Thursday, December 8, 2016

Jaeyoung Choi/ Interview First Draft/ Thursday 1-3pm

My Mother

 

            I always thought that the life of my mother has always been simple, that everything she has accomplished in her life was her coming to Guatemala and raising two children by herself. However, there was a much deeper story behind it. She grew up during the time when South Korea was suffering from the aftermath of the division of Korea. It was a period when the country was in an unstable financial situation and families looked for different ways to feed themselves such as eating grasshoppers. My grandparents had been through very tough times by keeping the whole family together. They had to take care of their five children, which was a much more difficult task because of the country's situation.

 

                  My mother is the fourth child, and even though she has an older sister and brothers she was always the one responsible of taking care of the rest of the family. For that reason, she decided to quit middle school to help out more at home. She mostly grew and took care of herself by her own, because my grandparents were too busy working and trying to keep the family from starving. Later on, when the country was in a better status, she chose to go work to Indonesia leaving all her relatives in Korea. When she got to Indonesia, she immediately regretted it. It was hot, dirty and the country was very different to the way she was once used to live.

                 

                  In Indonesia, she learned various skills with textiles. My mother specialized in clothing and when she was gaining an amount of money, she sent the money back home. My grandparents always felt very sorry for her, for not being able to give what she needed. They were so sad, that a month after my mother had felt Korea, my grandmother passed away. She had call my mother to tell her how sorry she was from not letting her finish her studies, if she had done it, she would had been even more successful than she was then.

 

                  My mother got back from Indonesia to stay with my widowed grandfather. But he had surprised her with a much bigger gift, my grandfather's best friend's son, later on my father. Before meeting him, she had been in an 8-year relationship with another man. However, she was forced to finish the relationship and marry the other man that later on leaved her widowed with two kids. She married him and decided to immigrate to Guatemala, because back then the country showed huge potential for business. A day before, our family would go to Guatemala, my father suffered from a heart attack. The trip was cancelled.  My grandfather couldn't believe what had just happened, and once again he felt so sorry and depressed for the life that he had caused my mother to take responsibility to, was his entire fault. He soon passed away and the once planned trip was set again.

 

In conclusion, my mother only studied until middle school. She only knows how to work with textiles. She is still a widowed single woman with two kids still living alone in a foreign country. But, without her, the two children she has would be nothing. Many other people would have just simply sent the children somewhere else or marry some other man, but she hasn't and still doesn't have any thought about it.

 

"The only thing I am proud about is of you two. You guys are my success and for that I am grateful, you guys are my world. I love you, sweetie. "

-Mom

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