First draft of essay

  Everyone have their own memories, sometimes they want to review them or think of them. Sookan who is a Korean international student studied in America also has her own memories, and she collected them together. The collage life changed her life, just like pearls.

 Sookan is an only international student in her collage. When she was in the school, she felt uncomfortable. That is because, she is Korean, and she has very different culture and life habits. After a few month, she got some friends, and her life get better. She studied very hard, and because of this, she got sick. Marci is Sookan’s best friend, she don’t listen to her parents’ advices, and she has bad relationship with them. She has some good memories, but she also has a few bad memories.

 As the cover image shows us, Sookan is picking up one of the pearls, and looking at it. The pearls are like her collage memaries. She want to review them. This book talk about Sookan's 2 years life in collage. These 2 years are very important for her, because it change her life. The cover shows how important these experiences are to Sookan, just like pearls.

 First, Sookan is an only international student in her school. There are a lot of differences between Korean culture and American culture. For example, she always obey her sister, and she wrote lots of letters for her family. But her best friend Marci did't listen to her parents, and she always has quarrel between she and her parents. Then, Marci advise Sookan don't need to follow her sister, and told her something that is everyone has their own life.

Thesis statement

There are lots of pearls on the cover image. Sookan is picking up one of the pears and looking at it. I think these pearls are like her college memories. She wants to pick up the memories and review them. This time period is very important to her and changes her life. The cover shows how important these experiences are to Sookan, just like pearls.

Brainstorming

What does the cover image and title symbolize? How does it represent Sookan's experience? Come up with as many ideas as you can.

This book talk about a girst who name is Sookan’s study abroad in America, and it is a memory of the writer of this book.

She wanna put those memory together, and then named this book Gathering Of Pearls. Pearls like her memory.

First, the girl who is in the cover image is an Asian, and she has a sad face. I think she is thinking something. This girl is sitting on the grand, and also picking up one of the pearls.

I think she has lots of memory. This pearl might replace her memory of her life when she was in collage.  

I think this girl is wearing the school uniform. There are a few pearls behind her, and she don’t care them. May be it means some sad memory for Sookan. She just wanna recall the collage life.

There are some flowers in the cover. I think it is peach blossom, peach blossom can embody a person who is kind. So, it can replace Sookan’s character. 

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                                                      The epilogue to the novel
It's been seven years since I stepped on this unpredictable land called United States of America.

   My name is Sookan, I came here for college at the beginning, and I've graduated for five years. I look back, look back at my path, wonder how I've come here, but never get an exact answer from it. Everything seemed happen so quick that I can't catch up. Well, who is able to?

   I've been in love with a man, and we got merry. However, things didn't go the way we expected, they just always don't. Life is complicated, yet easy to see through after all. I wish I have the power to go back then and stop being naive and ignorant, but I can't. 

   We argued, we fight, standing on different side of road staring at each other uncomfortably, neither dares to step closer. Divorce comes after all. It's hard to say goodbye to someone you got used to and live with for that many moments. Even harder to recognize the stranger who seems so familiar, but you don't the courage to talk to. That's how it feels like after all these. I wonder.

   Yep, I have lost everything I had. Mom has gone to another world. And my only sister has married to a man and became someone who seems doesn't care about me at all. What else has left in my life, endless energy of young blood? Which just the unacceptable excuse for irresponsibility and fatuous.

   I unpacked the letters written by my family when I was still in college, the letters full of hope, full of the love from another side of the world, and those don't exist anymore. It was the best part of my life, picking up and putting back a lot of treasure there. I met Marci, Kyle, Mr. Bennett and some many other wonderful people. Those people just show up and disappear in your life, probably been forgotten after ten years, but still makes a great memory.

   It's time to start a new journey, it will be full of challenge, danger, everything will be unexpected. But that's how we keep our last breath in this world, to survive, to live. I have learnt how to love myself, and make the right decisions from this path, and never regret.

Group work

Sookan came back the school. Sookan wrote a letter about her life for her all family members. Sister Reed gives Sookan a pearl necklace from her aunt, because she thinks Sookan is extraordinary enough to have this necklace. Ellen is engaged with Kyle, and Sookan had an argument with her. Because Ellen thinks she can decide her own life. However Sookan thinks that she should care more about her parents' opinions. 

Important: She gets argument with one of her best friends. Because it is about her relationship with her best friends. Different thinking. It is really important to find the reason and study it. 

1. Why does Sookan get into argument with Ellen?

2. How would people in the dinning hall feel when they heard Ellen gets engaged? What if it happens at Korea?

3. If you were Ellen, what would you say to Sookan? Would you agree with her after the argument? 

  

Chapter 13-18

Chapter 13
1. They are not that close, we can tell by their reactions during diner.
2. She suggests her thrown the letters out and do not think about them.
3. I don't think so, because she is a calm thinker.

Chapter 14
1. A red velvet box, with a necklace inside, because she thinks Sookan is a extraordinary woman.
2. She was invited to a lunch.
3.They missed her a lot.
4. I agree, because that's respect that Sookan needed.

Chapter 15
1. Because those are experiences that never happen to her before in Korea.
2. I wouldn't do the things she did.

Chapter 16
1. She has completed her work, and the relationship with friends improved.
2. She has became more and more American, including thoughts about family and other relationship.

Chapter 17
1. It was the news that her mom was dead.
2. It was incredible for her, but she didn't show much sadness either.

Chapter 18
1. She realized she was being silly.
2. Just be herself, but don't follow the trend too much.

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  In my opinion, the book seems pretty interesting to me so far. I have learnt a bunch of things from it.
  Sookan is still my favorite character. I am a boarding student as she is, thus we have a lot of same experiences. She is intelligence, patient and hard working. A lot of details in the story impressed me a lot. Such as she keeps trying to involve in the environment around her. I understand that America is a whole new place for her and she had a hard time understanding other friends' culture and communicate with them, but she still did it. She is really warm hearted, an example from page 32: " Marci had left Friday afternoon to go home to Scarsdale. I wished I could have joined her; she looked lonesome" We can tell by this quote that Sookan consider her friends' feeling. Another quote from page 57: "Everything is so different here, I said slowly. In Korea, such a thing would not be possible. Even married couples do not show such affection in public." She is trying to compare the two different cultures together to show her friend her thoughts. It's been tough for her to improve the friendship, but since she is willing to open her mind and try to communicate, I bet she is going to be successful later.
  I have noticed that Sookan is kind of shy though she works so hard. A quote from page 61" Sookan Bak, they called. I was stunned. I could not believe someone had nominated me. My heart started to pound. I wanted to accept the nomination. I would have loved to serve on the student council, and I was sure I could do a good job." This paragraph really show her mind. It happened to me too, when I was competing for the group leader in my Biology class, it's really excited to competing in a unfamiliar environment, but when I actually did it, I just couldn't believe myself.
  This book has motivated me a lot. First, Sookan is a only international student in her school, and she tried to talk with her classmates. I also is a international student, but sometimes I feel a little bit scared to talk in class or some places. I need to speak more in class. Second, Sookan studied very hard. She always sick because of study, but it is not good to study that hard. I need to focus on study, and also learn from Sookan's skills.