A nice article in the Korea Times today from a Korean high school teenager who really appreciated the English Camp USFK recently ran:

A once-in-a-lifetime experience sometimes becomes a lesson that he or she can hardly forget. That experience was the Good Neighbor English Camp hosted by the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK).

Ahead of the start of the program, I had thought that it would be just filled with ‘tour-and-photo’ routines. Nevertheless, the camp gave me a precious lesson ? and much more than I had ever expected.

First of all, thanks to my host family and their immeasurable warmth, Mr., Mrs. Clouden, Javon, and Kennon, I could well experience and appreciate American family’s cultural traits and virtues.

During my stay, I felt glad to find out that Americans have similar family standards.

Like Korean families, Americans also regard family as fundamentals supporting individual strength and daily happiness. Moreover, I was also pleased to discover what they value most when they prayed before mealtime: family unison, the same value that we rank first too.

Secondly, I have also made a lot of American friends, who treated me equally and gently. Unlike American students’ usual misconception depicted in some teenager movies, they were warm and greeted anyone with sincere kindness.

They always smiled and tried to make me feel comfortable when I approached them to say hello and introduce myself. I would regret a lot of times had I decided not to join the camp or not been selected. It was really a good opportunity to recognize such nice friends.

Thirdly, the Camp offered me an opportunity to understand the U.S. army’s commitments dedicated to protecting Korea. Before the camp, I never knew how hard the U.S. forces are working to bring and maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.  [Korea Times]

Read the rest of the article but this students’ experiences pretty much mirrors the experiences I have seen other Korean youths have when interacting with American soldiers.  There is a huge misconception about American forces within the Korean public compared to what the reality is.  A lot of these misconceptions is driven by the Korean media of course, but as this student pointed out Hollywood also has a large effect on creating stereotypes about Americans as well.

Great work by everyone involved with the English Camp.