My Little Sister Hee Won

I didn’t realize how much influence I have been having on my host sister until recently. Over the past few weeks we have been spending more time together, sharing snacks, watching tv on my computer and sometimes just sitting on my bed chatting. I had to smile to myself when around lunchtime on Sunday I wandered back into the kitchen to find Hee Won at the stove recreating our scrambled eggs recipe to eat again for lunch. About twenty minutes later I found her in the bathroom with her new hair straighter, the same kind I have. As the middle child between two boys, I have never had a little sister to be a role model for. I am flattered that Hee Won has started treating me like an older sister and has wanted to spend more time together.

Last night I went into Hee Won’s room to see how she was doing and she was sketching a picture. She is a great artist and always puts a lot of effort into her art projects for school. However, this picture was not only a great drawing, but it was also extremely insightful. It was a picture of the two Koreas sewn together with a needle and thread. It also includes a quote about becoming one again. Hee Won spent the rest of the night working on the drawing and painting the final product.

My host family has been a little it confused about my volunteer work at the North Korean refugee center and sometimes have made comments that I am “obsessed” with North Korea because I not only volunteer once a week, but I have been on the DMZ tour (something very few Koreans I know have done). It made me smile to think that Hee Won believes in reuniting Korea and has expressed that desire in such a beautiful way. She has shown that her generation, a generation that has been completely removed from the post war years that their parent’s lived through, has the desire for change.

I love having Hee Won in my life. She is always the first one to greet me at the door when I come home and she always has a big smile on her face when I see her in the hallway at school. I used to hesitate talking to Hee Won too much because she would get a little overwhelmed speaking English, but as her vocabulary has grown and she has become more comfortable speaking English we have been able to grow closer. All good things take time and my relationship with Hee Won is a perfect example of that.