I AM KOREAN AMERICAN

Own Words

Born and raised in a dominantly Caucasian community and always feeling like the odd one out, I was the “Korean girl” thus feeling very Korean. After attending UCLA, a school with a strong Korean community, I still never felt the necessity of going out of my way for the Korean connection. One could say that I lacked a strong sentiment to my Korean-ness.

In an adverse turn of events, out of all places, I was recruited to work for a Korean software company in Seoul and suddenly I wasn’t Korean-American anymore, I was simply “American”. With the identity loss I struggled with the fact that in the states I had spent most of my life feeling like the weird Korean kid, and suddenly here in Korea I have turned into the weird American… Who am I? (Said in Derek Zoolander’s voice)

Relocating for a job is always a tough transition, relocating to a different country only amplifies the intensity. Thanks to the countless stigmas kyopos experience, we are scorned for neglecting to perfect the Korean language, for not being stick thin and for our sun-kissed tan skin, among the clones here in Korea, some kyopos (like me) stick out like a sore thumb and just never seem to fit in.

Through the roller coaster ups and downs, the tumbles and the falls my true outlet has been ranting in my blog, ahhhimstillinkorea.blogspot.com, and relying on my personal growth to persevere. Living in Korea for the past year has been the hardest challenge of my life thus far and has pushed my limits to the edge with overtime, working 6 – 7 days a week and my slave wage salary. Oddly enough, if I could go back in time, I would not have changed a thing. How masochistic.