“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible
situations,” said Chuck Swindoll, a Christian pastor and author. People say that the
past is in the past and you have to let it go. However, I have noticed, through my
short life as a 16-year-old, that you always need difficulties in your life to challenge
yourself and help you grow.
This thought is mainly due to my living in New Zealand, where I attended primary
school for two years. People ask me if I even remember my time there, but then,
I have barely lived 16 years, so to me, the event is as clear as ever. My life in
New Zealand started when I was an 8 year old; not knowing anything, unable to
recognize my parents’ misery. In 2009, my parents had been able to afford a
house of their own in Mokdong Apartment after 7 years of marriage. They were
just starting to expand their dream and had sold their house in order to buy a
larger one. However, the house prices suddenly sky-rocketed, making it impossible
for them to afford another one. Their dream shattered, as they ended up having
to rent a house right next to the one they had just lost. Though disappointed,
my father thought it better to invest in the future, rather than to cry over spilled
milk. He searched for another route that would help prevent my mother from
going through depression.
Like this, my stay in New Zealand actually started out as something like escapism,
running away from reality and blindly seeking refuge in a foreign country.
I remember my early days at primary school there, where I couldn’t understand
a word people were saying. I was thrown into completely different environment,
barely knowing enough English to form simple sentences. However, I was able
to communicate and make friends rather quickly. After a couple of months, I didn’t
have any trouble using English. I believe that memorizing a language, like we
do in Korea, and acquiring one by using it on a daily basis, like I did in New Zealand,
is completely different. Not only could I naturally advance my English skills,
but I’ve also been able to adapt to new situations much better ever since.
New Zealand is widely known for its environment. It is also called the ‘Last Paradise’,
and I remember spending my youth running around in the fields and going to the
beach every now and often, eating fish and chips. I remember seeing whales and
dolphins, swimming with millions of fish, and going to fjords and geysers. My life
there allowed me to contrast the overly-urbanized Korea with New Zealand,
where there was nature everywhere. I could see the difference between the way
New Zealand people, also known as Kiwis, treated the environment, and how we,
Koreans, treat it. I noticed that we see nature as something we could exploit,
like slaves. It’s like nature swore allegiance to humans and is bound to work
for them. However, I have always felt strongly about preserving the environment
ever since my time there. I believe that we should be more aware that just as
slaves fought back against injustices, nature will take its revenge upon us unless
we begin to deal with global warming soon.
Because I only had my mother and sister with me in New Zealand, I was able
to rely on them much more and we were able to develop closer relationships.
My father, on the other hand, would occasionally come by to see us, and his
absence made me feel his importance in my young life. It was during these years
in New Zealand that I learned the importance of family where I would always
be loved, and realized that they would always be a source of happiness. Mere
words cannot truly explain the feeling I felt when I was younger. Just talking
about my time there with my fam- with my mother brings both of us immense
happiness. Those two years were a special time in both of our lives, and, in
hindsight, losing our house turned out to be a great blessing.
Just because the door didn’t open the one time you knocked, doesn’t mean
that it’s never going to open. My life has completely changed since my time in
New Zealand, helping me shape my identity and change how I interact with the
world. The dearest wish in my life is to spend several months there with my family,
and go through everything we had experienced together 7 years ago.
My primary goal is to take my mother, who is suffering from lung cancer, back to
New Zealand and breathe some fresh air that we cannot find here. She deserves
all the happiness in the world, and I believe that it’s my responsibility to devote
my life to her, just as she did with hers. Thank you.