South Korean student enjoying his Clay County stay

(Photo by Kris Todd) Standing in front of an American flag in Clay Central-Everly Principal Al Laboranti's office, CCE foreign exchange student Sanghun "Shawn" Yang is shown wearing his South Korean high school uniform. [Order this photo]

Sanghun Yang, who's called "Shawn" by friends at Clay Central-Everly High School, wants to set the record straight.

First, the 17-year-old South Korean wants it known that he "loves" it here.

Second, Yang wants northwest Iowans to know that he is outgoing and funny.

"I was really outgoing in Korea because I can say really funny jokes in Korean. But I can't explain the jokes in English," he explained.

The World Heritage student-exchange program participant arrived in Spencer in mid-October. Bruce and Gwen Kardell are serving as his host parents.

Asked to explain why he wanted to become a foreign exchange student, Yang answered, "From when I was young, I wanted to experience many different cultures. And your culture is totally different from ours, so I wanted to experience this culture. So, I decided to come to the United States as a foreign exchange student."

Yang's father, Kwan-Sub Yang, owns an air conditioning company. His mother, Nan-Young Yoon, is a housewife. His younger brother, Sang-Woo Yang, is 15 and attends Inji Middle School.

The teenager hails from the port city of Busan, South Korea. With a population of about 3.65 million, Busan is the country's second largest metropolis, after Seoul.

"My country's size is about half of Minnesota. It's a really small country, but we have a 47 million population," Yang explained.

Noting there are many differences between South Korea and the United States, he added, "We have lots of apartments. Most Koreans live in apartments. We call them chicken coops. But your houses are big and pretty."

After liberation and division, Yang's country was officially established in 1948. South Korea has since become one of the two most advanced democracies in East Asia.

North Korea, its immediate neighbor, tightened restrictions on its border with South Korea on Dec. 1, to protest what it calls South Korea's hostile policy. Yang, who indicated his grandmother has cousins in North Korea, deemed the communist structure "horrible" and the recent divide between the two "like losing my brother."

"They can't use Internet or telephones because the government just cuts all connections between other countries to protect their civilians from democracy. So, they are just grounded in North Korea," he said.

Another difference Yang has experienced locally is Americans' love of fast food.

"Our main food is rice, many vegetables and some meats. Soy sauce is most popular and traditional," he said.

The polite teenager smiled as he then relayed, "I like cheeseburgers in the United States," claiming South Korea also has the McDonald's and Burger King chains, but the food served here is better.

Yang also mentioned he likes that students can drive here. In South Korea, a driver needs to be at least 19 years old.

The CCE sophomore attended a charter school in Mesa, Ariz. during his first three months in the United States.

"The charter school was really horrible; but teachers were good. So when I came here, students were so nice. Really nice. They helped me a lot," Yang confided. "Actually, I couldn't make any friends in Arizona because they smoked and drank, bad things. So I was so happy when I came here."

According to the foreign exchange student, the U.S. educational system is "more stable" than his country's.

"Korea is a really young country, so it's not complete yet. They are still changing the system from bad things to good things. United States students have more ways to go to college, to get jobs, more different ways to study," Yang explained.

He continued, "After graduating middle school, we separate high school by two types: For more education and for jobs. The top 70 percent of students can go to more-education high school. After three years, they have to take the SAT and that's it. They can go to college."

Those Korean students enrolled in technical schools may also take the SAT and proceed to college.

"But most of them don't want to go to college. So after graduating, they just get jobs," Yang said. "Most Koreans think the school is not technical, just for square-peg students -- or students who don't want to study."

Yang, who is enrolled in the "more-education" type of high school, began learning the English language about four years ago. Instead of Japanese, he has also chosen to learn Chinese. While he admitted that English class is "tough" for him at CCE, Yang indicated teacher Jeff Peterson "helps a lot."

His plans are to one day become an English professor in college.

"He is honest, kind and has a great sense of humor. He's a perfect fit for our family," Gwen Kardell, Yang's local host mother, said. "He has no fear of getting involved in any school activity, even if it is the first time he has ever been involved in doing it -- such as playing basketball for CCE or joining the indoor soccer league here in Spencer. We feel blessed to have him and hope he feels the same!"

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Dear my host family,

Hello. My name is Yang, Sanghun and I live in the port city in South Korea,

Busan. I grow up seeing wide sea everyday. I live with my parents and

younger brother happily. I am a student of Dongrae high school which has a

long history over 110 years and my younger brother is attending Inji middle

school which was my school. My father is operating a company in Busan and

my mother is a housewife and she is a good cook. They are very enthusiastic

people about our education. When I was young, my father wanted to bring us

up the country than big city. So I lived in Yangsan where is not a big

city. I enjoyed my childhood there in great green field. I was a boy who

has a full of curiosity and my parents bought me many books to fill my

curiosity. I had lots of books like a library. When I go to the school, my

family moved to Busan again to study. I think my parents wanted to provide

the best environments for me and my brother. My family traveled various

places. Because of my parents' open-mind, I and younger brother can

experience valuable cultures, arts and environments of several countries. I

have been to Saipan, China, and Europe (England, France, Germany, Italia,

Austria, Switzerland and etc.) After I visited advanced countries, I wanted

to learn more about advanced country. And I am interested in world history.

I am interested in science and arts field. I won the prize of piano contest

and I won over 15 prizes related in drawing pictures. I have a confidence

drawing pictures. In Science field, I won the ministry of science and

technology prize. This is really wonderful and honorable prize. I was a

leader of Korean Scout for 3 years. I completed disaster rescue discipline

for 15 hours and participated in leadership program for 30 hours. Because

of these program, I could learn good leadership helping mind. I maintain

good relationship with friends and teachers. So sometime teachers call me,

son~!! It is very good to hear. I am very healthy because I love playing

sports. I have been learning swimming and Kendo since I was young. I also

play soccer and basketball with friends. These days I am interested in

American football especially Superball. I think it is very famous in USA.

My dream was to be a pilot but I changed my dream to be a professor. If I

become a pilot, I probably can experience many things of valuable countries.

However if I become a professor, I can share my experiences and knowledge

with students and other people. I like to share Korean culture and current

economics with you and love to know American cultures and life styles. I am

looking forward meet you and share your and my cultures.

Sincerely,

Sanghun Yang