I personally thought the readings due Wednesday were interesting since I could actually “read” it and understand it. The readings were fairly easy to understand without the specific names compared to the previous readings. It feels like the course focus has moved from New York to specific times of the U.S. but anyhow… that was not what I want to talk about in this blog. The reading “Soap and Water” interested me a lot. It is not because the reading was short or because I smell (I think. Well, I don’t smell anything when I sniff myself at least… Tell me if I do please.) It was interesting to me because it was a story about what I may go through. Sure, I have decided my major to be Psychology, and I am somewhat interested in Psychology but I don’t know what is going to happen to me in the future, I may change my mind or something may happen to me. Wait, this is too general, and everyone may think this but let’s go little deeper.
During the winter break we just had put me into a tremendously depressing state. One of the main reason was that my GPA was extremely low for me to keep my scholarship, and the other being my legal status. I am currently an illegal immigrant (not because I wanted to but I am) and I currently have nothing to support my identity in the U.S. Now, this puts me in the worst spot for someone that’s about to turn twenty. What are the differences between high school students and college students? Not only the degree of schools but most college students(especially guys that live in New York) have bank accounts, have driver’s license, and they work. (high school students can also do this but the proportion becomes very different from high school to college as we all know) And, as an illegal immigrant without a working permit, I can’t work 
legally. I am about to get one, but I don’t have one yet. (Well, I did go to work for the first week of school until it took them two days for them to realize that I am inadequate to be an English Teacher’s Assistance) It’s not like I have connections for jobs that will pay me with cash, I can’t drive, my mother is getting older everyday, I am about to lose my scholarship if I don’t work hard but I can’t do anything about it during the break, my sister spends tremendous amount of money since she is oblivious and isn’t the brightest human being in the world. With all those concerns, I just sat home doing nothing during the break. As I just stayed home for about a month, it worried me how long it would take me to graduate and to get a job with a psychology degree so that I can help the family. As I was keep thinking about those stuff, I wondered if I could get a job even after I graduate, so I could relate to the text. But, as the writer in the passage have relieved at the end, I was relieved as my mentor made me realize that it’s nothing for me to worry about now, and things will get better for me eventually.(Maybe)
That’s all I wanted to say.
I could relate to “Soap and Water” as a college student with hidden future so far.
-Jason Cho
