Journey four: Personal Narrative Speech (First Draft)

My First Piano Recital

Name: Hosung Kim A

Class: 10v1

Number: 131048

             “Clap, clap, clap!” The meeting of two hands awakes my senses. The feeling of exhilaration, nervousness, and joyfulness felt all at once. I started thinking to myself ‘this is just another practice.’ My fingers were racing through black and white colors. ‘The last line left. One more melody’ and I saw the world explode.

             One day, when our family was eating a normal happy dinner, my father suddenly suggested an idea to me. “Why don’t we go to Europe?” he said. There was a moment of silence and I thought ‘Is he serious?’ as he never liked spending money on things like vacations. I asked “Why? Isn’t it too expensive?” checking if he wasn’t teasing me. He usually does a good job so I was very suspicious. He said “It’s time that you see the world as a whole. Let’s go on a trip.” I was so thrilled to see my father speak with certainty. So the next week I was in a plane going to Europe just like that.

Fontana di Trevi

             I turned around and I saw the Colosseum, the Vatican City, and the Fontana di Trevi. I couldn’t believe it but I was actually in Italy! After a full day of sightseeing I went back to the hotel to take some rest. I asked my father “When do we eat dinner? I’m starving.” “Wait a moment” he said. He was taking a shower.

             When I was eating with my father we sat next to a few foreign travelers. A moment of weird silence passed and I said “Hello.” As it was a common manner to say hello. They suddenly stared at me and one man told me “Oh~ you can speak English.” And our conversation continued. I asked them “Where did you come from?” Each of them answered “Portugal, Sweden, and India.” And I thought ‘None of your first languages are English.’ Then the Swedish couple asked me. “Are you from Japan?” ‘Yes, the old all Eastern People are Japanese was in session.’ I answered “No, I’m from Korea.” And you can easily expect what’s going to happen next. I explained about Korea.

             After a lovely meal I was taking a rest, sitting on the table watching the night view of Italy. Then I saw a grand piano covered with dust. I asked the Italian waiter, “Can I play this?” He handed me the keys. I started with a soft tune and felt the piano. Suddenly I noticed that lots of people were around me, all listening to the beautiful melody. After a song ended they applauded. As time went by people began to sit down and ask for more. I was nervous as it was the first time I ever played in front of the large group. Even though I missed some notes they all cheered for me. After playing for a while an old man asked me “What a nice tune, you play the piano very well. May I ask you where you came from?” With confidence filled in my eyes I said “Korea.”

I returned to the dining table after having conversations with the crowd. My father and the foreign travelers were in deep conversation. As I sat down the Portuguese woman asked me with her eyes wide open “Was it you who played the piano?” and with a wide smile I said “Yes.”

             The next day we traveled together as we became friends. Along the trip they asked me several questions that were hard to answer. “What is Korea like?” It was the first question that they asked me. I answered “Hmm… I guess it’s like a home to me.” They all laughed and said “Of course it’s your home, it’s your country.”

             As I look back to the trip now, I wonder if any of my foreign friends still remember the conversation that we had in Italy or the questions that they asked about me and my country. I’m not sure if every one of those people remembers the conversations, but I’m pretty certain that some of them do and as they watch “Gangnam-Style” on YouTube they’re going to think ‘Hey! It’s Korea!’

A Different Journey: About the Syrian Civil War

Title: About the Syrian Civil War and How to prevent it...

 

Syrian Civilian Riots

70,000 people dead, 4,000,000 refugees, problems including inflation and lack of food. This is currently happening in one country, Syria. Syria has been in a civil war since March 2011. The main cause of this catastrophe is related to a simple peace demonstration by 15 students. The students were caught for writing a statement on the wall and were charged of being rebels of the government. They were also tortured and the citizens of Syria requested for their discharge and in doing so they also asked for democracy including the guarantee of freedom.

 

However president Assad had reacted too rashly by involving the government's army on this account. It resulted in the murder of 4 innocent citizens and the demonstration for the abdication of president Assad had begun. The following results of the demonstration was brutal. Both the government and the rebels have tasted the true meaning of war. Now this incident is considered a major dilemma over countless nations. The solving of this problem is crucial and two possible solutions may be efficient.

 

Problems can’t be solved if both sides each argue for their benefits. The act of negotiation must be done while both sides give up some of their wants for the greater good. First, the government should stop their military approach on the Syrian citizens. Peace is never accomplished if force is used in solving disputes. The death of many citizens have made Syria unstable and people of Syria are forced to take refugee in foreign countries. If military encounters continue this civil war may turn out to be the biggest dispute inside a country. Saudi Arabia, USA, EU are all helping Syria’s rebels economically and with providing military gear. If this continues casualties will only increase in numbers. So as the government stops using force, the rebels must refuse the military support from foreign countries. This is the first step that Syria must take in order to protect their citizens and put an end to this civil war.

 

Second, if we hear the story it is likely to think that the government should turn into a democratic system and accept the people’s wants and needs. However the autonomy of Syria must be respected. Other countries are not legalized to barge into a country and try to solve their problems for them. But for Syria in order to get their rights preserved the government should first release the 15 students and grant the citizen’s wish for freedom. Freedom is a basic right for each and every person in Earth. If this is not kept, the international society should intervene and stop the military approach and convince the government to negotiate with the citizens peacefully.

 

Syria’s civil war is getting bigger as the time passes. It is urgent that we solve the problems and disputes in Syria. But the question still raises itself. “Is it the respect for the autonomy of Syria or the saving of Syria’s citizens?” The choice that we make will surely change the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journey three: Personal Narrative Essay (Revised)

Title: The Chinese Mask Changer

       We wear masks in order to hide our identity. But is hiding oneself the true meaning of the usage in masks? Masks represent us when we where them. The mask indicates our emotions and feelings. It can effect the people around us and make us forget the identity of our true selves. Recently more and more people are using masks in order to make people perceive them as likable and caring. But we shouldn't make people perceive us in a specific way! We should actually be that positive person behind that mask! So I want to tell you a story in which I wore a mask that didn't fit me properly and try to explain how I found my true self.

       “I was 12 when I first noticed that I wore a mask.” It was a new semester and the school began with the normal chit-chat as they were greeting their old friends. At first I thought that this was going to be one of those semesters that I have already experienced. But I couldn’t have been wrong more…A dear friend of mine was getting bullied by bunch of classmates. He was bullied because of his characteristics. He wore the mask of tranquility. He was always calm and spoke very rarely, this characteristic of him enabled other students to bully him without doubt in short he was an easy target. As I knew that these behaviors are intolerable I tried to step up to my dear friend. But my heart couldn’t offer the helping hand. I was too scared of becoming the victim of bullying too. So I began to wear the mask of disregard. I didn’t intend to hide my true feelings of helping him but it slowly came over me. Even as he called me for help I ignored his phone calls of fear and disregard.
 

       Then I began to wonder... "Is this the true me? I was bold and caring! What changed me so much? " As it turns out the answer wasn't too far away! It was because of the mask called fear. I had various masks over my head... I lost my self identity by being a coward. I needed to regain my honor and retrieve my own face. The next day I wrote a letter to my dear friend telling him that I was sorry and will support him no matter what. So from then on if my classmates bullied my dear friend I would stand up next to him telling them to stop. Then something amazing happened. Friends around began to also change and tell the bullies to stop their harassment. As I changed my masks people began to stand next to me and my friend. So the bullying had stopped and I have found my own masks.

       With this experience I have solved two problems on my own. The bullying had stopped and I have found my own mask. I really want to advise people to find their own masks. If we find our own masks the masks of people around us will change in correlation to ours. In the modern days, people change their masks abruptly. The chinese mask changer changes its mask in order to express its feelings better and to find oneself's true identity. We should learn from that. And ask yourselves this. "Do you have your own masks? Is it truly yours? If it is take off the mask and look at the mirror. Does your face look like your mask?"