After lunch, I decided to ask our jondosanim (JDN) about his life as an international student so I used the same format as I used when I interviewd all my consultants.
Consultant: Yoon Tae Kim
Date: 02/23/03
Subject: Experiences of international students in LA
Collector: Sung Jung Hong

When did you first come to the US?
March 24th of 2000

Where?
Pasadena, CA

What was your first impression?
The first thing I noticed was the inconvenience of technology and transportation. I think that the technology in Korea is much more advanced than here, the internet is very slow too. Also, if you don’t have a car, you can’t do much because the transportation system is so bad. In Korea, you can just take the subway which takes you anywhere you want to go. The bus system in Korea is much more organized than here too. Also, I lived very scarred because of all the violence shown on TV. The good impression I had was all the green plants that you can still see. In Korea, you can’t really see many plants unless you get out of the city.

What school did you go to?
Fuller Theological Seminary

Did you experience any problems with the language?
At first, I couldn’t even use the phone because I was not used to the real English spoken here. I felt like people were more hostile than in Europe because in Europe, the people seemed to be more patient and they would repeat statements over and over until you understood. Here however I did not think that people were as friendly so it was very though for me at the beginning. Also, one thing I noticed is that people from different backgrounds speak with different accents so I didn’t know which one was the correct English. I believe that for me, the English spoken by black people was the hardest and still is the hardest to understand. A funny experience I had was when we were taking my daughter to the doctor and we had to fill out the parent’s information. One of the spaces said grade and so I put my GPA and the nurse told me smiling that I was very smart but the information they wanted was my highest level of education. I was very embarrassed then.

How did your life change since the first time you came to the US?
I don’t have hardships in communication anymore, I have to talk and write a lot in English at school, so this has helped me a lot. Also, I don’t live scarred anymore. After learning more about how the law and order function here, I believe that the security system here in the US is a lot better here than in Korea. The police are very honest so you can’t really bribe them. I like this system a lot.

Do you think you would be able to live in Korea now? Why?
I think that I would be able to live there but I would be under culture shock at first because I have gotten so used to the life style here.