Precious Assets

“Your language is banned from now on. You can’t speak your language any more. Your name also must be changed.”  This is what Koreans were told by Japanese rulers about a hundred years ago. During The Japanese Imperial Period, the Japanese tried everything they could to destroy Korean culture and spirit for thirty five years. Undoubtedly, Koreans couldn’t accept any of this complete nonsense. Thus, hundreds and thousands of Koreans took part in numerous anti-Japanese uprisings and protests, and my grandfather was one of them. He also got arrested, tortured and sent to prison for a few years by Japanese officers. Eventually, Korea became independent, and the Korean government nominated him as a Patriot and promised benefits for him and his family. Today, even though my grandfather is not with us any more, priceless assets he left for my family and me have given us tremendous support. 

The first asset from him is hope. My father, who had been a very successful businessman, got paralyzed after a fatal car crash when I was ten years old. My big sister was twelve, and little sister was six. It devastated my whole family. We were required to give up our decent lifestyle overnight and just had to survive by making ends meet. Because my mother had to attend to my father day and night, she couldn’t go to work, which meant no one in my family was able to make money. As a result, we had to sell our house and move to another place and then another. I still remember the day we moved out of our two-story brick house with a beautiful garden full of flowers and trees such as pomegranate, persimmon, and quince. All seemed lost, and we wailed holding each other. However, we didn’t lose our hope, and it turned into an education. One of the promised benefits from the Korean government to my grandfather was that his children and grandchildren could go to school for free, including any college of our choice. Although we had hardly anything in our hands, we didn’t despair because we had a hope that a good education for each of us would save our shattered lives.

  

Accomplishment is another valuable asset my grandfather left for us. Because my sisters and I knew we were able to go to any colleges we wanted only if we got accepted, we studied very hard. In high school, we went to school by 7:30 in the morning and came home at midnight. My mom used to make a lunch box and dinner box for each of us every morning. Fortunately, we all got great results and accepted to good colleges. After graduation, my big sister became a music teacher and my younger became a doctor. I also became a teacher after graduating from one of the most expensive private colleges in Korea. Then, my father passed away. It was exactly twenty years after the accident. Although my father had a very lonely life in bed, hundreds of people who are mostly friends and colleagues of mine and my sisters’ attended his funeral with big and small bouquets of white chrysanthemums to say farewell to him. I’m sure it gave him a sense of accomplishment as a parent of his three daughters watching all the guests on his way.

The greatest asset we received from my grandfather is pride. Today in Korea, there are many people who are very wealthy because they inherited huge amounts of money from their fathers who had acquired properties by collaborating with the Japanese colonial administration. They may be living a good life with the assets they got, but they’ll never be able to tell anyone about what their fathers or grandfathers did when our country was in turmoil. On the contrary, my family and I always love to talk with people about what my grandfather did in the past because we’re so proud of him. He was one of the extremely brave people who devoted themselves to the country so that their descendants could still speak Korean and don’t have to be Sato or Nakamura. Without them, Korea would be nothing but a part of Japanese territory now. 

Sometimes I think what could have happened if my grandfather had chosen to be a compliant citizen with the Japanese rulers. He might have had much easier and more comfortable life. However, my family and I wouldn’t have been able to have his legacies of hope, accomplishment, and pride, which have been a constant light in the darkness in our lives. Now, I guess it’s my turn. It’s time for me to turn my head toward the next generation and think about what kind of legacy I will be able to leave for them.

Soko Battsend-Life's Destiny

Life's Destiny

In the 1980's Mongolia had a communist system. The government had most of the control and oversaw everything. Citizens did not even have the freedom to choose the area of study or major in school. It was entirely up to the government. Each year they had some predetermined number of students who only can study a certain major. From Erdenet city, for example, there could be five male doctors, twelve female cashiers, and twenty male farmers. Every city had a preset or established number of career paths. It has been over thirty years since this system ended, but it still has effects on our family.

One effect of this system was that it caused my father to choose law as a major. From a young age he dreamed of becoming an art teacher because he loves to sketch and paint. Also, it was an honor to be a teacher. Unfortunately, another wealthy male took his spot. When he went to clarify everything with his father, their only choice was law school or to wait until the following year. Consequently, he chose to study law. After a couple of months with just a single suitcase and without knowing anyone, my father moved to Ulaanbaatar city, the capital of Mongolia. At law school, he met my mother and later fell in love with her. Now they are still going strong, with thirty-three years of a happy marriage and three beautiful daughters. The way to reach this happy family; however,it was not easy at all.

Although my parents did not have the freedom to choose their career, the government put them on the a right path. Feeding and clothing a family of five was no easy task for a young low income couple. Thus, to supplement their income by day, they started a retail clothing business by night. In every free moment from the notary work my parents had they worked hard to provid a family of five.  Since communism ended in Mongolia, the law had some changes, and notary services became a private business.  As a result all the notaries in Mongolia stopped getting stable salary. Instead, they started to get all the profit but paying taxes to the government. My father dedicated himself to his job. In the law industry, they honored him as chairman of Mongolian Notary Board. Ultimately, my parents stopped their second job and established their own practice where they are attorneys at law.

My sister who was not born in 1980's was ultimately effected by communism as well. My father passed his job down to my sister and she followed his footsteps. Growing up she was always around discussions of my mother and father about their work. At age of five my sister used to play pretending to be a lawyer. My parents knew how hard it is to be a lawyer; hence, they didn't want her to become a lawyer. However, she went to law school and proudly graduated, making her young age dream come true. I am proud to say that she has become successful in the family business.

Every major or minor event can effect present and future generations. I'm glad that communism had a good effect on my family. If my father had never become a lawyer I could never have asked to study in America, and more importantly if he hadn't met my mother my sisters and I may have not existed. I believe in destiny, and I want to say that everything has two sides positive and negative. If some doors close today, some will open tomorrow.

Atomic Bombs

                                           

                                                                           Atomic Bombs

The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit was equal three hundred sixty-two atomic bombs. There are a lot of disasters that have happened in China. Therefore, disasters have shocked the heart of Chinese again and again. It almost seems like China isn’t a good place to live. People may suffer a lot of disasters, such as typhoons, floods and earthquakes. Typhoons and floods can be predicted, so people can reduce their loss. However, earthquakes are uncertain and precipitate disaster. It was hard to take precautions against them. The catastrophic earthquake took place in Sichuan in 2008 changed my view of life, my view of material needs, and it changed my family member’s daily lives.

                                 

After the disaster, my view of life changed. From television and newspapers, I saw all kinds of miserable images from the Sichuan Earthquake. A lot of people were homeless, a lot of people lost their relatives and a lot of bodies were trapped under the rubble. All of these images shocked me. These images made me understand disasters are heartless. My deepest impression of a miserable image is a mother that was tightly holding her baby in the rubble. Unluckily, the mother died, but the baby was still alive. I couldn’t estimate how great the mother was from this image. Before seeing this picture, the role of mothers always stupefied me. At the same time, I saw some people whose body parts were trapped in the rubble. However, with the purpose of saving their lives, they required a doctor to cut their trapped body parts. After seeing these images, I knew that if a person wants to save her/his life, he have to give something up. These images made me feel that the victims were courageous. The victims helped me learn that I have to cherish my life no matter what happens.

                                           

Moreover, my view of material needs has changed since witnessing this disaster. Before the earthquake, I didn’t know how to be thrifty. I wasn't satisfied with the objects or clothing I had. After the earthquake, the disaster areas lacked relief supplies, so a lot of victims couldn’t get anything they needed, even a place to lived. Food and clothing were hard to access. In addition, during the earthquake, a lot of roads were buried in mud so that relief supplies were hard to deliver in disaster areas in time. There was a call on TV and radio for people to send supplies to Sichuan. This motivated me to find things I never used or didn’t use anymore, and to donate to the victims. Maybe little things I owned could be holy and valuable for the victims. Since then, I have begun to do my best of saving everything, and I don’t waste food anymore.

                                         

Furthermore, the daily life of my family has also changed. During the earthquake, a lot of schools collapsed. My father and my uncle quit their jobs and joined in the work to rebuild the city. Unfortunately, lots of teachers sacrificed their lives to save the students, so disaster areas needed some volunteer teachers to let the children go to school again. My mother and sister also quit their jobs and became volunteer teachers so that the children could get education again. They kept volunteering until the local government was able to organize a recover operation. After they came back to Guangzhou, they found another job and they even volunteered when they were on their free days. Moreover, school and academy organized a donation. Not only Chinese donated some money to help, but many foreigners also supported the victims. I was a volunteer for charitable organization in Guangzhou. This experience made me realize people should practice selfless dedication, and also let a lot of people get some help they need. During the short time, our organization raised some rescue funds to order relief supplies. After consolidating our effort, the relief supplies were transported to disaster areas so that the victims could get the necessities they needed as soon as possible.

                            

In spite of the atomic bombs have shocked the heart of China from east to west, the Chinese people still stand erect. The pain of losing siblings was difficult to endure. Even though the victims lost body parts, their home and their relatives, many are able to face their lives positively. The disaster affected my family a lot. We have learned to cherish our lives, reduce unnecessary waste and volunteering the value. Even though the earthquake happened for years ago, the shocks let me learn how to cherish my life and let me lend a helping hand when needed.

                                  lost in translation essay
                                                          The Best of Both Worlds
                     On October 7, 2011 I embarked on an adventure that would forever change my life. At age sixteen I, Hassan Ani-baba , left Nigeria to do my schooling, specifically to go to college, and in doing so I left my family and friends in Nigeria and started my new life here in America. Though much is missed back in Nigeria, I find my life here in America to be quite eye opening. With this experience I have learned that moving to another country is like changing one’s identity and way of life.
                 Life in America and life in Nigeria both reap benefits, but with comparison one can definitely notice the change in lifestyles. A time I came to notice this was when I would hang out with my friend. When I was in Nigeria, after school had finished, I would hang out with my friends. My friends would even come over to my house, and I still remember my mother would have to run them out of the house when it got dark. Back then I saw my friends every day, and we always had time for each other, but living in America I have notice that hanging out with my friends is not be as frequent as it was in Nigeria. One thing about America is that, it has programmed Americans to live such a fast pace lives, in that they only have time to work and take care them self. Nowadays to see my friends may take some work, as in finding a spot in both of our schedules to dedicate time to hanging out. But with a change there is always a better side, and in this case I have been opened I to new cultures. Though hanging out with friends may be a hassle, I have been able to have fun in different ways. Sometimes I go to the basketball court and play ball with some of the locals down there, and in doing that I have been able to create a diverse group of friends. I also have been open to American football, which I have noticed was commonly watched here in America, it the equivalent of soccer for Nigeria. With these cultural changes I try to learn from them to better my future, because that is my purpose here.
                 As I said in the beginning, when I left Nigeria, I ended up leaving my family behind, and not a day goes by that I don’t reminisce about my life with my family in Nigeria. One of my fond memories of my father is when we would watch soccer together. We always would argue about the games, and which teams were better, but the arguments always led to laughter. Another memory I have, is of my mother, since I am the youngest child my mother would spoil me. She was always taking care of me and she would watch out for me to make sure I was always ok, for this I love her dearly. Watching these games with my father and those times I spent with my mother meant a lot to me, because now I find myself having to appreciate those moments. As much as I miss my parents, I do like the fact that I am on my own, it

Lost in Translation: Culture of Vietnam vs. America’s

Lost in Translation:

Culture of Vietnam vs. America’s

            When I come to Chicago in 2004, I get lost in culture through people’s life-style. Behind the culture is usually is a story telling differences in life-style of the nation. The differences in culture begin with the method of raising-up children, and then come under the importance of togetherness through the celebration of new year day. The combination of American-Vietnamese cultural changes over thousands of Vietnamese has been recognized worldwide. It has become an essential problem of oversea Vietnamese. Vietnamese people have lost through many differences and/ or translations in culture to get used to life-style in the US.

          First of all, it is about the method of raising children. According to Vietnamese culture, parents want children to live with them until children grow up and have their own job. During the time of living with children, parents always support in tuition and living expenses. To support children in many means of life is to make children understand that nobody can replace their blood parents. Furthermore, Vietnamese parents want children to understand what adults have done during the period of growing-up. So, when Vietnamese children become adults, they always listen to their parents. In addition to listening to parents, grown-up children not only respect parents but also understand how important parents are in their own life. For example, when my brother gets married, he has a problem with his wife. Then his wife comes to see my mom, and my mom knows how to control my brother. As a result, my brother knows how to correct his mistakes. On the other hand, American parents let children live away from parents since children are eight teen years old. In addition to letting children live away from parents, children have to work to earn money. Because of this method, grown-up children never know how important parents are. Parents lose their control upon children. For instance, my sister gets married to American man. When she has a problem, she tells his mother. As a result, his mother answers that she has no idea or she does know how to control his son. In other words, I cannot be familiar with method of raising children of Americans and I feel lot of luck when my parents still remain Vietnamese culture of raising children in the US.

Next, it is unexpected difference in family reunion on New Year between America and Vietnam. Vietnamese lunar New Year falls into lunar February, which is solar March. Celebrating New Year is very unique because it is the most meaningful family reunion that teaches children the importance of family reunion and of how to respect adults. For instance, one week before lunar New Year in Vietnam, other families, my family and I often go to either flea markets or supermarkets to buy ornaments to decorate the house. In addition to buying ornaments, my siblings and I have to clean up the house. Moreover, my mom usually makes sticky rice cakes that are wrapped in banana leaves and prepares the most delicious food for three days. When New Year eve comes, my siblings and I have to prepare the best wishes for my parents. Then my parents will give red envelops of gift money to me and other sibling.  Furthermore, I have a chance to see firecrackers. Next days, my family and I visit relatives in the countryside, adults often give children a red envelop of gift money. Through celebration of New Year, young generation will learn the importance of the holiday that it is not only family reunion but also the importance of respectfulness towards parents and adults. On the other hand, Vietnamese New Year in the USA falls in winter. My siblings have to go school or go to work. My mom cannot find the right recipes and materials to make sticky rice cakes. We have no chance to have the right family reunion. Therefore, I do not feel the atmosphere of lunar New Year. In addition to losing the feelings of lunar New Year, I have to adapt with American New Year that is so boring because it does not show young American generation how important New Year is and what it is for. Also I have to miss how to celebrate lunar New Year because there is no chance to go out to buy ornaments or materials in winter. Therefore, I always feel boring when New Year comes, and I am afraid that young generation in my family will forget Vietnamese tradition.  

In conclusion, I get lost since I live in the USA because there are a lot of differences in raising-up children and it is hard to maintain the traditional family reunion through celebrating New Year.

Soko Battsend "Egg on the edge"

Soko Battsend

                                                                Egg on the edge

I'm the youngest child in my family and a daddy's little girl. I never had a hard time doing difficult jobs or being by myself while being far away from my family. Like an egg on the edge, everyone always cared about me. Living in America was my first big trip and a big step forward in my life. I was eager to see how I’ll change and open my eyes to the new world after a year. I really wanted to build new exciting experiences in the United States like meeting new people and learning a new culture. However, I still had some fears such as being misunderstood, encountering a language barrier and culture differences, which have created certain challenges.

August 20, 2011, was the day of my departure and the start of my new independent life. It was a cloudy and rainy day in Ulaanbaatar. It seemed like my homeland crying because I'm leaving.  As I headed down the runway, I will never forget all my loved ones, family, and friends that came to see me off at the airport. They wished me the best and watched me fly away. The next day I was in the U.S., in the town of Salem, Oregon after long and adventurous flight. I noticed right away how this new environment was so different from my home:  hot weather, different looking people, and no familiar faces to me.  The plan was that I was going to meet this young couple with two children who seemed friendly. They were my new family. The first question they asked me was how do you pronounce your name? I replied, "My nickname is Soko!" After that, they asked me many questions, but I found that I had to listen intently to understand what they were saying, and I often had difficult finding the right words to answer them. For example, one time as we were eating a diner, my host-mom asked me to pass a pork and I passed the fork. Already I felt exhausted and embarrassed.

However, when school began the first couple weeks of school were alright. I was uneasy that I did not know anyone and had no friends initially and really kept to myself and was quiet. Back in Mongolia I'm known to be super loud and active girl, who has a lot of friends and participates in everything. My senior year in the U.S. I did not feel like quite myself. All those memories made me sad. I lost my confident and felt useless. By that time I started to miss my friends and family and spent a lot of time in front of the computer chatting with them.

One day I said to myself, "You did not come here just to sit in front of the computer!" Something clicked in my head and I started looking for some after-school programs or clubs. I soon found teachers auditioning for a musical "White Christmas." I tried out for a part in the musical, and thankfully I was accepted. I was so happy about it and everyday practice helped me to make more and more friends. They were so friendly, talented, crazy and funny guys. I can now say that I had wonderful, fulfilling year filled with a lot of excitement and wonderful experiences. Unfortunately, good always comes with bad. I realized living in America and getting better in English made me forget my Russian and Mongolian. When I talked on the phone with my family I noticed that I couldn't talk as well as I used to before. I would forget some words and think for a second or just take a lot of pauses in my talk.

Even though after all this I will never regret that I went away to the United States for my senior year. America opened my eyes to the real life. Even though I was somewhat shaky in my understanding of English and was a lot quieter at first because of it, I still wanted the experience of getting to know another culture and was determined to break through the language barrier. I'm so happy that I decided to crack my shell and open up to everyone. Only after that I had great experiences and memories to bring back home with me. I think in order to get something you need to sacrifice something. There is not anything free in this World. Once again, I proved to myself that nothing is impossible, if you want something badly.

Fasiga

Fasiga

     It always makes me happy whenever I do it. It’s the best moment of the year that everyone feels so glad when he or she finishes fasting. Also, I feel so happy when I fast because I am the only one who fasts in my family. It’s funny though; I have a lot of family and none of them fast even though they are all Christians. I started fasting when I was twelve years old because I started going to church at the age of twelve, but we are supposed fast at that age, of seven. However, I didn’t do it at that age because I have a family that never fasts or goes to church all the time. That means I am the luckiest person in this world because I got to celebrate Fasiga by fasting and believing “that the lord is my father”. What helped me through fasting the fifty-five days was my friends who also fasted with me and motivated me to finish the fasting.  The part of my culture that has been lost in translation since I arrived in the U.S. is celebrating a traditional holiday called Fasiga by fasting, going to church and family gathering.       

         The most important part of my cultural holiday that has been lost in translation since I arrived in the U.S., is celebrating Fasiga by fasting. To fast in Fasiga, people in Eritrea will not eat from morning until three pm this is done for the next fifty-five days. The other thing is that the people who are fasting cannot eat dairy foods. Fasting in America is hard for me and for anyone because the food we like to eat is mostly dairy products. However it can be very hard avoiding the delicious foods I cannot eat. As for other Eritreans, fasting can be hard because they have work and they must eat dairy foods in order to have strength to work.  Additionally, in Eritrea it is very easy to fast because when fasting starts, all the meat stores will be closed because no one will buy meat and so avoiding meat is not a problem. Not only that but dairy products are not as available in Eritrea as opposed to in America, so fasting is not challenging. For these reasons fasting has been lost in translation because people cannot fast all the time and so people forget about that part of the tradition.

     The other aspect of Fasiga that has been lost in translation is attending church. In Eritrea, people go to church straight for fifty-five days when the fasting starts and it is not hard or challenging to do it there. This is because in Eritrea, churches are opened for twenty-four hours a day and old folks do not work.  They are very likely to go to church with their children or grandchildren. In the U.S. it is very challenging to even go to church for a week straight, because Eritreans are very busy whether they have to work, go to school, or do other activities. In America, not only is it hard to go every day, the church is closed on weekdays because they know that people cannot come those days. Therefore, that tradition of going to church for fifty-five days has been lost since I arrived in Chicago. 

     On  the last Friday of fasting, which is called Good Friday, families gather to work and do the following, change the furniture including the bed, the TV, and other appliances from where it was to a different direction because in the afternoon the family will go to church until seven pm. In the U. S is not the case where families gather to work, when Eritrean families gather together they are together for a limited time because in most cases the kids have school for example, and the parents might have work. The most important day of Fasiga is Sunday also known as Easter day, and that is when all the gathering of families means so much and the story telling, the joking, the laughing, and the eating of meat and all kinds of other foods happen. People wear only new clothes, do their hair, invite friends and neighbors just for that special once a year day.  Families celebrate the true meaning of Fasiga by having a great time with each other. But in America the gathering of families is not nearly as cultural gathering. 

     In conclusion, the tradition of celebrating Fasiga the way it is truly meant to be celebrated by fasting for fifty-five days, going to church straight for fifty-five days, and having a big family gathering  has been slowly disappearing since, I arrived in Chicago. Although some of the tradition of Fasiga has been lost in translation, we will always celebrate it they the ways it is supposed to be in our hearts and my family will know and cherish the moment we have truly celebrated it. Fasting for me is a tradition that is always going to be apart of my life because it makes me happy knowing that I am doing the right thing and no matter what the consequence is.