Kim Seong Yeol / A special memory from my childhood / 11a.m.

Enemy to friends

 

 While I was in Romania, I lived in an apartment where only Korean people lived. It belonged to my father's workplace so my father's coworkers also lived there. They had children, and they were in the same age group with me so we were really close to each other. As a matter of fact, we Korean children were too thick with each other that we didn't try to make native friends. We thought we were different with them, and as a childish mind we thought they were poor and dirty so that we looked down on them. And finally they got mad to us. We, about 6 children, had a big fight with some of neighborhood native children. As we were all about elementary aged children, fortunately no one got seriously injured. However some cried and some got bruise on the body. Eventually the war was over, and nobody was the winner. We couldn't know the reason for the fight, and also the reason why we looked down on them. They were just the same innocent young children, and in fact they even wanted to be friends of us. We felt shameful and sorry for them. We regretted and apologized to them, asking to be friends. They also apologized to start fighting and gladly became friends of us. After the fight we became good friends and played soccer together or come over to each other's house. As I was very young, honestly I cannot remember each of them. But one thing I can confidently say is that it was a valuable experience to me, and it was one of the most painful but also happiest memories in my life.