One of my best friends, Jaeho Park was quite easy to reach because he is mostly on the top of the recent call list on my cellphone.
“Hey how are you doing? It is pretty cold in Atlanta. I feel like winter has begun. How is the weather in Indiana? I feel really tired and exhausted recently, since this semester is almost over. In addition, staying up late definitely contributed to my tiredness and sickness.” I was having a cup of Jasmine tea while calling Jaeho.
Surprisingly, he did not reply immediately. At that time, I did not know about his business communication class and had a project due by the midnight. At first, I was little bit upset, but I could definitely understand his excuse after he explained his busy day to me. Jaeho called me back at 9 p.m. when I got back from the Emory Village after the dinner.
“Hey sorry for missing your call. What is happening? Is there anything wrong with you? You do not call me usually.” He asked me with curious and worried voice.
Simultaneously as I heard his voice, I realized that he is the perfect interviewee for my topic. Him and I actually talked about this international students’ struggles in the States before. Since I did not want to take so much time out of his busy schedule, I shortly explained about the purpose of this interview. “Hey, I can always share my difficulties with you haha! I actually needed a person to listen to my tedious and not-so-exciting complaints I encountered.” I replied with smile “Dude, I will listen to whatever you say. Please continue to share.”
Jaeho get together his room and straightened his room before he started. “Last night I was studying at the library until the midnight because I had this burdensome group project with my 3 other friends; we were completely desperate to finish this annoying and tedious project yesterday. I understand that it is what I am expected to do: to work hard. I can bear this part, but do you know what was the most difficult moment? I sometimes do not understand my mom, seriously! She was keep texting me and asked me how my life was… I always disliked how overly protective she is and make me feel weak since she tries to take care and control everything in my life. Sometimes, she would tell me to go to my room and sleep without finishing the assignments. But more importantly, I have works to do before I rest. I really need to work harder than all the kids whose native language is English. I really do need to put twice as much as effort to maintain average in all the classes I am in. However, I never want to hurt or upset her by saying the truth. Therefore, I merely responded, “Yes” to all the questions she asks without any passion or affection. This process, indeed, takes so much time up and distracts me so much.”
I sighed and commented. “Since I do not have overly protective parents, I will not be able to fully understand how you would feel exactly. But, if I were to put in your shoes, I would be very annoyed and tired.”
The sound of his typing was heard over the phone, I could tell he had a paper to finish. “Do you know what is so funny? Once, I was planning my daily schedule, and I was dividing time slot into 5-mintue intervals, including my bathroom breaks.” I laughed so hard after her schedule. “Oh my gosh, dude you changed so much. Is this really Jaeho?”
After a short casual conversation, I picked up the conversation again for the interview. “My hardest course this year is my Continuing Writing class. Literally for every week, I have to write a 3-page paper and my professor is not an easy grader! But, I cannot complain about this assignment because my professor literally writes as twice as much for the comments for my paper and advice my writing skills during his office hour. This fact always bothers me so much and makes me feel worse. He is an old, 60 years old man and he has so much more passion than I do. Therefore, he works harder than I do, but I still complain about the course. The only thing I can do is read more and write better.” He finished typing and takes a break. The fact that he was typing while talking to me did not bother me at all. I was even impressed and moved by his contribution for me to successfully finish this project. I felt the brotherhood, even though he was hundreds miles apart from me in Indiana.
I gave him a little bit of time to relax and pace the conversation calmly. “Buddy, you never will give up. I know you. You will always do the best and people will appreciate your work. Therefore, please do not worry so much. You are a hard worker!” I just wanted to soothe him and encourage him to give his best for his assignments.
“Kevin, thank you so much for the talk. I hope it helped.”
He sounded a bit more calm and happy after the conversation. Yes, we were both happy at the end.