생생후기
미국에서 영어 실력, 얼마나 늘었을까
FEEDING THE COMMUNITY
참가 전 준비와 마음가짐
When I was in San Francisco in March, I made a decision to participate in this work camp. I just wanted to know how much my English has improved compared to when I first arrived in United states. At that time, that was the only reason I applied to this camp. I thought some of participants who are going to work with me must have great fluency in speaking English. With only this expectation, I applied without any hesitation. Even if I have never experienced this kind of adventure before, I was very excited to meet some foreign friends and experience a different culture. Yes, I just wanted to examine myself whether I can speak in English very well in front of another group of foreign people. So frankly, I didn’t expect my work camp, my colleagues and people who live in Eugene would be fun.
As time went by, in August, I checked out my info-sheet and booked my flight from San Francisco to Portland. My work camp was around the corner. I was very doubtful of my next 2 weeks and a little bit nervous to meet new people and be in a new place. As soon as I arrived at the Eugene airport, I met our host mother, Ruth, with kindness. She was a such a energetic woman even if she is as old as my grandmother. Because of her, my first impression of Eugene was really amazing. It’s more than I expected. She is American, so I was very happy to talk with her in English. I tried to listen what she said exactly, but it was a bit hard to understand cause she has a british pronunciation. As soon as we got to her house which finally became my sweet home, I met three other participants in the kitchen. They are two Italian guys and one Taiwan guys, cooking some scrambled eggs with half-naked. We were very shy so we hardly said anything. After 3 hours, we met other participants who are two German girls, one Czech girl and two Americans. I got a little bit surprised there were just one more Asian besides me. They are mostly Europeans or American. So the only language we can use was just English.
On the first three days of the camp, I couldn’t do anything well. My physical stamina was much worse than other friends’. Mostly they were taller and stronger than me. I really tried not to stop their ongoing work just because of my terrible work, but at some point, i made them do more work than I did. I was very sorry but I still worried them. So I made a decision to find something else I can do. That was cooking. I really like cooking, so every supper, I helped them make their own version of food originated from their countries. They said to me later, I was very helpful and that made me so relieved. At first, as I said, it was really tiring to ride a bicycle, weed some plants, dig with a shovel, harvest lettuces under the sunshine with severe heat.
In the middle of our camping days however, I suddenly figured out I was doing well as same as other friends. It was such a huge improvement. I could go up the hill with the bicycle very fast. I’m either the first or the second up the hill. Also I found some ways to escape from the freaking hot sunshine, using a sunscreen and a hat with broad brim. Also I did a good job when it comes to harvesting many different kinds of crops. Moreover, I suddenly realized I needed my friends to share my feelings. I completely depended on them, and so did they. we got to know each other in a very short time. That was after one week from the kick-off day. It was a really sweet weekend. We automatically knew we are really involved in our job, and interested in each other and our sweet house. And of course our host mother. Ruth used to say to me like ‘help yourself’, ‘If somebody needs something, just write down what you want on the bulletin board on the fridge with no hesitation.’
So we all felt relaxed and made ourselves pretty much at home. We shared three rooms separated by each sex. Everyday, our main transportation was by bicycle, but sometimes if we had a day which requires a lot of work, then Ruth drove us to the work place. Ruth always cared about how we are doing. If we looked very tired, she prepared our meals or let us drop by the coffee shop called “Dutch bros”.
we worked not only in the garden, but also in a sort of kindergarten. There was also blazing heat, but normally I was in the classroom and helped some teachers to organized and sorted out some play materials for kids. At this time, I played with these toys and it reminded me of my childhood. Also we were charged for decorating the wall outside around school. When I designed some flowers and school bus and drew the outline for my colleagues, they painted inside along the lines. It was really fun, but I fainted and threw up all I ate at lunch because of standing under the sun for a long time.
Yes. I had gone through such a hard time cause it was my first time to do this kind of camp with others. I’m the only child in my family, so I’ve never shared my space with other people. It was a very different experience. Furthermore, I learned some lessons from lots of people there. For example, when I worked in the food bank, I met one spanish guy who has lived in America for 18 years. I thought he is American cause his English was almost native. But he wasn’t. I just asked him about how to study English and he told me everything he had done so far for his English. The most impressive sentences I heard from him are two : “why are you here for?” “No more being lazy”. I just confessed to him about the things which are distracting my study nowadays and he told me like “Stop thinking about that, it’s never worth it to you. If you can’t focus on what you have to do, think about your parents. Can you show them what you’re doing now?” It was super helpful with my feelings. I was touched by what he said a lot. At that time, we were chopping some carrots for the lunch box of homeless people. The work camp definitely gave me unique experiences I can’t do in my ordinary life, and everyone who joined the work camp program must think the same way. However, I learned more than I expected before I came to Eugene. I learned how to be nice to people like most Americans were and decided to follow Americans’ easygoing and laid-back life pattern. They are really nice to people even if the people are not related to them at all. At first, I thought Eugene is a pretty small town, so there’s no fun things and also the weather in Eugene is totally opposite to what I want. However, I suddenly felt I didn’t want to leave here and go anywhere. It was a sudden feeling which happened on the very last night in our camp.
After work camp, we still remember each other. We can know that we miss one another cause it hasn’t been long at all and nowadays we are uploading our pictures from our work camp to each other’s face book page. The more I look at the pictures, the more I want to go back to Eugene. The only things that remain are just a bunch of pictures. However, we still keep our beautiful moment in our minds forever. Also we promised to visit each other’s countries next year. It would be fun, I think. One German girl said, if I come to Germany, she would become my tour guide for me anytime and anywhere. So I’m really thinking about this seriously.
During this work camp, the great efforts of my friends challenged me to do more amount of work. We did a very nice job without any difficulty cause we were always together, so we were just so happy. some of them, including me, made some jokes of everyone, some of them introduced us to their food and games in their countries. I was in a really small town in the United States, but I felt like I went to Germany, Italy, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. It’s been just 3 days since I left in Eugene. From now on, I think I can deal with anything I will encounter with cooperation, patience, positive mind and good human relationship. My original objective was just to practice English, but I learned lots of valuable things besides English. I love my last two weeks and want to remember these days forever.
As time went by, in August, I checked out my info-sheet and booked my flight from San Francisco to Portland. My work camp was around the corner. I was very doubtful of my next 2 weeks and a little bit nervous to meet new people and be in a new place. As soon as I arrived at the Eugene airport, I met our host mother, Ruth, with kindness. She was a such a energetic woman even if she is as old as my grandmother. Because of her, my first impression of Eugene was really amazing. It’s more than I expected. She is American, so I was very happy to talk with her in English. I tried to listen what she said exactly, but it was a bit hard to understand cause she has a british pronunciation. As soon as we got to her house which finally became my sweet home, I met three other participants in the kitchen. They are two Italian guys and one Taiwan guys, cooking some scrambled eggs with half-naked. We were very shy so we hardly said anything. After 3 hours, we met other participants who are two German girls, one Czech girl and two Americans. I got a little bit surprised there were just one more Asian besides me. They are mostly Europeans or American. So the only language we can use was just English.
On the first three days of the camp, I couldn’t do anything well. My physical stamina was much worse than other friends’. Mostly they were taller and stronger than me. I really tried not to stop their ongoing work just because of my terrible work, but at some point, i made them do more work than I did. I was very sorry but I still worried them. So I made a decision to find something else I can do. That was cooking. I really like cooking, so every supper, I helped them make their own version of food originated from their countries. They said to me later, I was very helpful and that made me so relieved. At first, as I said, it was really tiring to ride a bicycle, weed some plants, dig with a shovel, harvest lettuces under the sunshine with severe heat.
In the middle of our camping days however, I suddenly figured out I was doing well as same as other friends. It was such a huge improvement. I could go up the hill with the bicycle very fast. I’m either the first or the second up the hill. Also I found some ways to escape from the freaking hot sunshine, using a sunscreen and a hat with broad brim. Also I did a good job when it comes to harvesting many different kinds of crops. Moreover, I suddenly realized I needed my friends to share my feelings. I completely depended on them, and so did they. we got to know each other in a very short time. That was after one week from the kick-off day. It was a really sweet weekend. We automatically knew we are really involved in our job, and interested in each other and our sweet house. And of course our host mother. Ruth used to say to me like ‘help yourself’, ‘If somebody needs something, just write down what you want on the bulletin board on the fridge with no hesitation.’
So we all felt relaxed and made ourselves pretty much at home. We shared three rooms separated by each sex. Everyday, our main transportation was by bicycle, but sometimes if we had a day which requires a lot of work, then Ruth drove us to the work place. Ruth always cared about how we are doing. If we looked very tired, she prepared our meals or let us drop by the coffee shop called “Dutch bros”.
we worked not only in the garden, but also in a sort of kindergarten. There was also blazing heat, but normally I was in the classroom and helped some teachers to organized and sorted out some play materials for kids. At this time, I played with these toys and it reminded me of my childhood. Also we were charged for decorating the wall outside around school. When I designed some flowers and school bus and drew the outline for my colleagues, they painted inside along the lines. It was really fun, but I fainted and threw up all I ate at lunch because of standing under the sun for a long time.
Yes. I had gone through such a hard time cause it was my first time to do this kind of camp with others. I’m the only child in my family, so I’ve never shared my space with other people. It was a very different experience. Furthermore, I learned some lessons from lots of people there. For example, when I worked in the food bank, I met one spanish guy who has lived in America for 18 years. I thought he is American cause his English was almost native. But he wasn’t. I just asked him about how to study English and he told me everything he had done so far for his English. The most impressive sentences I heard from him are two : “why are you here for?” “No more being lazy”. I just confessed to him about the things which are distracting my study nowadays and he told me like “Stop thinking about that, it’s never worth it to you. If you can’t focus on what you have to do, think about your parents. Can you show them what you’re doing now?” It was super helpful with my feelings. I was touched by what he said a lot. At that time, we were chopping some carrots for the lunch box of homeless people. The work camp definitely gave me unique experiences I can’t do in my ordinary life, and everyone who joined the work camp program must think the same way. However, I learned more than I expected before I came to Eugene. I learned how to be nice to people like most Americans were and decided to follow Americans’ easygoing and laid-back life pattern. They are really nice to people even if the people are not related to them at all. At first, I thought Eugene is a pretty small town, so there’s no fun things and also the weather in Eugene is totally opposite to what I want. However, I suddenly felt I didn’t want to leave here and go anywhere. It was a sudden feeling which happened on the very last night in our camp.
After work camp, we still remember each other. We can know that we miss one another cause it hasn’t been long at all and nowadays we are uploading our pictures from our work camp to each other’s face book page. The more I look at the pictures, the more I want to go back to Eugene. The only things that remain are just a bunch of pictures. However, we still keep our beautiful moment in our minds forever. Also we promised to visit each other’s countries next year. It would be fun, I think. One German girl said, if I come to Germany, she would become my tour guide for me anytime and anywhere. So I’m really thinking about this seriously.
During this work camp, the great efforts of my friends challenged me to do more amount of work. We did a very nice job without any difficulty cause we were always together, so we were just so happy. some of them, including me, made some jokes of everyone, some of them introduced us to their food and games in their countries. I was in a really small town in the United States, but I felt like I went to Germany, Italy, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. It’s been just 3 days since I left in Eugene. From now on, I think I can deal with anything I will encounter with cooperation, patience, positive mind and good human relationship. My original objective was just to practice English, but I learned lots of valuable things besides English. I love my last two weeks and want to remember these days forever.