My conversation partner, KyungJu Jang, goes by the name of Julia. I first met her though e-mail. She responded to me and we ended up meeting that week. She was not what I expected. I was thinking a college kid, around my age, would come in. Julia was around 30 years old. She had spoken a little bit of English before, but struggled with some words.
The first think that I asked her was where she was from. Apparently, Julia is from the country-side in South Korea. She kept referring to it as the beautiful part of the country. The way that she described it sounded like heaven. Again she was from the country. She lived next to the sea, with mountains in the north and fields in the south. It sounded like she had everything there.
As we began talking, she told me more and more about her life. Julia loved her country, but saw that she needed to come to America to study English. She is a mother of 2 children, both of which live with her in America. The thing that she misses most about her home country is her husband. He had to stay back and work, while his family moved to America for a year and a half to study English.
After hearing this about Julia, I was in shock. It was amazing to listen to her. The fact that she left her home country to pursue her goals was amazing. I could never do that. Putting myself into Julia's eyes is a a treat. She is definitely a mother that wants the best for her children. She brought them to America where they have to speak English constantly. This will help her children in the future and they will thank her some day. To do this she had to leave her husband and friends behind in her hometown. This is something that I could never do and I admire her courage.
The think the most admirable thing about Julia is her desire to go after what she wants. She will not let anything stop her, whether that be her family, friends, language, or her hometown. She is a very amazing person and I couldn't wait to continue talking with her the next week.
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