assignment

DATE: 25/5/2007
NAME: NA YOUNG KIM (LUCY)
CLASS: ENG-WRITING
INSTRUCTOR: PAUL KANG
ASSIGNMENT: EVALUATION OF A SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE.

No one-way service exists, I believe. In this world, we live by relying on and helping each other. This simple instruction stimulated me to project an English musical which was the toughest event that I experienced ever. Yet, this unforgettable experience hardened my belief; there is no permanent teacher or student. We teach and learn mutually. This is why I rejected the mere educational service, and chose to do something beneficial to both of us and North Korean kids.
Most of all difficulties, cultural and lingual difference frustrated me. A girl, named Hye-yeon Kim and plays snow white in the play, avoided expressing herself or thought as well as speaking out loud. Since the loud voice is crucial in the play, we need to overcome the cultural difference and the gap in language as well. As a solution, the first step I took for communicating with her was to search and learn North Korean culture and language which transforms all the word of foreign origin into pure Korean one. Likewise, for one month I did my best as a direction: getting sponsor, renting a playhouse for free, renting customs, printing tickets, etc. As we tried to understand them, kids also showed a little interest toward us. When one of the kids gave some light meal to me with his hand, indescribable joy overwhelmed me. Like this, we gradually got understanding each other and train rigorously for one month.
Projecting this event made taught me two more instructions. First is the cooperation. While our team trained periodically, I felt sometimes to give up everything. Since I insisted only on my opinion, all team members underwent hard time. However, the nature of the genre play which requires great cooperation let us recognize how the collaboration is important especially in the group working. Secondly, North Korean kids also gave lesson about potential energy. When I first projected this plan, no one, even I myself saw much chance. However, they encouraged me that we can do it and finally they showed their full potentiality on the stage. The play was performed on 14th April, my birthday. I got the best birthday present ever in my life. Furthermore, it is quite cool that I proved that education is really mutual throughout the great musical.