test you on all the fundamental things about driving. When you passed the functional test as well next you schedule yourself for driving practice for the driving test, which is the last step for achieving the driving license. After ten hours of practice on a real road you go for the driving test. Finally, it you got passed the driving test as well you will be able to achieve a driver license with your proud face and name on it. Money and time is needed in achieving a driving license but your effort is the most defiantly required aspect to go through several steps and tests to live a convenience life.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Week 2_Two Paragraphs

Name: Yunyoung Kim

Date: Tue, June 29^th

What makes an ideal physician?

A physician is regarded as one of the most important jobs in the world because they deal with people's lives. However, it does not mean that all physicians are respectful. Then, what makes an ideal physician such as Albert Schweitzer? First of all, an ideal doctor is confident. A doctor's job is to cure people of illness, so they know how to examine the patients and threat their illnesses with their specialized knowledge. Also, a doctor's confidence makes patients relief that they can be cured soon enough. Second, a good physician is conscientious. They usually work more than 40 hours a week, taking care of the patients, prescribing medication and many other things. They are diligent, hard-working, and persistent because even a single mistake can be critical in the medical world. Finally, a good doctor is humane. A compassionate doctor knows how to communicate with the patients. Doctors try to understand how much the patients suffer from not only physically, but also mentally by interacting with them. Those patient-centered minds could have dramatic effects on patients' recovery. To sum up, ideal physicians need to be confident in what they are doing, thorough, and personal and those are what every patient wants.

Top Tips for finding a Flat in London

When I was in London last year, my contract with the host family had finished, so I decided to move out and find a flat for rent. At first, I had no idea what to do, so I asked my friends for help. First of all, you need to go online and check several property sites to find some places and make some phone calls if those rooms are available or not. Do not choose your room only based on the photos on the websites. People can upload old ones or make them somehow look better than it is, so you need to also consider other factors including the distance from your school, accessibility of public transportation, and being furnished or unfurnished. If some conditions are met, you can make an appointment. Next, meet your landlord and check your room and other facilities in the house. It is useful to have someone with you, so you can get advice particularly when you view the room. You need to ask as many as questions as you can involving if you need any furniture to bring with you, if something is broken or if they have any problems with neighbors. Then, try all the taps in the kitchen and the bathroom and check the water pressure. It is advisable to have a look around in the area if it is safe when it is dark. Finally, when you made up your mind after a thorough going-over for a few days, now you need some paperwork to do. Make sure you have all the documents and details with you and you need to pay a deposit on that day. Once it is signed and sealed, you are supposed to stay there, so try not to choose your first flat right after you see the room. Otherwise, you will probably regret it later when you compare it with other flats. After a long flat hunting, finally you found the best one for the time being, so content yourself with your new flat and enjoy your days.

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Week 2 _ Two paragraphs

R200603674 Eun-Jin Hyun

An Experience with the Worst Waiter

Service position can be more difficult than just making practical merchandises since it requires strong mental strength. Customers, however, do not consider their effort as an option but as a mandatory. Therefore, meeting a very rude waiter is quite a displeasing event leaving an unforgettable impression. Russia, where it still has its communism traits, is a place easy to find the worst waiters someone could ever imagine. When I was in Novosibirsk, a city in middle of Siberia, there was a family restaurant which looked like the Russian version of "Outback Steakhouse." With my Chinese friends, as we entered the restaurant a blonde hair waitress with emerald green eyes stared at us with a very dismal face making us even sorry to interrupt her break. Without moving her facial muscle, she asked us bluntly whether we wanted the smoking area or not. After we were seated, we asked for any recommendations and the reply from the doll-like waitress was very simple and precise.

"All." She mumbled.

Trying to mask our frustration with a grin, we ordered a smoked mutton dish and a beef tongue. After 30 minutes we got our meals but found a dead fly lying along with asparagus on my dish. Immediately, although my Russian speaking skills was very limited, I complained to that waitress for a refund or a new dish. However, this pretty waitress suddenly thrust a finger before me and swiped the fly away.

"Now it's clean. You can eat it now. You're not going to die anyway." She said, with obvious irritation in her voice.

We were so mad but had no choice to keep silent since there were three guards in black uniforms staring at us. They were about to roar at us if we just spat a single word. Except the dish which had a fly, we did eat our supper and paid reluctantly. Because of the rude service, we did not want to give any tips, so we just swiftly left. As soon as the door was closed, however, we heard the waitress's voice shouting at us.

"You got all the service and this is what you pay for? Don't you ever come back!" She yelled furiously.

As she warned us, we never went back or even close to that restaurant. Thanks to this waitress, I have learned that meeting polite waiters can be a hard chance sometimes.

How to Throw a Surprise Birthday Party for a Friend

By just shouting the word "surprise" can make a normal party into something special and unique. For those, especially high school students who want to make it more dramatic with less money, several steps are recommended to follow. First, a fight between best friends is crucial. Making a group fight and urging the birthday girl or boy to choose one side would be effective. At this point, the birthday person gets frustrated by seeing their friends getting into a severe argument and completely forgets about the birthday. The thing he or she might only consider is how to solve this problem. While the birthday person is caught in mind, one team gets the cake and some birthday crackers and for distraction, the other starts to blame the birthday person for not mediating. The birthday person may get upset and have another quarrel as scheduled. Before it gets worst like a physical fight or insulting, the friends would end the argument in a very silly way, such as saying "I got angry because I was just practicing for the Oscars!" Then as soon as possible bring up the cake and crackers to the site and shout "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" All that is needed is just a small cake, a few crackers with beloved friends who are good at keeping secrets.