Going to America Part 1

Going to American Part 1

(This is my final Essay for English)

It was a typical Monday morning. My grandparents woke me and my brother up to take us to Gimhae Airport. It was the day when my grand parents, my brother and I were leaving for the states to meet my mom. Our plan was supposed to depart at terminal C. My father bought us a phone card each week to call him in the states. I thought it would be a unique experience and at that time, studying overseas became a trend in Korea.

I was always curious about America and other foreign countries. My brother told me that America was an exotic place such as Bali. My father thought about immigrating to America. Instead he decided to send my grandparents, my brother and me to the states. I really missed my mom because she went to the states first to do her Ph.D at the University of Maryland. We were planning to leave Korea with mom, but the plan had to be postponed.

While my mom was in the States, I got emotional and felt abandoned and isolated. My father was obviously concerned about me and my brother. But we said we would survive. He hesitated to send us to the states. On the other hand, our outlook was very promising. I remember the first day I went to school in Maryland. I felt energetic that particular morning. I was expecting to form a lot of friendships with the new classmates. As I entered the classroom, I got nervous. Yes that is the accurate word to describe my feeling.

There were multiple reasons for this. It was a new school, new teacher, new friends, and most of all, it was a new country. Although I knew only handful English words, I was looking forward to making new friends. 3 months after my grandparents, my brother, and I arrived at America. We bought a luxurious house.

Moneywise, it was a good decision. My parents did not like consuming money on renting a house.
At that time, the property value was decreasing. My school was a public school not a private one. I was astounded by the fact that most of classmates came from different ethnic backgrounds. Similarly, their characters varied.


To Be Continued.......

Terminator 2

Terminator 2

After the deadly nuclear war in 1997, only few survived. But, the survivors had to fight another war against machines. The leader of the machines,Skynet, has been trying to kill the leader of humans, John Conner.

In the past, Skynet sent a terminator to 1984 to kill John Conner’s mother but it failed.
Now, Skynet sends a terminator to the past to kill the young John Conner.
John Conner in 2029 also sent a robot to protect the young Conner in 1991 Los Angeles.

This time, Skynet sends a much stronger terminator which is made of special liquids. It is called T-1000. The robot that John Conner sends looks like the same model that was sent in 1984. So, at first, John Conner’s mother thinks that the model-101 sent by her son from the future is a terminator to kill her and her son.

In the end, the model-101 played by Arnold Schwarzeneger after killing the unbeatable T-1000. Arnold did his job protecting the young John Conner. I almost cried when Arnold was dying with his thumbs up.

This movie got me thinking about the kind of attitude that I need to possess when doing my duties. In the movie, Arnold risked his life to carry out his mission. I think I should do the same thing in my profession in the future.

Tae Guk Ki "Brother Hood of War"

TaeGukKi : Brotherhood of War

This is a story of two brothers who were forced to fight in the Korean War in 1950.
In June 1950, Jintae was a hardworking Korean man who had to support his family including his fiancée Youngshin. He had a younger brother Jinsuk who was a high school student preparing for college.

On 25 June, 1950, the Korean War broke out. The peaceful streets of Seoul became chaotic. Bombs went off and people were crying. Jintae’s family decided to move to South. They were about to catch a train at Daegu Station.

Jintae’s younger brother Jintae was 18 years old and he was forced to fight in the war.
Jintae was taken by a few military police soldiers. Jinsuk was trying to get his brother back. Jintae was also forced to be put in the frontline.

They didn’t have any time for the military training. Nakdong River was one of the fiercest frontlines. Jintae became a war hero. Fortunately, they were assigned to the same platoon. In the end, Jintae ended up becoming a North Korean soldier and got killed in the battlefield.

While I was watching this movie, I though about what democracy and ideology really meant. I concluded that nothing could replace your family. I’m sure what I would have done if I were in their situation. In the end, the winner of the war was not a true winner.
As a result of the war, our country has been divided into two since 1953. I hope the two Koreas become reunited soon.

August Rush Movie Review

August Rush

An attractive band singer and guitarist Lewis meets a cellist Lila at a party. They hit if off immediately. They both have a promising future as a singer and a cellist. They have a drink and talk about nearly everything. They end up spending the night together.

They want to be together. However, Lila’s father doesn’t approve of their relationship.
In the meantime, Lila gets pregnant with Lewis’ baby. However, Lewis loses contact with Lila because of her father. Lila gives a birth to a boy, but his father lies to her that she miscarried the baby.

Lila’s father sends the boy to an orphanage. This boy, August Rush, inherits his parents musical talent and grows up as a music genius. August runs away from the orphanage to find his parents. Upon Lila’s father’s death, she finds out that her son was adopted and he is still alive.

Lewis, on the other hand, became a business man and tries to find Lila. In the end, August goes to Julliard and performs in front of a large audience. Among them, there are his parents.

While I was watching this movie, I kept thinking about August’s talent. His pure passion for music enables him to go for his dream and finally meet his parents. I think I also have a hidden talent just like August Rush. I haven’t figured out what it is. When I find it, I will develop it with pure heart like August and go for my dream.

Marine Boy movie review

Marine Boy

The former national swimming team swimmer Kim falls into gambling and now has 1 million dollar in debt. He has no way to pay it back. He owes it to a notorious loan shark.
He tries to run away from him but he gets caught and tortured.

One day, an international drug dealer Kang suggests Kim an offer that he can’t refuse. Kang asks Kim to deliver drug in his body from Japan to Korea. Once Kim has done it, Kang said, he would write off Kim’s debt. This delivery man is called a marine boy.

There’s also this mysterious woman Yuri who appears to be Kang’s girl friend but not.
She falls in love with Kang. There is another character who tries to get money from Kang. He is a former police officer.

These people run after each other for drug and money. In the end, Kang and the former police officer killed each other. Yuri and Kim take the money and go to Palau where nobody could find them. They decide to spend the rest of their life together.

At first, I thought this movie was about Taewhan Park who is a famous Korean swimmer.
I was wrong. The story was about drug dealers and their dirty tricks. One thing I learned from this movie is that I’ll never ever do drug under any circumstances.
Doing drugs could ruin people’s lives. Period. There’s no excuse for this.

Fever Pitch Movie Review

Fever Pitch

Ben is a friendly and nice 9th grade math teacher. One day, he falls in love with a successful business woman Lindsey. Lindsey thinks Ben is a perfect guy. But, his friends wonder why he is still single. They think if you are perfect, before the age of 30, should be married or divorced.

To solve the mystery, Lindsay asks Ben if there’s anything that Ben hasn’t told her which might ruin their relationship. Here comes the moment, Ben confesses that he is a huge fan of Boston Redsox. Is that all? Lindsay thinks. She gladly accepts the fact that her boyfriend is the most pathetic creature on the earth, which is a Redsox fan.

Up until the baseball season begins, their relationship goes really smooth.
Once the season has started, Ben’s focus shifts to the baseball games. Ben’s uncle left him Redsox season tickets and he is always popular among his friends. Lindsey tries going to the Pen way Ball Park. Unfortunately, she gets hit by a foul ball and hurt badly.

Lindsey decides to break up with Ben. Ben realizes that baseball is just a game. He decides to sell his season tickets. When Lindsey hears this, she realizes that Ben really loves him. They get back together. The important thing is that this all happened in 2004.
That’s the year when Redsox broke the curse of Bambino and won the World Series.
They haven’t won the Series in the past 86 years.

Since I am a great fan of Major League Baseball, I enjoyed the movie very much.
I realized that in every relationship, I need to understand other people’s needs and likes.
This is the only way to keep a long-term relationship. I should apply this valuable lesson immediately.

The Negotiator Movie Review

The Negotiator

Chicago Police Department officer Danny Roman is an expert negotiator in hostage situations. For the last 12 years, he has been able to keep zero casualties. Now, he is newly wed and it looks like everything is going well for him. One day, his partner tells Roman about some police officers’ fraud from the police funds.

That night, Roman’s partner gets killed. Roman is very sad. However, the following morning, he learns that he has been pointed the prime suspect of his partner’s murder.
Roman gets angry and goes to see the internal affairs inspector Terence Niebaum.
In the office, there are Niebaum, his secretary and Rudy who is being questioned for fraud.

In order to prove that he didn’t kill his partner, Roman decides to take them hostages. He wants a police negotiator from a different area because he can’t trust the people who have been working with him. Some of Roman’s friends have framed him. Roman’s job is to find out who is or are the real criminals.

In the end, it turns out that the police chief and three officers have stolen money from the police pension fund. The chief tries to commit suicide, but other police officers stop him by shooting him on the shoulder. Finally, Roman clears his name and his colleagues begin to apologize him for suspecting him of murdering his partner.

While I was watching this movie, I kept thinking about what I would do in his situation.
In Roman’s situation, his couldn’t trust those around him. His wife was the only one he had. No matter how nice I am to those around me, there will be some rats like the ones who stole money from their friends’ pension fund. Therefore, I conclude that before I make friends with someone, I need to be careful about his or her character.