커피 한 잔

Grace started to take art classes at LAVC. She took the sketch classes, then moved to acrylic painting, oil painting, and water color. She was good at composing. When several people take the picture of the same object, her photo looks the best. Gradually, we kept only her photos. Her paintings were selected for LAVC annual students exhibitions. One of her professors recommended her work and they..

She came with the wedding invitation Eun Kyung made. She went to see my parents and met my siblings. Everyone was open to the idea of us getting married and congratulated us. We decided to get married in April during the spring break. I gave my IEA class take home final and gave myself two weeks of time. She returned to Korea and started to plan the wedding. She picked Olympic Park Hotel and sen..

After a couple of trips to Korea, I formulated my retirement plan. At the age of 55 when I was eligible to retire, I would retire and move back to Korea. States and local governments all had different pension and retirement benefits. Depending on when you were hired, they were different even at the same agency. In my case, I could retire at 50. But the pension amount would be too small. At the a..

My siblings’ birthday trips started with my older sister’s, Namhee, 50th birthday. As her birthday approached, my brother, Daniel, and the sister, Kay, suggested we should take a family trip. Knowing my financial situation, they told me not to worry about the expenses. They paid for the whole trip. Namhee came from the east coast. We took the airplane together and went to Las Vegas. During the t..

In a capitalistic society, spending is the virtue. To Americans, New Year Day does not have any significant meaning. They celebrate it with the ball dropping in New York Times Square on New Year Eve. In February, the first Sunday is Superbowl Sunday, NFL championship game. February 14th is Valentine’s Day. Easter is in April, Mother’s Day in May, and Father’s Day in June. July 4th is the beginni..

Katherine went to Van Nuys Performing Art School. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has several special programs from elementary to high school. Home school is the one close to the student’s home and the kid is automatically assigned to it. Kids can apply special programs by LAUSD regardless of their address. Except the gifted program, no exam is required either. But to go the desired ..

Scott graduated from Occidental College. Initially, he intended to go to UC, but UCLA rejected his application. A black kid whose grade was lower than Scott was accepted. In America, college does not just look at the grades or SAT scores. They look at other activities, achievement, and essay. In a way, it is rather very subjective process. They look at the ethnicity, and apply loose standards to..

For the column in the paper, Disabled News, I wrote about my personal experience in America. I tried to convey the message the disabled should be given the opportunities to play and study with the able body early in their lives. To achieve this goal, the universal design of the environment was necessary. Bang was the founder and publisher of the literature magazine for the disabled. She asked me..