Immigration Story

Before I began working at the Italian sports club restaurant, a young man I had worked with at a sushi shop once told me he had also worked as a dishwasher in a kitchen but quit because it was too hard. He said most people gave up after two or three months. Hearing that, I remember feeling a sudden fear inside. Yet somehow I managed. Over time, I settled into the job, working anywhere from 25 hours a week to as many as 40. The fear I once felt gradually faded. Still, as if it

After living in Box Hill for a year, we moved to Doncaster, about a ten-minute drive further away. Our previous house had three bedrooms, and it felt cramped for my wife and me, our grown son, and our two daughters. It was also rather modest. Our eldest daughter had just started university, and although she would likely marry and move out in a few years, my wife insisted that, for the limited time she would still live with us, she wanted her to have memories of living in a go

Although this discussion briefly diverges into the topic of the Chinese community, it is widely recognized in Australia that the large inflow of migrants from diverse backgrounds has brought substantial benefits to the national economy. At the time, the central commercial district of Box Hill  featured approximately five or six Korean grocery stores, with a similar number of Korean-owned clothing and general goods shops. Many of these businesses were sustained largely due to

3. Education in Australia Two months after I immigrated to Australia, our family experienced its first piece of good news.My eldest daughter, who had graduated from Year 12 in Korea, came to Australia that same year and entered Year 11 at a local high school. After just one year and nine months, she was accepted into the University of Melbourne’s Landscape Architecture program, which is often regarded as one of the best universities in Australia and ranked around 24th in the

The first place we settled after immigrating to Australia was Box Hill , about twenty-five minutes by train from Melbourne’s city center. When you get off the train and ride the escalator up to street level, you arrive at a busy commercial area. On the ground floor are two large supermarkets — similar to Korea’s big discount stores — along with clothing shops, variety stores, a food court, and several produce markets. Once you step outside the station, rows of single-story sh

I work at a travel agency and have been on frequent overseas business trips, so I was used to it. It was the first time I went on an overseas business trip after getting married. I was preparing for the trip late at night at work, and a colleague asked, “Did your husband give you permission?”   At that moment, I wondered why I had to ask for permission. My husband knew that I would go on overseas business trips often even before I got married, and I thought he would understan

My husband, who had been fighting the disease for 7 years, had cancer spread throughout his body and was hopeless. One day, after hearing the doctor’s advice to prepare himself mentally, I was living in a daze. When I went to the hospital to get medicine, I saw my second son on his knees being beaten by his father. I barely managed to calm my husband down and asked my son.   “My father suddenly hit me for no reason. I don’t know why he did that.”   “Then, when my father hits

Life stories from Melbourne, Australia. Work, family, and everyday moments of an immigrant life. On the afternoon of December 5, 2005, as the first snow of the year fell in Korea, I boarded a plane at Incheon Airport.The next morning, I arrived in Melbourne, Australia. As I stepped outside the airport, the air felt unexpectedly cool, even though it was midsummer. That unfamiliar sensation stayed with me. I was forty-nine years old then. I had spent seventeen years working at

There was a man who had four wives. He loved his first wife so much that he kept her by his side all the time, day and night. His second wife was a wife he had worked very hard to get. Since she was a wife he had fought bloodily for, his love for her was also extremely strong. To him, his second wife was like a strong fortress.   He and his third wife got along especially well, and they always hung out together and had fun. However, he didn’t pay much attention to his fourth

The poem below is a piece written by Professor Jang Young-hee of Sogang University (1952-2009), who gave hope to people while fighting cancer three times throughout her life after suffering from grade 1 polio just one year after birth.   As I lived, ~~ people are not very interested in other people's lives. So when they look at others, they don't go beyond curiosity or observation, whether out of envy or pity.   As I lived, ~~ what really matters is the contents, whether you

My family consists of four people: dad, grandma, me, and my older sister. Dad worked at an eyeglass company. We went to the swimming pool and the pond. And when I was five, we went to the ocean to catch fish.   … (omitted) One day, I was sick, so dad couldn't go to work and instead carried me to the hospital. Dad loved us so much.   Then one day, we bought a car. My older sister and I followed dad around in the car. One day, dad was in a good mood because he had met a friend

6:05 AM, September 14, 1994, O'Hare Airport, USA. I got off at this airport after taking a late-night flight from San Francisco to Chicago, and slowly walked to the store in the airport waiting room, exhausted and drowsy. I wanted to buy a few morning papers.   As I approached the checkout counter with a selection of newspapers, the clerk immediately said, "Three dollars and twenty-five cents." (In the US, the prices of newspapers vary.) I asked the clerk how she could calcul

About 10 years ago, when I was working as a sales manager for a foreign company, Mr. Williams, the American CEO, always demanded more from his employees than they could do.   At first, I enjoyed finishing work faster than the given time and reporting it to him in order to be praised by him. Then, he would bring me a task that was 1.5 hours long and ask me to finish it in 1 hour. After a while, I thought, “Isn’t he expecting me to finish a task that takes 3 hours in the same a

On Rue Admiral Roussin in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, there's a fascinating restaurant. The chef and owner are eccentric. Not only is the price of a meal at 40 francs, a fraction of the price of other restaurants, but most importantly, customers are expected to pay for their own meals. A small coin box is placed at the exit, and customers are encouraged to pay on their own. They explain that even if they run out of money, they can pay later. They also ask customers to t

Once upon a time, there was a small village that raised sheep. Next to the village’s green meadow was a sesame cake warehouse. Every spring, the villagers would plow the fields and plant sesame seeds, and in the fall, to celebrate the abundant harvest, they would squeeze and store sesame cake. Sesame cake was an important food source for the winter. However, one year, a large fire broke out in the village. The fire started in the sesame cake warehouse. That day, the shepherd

Even the soil can itch. When seeds rot and sprout, and young roots whine, digging into the earth's breast, the soil laughs, raising dust like rice cakes— as if mad, unable to bear the tickle. At such a time, a sharp-eyed farmer will instantly perceive it, waking the rake from its lazy nap in the haystack, and slowly, indiscriminately scratch the soil's back, armpits, lower body, and calves, as if it were his own flesh. And the bare-headed sprouts, knowing this as love, will g

The biting, knife-like wind has knocked down even the last remaining unripe persimmon. Stripped of all its green leaves, the lonely tree tosses and turns all night, weeping. The rippling pond froze in an instant. Winter plays a harsh game, as if to snatch everything away. But if you look closely, it is precisely then that the trees are forming new buds. The carp sway beneath the ice. Winter is not an end, but a beginning for tomorrow. - From a bulletin board in a school distr

Life is like a game where you throw and catch five balls with both hands. The five balls are work, family, health, friends, and yourself.   We have to throw and catch five balls constantly, and the ball called "work" is a rubber ball, so if you drop it on the ground, it will bounce back up.   However, the other four balls, family, health, friends, and yourself, are glass balls. So if you drop them once, they will be irreparably scratched or cracked, or completely broken.   Yo

When I open your envelope that ran breathlessly over the waves The jewel-like stories pour out I accept all your joys and sorrows as mine On the sky-blue letter paper that still smells of ink Your words of love bloom like a rose Your words of missing me fill my empty room The day I receive your letter, my empty room is filled with your laughter and voice I close my eyes with the joy of meeting you Poet Lee Hae-in 너의 편지를 받는 날 숨 가쁘게 파도 위를 달려온 너의 봉투를 열 때 보석 같은 이야기들이 쏟아져 너의 모든 기쁨

If I didn't have the burden on my back, I wouldn't have been able to live properly in this world. Because of the burden on my back, I have always been careful and lived uprightly and honestly.   Now I see that the burden on my back was a precious gift that helped me live uprightly. If I didn't have the burden on my back, I wouldn't have known love. The weight of the burden on my back made me feel the pain of others, and through this, I learned love and forgiveness.   Now I se