RedPillow
Nov 25, 2016
Undergraduate / Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character [3]
i am doing the college application essay and can you guys give me some feedback? it means a lot to me thanks.
"When you were born, I wanted to throw you down the cliff"
I looked up to his face without any sign of surprise, 'red cheeks check, cloudy eyes check'. I whispered 'here we go again' and jumped back to my wondering mind full of nonsense trying to ignore everything my dad says. In my defense of acting such rude to my dad, I want to point out that I heard his "lecture" thousand times- literally. Every time my dad drinks, my dad calls my brother and I and make us listen to his "lecture". What is interesting is how consistent his "tales" are. I can listen one sentence from him and can predict the next sentence 99% of the time except the time when my mom asks him if he wants more kimchi. He says no though.
I sighed as I recollected an old Chinese or Korean saying that when baby tigers are born their parents would grab them by their back and throw them down the cliff and only raise the cubs that managed to climb up on their own.
My dad wants me to be a tiger, a brave, loyal (according to very accurate source: folktale), independent creature. However, as a kid I had always been a nervous, shy boy. Because of his desire, I have always been a victim of his devilish plan.
When I was in my 4th grade our family moved to America from South Korean leaving everything behind for out education and to avoid corrupted education system in Korea, and unstable economy.
Beginning of March, my dad drove me to my first day at American elementary school and wished me good luck and told me to ride the school bus to get home. I felt like he threw me down the cliff and to wolf den. I saw my mom's concerned eyes and moved my trembling legs towards the school to ease her worries. Once inside the school my mind was black and wondered If I can survive to see "a magic school bus" that I saw in the television. My instinct was to find the most familiar place, which was the main office, and seek for help from them. However, the real struggle began when I tried to communicate with them that I am a new student. My broken English skill of not being able to complete Alphabet without the catchy sound track proved useless. In fact only word that I could understand was "name?" asked by one of the officers.
This is the usual life of me, dropping into new situations while my dad watches me cope with these situations without providing any sort of help. However, on my sophomore year, I had the first experience of how cruel the world is. My mother was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and she needed her surgery right away. She immediately packed her bags and moved back to Korea where the medical care is affordable.
For a year, our family went through Dark Age. It wasn't a situation where I was no longer under my father's supervision but instead a reliable member in the family. While my father and my brother went out to work, I stayed home and did house work such as laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, and etc. At this time, I helped my dad, who can't speak English, with the rent, banking, car insurance, returning items, creating budget, reading the mails, and everything that required English.
Even though I still think I am a nervous and shy kid, through these experiences I learned to cope with difficult situations.
i am doing the college application essay and can you guys give me some feedback? it means a lot to me thanks.
"When you were born, I wanted to throw you down the cliff"
I looked up to his face without any sign of surprise, 'red cheeks check, cloudy eyes check'. I whispered 'here we go again' and jumped back to my wondering mind full of nonsense trying to ignore everything my dad says. In my defense of acting such rude to my dad, I want to point out that I heard his "lecture" thousand times- literally. Every time my dad drinks, my dad calls my brother and I and make us listen to his "lecture". What is interesting is how consistent his "tales" are. I can listen one sentence from him and can predict the next sentence 99% of the time except the time when my mom asks him if he wants more kimchi. He says no though.
I sighed as I recollected an old Chinese or Korean saying that when baby tigers are born their parents would grab them by their back and throw them down the cliff and only raise the cubs that managed to climb up on their own.
My dad wants me to be a tiger, a brave, loyal (according to very accurate source: folktale), independent creature. However, as a kid I had always been a nervous, shy boy. Because of his desire, I have always been a victim of his devilish plan.
When I was in my 4th grade our family moved to America from South Korean leaving everything behind for out education and to avoid corrupted education system in Korea, and unstable economy.
Beginning of March, my dad drove me to my first day at American elementary school and wished me good luck and told me to ride the school bus to get home. I felt like he threw me down the cliff and to wolf den. I saw my mom's concerned eyes and moved my trembling legs towards the school to ease her worries. Once inside the school my mind was black and wondered If I can survive to see "a magic school bus" that I saw in the television. My instinct was to find the most familiar place, which was the main office, and seek for help from them. However, the real struggle began when I tried to communicate with them that I am a new student. My broken English skill of not being able to complete Alphabet without the catchy sound track proved useless. In fact only word that I could understand was "name?" asked by one of the officers.
This is the usual life of me, dropping into new situations while my dad watches me cope with these situations without providing any sort of help. However, on my sophomore year, I had the first experience of how cruel the world is. My mother was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and she needed her surgery right away. She immediately packed her bags and moved back to Korea where the medical care is affordable.
For a year, our family went through Dark Age. It wasn't a situation where I was no longer under my father's supervision but instead a reliable member in the family. While my father and my brother went out to work, I stayed home and did house work such as laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, and etc. At this time, I helped my dad, who can't speak English, with the rent, banking, car insurance, returning items, creating budget, reading the mails, and everything that required English.
Even though I still think I am a nervous and shy kid, through these experiences I learned to cope with difficult situations.
