2011 EISC Session I Participant: Jacqueline Ong


National Chengchi University, Taiwan


It started with a click. A small act of randomness typical of me whose general preoccupation would be to wander about, stumble on any bump jutting out from the ground, stop on some things I fancy, and either finding myself trapped in a rut or indulging in Pandora’s box. Good thing, it was the former that happened when I was in the month-long summer program at Ewha.


The first week of intensive Korean language classes strained my mouth muscles to the point that talking has become such a chore. King Sejong must have been seriously bored when he invented all those vowels and mixed consonants while staring at window shutters! But at least it got me speaking basic Korean from zero. Four weeks of classes made me realize that I had a most awesome teacher, Minseon Kim, who happens to share the same name as a good friend. Not only did I discover that I can make audible sounds and intelligible words beyond the 26 letters of the English and the 37 of the Chinese alphabets, but I was moreso inspired by the stories our seonsengnim shared about Ewha Womans University. It dawned on me that one person of pure motives can bring so much historical and social significance as exemplified by Ewha founder Mary Scranton. She started a school in her home with only one student in 1886, at a time when women in Korea weren’t even allowed to take in formal education. And because of one simple act of stepping out of the conventional, I, and good many other women all over the world are privileged to have prime education and be part of this legacy of faith.


Being back in Taiwan where I’m also an international student, I can’t help but reminisce the good times I had back in Ewha. I’m missing the gothic buildings, the huge stone steps, the hill-ding (the building on a hill that everyone else calls ECC), the sprawling landscape greens, the hidden trails, the library where I had spent afternoons reading books from its extensive collection, museums, my dormitory where friendly