*** Under Major Construction ***

My Father

Although my dad looks like any other people in the street, he has an amzing background that you would not believe.
He studied at Yon-Sei University in Korea and he has bachelor's in Theology (I guess he wanted to follow his father's foot steps and become a Minister) and Master's in Philosophy. I didn't know until couple of years that he translated a book by Grace E. Cairns called "Philosophies of History - Meeting of East and West in cycle pattern theories of history."
This came to me as a surprise because from what I see, he has a very hard time speaking in english, so the thought of my dad understanding such book never crossed my mind. I guess I did underestimate my dad's knowledge. You know,, my dad could have done many things that would have earned him more money, but he had something else in mind. He realized how there are sooo many great books from all around the world that koreans weren't able to read because no one had dared to translate them. So he started a small publishing company and started translating many books. And this is where my mom comes in.

My Mother

My mom studied Germann at Suh-Kang Universtity and went to Austria and to study and teach as well. She also went to France and I think that's why she speak french. She came back to Korea and teached at somem University (Can't rememebr the name now...) And there she met my dad who was also a part time professor there. Well, they got married and my mom helped him a lot with her diverse language skills and she was awarded couple of times and one of them was given by Korean Society of Translator when she translated "Goetter, Graeber und Gelehrte" (meanng, Gods, Graves and Scholars) In the news paper it said :
"Goetter... is the first rendering of this book into Korean and her maiden translation work. [...]the jury picked hers among 50 other works, because it is considered FIRST rendering of the classical work on archaeology."
My mother's friend's son read this book and went into Archaeology at Yon-Sei University. Apparenntly he told his mom to keep my mother's letters preciously, cuz he wants to publish it one day... It's really true, she often writes letters that are really meaningful and heartfelt. When I had my car accident and came back home after couple of days at the hospital, she wrote me a letter saying awsome things to comfort me. I have caused them a lot of grief at one point (I think I still do...) but they always understand and they trust in me so that I'll make the right decisions... (Although I get confused very often and choose the wrong paths, but I'm young, I have all my life to look forward to...)I guess I should be thankful that she's very patient with me and my brother, cuz we are somewhat very annoying.. hehehehehe

My Grand Father

From what my father told me, my grand Father was really an awsome person. I don't know much about him, but he has done many things in his life time that I'm very proud to mention in here. First of all, he was a Minister at "Seung-Dong Church" in Korea. And he did a lot of good things for the 'visually challenged people' (this is a PC, right?) While he was financially challenged, he gave everything that he had to other people in need, to a point that he ended up with one clean suit to preach on Sundays and almost no other clothes to wear... And as he became more involved with blind people, every member of his congregation told him to step down cuz at that time they believed that people with such disabilities were sinners. And so my Grand Father chose to help out those who were in need so he stepped down and was one of the founders of the first school for Blind and deaf. He also was a speaker at United Nations once! Ain't he sooo awsome??

He suffered a lot as well. He spent the last 8 years of his life in bed, cuz he was paralized due to a heartattack. See sometimes I wonder why God lets those suffer when they have such good hearts. I still don't understand, I hope there is a good explaination to this...(there better be...) Anyhow, if you have any input on this, just email me.. I'd like to share your idea. Annyhow fortunately for my grand father, his work and good will weren't wasted. This is how......

My Grand Mother

My Grand Mother loves God soo much that I can feel it every time that I talk to her. Well, I have an interesting story to tell you. Like I said, my father's family was really poor before and one day, when he was young, they had no more food to eat... So she prayed to God at this little "alter" in our backyard (actually, it's a little rock and there's a lamp post behind it.)begging in desperation for food to feed her children. And later on, they found a whole case of rice in front of their house. To this day, we still don't know who left it there, but my grand mother told me that God works through people....

My Grand mother continued on working for the blind and came to the States soon after my grand father died... And there's a foundation called "Light House" that my grand father built before he passed away... Ain't he soo awsome??? Well, now she and other dedicated people are working to giive equal chances of education for blind people. (My grand parents are great, aren't they???)
She passed away on March 10th, 2002... We all miss you grandma...

Elizabeth

<-That's me and my cousin, liz unni, in NY... She's really awsome. She worked at Merrill Lynch (a mutual funds company) and now studies at Pace University.
She was born in England and now she lives in NY. Ever since the first moment I met her, she has been the coolest person I have ever known. She's elegant, she's beautiful, she has many friends, and now a very handsome boyfriend!
I have known her since I was about 11, but we've got to know each other so much better when our beloved grand mother passed away. She was with me the whole time: and talked to me and listened to me, and made sure I was ok. It would have been so much harder if I didn't have an unni like Elizabeth. Even now, she helps me through all my different struggles, so selflessly. She has been through so much more than myself, but she has the brightest of perspective on life, and I admire her for that... I learn something new everytime I talk to her, and she makes me feel so appreciated... And most importantly, she lets me be me.. Everyone should be so lucky to have a person like her in their lives...
And her mom (my aunt, she's my dad's older sister) helped me out a lot and I think she's the coolest aunt in the World. I can have a real, honest conversation with her as if she was my best friend. (And she's the only one that finds me FUNNY!)
I'm so lucky one to have them as my family. :)
Here are some of the picture of her that I have... I'll put more as soon as I scan them!

Julianna

This another one of my cousin in NY. Don't you think she looks a bit like Liz unni? They look a lot like their mothers (my brother's sisters..). We were pretty close when we were young living in Korea. But then my family moved to Canada and I didn't see her for about 15 years. Then about 2 years ago, she came to the States and now she's studying hard and going into dentistry. She's my age and compared to me, she is very mature. She knows when to be quite and when to joke around, whereas I joke around all my life.. hehe We don't get to talk so often, but whenever we do, it's just the way we last left it. I know we still have a lot of catching ups to do and hopefully we will when I move down to the States. :)