My Beautiful Wedding Day

I think that my wedding was an important event in my life. I got married 4 days before I came here, the March first 2007. The wedding day was very busy. I woke up at 6 am because I must arrive at the beauty shop at 7:30 am. I was in hurry up to go there, and as soon as I arrived I got my make up and hairdressing. When I wore my wedding dress, I couldn’t believe that I looked so beautiful. Meanwhile, my husband also got make up and wore a tuxedo.

My husband and I went to wedding hall when we were ready. A lot of guests came there already. We got so many wedding presents and congratulations. My wedding progressed quite and earnestly, and then all the people were happy and pleased. After our wedding finished, we changed our clothes with traditional Korean wedding dress. Then, we made a deep bow of thanks to our parents and the relatives. Also, we took pictures with friends and our colleagues. I am still grateful for those who congratulated us with joy in our wedding when every time I look at my wedding album.

One thing we missed, we didn’t have honeymoon because we had busy schedule to come to US. Our friends and parents also missed that. However, I don’t think it is bad, because I have the honeymoon here everyday, and I can travel anytime with my husband.

Coming March first is the first our wedding anniversary. We are planning special event now. Maybe we will have shot trip to somewhere like Memphis, Atlanta, or Smoky Mountain. We will have a good time and good memories in this trip. I hope my husband and I always live happy and healthy like now.

Close, But So Far

Do you know the difference of South Korea and North Korea? Two countries are the Korean race, but everything is different. South Korea and North Korea were the same country and still also the same country. Nowadays many people think difference of two countries is just a political thought. South Korea and North Korea have a lot of difference even though they are the same country.

The first difference between South Korea and North Korea is the political structure. In 1945, the United States and Soviet Union helped the southern and northern halves of the country respectively. Then South Korea follows the capitalism. South Korea citizens have the right to vote for the president. The government of South Korea is divided into executive, judicial, and legislative. South Korea citizens can compete with others for their better life and keep their property. In contrast, a political structure of North Korea is the communism. North Korea has a centralized government under the rigid control of the communist. North Korea citizens just have to follow their leader and pursue the common benefit.

The second difference between South Korea and North Korea is the language. South Korea and North Korea are still use the same language Korean. However, different thing is South Koreans make a lot of new coined word almost everyday. South Korea accepts the loanword and change for using easily. Also, South Korea tries to keep traditional forms of Korean. On the other hand, North Korea does not make and accept the new coined word or loanword. They just change other language in own language Korean. After long time, some word meaning also changed, so South Korea and North Korea can not understand each other’s language easily even though they speak the same language.

The last difference between South Korea and North Korea is the culture. South Korea shares the traditional culture with North Korea, but the two Koreas have developed distinct contemporary forms of culture. South Korea accepts other countries’ culture and tries to make a new culture. Those are affected the clothes, the food, and the life of South Korea citizens. In contrast, the culture of North Korea is of protected by the North Korean government. North Korea citizens respect their old leader Il Sung Kim and new leader Jung Il Kim. They are affected by North Korea's literature, popular music, theater, and film.

South Korea and North Korea are located each other very closely, but also very far. Long time ago, they had a lot of same things, but it is changed. It means they have a big racial problem. It is so misfortune to each country. They do not try to fix up that quickly. They have to arrange peacefully and slowly.

One of My Precious People

For my life until now, I have many precious people. They was always helpful to me when I had difficult situations. So I have to keep memory with their in my heart still now. A person who I will talk about is one of the mothers of my students when I was teacher at a special education school. Her daughter, Naeun, was a six years old girl, and she couldn’t walk well by herself. When I left the school, Naeun’s mother missed me so much. I also missed them, Naeun and her mother, because I wanted to see how Naeun is growing up and how she is doing. So we comminute still now by e-mail. I would like to introduce some our mails.

- Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Dear teacher.
Yesterday was teacher’s day here. I ‘m sorry for not sending e-mail often…
I met other mothers yesterday. They said missed you. Are you happy now? I so miss you. Naeun again practice urination recently, so she changes clothes 15 times a day everyday. Maybe next time, I will tell you Naeun can do urination by herself. Take care~
- From Naeun mom

- Saturday, May 19, 2007
Dear Naeun mother
Thank you for your e-mail. I appreciated. I also missed my students and their mothers. So sometimes I visited SunJin school website, and I looked at their pictures. My students looked healthy and growing up. So I was happy. Do Naeun again practice urination? That’s great! I hope she will do it by herself soon. Well…. Could you tell other moms my regard? Also I hope you and your family are happy and healthy. Thank you so much!!
- From Hyoyun.

- Thursday, July 26, 2007
Dear my teacher
Now, it is so hot on Korea…. How about there? How are you?
I have good news!!! Naeun walk 8 steps by herself!!! She is so great, isn’t she? And also she understands what we are saying. The last year was tough… Do you remember?
Well…. Now I will go to pick up Naeun … so I talk to you later. I so miss you.
Oh, I attached Naeun’s pictures, I hope you enjoy.
- From Naeun mom.

- Saturday, July 28, 2007
Oh, my God!!! I was so exciting and happy when I look at your e-mail~ I’m so proud of her. Maybe she has grown up~~ thank you so much for great news and her pictures. Could you send me picture of walking Naeun? I want to see her walk with my eyes, but I can’t do that. So I want to see instead her picture. Have a wonderful day with your family in hot summer~
- From Hyoyun

- Sunday, Feb 10, 2008
Happy New Year, teacher!! How are you?
Naeun and I were so busy. We moved new house, so we spent time to get used to it.
Also Naeun began horseback riding for rehabilitation. First time, she was crying, but now she ride a horse by herself. It’s amazing!! However, also I have bad news. She shows symptoms of seizure… so she was check up in hospital for one week. Now I’m taking closer look at her. Hopefully, she is getting much better… Next time, I will send you good news. Bye..
- From Naeun mom.

Seollal; Korea’s lunar New Year’s day

February 7th is a Seollal, lunar New Year’s day, in Korea. Koreans usually celebrate two New Year’s days; One according to the solar calendar, and another according to the lunar calendar. Most people consider our traditional New Year day, Seollal, as a bigger holiday than the first of January by the solar calendar because we use lunar calendar from old times in my country. Many people return to their hometowns to celebrate and socialize together, so the government decided to make holidays including days before and after Seollal for 3 days.

In my country, there are a lot of events during Seollal holidays. First, on the Seollal morning, people get up early to wash on their ‘Seolbim (new clothes prepared for Seollal)’; we usually wear Hanboks (Korean traditional clothes). Then families perform ancestral rites. After the rites have been performed, everyone shares the holiday food together. We always eat Tteokguk on Seollal, which is made of thinly sliced Tteok (rice cake) cooked in beef soup. According to our tradition, eating Tteoguk on Seollal adds one year to your age.

Another event is ‘Seabae’. The younger people pay their respects to the elder of the family by bowing to them. The elder people offer ‘Deokdam (well-whishing remarks)’ such as ‘have a healthy year’ or ‘have a lot of lucks’. And then they usually give ‘Seabae-Don (New Year’s money)’ to younger people, so many children expect this day especially.


On the Seolla evening, the members of the family play traditional game, Yut-nori. It is a fun game and easy to learn, so we make two or three teams and play together with teamwork. In this game, it is hard to predict winner, so we can enjoy this game more interestingly. I will explain next time how to play.

Now, maybe my family is all together in my parent’s house, and they are busy to prepare Seollal food. I will call to my family tonight and say to all family members, “Have a healthy and happy new year”.