i am not catholic. i was in public school in hawthorne until my parents realized that i wasn't going to get into harvard going to eucalyptus elementary school and pulled me out in the middle of 3rd grade. i was less than thrilled.
i had probably been to a big korean church a couple of times with my cousins. other than that, my dad was an atheist and my mom had been raised buddhist. all of sudden, i had to learn about the garden of eden, moses, noah, and jesus and his buddies, all of whom had the same names as the korean kids i had met at church. peter, john, paul, you get the picture. i had to memorize verses, go to mass where i couldn't get communion so i sat alone in the pew like a dope while everyone else went up.
all of this was for naught as my original sin was never erased because i wasn't baptized and i was always feeling guilty about something. the only good thing was i didn't have to go to school on holy days of obligation.
being in a small school was annoying but i guess it didn't allow me to hide in a mass of people. i ended up being second in my class (always behind aileen!), the public relations officer (don't be wrong, vote for seong!), hula hooping champion (along with my sister) and a decent volleyball player.
the best thing about my education at st. jerome's was that it put me a year behind in math so i had to take algebra and all regular classes, instead of honors, my freshman year of high school when we moved to torrance. this allowed me to get straight A's for one year of high school, an achievement that was never repeated. thanks, st. jerome's! read more