I learned a lot from your patience and responsibility. 

You would always try to do your best in everything. You have grit, the tendency I have to get from you. Memories of seeing that kind of person from a close distance will last. And people trust you because of it, and that includes me.
I would call it a master level of 'manipulating,' making people rely on and put faith in you.

But at the same time, I am concerned your tenacious mind is starting to impact your physical self.
I hope you find a habit of exercising regularly. Fewer hamburgers and coke if possible. 


Thank you for bearing with me, and thank you for confronting me.
You were just and fair even though I wasn't.

This relationship may not meet your expectations, but you have impacted me in a way. I will try not to make the same mistakes.

Thank you for your blessings and criticisms. 
Thank you for caring.

Now, I set thee free. Time to go home to be my parent's pain in the ass.

This Friday is my end-date of my internship, so this is my last blog. I can not believe that I’ve worked here for 4 months. Time flies. Now I get closer with my roommates and get used to this work, but I have to leave. It took a long time to soak up this culture for me (in perspective of relationships), so 4 months is short to experience American culture. However, I know many people are friendly because I am leaving soon. There is an old phrase in Korea “Leave when people are clapping”. It means that even though you are sad to leave, it is the best time to leave when people have good memories of you. Therefore, I will enjoy this last week without any regret and leave!


Last Friday and Saturday, I managed my last events successfully; Living in Space 2022. As I mentioned before, I made event pages on Linkedin and Facebook and uploaded a promo video and images that I made. Even though It was not that powerful to attract many audiences but I think if we advertise with them 2 weeks before the event, it would work. We didn’t have enough time to prepare for this event. All the things were processed in 2-3 days. We had problems with some speakers and it made us devastated. But we solved problems very well and no one recognized that there were problems. I know it could sound weird but I was happy to be busy those days. I felt like a talented intern! I would be happier if there were more events. Anyway, I’m leaving and just hope the following events be prepared in advance for everyone!


After work, I took a short nap and did volunteer work for Tacoma Pride Festival. I really wanted to volunteer work in the U.S. for human rights. Finally, my dream came true! I picked up trash and looked around the vendors. I was surprised because there were so many Christian booths. Unlike in Korea, many Christians support LGBTQ rights. I saw a conflict between pro-choice and pro-life and it was impressive too. Even though, the pride festival and my volunteer work ended well.


On my last Sunday, I rode a boat🚢 and saw orcas with Young-Eun and a roommate. My roommate invited me to this event. I didn’t expect that I could ride a boat in the United States! It was a fancy and exciting experience. All the views, breeze, and food were perfect. I made a new friend called Jim who owns a boat. He was a nice guy who has been to Korea when he was in the navy. To talk with him about his journey and life was interesting. We promised to meet again if I visit here someday.


The most interesting thing that day was definitely seeing orcas🐋! I’ve heard this area is famous for orcas, but I thought seeing orcas would not happen to me. They were huge and their body looked smooth. They seemed to move somewhere. I hope they had a good journey like us. This day is one of the most perfect days of my life! I hope the rest of my days would be perfect!


JIYEON GO

To celebrate independence day, the fireworks lit up the sky all over the U.S on July 4th. To enjoy a big holiday in America, I went to the Gasworks park in Seattle. The event called Seafair was held by Amazon, so I expected it will be bigger than in Tacoma. There was a long line to enter that park and the park was packed with millions of people. I think it is because it hadn’t been held for 3 years because of COVID. Many people seemed to have high expectations of this event. To get a good seat for the amazing view, I went there early and had to wait for 4 hours. I was very hungry but all the food there was overpriced so I just grabbed potato chips. As it became 10:20 pm, the fireworks finally started. It was astonishing and huge. Sometimes it reminds me of white phosphorus munitions so I prayed for Ukraine for a few minutes. The fireworks didn’t last long thankfully. The last bus from downtown Seattle to my home was 11: 40 pm, so I rushed to catch the bus from Gasworks to downtown. However, I missed the point that there could be huge traffic jams after the event. I was stuck on the bus for 1 hour and eventually missed the bus to my home. To get a uber at a lower price, I decided to move to the SEA-TAC airport. The way to the station was sketchy. No one except the homeless was there. Anyway, I arrived at the SEA-TAC airport safely and took a uber. It was so long day for me. I can not forget this day not only because of the fireworks but also the traffic.

Like the July of 4th that I sent, LiftPort had bumpy days. Our important event, Space Investment Summit, was canceled. We poured our all efforts into that, but we had only two options; cancel or delay. I can not understand why everyone says they need more time. Sometimes I feel some people lack responsibility. There will be only one event before I leave. I’m so sad that I couldn’t manage lots of events. The upcoming event is Living in Space. I made a 1-minute long promo video and promo images for that as a personal project. I think I made it as well as a graphic designer. I uploaded those works on LinkedIn and Facebook. I hope my works attract at least 10 audiences. On the other part of our event, Michael had a hard time organizing schedules. Because we don't have much time, I'm a little bit worried. I hope this event will be held without any problem.

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JIYEON GO

​On the 4th, we went to see fireworks. The park we went was crowded, loud, and expensive. The firework was breathtaking but a bit short. A guy next to me called it "sad"! He said they have better fireworks in New Jersey. Confusingly enough, he also advised me not to go to New Jersey. Mixed signals. The way to get home after the event was an unexpected challenge. I blame the traffic. Every single living soul in Seattle was out to enjoy fireworks. And it turns out that a lot was going on with Michael this weekend. He had a mild car accident and left his keys in the office before leaving for the holidays.

Sometimes I wonder why everything unfortunate seems to happen to him. He complains the same thing.

We are preparing for the event later this week. I've been working on Twitter for promotion. Michael is struggling with the schedule still.

YE

​It's almost July. Finally, summer is here. Michael said it will, but I didn't believe him until now. 
The good news is that the sun is up, and the city looks pretty. The bad news is that JY's leaving date is getting closer. We are planning every day to make something out of it. Going to Seattle even after work is always an option. I think we've explored Tacoma enough. It's a small, quiet town. We may revisit some spots, but that will be it.

We went to the Seattle pride parade last week. This was the first time for JY and me. I loved seeing people dressed and how strangers shouted "Happy Pride!" to each other. Seattle center was lively and crowded. I enjoyed music and played around fountains. My jeans got wet, but they dried fast because of the sun! It was a hot day even after 6pm. We had to stop for ice cream eventually. JY confessed that she used to not like ice creams before coming here. I could not believe her!

We kept walking and got to Capital Hill. Capital Hill was quite different. Fewer kids, more booze. I had jello shots. Maybe I could make them for myself? After a few rounds, we ran for the bus and came home. 
This crazy hang-out schedule makes me constantly tired on weekdays. I have to sleep early to fix this fatigue. At least I sleep as I turn off the lights. I used to have sleeping problems, but now with a LOT of walking and enough sunlight on me, I pass out every night. No counting sheep. And I would wake up at 6:30 without an alarm clock! 

YE

As usual, I did cat herding and a personal project this week. Cat herding works have been plain sailing. I’ve sent lots of emails to 18 speakers so far and there will be more. My new personal project is making a promo video for Living in Space on July 8+9. I collected free video clips about Mars and Moon for that. Now I’m editing the clips and writing subtitles. Because it is my second time editing the video, every process goes smoothly and the speed is faster than before.
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This week, I restarted to participate in the session held by spaceworks Tacoma. The session was about the difference between branding and marketing. I could learn the definition and important pillars of them, and it was really helpful information. Honestly, we haven’t spent much time thinking about branding. We learned that branding should be first before marketing, so we are going to make our branding strategies soon. Because the session contains practical information and gives insight, I’m going to take the following sessions.

Instead of weekly Pizza Tuesday for team building, we went to mountain Rainier on Thursday. It is the 3rd biggest mountain in America, so I can see it in our office whenever it’s sunny, even though it is 77.4 miles away from our office. Because it is the representative mountain covered by snow, I really want to see it with my own eyes. Thankfully, Michael took me and YoungEun to the mountain! On the way to the mountain, we dropped by a pop-up fruit store and bought cherries and nectarines. The owner gave us samples and they were so fresh and tasty! We finally arrived at the mountain after driving for 1 hour and 30 minutes. We had quick meals at the cafeteria and walked 30 minutes course. Due to the snow, my eyes were dazzling in the sunlight, and sometimes I was about to slip. Despite the difficulties, the view was breathtaking. Especially I liked the top of the mountain which is covered by permanent snow. I could feel the greatness of nature. On the way down the mountain, we looked around the falls. It was quite huge and made lots of drops of water and two rainbows. It was interesting to be hit by water drops. We really enjoyed this short trip. I’m very thankful to Michael to make this memorable day!

JIYEON GO

We finalized when we host our following events; The Starfleet Enterprise, The Space Investment Summit, MarsCoin, and Lunar Development Conference! Therefore, we are working on cat herding right now. Michael hosted a bunch of speakers and I sent emails for the speaker portal. Young Eun made a useful checklist for cat herding on the notion page, so I could do my work very smoothly. I’m glad to communicate with speakers again and restart the event series! July will be a VERY busy month for us, even though I’m looking forward to that month!

We restart our Formal Monday too. Actually, it was Formal Thursday this time. It was my second presentation. We shared what we’ve done and what we’ve learned. I presented my personal project, social media stuff, and our Pizza Tuesday. As I said before, I made promo videos and images as a personal project. At the start, I was unsure of the result because I’m not artistic but now Michael and I are quite satisfied with my work. Regarding the images, I made two versions so they are waiting for the AB test! I’m really curious about the results. 

Now we move forward to the following events and have promo stuff. I hope we can launch our event series like Nuri, Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II, which was successfully launched even though lots of delays. 

Jiyeon Go

Less than a month remains with my internship, and I can't believe I've spent more than two months in this office. 

This small office is full of personal belongings. Naturally, Micheal is very attached to this place. He called the office "sanctum", if I remember it correctly. Since then, I am extra careful with locks.

He has a lot to talk when it comes to this place. He could have written a book about his office and his whole life if he wanted to. He's not sharing a lot of it with the public, which feels like a waste to me!
I thought of taking pictures of every tiny bit of this office and posting them on social media with his stories. This place have robots, posters, notes, book collections, lanyards, giraffe dolls(LSEI), loads of boxes filled with glory, and lots more in this office. But now I am running out of time.
I've also noticed a random "Get well soon" balloon on the wall made me curious. Nevertheless, I might not even start the conversation about this because I've learned the lesson: Micheal is VERY talkative. 

I wonder what will make him recollect us after we're gone. 
I ripped up the calendar of April and spilled lots of water on the fridge, so maybe that?

We are happy with intangible memories. 
We enjoyed our weekly lunches and drives. We had some Korean snacks and traditional drinks (막걸리; makgeolli) and enjoyed the view of Mt.Rainier from the window(wink wink). 
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Wow, what days we've had. 
Time flies.

YE

Finally, I’ve started my personal project. It was hard to decide because I was unsure of my talent and didn’t know what I really want to do. After a few conversations, I decided to edit videos and make promo videos for events. Editing video is a basic skill that job applicants should know in Korea, so I thought developing that skill would bring me a competitive advantage. It is not only good for me but also good for LiftPort Group because promo videos can be used for marketing partners and attracting the audience! Now, I’m working on my first personal project, the promo video for the Space Investment Summit. It feels like manual work, but I enjoy it yet. I hope my skill develops more and more as time goes by.
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Last week, we had special Pizza Tuesday. We went to the Korean restaurant and ate soft tofu stew, pork bulgogi, and Mackerel. I and Young Eun were so excited to eat Korean food. Michael liked those foods too. We visited the Korean groceries market too and recommended Korean foods to Michael. It was quite a good cultural exchange for Michael. Our team became to understand each other better! I can definitely say that our team is so good that everyone would want to work with us!

Jiyeon Go

On Friday, we went driving together. Our lunch was pizza, which we took with us on the way. Driving took more than 2 hours. All I needed was cool music, and Michael let me pick the songs, so I had no problem.
Michael showed us around where his childhood memories remained. Like his folk’s place, his high school, of course he never leaved out what happened then. He was open to share all the memories.
We stopped at several points, and one of them was seaside(don't know where, wasn't the one driving!). He taught me how to do skipping, which I couldn’t do even with the best stones. But that's for fun. I took some seashells on my way home. Next, we went to a local farm to get some ice cream.
We also visited Point Ruston before we even got there. We saw deer and passed by a yak in the zoo. I could really see that the trees and plants were different from Korean's. I know that sounds obvious but it was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't considering hiking around this area, but at this point I really should?
It’s a scientific fact that greenery helps your mental well-being. I think I would really enjoy forest bathing. I told Michael I am afraid of an unexpected encounter with a bear or coyote, but he laughed. He made promises that it is very unlikely to happen. 
I have a car sickness so I got tired and sleepy while he drove us back home, but still, it was fun.
Maybe again. I am glad Michael is feeling much better.

YE