Monthly TOEFL Essay #1: Roadside Cheering: A Great Way to Unite

             Filipinos convert military trucks into taxis. New Zealanders make it an important part of their lives to preserve Maori traditions. Ugandans start dancing whenever someone puts on an impromptu melody. Like this, there are customs around the world that differ greatly from each other. In Korea, there is a custom called “roadside cheering,” which refers to thousands of people gathering in one place at a certain time and cheering for Team Korea during a big sports event, especially the World Cup. This is a good custom for other countries to adopt because it gives people a feeling of unity and provides them with an escape from their routine everyday lives.

             Koreans like to think of themselves as one big group. Most of the time, whenever there is an international event, they emphasize that all Koreans are of one race, and that they should support each other. Roadside cheering is a way of showing this feeling of unity with everyone calling out the same slogans and making the same moves. These days, the society rather focuses on each individual’s ability than on groups of people as a whole. Therefore, many people live in their own small worlds, making it hard for them to feel connected to others. However, participating in events like roadside cheering will give each one of them a feeling of membership and unite all members into one group with a common goal: the victory of their country’s team. If other countries, which usually consist of people from different races and cultures, adopt this custom, it would give back the citizens their missing feelings of unity.

             Roadside cheering also lets people get out of their everyday lives and take a brief rest. For most people these days, every day is the same. Basically, they wake up, go to work, come back home, and fall asleep. Many people get tired of their repeated schedules and long for a change. And being a participant of a roadside cheering event can provide them with what they want. For those who are interested in sports, it will be a nice opportunity to scream and go crazy for their team, and for those who aren’t, it would be a nice time to have fun with their friends or family members. Cheering with others around would be much better than watching the television alone at home. Also, since at a roadside cheering event, everyone would be screaming and shouting and laughing, nobody has to worry about looking like a mad person; all they have to do is just going crazy, relieving stress, and enjoying the game, which will lead to fresh new minds and make them full of energy. This applies to all people, not just Koreans. Thus, this custom can benefit people from other countries too if adopted.

             Since roadside cheering can unite people into one group, giving them a feeling of membership, and let people take a short rest from their lives, it is a great Korean custom that should be adopted by other countries. Especially for countries like the United States and Canada, which comprise people from various cultures, this custom can be a way of making all citizens feel like a part of their nation. And taking part in this custom will let people refresh their minds and restore energy. Hence, roadside cheering should be a custom spread worldwide, not just inside Korea.

My Goals

Just another typical frosh, looking forward to his new school and classes.

..What?

No, whether you're going to be a typical frosh or a unique frosh depends on how you act.

And setting goals will help you be active in classes and learn more.

So.. English.

Goal One: Better communication & Vocabulary

When writing essays, I usually have a hard time organizing my thoughts and putting them into words. And my vocabulary is limited, so sometimes I can't find the exact words for my thoughts. Since we get to write a lot of essays in this class, I hope to develop my ability to communicate with others in written form, and expand my vocabulary.

Goal Two: Knowledge

When writing about given topics, I get to think about it more deeply. And often times, I do research on it, gaining more knowledge. Writing can be a way of communication, but it can also be the start of learning and thinking about certain things. Through these activities, I will be able to widen my knowledge about the world.

Goal Three: Brilliant thoughts

Many people emphasize thinking out of the box, being unique and having your own thoughts on things. And I'm one of those people too. Well, it's not like I always have to think the opposite of others, it's just that I should be able to defend my stance and not think that I'm wrong just because others think differently. And these unique thoughts come from more knowledge and deeper thinking. So after achieving Goal Two, I will try to have more brilliant thoughts about the world.

Goal Four (Just a Personal One): Writing freely

If you've read my previous posts, you might have noticed that I write, well, freely. My posts have a lot of fragments. When I write things using MS Word, the program gives me a whole lot of those green zigzag underlines, saying it's not a complete sentence. Also, I might sometimes use words that are mostly used in spoken English. 'Nerd' for example. Another example, 'Well, ~~.' Oh, I start sentences with the FANBOYS stuff too. You know, for and nor but or yet so. I've been taught to write in complete sentences, use "appropriate" words, and not to start with a conjuction. But personally, I don't think there's a correct way to write.

Yes, I know that there are rules. And I will follow them when writing formal things. But right now I am thankful that I now have a blog where I can write however I want.

So my last goal is writing on this blog the way I want (when posting about everyday things).

(And it seems that I'm already doing it.. xD)

Random Thoughts One _ I Can Do This

Yup, time flies.

Now I'm only three days away from officially becoming a student of KMLA.

Which is awesome.

And which means that I've already spent almost a month in KMLA.

Well, to be honest with you guys, when I walked into this very room on February 3rd, in the back of my mind I was expecting a boring life with some nerdy people of my age (including me).

But that wasn't the case.

From day 1, my life in KMLA was a series of fresh new challenges, a life that I never expected nor experienced before. And I actually liked that life.

Surprising, huh?

I usually don't like changes. Nor do I like things that challenge me.

But for some reason, I like living in KMLA. I've been enjoying my life for the last three weeks.

Starting March 1st, all these stuff officially becomes a part of my everyday life.

It might be that we've only seen the good parts of KMLA life yet.
Maybe, when we actually become a part of "KMLA Family," teachers will be harsh on us.
Maybe, when it becomes March and we get work to do, it'll be "hell" as seniors tell us.

But, for some reason, I'm sure that I'll be okay.
I don't know why.

From time to time, I might be annoyed and tired and sleepy and have all other negative feelings about the amount of work I have to do.
I might be angry at other people.
I might be sick.

But somehow I'm confident that whatever happens, I'll get through it in the end.

So..
Have a nice life, guys.
And don't lose your confidence at any times.

(Just saying, I was going to write about what I want to achieve, and I have no idea how I came to wrote this. So don't ask.)

Hi There People xD

Introducing myself has always been a challenge for me. I don't know what to say about myself, and frankly speaking, I don't think I know myself that well yet. So I usually just talk about what others talk about, where I'm from, what clubs I want to join, whether I'm domestic or international, etc. But this is supposed to be an awesome self introduction! So I hope this doesn't become another boring list of information and hobbies. I'll try not to make that happen.

My name is Hyun Soo Jeon, and you can call me Ben if you want to. Actually, I prefer being called Ben because a lot of people pronounce my name incorrectly. They either think that the h is silent or that it's pronounced Hyoon-Soo.. Oh well, I'm now used to hearing a lot of different, creative versions of my Korean name, but still, I'd rather be called Ben in English classes.

Happens a lot in Seoul..

Okay, now that we're done settling the name problem, let me introduce myself. I was born on September 17th, 1997 in Seoul. When I was seven years old, I moved to Daejeon. And personally, I think Daejeon's a lot better than Seoul. Well, it's a lot quieter and less.. crazy, I guess. By crazy I mean hurried people, traffic jams, loud honks, and so on. Well you know what I mean. When I was in sixth grade, I went to San Diego, California. At first I didn't want to go there. I have all my friends in Korea, and I'm living a very normal life, no problem. Why do I have to go to the US all of a sudden? But in the end I did go there, and, uh, loved it. Seriously. Oh. My. God. I really had a fun time there and made a lot of close friends (who actually had a surprise party for me before I left for Korea). I might even have chosen to stay there for the rest of my life if I could.

But, as you know, I came back. And spent the rest of my middle school years in Seoul, at a school called Middle School Attached to College of Education, Dankook University. Well yeah, that's the official name. It was a new experience going to a Korean middle school, being under the pressure of studying and all that, but I got used to the new environment pretty quickly and it all went well. It was an all-guys middle school. Some people have preconceptions that going to an all-guys (or all-girls too, I guess) school would be really boring, but actually it's quite the opposite. It was really fun, maybe even better than coeducational schools. Then I applied for, and got admitted to, KMLA. So now I'm a citizen of Hoengseong (assuming that those official documents that we turned in got processed), live in a dormitory, and am writing this right now.

That sums up my past life pretty much. I wonder what will happen in my future.

I have to admit, I'm a really quiet person. I usually don't talk much to those who are not close to me. And I don't usually show much reaction to funny jokes or sudden rap battles or whatever. Actually, I don't know what reaction to show. When someone just randomly starts rapping in front of me, all I'd do is go "umm.. okay..? wow" (awkward smile) and that's all. But please note that it's not like I don't like you, or I think you're weird, etc. It's just that I'm not used to talking a lot. I still think you're awesome. I still think your rapping is awesome. It's just that I'm not sure what to say.

What else is there? Well I love listening to music. YB's awesome. Simple Plan's awesome too. Oh, you should listen to When I'm Gone by Simple Plan if you haven't listened to it before. It's not that I know a lot about music, though. I don't even know for sure what genre these songs are. I think I've heard somewhere that they're called alternative rock, but then what's the difference between rock and alternative rock? Okay, this is making me confused now. Anyways, I just love listening to music, nothing more. Music makes me happy.

I don't want to get to the boring part, but I feel like I should write this somewhere, so I'll just squeeze all of it into this one paragraph. I'm interested in science, especially chemistry and biology. My dream changed a lot along the course of my life, starting from detective (okay that was when I was seven years old) to journalist, writer, computer programmer, doctor, and finally developing new medicines. My favorite subject is math, subject to change because I'm trying a lot of new subjects that I've never learned before, like economy, MS Excel (in computer class), debate, and so on. Okay, that's it for the boring stuff.

That was one long self introduction. Well, I don't think it was that boring, was it? It was actually fun writing this.

If you read all this, thank you, I hope you enjoyed it. If not, well there's still three years' time for us to become friends, so it's alright.

Nice to meet you guys all, let's be great friends, have a nice life!