Crossing a Stream Named ‘Language’
Writer : Minjun Oh
We always mention about the term ‘language barrier’. A lot of my Korean friends always say they want to make international friends, but the language always acts as an issue. In this case, and I guess for many other Koreans, the language issue does actually act as a barrier.
Our trip to Jaecheon was a mixture of nationality and friendships. Except for the Koreans, who actually have known each others due to their club activities, most of the non-Korean members that attended have never met each other, and had to make new realtions with there Korean counterparts and other foreign attendees. This needed a lot of effort due to the so called language barrier. Breaking that barrier, which for the Koreans meant not using their mother-tongue, was a difficult change. But that was not the biggest hardship of the day. From the beginning, there were some members who did not attend without notice, and there were some issues with our lunch menu. Due to these hardships, we started breaking that barrier, and starting work things out with each other, and started to being friends, united by the use of English. But the biggest hardship of the day had not even started.
For the afternoon schedule, we had to visit a well-knowned buddist temple in Jaecheon, named ‘Jeongbang-sa’. We were noticed that the climb will be a 2km walk so no one had any issues with it. But what we had not noticed was the fact that due to rainfall that came before day of the trip, there were streams that carved up the road. All of us were not prepared for this part of the trip. But happened afterwards was truly magical. Few of us starting to fall into the streams bare-footed and started help our members cross those streams. Others gabbed each others’ hands, and some literally carried the other members through the streams. This was by far the most toughest part of that 2 day schedule. But after we overcame that hike, we became closer than ever before.
It’s been a couple of months since we came back from Jaecheon, but me and some other Korean members are still in contact with the newly made foreign-friends from that day. We all have gone through a lot through that 2-day schedule and to be honest, it was worth it. Getting wet, holding each others hand, helping each other, that is a testament of Camaraderie. And through that camaraderie, we truly have broke the language barrier, or is it a ‘Language Stream’? I give thanks to all of the members that attended the trip for making an unforgettable memory.
