Ju Ye-lam/Character Sketch 2nd draft/ Tue 1pm

Ju Ye-lam

                                        My Ex-boyfriend

 

             He seemed smiling though he was not smiling. He smiled very often so wrinkles made his face smiling. Because of that, he looked very kind and positive person. While talking, he always kept eye contact with me as if he did not want to miss anything that I was saying. He had common brown hair that went with his bronze skin. He was almost always in comfortable sweat suit and was carrying an electronic guitar on his shoulder. He did not stand out except for his heartwarming personality and ability in playing the guitar. He did not like fancy clothes, accessories and did not adorn himself but his thought and inner side were much deeper than any other person. "He is more interested in the inner world than outward look." One teacher who knew him said to me. It was the point that made me fall in love with him.

             When he was my boyfriend, I could feel how mature he was. One day, I was very upset because of him. I wanted to stay with him more but he had to go. I could understand his situation but I just got upset and very disappointed. So I closed my mouth during the time we were together and acted very cool. At first, he did not know what to do as he looked at my eyes and kept patting my back. Then he knew that there was no solution to relieve my feeling and became silent. What I was surprised at that time was his ability to control his feelings. He did not make any mistakes and I got angry. Most people would be upset at my childish action. But he understood my feelings and even consoled me. Then the next time we met he said, "I really understood you and why you acted like that. But your attitude toward confliction was quite wrong. When you feel disappointed with someone, you have to try conversations with that person." I knew that he was not scolding me but advising me sincerely. After that, I could reflect how I had acted when conflicts arose and change my bad habits.

             Even when we were talking about parting, we listened to each other's thoughts and feelings because he had stressed on communication between us. Although he is my ex-boyfriend now, he still remains in my mind because he is the living book to me. Though our relationship is done just as I close a book after reading it, I still remember the feelings and learning from him. He was a really nice boyfriend who I could respect and unforgettable person during my life.

Ju Ye-lam/Bio-info/Tue 1pm

Frederick Douglass

a. He was born in Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, a slave, in Tuckahoe, Talbot County, Maryland in 1818. His father and mother were all slaves and he was raised by his grandmother. He was sent to one place after another also as a slave. But he had a passion to learn, he practiced reading and writing in secret during his early life.

b. He was famous for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing after he escaped from slavery. He also wrote several autobiographies to support abolition.

c. Unlike other slaves, Douglass had a consciousness and thought that he had to learn. If I were him, I just would settle for my situations and do nothing to improve myself. His attitude to his life was very impressive.

d. a strong will, passion, patience

Wonpil Lee/ Character Sketch 2nd Drft/ Tue 1 p.m.

Taste of Memory

 

Whenever I eat O-I-Ji-Mu-Chim, a Korean spicy food which is similar to pickled cucumber, I mumble to myself unconsciously. "This food reminds me of my grandmother." Then I think of her for a while.

 

When I was a child, my mother was busy with her work as a salesperson. That's why instead of her my grandmother did the housework such as cleaning, washing, and cooking. Back then she was a great cleaner and washer, but she was not a great cook. Strangely enough, I miss the taste of her foods sometimes although I did not like her foods as a child. In particular I miss the taste of her O-I-Ji-Mu-Chim the most. Whenever I taste this food, I compare it to my grandmother's. Then I feel sad because of her hard life, and I feel sorry because of my fault.

 

When she died, I was 15. At her last moment, all her children and grandchildren went to meet her except me. I was too young to understand what death means. In fact, I felt scary, and I did not know how I dealt with the situation. Hiding my embarrassment, I said to my mother, "I do not want to meet her. I am busy." My mother said, "Your grandmother is waiting for you. She raised you. She loves you the most. You are very cold. I am really disappointed in you." Finally, I did not look her last, and I did not attend even her funeral.

While other relatives attended her funeral, I sat on my bed and thought of her. I thought of her hard life. She got married young, and her husband died young. She raised four children by herself. Among three daughters and a son, my mother is the eldest. As well as my grandmother did the housework for her eldest daughter's family, she had to take care of her grown-up son, my uncle, who suffered serious brain damage because of a car accident. Although my grandmother took care of him for nine years after that accident, he died finally. As soon as he died, my grandmother had a stroke. One year later she passed away.

 

I felt sad. I felt sorry. That's not only because of her hard life, but also because of her love for me. I was her eldest grandson. She had always praised me and always tried to give me good things. I realized she had given me great affection. I became ashamed because I had only received her love. I regretted that I had not expressed my love to her. I had not said thank you, and I had not said I love you. I had not said goodbye to her, and I had not attended even her funeral.

 

Then I broke into tears. I was crying with thinking of her hard life and her love. I was crying with regretting committing so many faults. I was crying with saying goodbye and sorry.

 

If I had attended her funeral and cried in front of my family, I could not miss her as much as I do now. Because I regret not doing so, I feel sadder and sorrier when I taste O-I-Ji-Mu-Chim. However, I feel not only sad and sorry but also grateful because now I understand what the taste means. It means love. It means her great will against the hard life. It means memories of my grandmother.

 

Whenever I eat foods which taste like my grandmother's, I think of my grandmother and say in my heart. "I still remember you."

 

Jeong Doyoung/character sketch-second draft/Tue 56

Dad

 

 My Dad is a lovely person. He is a tall man with dark skin. He has thick head of hair, and always applies hair mousse to keep them neat. His eyes are small, and when he smiles, all there can be seen are thin lines pointing upwards like a smiley face emoticon and wrinkles gathering around his eyes. His even teeth is noticeable more than ever. But even apart from his radiant smile, there is just so many wonderful things about him.

  For one thing, Dad is funny. Strangely enough, he is not funny when he is trying to be with his dumb jokes. What really make me laugh though are things that are not supposed to be funny. For instance, he has a incredibly weak spot for sweets. Mum finds this exasperating, as she is a sensible wife who have her husband's best interest at heart and constantly tells him not to eat sweets for his health but he does it anyway. He often eats sweets but detected everytime by Mum. There is a moment of tense silence, the moment dignity of the man of the house all crumble and the moment that I find extremely amusing. The next moment Mum is shouting at him. I know I shouldn't laugh, but the idea of Dad suddenly becoming a ten-year-old boy in trouble is hilarious. This is just one example. I know it's something only our family can understand, but Dad always has a way of making an everyday affair look like a scene from a sitcom.

  Dad can be serious when he wants to be. He has a profound understanding in a area he is interested in, which is Korean history. He recalls that school was most fun for him when studying history. He used to listen to teacher's lecture with fascination and devour history books one after another. Now he enjoy watching every single history drama and documentary there is and having a heated discussion about prominent figure in history. Sadly, he can't count on this too much with the rest of the family, though he is delighted when I ask him a question. His another interest is classical music. He recognizes any music immediately and then name the title and the composer and loads of other things all in detail, often using impressive words like 'd minor' or 'etude'. He could be modest and just keep that for himself, but he wouldn't want to miss his daughters' looks of admiration every time he does this.

  But what is most wonderful about him is that he is a family man. When he's at work and I ring him, he answers in his office voice, which is calm and a bit curt. He is shy and doesn't like drawing attention to himself in the workplace. But when he's in the house and faces his wife and two daughters his voice becomes animated and jolly, his shy character melting instantly. For him, nothing can be better than having a nice meal with his wife and two daughters especially so since such occasion is a bit rare, with my sister and I away in Seoul. Dad play a crucial role in the house. Mum can be formidable sometimes, and it is always her job to nag and scold me and my sister and sometimes dad. Things would be a bit tough without Dad around. He hates awkward silence and always resolve tension after the commotion. Whenever I feel dejected after Mum rounded on me, Dad is always there for me to offer words of comfort. He never take sides, but say things like " I don't want to see you two sulking like that. Go and give your mother a hug."

  He is easily the best Dad in the world. As Mum says, "There is no one like your father." I love Dad very much indeed but undeniably not as much as he loves me. I wonder when will I be able to repay all the love he gave me.

캡처.JPG

Quentin Blake 

 

 

   

A. Quentin Blake was born in Sidcup, Kent, on 16 December 1932. Even as a child he was "silent, but drew a lot". His first published drawing was for the satirical magazine Punch, at the age of 16.

B. He is best known for his collaboration with Roald Dhal, and for many of us, the iconic illustrations of Quentin Blake were a massive part of our childhood and shaped the very way we see the world.

C. He has started drawing female nudes.

D.

1. He is very passionate, and works tirelessly, despite his age, which is about 80.

2. He likes to be challenged, and has recently worked in a much bigger scale, the territory somewhat unexpected.

3. Not only the process of drawing is mysterious, he is too. He only talks about himself reluctantly.

Young-Lee Seo / Character sketch 2nd draft / Tue 56

I met my Korean History teacher during my high school years, and she was one of the nicest people that I had ever met. I was one of her favorite students, being one out of the precious few that actually stayed awake and paid attention during class. Other than the personal bond, she was also a remarkable person as a teacher, with a passion for the subject that led me on until the very end of each semester, even despite the lack of interest from other students. With a pointer stick in one hand the other hand on her waist, and the formal suit she always wore, her first impression was pretty scary, but later on as I got to know her, I realized that she was really made of 'sugar, spice, and everything nice'.

I still remember back then, that when I was struggling with the names of people and dates of events, she would patiently teach them to me and sometimes give me extra hand-outs to do in my free time "if I wanted". Of course, I always pouted at being given more homework like any high school student would, and she would simply smile back at me and pat my head.

 

One time, a few weeks before test week, she made us make a short list of King Sejong's achievements. I raised my hand to say something.

"He created Hangul!" one student said before I could say something.

"Good. Now how does this tie in with current events today?" the teacher asked that student.

"Uh....m... We use Hangul today?" the student commented, not really sure if this was what she was asking for.

"Alright, that's one. We still use Hangul, and if it wasn't for him, we would all be using Chinese characters." the teacher said, nodding at the student. Everyone groaned as they imagined having to study hanzi instead of Korean.

"He created the Jip heoun-jun." I raised my hand and spoke, when she prompted us for another one.

"That's right. And how does that affect us today?" she asked, raising a challenging eyebrow at me. But I was ready for her question.

"They published a lot of books related to astronomy, agriculture, Confucianism, and others, which are still used for reference today." I said.

 

like this, she would always make us think about what would have happened if something didn't happen, or what did happen and how history was related to our current world today.

 

In class, she drilled in information about historic characters like Yeounsan gun with a fury. It was her habit to say "Do you remember? You don't, do you? Don't worry, I didn't expect you to." any time something related to things we learned before. Our teacher always had a hard time getting students to wake up and listen, so sometimes she would make us close our eyes and meditate, or even sleep outright for 10 minutes before starting class. But on those days, her hawk eyes would catch anyone trying to nod off to sleep, and thwack them on the head with her pointer or smack their back with her hand. Sometimes, she would even throw a piece of chalk at the sleepy student if it was a boy, hitting bull's eye every time with a practiced hand. But every time class ended, she would give us a motherly smile, and asked us to keep up the good work. She was, in my opinion, a great teacher.

Young-Lee Seo / Bio Info / Tue 56

 

Park Geun-hye : Her Excellency

 

President Park was born on February 2nd, 1952 in Samdeok-dong of Jung-gu, Daegu. Her father was the late president Park Chung-hee and his wife Yuk Young-soo. Her family moved to Seoul in 1953 where she attended school there and gradated Sogang University in 1974. She also briefly studied in France at the University of Gremoble, but left after the death of her mother.

 

While her father was the acting president, Park Geun-hye was regarded as the first lady after her mother passed away. Due to her father being  assassinated by Kim Jae-gyu, she stepped down and started her career as an assemblywoman, the GNP chairwoman, becoming the head of the Saenuri Party, and later becoming Korea's first woman president. All her political influences and family ties, along with her actions is what made her famous throughout her life.

 

What I was most surprised about her was the remarks about her fashion. Apparently her hairstyle was exactly the same as her late mother's, as well as her clothing. Whenever she would go to a public place, she would have different clothes for each event. During her inauguration, she had different clothes, as well as the Korean traditional clothing hanbok. Some even commented that she was going overboard with it, even though I had never realized it was so.

 

If I were to express our current president in three words, I would say "persistent, daring, and feminine."