To the Good Days

Chapter 1: Life up to this point

"안녕하세요, 도당, (annyeonghaseyo dogang) My name is Emily as always and welcome back to my channel. In today's video, as it has been so highly requested, is the story of my life as of 2016. I hope you guys are ready for this adventure and good luck. " I say enthusiastically while giving some generic hand motions. I'm seated, cross legged on the bed, and smooth out my hair. I take a deep breath and begin my story.

"My name is Emily Patrice Hughes. I was born on an unseasonably warm October afternoon, according to my mother. October 3rd, 1993 to be exact. My mother, Carla, and my father, Chuck, were amazing parents and were elated for my arrival. Someone who wasn't was my older brother, Brendan. As the only child before i was born, he wasn't ready to give up the attention so easily. He eventually warmed up to the idea of having someone to play with. Another 5 years later, at the end of 1997, my little sister Mary Kate was born. i was so excited to have someone to play dress up with me and give makeovers too. You know, the typical sister activities. " I pause and let out a small chuckle. " My family and I lived in a nice neighborhood of Chicago that my dad actually grew up in. I loved that house and it holds so many memories."

"When us kids began to read and write, my parents decided that we were all going to be these highly intellectual scholars. So my parents introduced us to a foreign language that we would learn through all our years of school. Brendan got Spanish while my sister and I got French. So naturally after learning French for about 15 years , in my case, I can say I'm fluent in French. Which really doesn't help the fact that i live in Seoul,but at least it can a great party trick." I sigh and shake my head. " My siblings and i went to one of those private, Catholic schools in Chicago. Which is fine, I guess, if you really like Jesus. "

"School was always pretty easy for me. I never really felt challenged enough. Call me a nerd, but the classes got boring and repetitive after awhile. I was the big fish in a little pond in every class, but what could i do? Now, everything in life was great. I had my 2 very best friends that I still have to this day, my loving family, and an excellent academic career. But everything changed when the fire nation attacked." I bust out laughing from my own joke. i wipe away fake tears. " oh my I'm so sorry. I just couldn't resist. It was getting too dramatic. what really happened was when i was 11, my parents sat all the kids around the kitchen table. They said, 'We're moving.' I looked at Brendan in disbelief. Mary Kate was still too young to understand what that meant. immediately, my brother and i started bombarding our parents with questions and pleading to stay here. It continued on for a few minutes, but when the chaos died down, our parents began to explain that, ' Your mother got offered a position at the Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea for pediatric medicine. She will be helping young doctors learn how to deal with patients and make their patients feel better.' Brendan and I just nodded in acceptance. my father continued on, ' Mom is leaving in 4 months and then the rest of us will follow after a couple months. Mom wants to get settled in before we head over there.'  Soon after the news was dropped, all  of us kiddos became taking Korean lessons on top of our other language lessons. "

" The next few months were stressful. It was weird seeing my mom pack up all her things and a few household items into boxes. When the day finally came to drop her off at the airport, she told us that we would see her in a few months. It was weird not getting on the plane with her and watching her fly away. Those months that followed my moms departure were challenging. We all missed her, but we knew it wasn't forever. in 5 and half months, we would be in South Korea with her. a big happy family again. " i chuckle, " That was really cliche and I'm so sorry." 

"As the months turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into days and the days turned into hours, I was excited and nervous about the new life that was waiting for us in Seoul. i was more than excited to see my mom again. Skyping only allows for so much as do phone calls. I could tell everyone was nervous for the drastic change that awaited us. Anxiously waiting for the flight was miserable. My dad and aunt helped us pack up all our clothes and various family items into boxes to be mailed over to the house in South Korea. Finally, the day came. At 5 am, my dad, brother, sister and i were picked up by my uncle and taken to the airport. Each of us had a suitcase with enough clothes to last until the boxes arrived. My aunt, uncle and granddad were to stay in our house while we were gone so we didn't have to sell it. All of our goodbyes were said to family, friends, neighbors before we left. Then we boarded the plane for what seemed to be the longest flight of our lives."