To Ms. Leanne And anyone that it may concern People are all good. Or at least they are, in the beginning. Just like Adam and Eve. And just like Adam and Eve, they turn from Good almost all the time. I used to live in a nice apartment in Korea. When I turned six, our family moved to the Philippines. Low exchange rate, not too far from Korea. A perfect place for a family that was lost in their homeland. There were many conflicts in our family during and after my parent's marriage, and they didn't stop even after we settled down. When I turned 10, my father moved back to Korea. I, my little brother and my mother stayed in the Philippines. During our stay, my mother worked a Homestay, bringing in people from Korea who were interested in studying English. She was a very smart woman, and most of the people who visited our house were very smart, too. I didn't know then, but mother really was a smart person. During my stay in the Philippines, I didn't really have many friends. If people didn't talk to me first, I almost never started conversations with anyone I really did not know. This really did not get me many friends. In my school in the Philippines, I usually strolled around alone and listened to class until it was time to go home. After a while, mother eventually found out that I was not having a great time at school, and decided it was time to go somewhere else. She said that we were going to move to Canada out of the blue, and it was pretty sad to say goodbye to the few friends I actually had in school. I could easily say, no offense to my friends in the Philippines, that I met real friends in Canada. Living alone, surrounded by video games and sodas, I rarely did any social activities. Seeing myself without anybody and others with many made me feel hopeless, and I started to think that I maybe was an undercover person, not being able to do anything. My friends in Canada changed me, started to help me open myself up to other people. I started pushing out of my little turtle shell that had for so long walled me off from the world. Leaving my friends in Canada, our family moved back to Korea. Mother thought that coming back to Korea was best for all of us, and because we were running short on money. I started to go to a public school right in front of our house. I fared well, probably because of my friends that I made in Canada. During my short life of maybe eighteen years, I learned that life is not rainbows and sparkles. Nor can some people be trusted, and that the world is much harsher than people say it is. I guess words like this coming out of a mere teenager like me can't be taken seriously since everyone wants to be above each other. The world is a big black hole. It tries to suck you in, make you theirs, suck you dry of everything you love and care. But there is a way out, for a few moments. Friends, family, and other people that care for you. Think about them. There is light at the end of a tunnel. And this is coming from someone who you can trust, and also cares.

Before we jump into this awesome, marvelous essay that everyone will enjoy, I just have a quick question. When is the last time you've asked a question? I suppose that it may not have been very long. This essay, or just a piece of writing, in fact, is coming from someone who does not ask too many questions. First of, let's talk about me. I used to live in Korea, but after some family crisis, we (I mean my family) moved to the Philippines. Mom, being the usual egghead in the house, started a home stay, which is technically a dorm with the building being a house. I learned English during those few years, and I am writing this essay in Korea. I met this great teacher in my international school in Korea. She told me I have gifts in writing, which led me to this site. Now, I have to say that I used to be a sore loser in the Philippines. Not because of the students in all the schools I went to, of course. They were all nice, friendly kids. Me, on the other hand, was quite different. Not active at projects, or generally anything at all, the only thing I remember doing that was the closest to call social activity was going out to the school talent show with a classmate and winning second place. I guess this experience (I'm not saying that it's any of you guy's faults, of course- to anyone of my past) kind of traumatized me into games, and I started living in a box. I can't say I had the worst personality, either. I guess I was a little weird, not being to socialize with other people very well, stuttering in my words, but I was nice, just like I am now. This experience, as I said earlier, kind of brought me away from people. I became a very crouched person, a golum, I should say. Unless people came up to me first, there was no way I would start a conversation first. Luckily, I had some friends that were nice enough to start a conversation with me. This got me to think, there may be nice people that exist in the world.