Myeong (Kevin) Kim from Korea About fifteen years ago, when I was an elementary school student, I liked to take trips with my parents. One day, when I was about 7 years old, I took a trip with my father. Through this great trip I gained my self-confidence and I could see beautiful landscapes and feel various emotions such as joy, sorrow, and appreciation. My story started like this. My father liked to climb mountains very much. Whenever he took a trip, he would always take me. At that time he was a good climber. I also wanted to become a good climber. One hot summer day my father and I took a trip to Mt. Sol-Ak located in the eastern part of Korea. Mt. Sol-Ak is one of the biggest mountains in Korea. In the morning we got up at 4:00 a.m. and departed at 5:00 a.m. I did not remember when I went to bed because I was excited about my trip. I could hardly go to bed after my mother sat down by me. My father and I got on the train called "Mu-Gung-Hwa" on time at Seoul station. I was so sleepy. As soon as I sat down in my seat, I fell asleep and I slept in the train until we arrived at Mt. Sol-Ak. After a few hours we arrived at an entrance to the mountain. We started climbing on the mountain. We prepared some cucumbers, water, and drinks before climbing the mountain. There were many people who wanted to feel and see the beautiful and gorgeous landscapes of Mt. Sol-Ak. They smiled at each other and looked very joyful. The weather was hot and sunny, but I could feel a little cool wind. It was not hard to climb on the first part of the mountain for an hour. While I was climbing on the mountain, I continued to sweat like rain. I wanted to take a rest for only a minute, but I could not stop climbing on the mountain because father had said to me on the last trip, "You need to put up with some difficulties. If you can tolerate this pain now, you will be a better climber than me." He continued to encourage me.
Suddenly I started weeping. I did not know why I wept for a while. I did not want to show my tears to my father. After I wiped my tears, I said to father " Father! Hurry up! I want to see the top." After two hours passed, I was able to get to the top of the mountain finally. My clothes were totally wet. It did not matter to me. I
felt so proud of myself. I thanked my father for
helping and encouraging me. On the top of the
mountain I could see the huge sun going down in the
west. It looked like a prize given from God. The
color of the sun looked like a big fireball. At
that time I did not know what he said to me
exactly, but now I realized why he said something
meaningful. He taught me the way to get over my
problems in the future and helped me develop my
self-confidence. What the teacher says: Mining Memory Banks Return to: Childhood Memories | Issue 15 | Home Page
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