I AM KOREAN AMERICAN

Own Words

My family moved from Seoul to San Antonio in 1979. I’m the 3rd out of four offspring, but the youngest daughter to 2 (typically Korean) hard-working, immigrant parents. I have an accent, a South Texas drawl.

Growing up Korean in San Antonio was challenging: I wasn’t white, I wasn’t Latina . . . I was the kid whose people ate dog.

It wasn’t until my first trip out to K-town in LA, when I was 16, that I saw Koreans driving “nice” cars and had white collar, professional jobs. Most of the Koreans my parents knew in Texas in the 1980’s were janitors (Mom still is), lunch ladies or housekeepers.

I didn’t really identify as being “attractive” until I moved to DC for college – when I went from being the ‘foreign’, weird-looking girl to being . . . me. And being seen as the funny, smart and exotic (in a good way) girl that I am.

I didn’t get a chance to really touch base with other Koreans and the Korean experience (I thought I was alone) until I found a heart-honest blog called Kimchi Mamas. (kimchimamas.typedpad.com) I laughed, I cried, I was angry and I was touched – I’d found a community of people who “got” me and my compulsive need to save the rubber bands from grocery store produce. *You never know when you’re gonna need a bunch of nano-thin blue rubber bands, man . . .

Now I’m a contributing writer to Kimchi Mamas, have been a Kimchi Mama (twice) for almost 10 years and have a kick-ass Kimchi Mama for a Mom. (Hi Mom!)

My name is Un Chu – that’s “oon-jew” – and I am Korean (Texan) American.