Keonho

Keonho is an 11-year-old boy from South Korea, staying with us for about 2 1/2 months.

We are all enjoying Keonho, and he is learning English with our family.

Keonho loves soccer and enjoys being outside and active. On the first night he arrived (May 5), we had 4 tickets to the Whitecaps soccer game, so Skye took Austin, Aidan and Keonho to the game. This was a highlight for Keonho. He was able to give me a summary of the game highlights, the next day.

We had arranged for Keonho to have his own room, but on the first night, he requested to share a room with someone. Austin jumped at this opportunity, and was thrilled to share the bunkbed with Keonho. On several nights, I have been able to hear them having late-evening conversations, comparing life in South Korea to life in Canada.

Austin and Keonho have been allowed to go to our local school or playground for short trips, on their own. I can tell that they both are enjoying the independence, and it's nice to see Austin more active during the day.

Keonho purchased a skateboard, because he had observed that skateboarding seems to be a common pasttime for North American boys of his age. Austin was using Keonho's skateboard a lot, so I thought it would be a good idea for Austin to have a skateboard of his own. So, I bought a skateboard for Austin. It looks a bit different from Keonho's skateboard, and Austin proceeded to go over all the differences, and repeatedly suggest that his skateboard was better than Keonho's.

Keonho had quite a strong reaction to Austin's pestering, and ended up throwing his own skateboard on the road and cracking its edge. He cried and was very upset, and decided he didn't want to ride his skateboard anymore. I didn't see or hear any of this happening while I was in the house, but Aidan told me a little bit, and when Keonho went inside to cry, I sat with him for several minutes, and got a better picture of what had happened. I think some of it was a cultural difference - it's common for 11-year-old boys to tease each other, and many North Americans will joke that they have something better than the next guy, because it's a different colour, or whatever. It doesn't mean that they really think it's better - it's supposed to be just a playful tease. However, Keonho took the words for what they were, and believed that Austin was convinced that Keonho had an inferior skateboard.

We brought Austin inside to apologise, and I think Austin understood that his teasing was hurtful. This was a good lesson in sensitivity for others.

By the next day, both Keonho and Austin were practicing skateboarding and having fun together again.