Freshman Yumi Moon at a festival in Kyoto, Japan.
In the “New Kids on the Block” series, new students were interviewed on their life outside of SCDS.
Yumi Moon attended Winston Churchill Middle School before coming to Country Day this year. She recently moved from Gold River (near Rancho Cordova) to Sacramento. Next will be new freshman Ted Zhou.
Q: Why did you decide to come to Country Day?
A: My family thought it was a really good program.
Q: How do you like the school so far?
A: It’s really fun. All the people are nice here, and the teachers are supportive, too. It’s a good learning environment. My old school had about 300 people per grade.
Q: What is your favorite subject?
A: I kind of like English. The teacher’s really nice. It’s fun for me; I like what they teach.
Q: Do you have any hobbies or special talents?
A: I like to play golf and read. I’m going to play (golf) for Country Day. I haven’t played on a team before. My mom and dad like to play golf; I play with them.
Q: How good are you at golf?
A: Not very good. I learned golf for a while, (and I was) okay, but when I go out onto the field, I don’t actually keep track of my score.
Q: What’s your favorite book?
A: I like Harry Potter, but I read it a long time ago. I read “To Kill a Mockingbird” more recently.
Q: Did you take any trips over the summer?
A: I went to (South) Korea and Japan. My parents are from Korea, and my uncle lives in Japan, though he is Korean. My uncle and cousins on my dad’s side are in Japan.
I stayed there for a month. I went to Korea for five days, then Japan for a month, then back to Korea for a few hours. Mostly, I met relatives.
Q: Do you visit South Korea often? When was the last time you went?
A: I go to Korea every single summer. Since the Korean school schedule is different than the American schedule, I would go to a Korean school. This was only for elementary school. This was the fifth time I went to Japan.
Q: Why did part of your family move to Japan?
A: My cousins on my dad’s side only moved there because my uncle moved there. My mom has six siblings. One of them lives in Korea. I don’t know why my uncle moved (to Japan).
Q: Do you have any of your extended family here?
A: A lot. On my mom’s side, five of my aunts live in LA, and they all have kids.
Q: How does Korea compare to Japan?
A: First of all, in Korea I could actually understand what people were saying, but in Japan, I don’t speak Japanese very well. The food is good in both places.
Q: What language do you speak with your relatives?
A: I’m fluent in Korean, so I speak with all my relatives in that. I don’t usually talk to strangers, so I don’t need much Japanese.
Q: What is Korean food like? What are your favorite dishes?
A: Spicy and good. Not all of them are spicy, but Korean people prefer spicy food. Mostly I like noodles, but I also like chicken.
—By Garrett Shonkwiler
