distances | joshua hong

one

Park Sunhwa ; 15 ; Seoul Arts High School ; Seoul, South Korea

Class was particularly boring today as the teacher spoke on and on about something Sunhwa didn't quite understand. Tucking a stray lock of my hair behind her ear, she sighed in frustration and continued writing down the notes as instructed. The mocking tick of the clock only deepened her frustration.

All of the sudden, the teacher stopped her repetitive speech and turned towards the class. "Thats the last of the notes for today. Now, I have an important announcement," she stated as she sat down in her chair and began digging through her cluttered desk drawer before pulling out a bag full of paper strips with names written on then.

"Today, we are starting a pen pal unit," she announced as she stood up from her desk, bag in hand. "You'll be writing letters to another class in the United States. Of course, we will be writing them in english, and they will also be writing back in english as well."

Suddenly feeling giddy at the thought of having a pen pal from America, Sunhwa let a small smile slip onto her face. She was always excited to meet someone knew, especially a foreigner.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her name was called by the teacher, signalling her to come choose a name from the bag.

Once she had returned to her seat, her friend Kim Seung leaned over her shoulder anxiously. "Who'd you get, Sunhwa?"

Curious as well, Sunhwa glanced down at the slip of paper resting between her index finger and thumb, reading the name written in the teacher's neat handwriting.

"Joshua... Hong," she read aloud.