Excerpt: Min Ji Park: Life after Club Sha-Bang Sha-Bang

Chapter 11: Healing
I arrive to the store just fifteen minutes later than I normally would. I open up and start to heat some water for tea. I turn on the radio which is still tuned into EBS. Am I really in the mood for educational broadcasting? The program is some annoying couple talking about how to reduce our blood pressure. I immediately turn it to the classical station. The atmosphere improves as I place the shade perpendicular to the workbench. It gives me an extra bit of privacy. I quickly check my e-mails and website to see if there are any new orders. There aren’t any new orders. So I will just finish some that should be completed by tomorrow. I’m working diligently now and more comfortably than last night. I know where all of my tools are on the bench and my lack of vision isn’t slowing me down. I work hard for three hours and I have finished every outstanding order. I suppose it is time to eat. I will package them and send them out this afternoon. I order a cheap lunchbox set from a nearby delivery restaurant. Today’s menu is a pork cutlet, rice, and side dishes. I sit there waiting for the food. I’m staring out at the window, with my one functioning eye, and I think about how special that uniform was. In some ways, I feel the same way about this store. I love to hear the compliments. People think my store is adorable and cute. If they don’t know anything about me, it is great in their eyes. The uniform validated me in the same manner. To the complete stranger, I was an attractive girl in a nice school uniform of a prestigious school.
That first year at South River Prep Middle School started. I was terrified. Did I really belong there? But to my surprise, it wasn’t as hard as I had expected. In many ways, it was easier than my elementary school. South River Prep seemed to have an unlimited amount of resources. All the public schools which I attended always lacked everything including paper. Yes, riding the subway for thirty minutes was annoying, but I was never late. Of course, the classes were difficult but they were much smaller. I knew all of my teachers and they knew me. I’m sure that they were all aware of my situation, being an orphan on scholarship, but they never mentioned it or treated me any differently. I was grateful for that. I didn’t want to be treated like I was mentally challenged nor did I want to be the black sheep. Because I was so timid, I wasn’t sure if I would make any friends there. But that was the beauty about starting from the first grade of middle school. We were all in the same boat. Jina and I talked about going to the new school. I told her I worried about not fitting in with them. She grabbed my hand softly and advised me, “Min Ji, those girls aren’t any different than you. They were born naked, were accepted to that school, and just like you, they will be looking for new friends at school, too. Be kind and polite to everybody but only trust those who treat you with the same level of respect.” However, middle school students aren’t very deep when it comes to choosing friends; they just trust their senses. They don’t ask too many personal questions at first. Friendships just occur. Likewise, if you get casted as a meoncheongi, moron, or outsider, it’s a tough road. Those labels can be hard to shake. But it is simple. Perfectly functional but superficial relationship can thrive for an entire school year with its only communication coming in the form of dirty jokes. I remember watching it happen on several occasions. In particular, three rowdy and rambunctious girls spent the entire first year of middle school playing power slap tag and flicking one another’s foreheads as hard as possible. After both activities, they would burst into laughter and curse profusely. There was another group of girls that spent the whole year singing pop songs. They never had any conversations, but they spent hundreds of hours singing and enjoying the company of one another. At lunch time, there was a small click of boys that would huddle in a circle whispering jokes, they, too, would erupt into laughter until a teacher came over and whacked them on their back of the pants with a wooden stick. That’s how I made my first friends, Da Min and Yu Bin, getting whacked on the back of my legs with a wooden stick. The three of us showed up five minutes late to the assembly because we were confused. We had gone to the basement for science class. By the time we figured out that there was an assembly, we were late.
As we tried to sneak into the auditorium, the gym teacher stopped us. “Ya,na il-I wa-ba (Hey you come here),” he growled in a low but perfectly audible tone.
He explained the rules and schedule to us. He told us to face the wall and put our hands up. I was embarrassed but Da Min, a skinny, lanky girl with thick glasses, and Yu Bin, a short and chubby girl with a cute face and a bowl haircut, were not worried. They giggled for some unknown reason. The gym teacher asked them why they were laughing. Da min explained that they were late because had to use the restroom. Yu Bin explained that she didn’t feel well. Da Min added, “Yes, she had to take a dump.” I snickered but made sure that he couldn’t see me. He had heard enough of our explanations. Within a few seconds, he delivered three loud lashes to our calves. The pain was so surprising that it knocked the giggles out of me and Da Min and forced Yu Bin to pass gas. The loud honking noise caused us all to laugh uncontrollably.
The gym teacher shook his head and said, “Ya, get it in there and be quiet. Next time, don’t be late.” Of course, I was still shy but it seemed as if some friends had found me. It was the kind of experience that makes a friendship instantly.
As it worked out, Yu Bin was in most of my classes and Da Min was in all of my classes. They seemed kind and they were a lot of fun. Da Min reminded me of Jina. She liked to hold hands and she was just a very sweet, clumsy, and honest person. Yu Bin was unique. In some ways, she was similar to Ji won. For example, they were both straight-forward people who talked too much. The biggest difference was that Yu Bin was such a clown and had zero interest in boys at that point. She enjoyed making other people laugh. She was just funny even when she tried to be serious. I felt relieved because I thought that I had found the kind of friends that Jina had recommended.
The school was as impressive as I had expected. There were consequences and rewards not just idle threats. The curriculum was well traditional but very interesting. Of course, we had Chinese, Korean, Math, English and Science. Then, they had many clubs: Latin club, dance club, choir, etc, etc. I couldn’t join to many of the clubs because I had my duties at the library. I really loved the library, a modern looking room with good natural light and huge wooden tables, individual study desks, and comfortable couches. The library was operated by the parent’s association and student volunteers like me. The volunteers were mothers and they took a lot of pride in their library that they had help raised money for annually. They were very kind and I had very little to do there actually. Everything was a bit unusual at South River Prep, especially, for Korean education at that time. The teachers were organized, strict, but passionate. I had two English teachers. One was a Korean man who spoke English perfectly. He was about two hundred years old but he taught us with precision. He was a grammar guru and his exams were nearly impossible. The other was Canadian man, Paul Baker, in his mid-thirties. He taught us twice a week and he liked to play the yelling game during which we had to yell at him in English? He said it was to build our confidence. It actually helped me a lot. Compared to the grammar guru, Mr. Baker’s exams were extremely easy. The art teacher was impressed by my natural talent but had studied at a visual arts University in France. She preached that art should be based on technique rather than emotion.
I tested into most of the advance classes except for math. That changed quickly, I had this amazingly cool teacher, Choi Ye Ji. She noticed that I was struggling and helped me and gave me extra practice work. She was young, attractive, and married to pilot. Most girls wanted to be like her and all of the boys wanted to marry her.
I usually stayed at school until eight p.m. There was a study hall open to all students. It cost extra but my scholarship had included the cost of it. I tried to work hard. I always finished my homework early. We were allowed to read be we weren’t allowed to talk. That made it torturous for Yu Bin, but we found a solution. The minute the gym teacher, who was also the study hall teacher, started to dooze off, we would pass notes back and forth. We tried to make them as decorative and elaborate as possible. I kept many of them for several years. I doubt that I still have any of them. I’ll have to chek at my place tonight when I go home. Anyway, the study hall made for a long day. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it because it was nice to have a life outside of the house and it seemed to help my grades. After study hall, we would sometimes buy a snack or ice cream. But I always remembered Ji Won’s advice. Never take the express bus from Yongsan Station. When I got home, Ji Won and I would talk for a few hours, snuggle and read with each other and fall asleep. It was a very good year!