I AM KOREAN AMERICAN

Own Words

i’m thankful for this site for its mission and vision and for making me confront something that i usually choose not to. i think i wrote a poem about being korean american once in a summer creative writing class in high school and was so embarrassed about it that i started sweating profusely while reading it. since then i’ve never actually tried to creatively express anything related to being korean american and am glad to be prodded to look at my identity again.

i grew up in a mostly white suburb outside of boston and didn’t realize until a few years ago that i still viewed myself as a funny looking white person. when i look in the mirror sometimes i start laughing because i forget that i’m asian.

i was a pretty good korean growing up, besides the whole speaking korean and getting good grades part. in elementary school i started playing piano and violin from kindergarden and began taekwon do. my mom listened to jazz so i started playing saxophone, then picked up upright bass as well in high school. i played in a bunch of different bands in boston (mostly jazz) and studied bass at eastman school of music while getting a chemistry degree at university of rochester.

i was incredibly unhealthy in college from poor lifestyle habits and isolation; after school ended, i resolved to better myself and completely overhauled my daily routines. i saw the same naturopath / acupuncturist who helped my mom fight a mysterious chronic fatigue that eluded western medical practitioners. a light bulb went off and i knew that my path was set before me.

now i’m about halfway through a dual degree grad program at NCNM, the natural college of natural medicine, for acupuncture and naturopathy. it is one of only a few grad schools in the world that offers this degree and i am incredibly happy here, although it is rigorous.

i’m intrigued with this site because although i am korean american, it’s an experience that confounds me most of the time. where i grew up and where i am now, there just aren’t that many koreans. when i do meet or hang out with other korean americans (or koreans for that matter) there is always something that attracts me and something that repulses me. i only have one korean american close friend. regardless, i am fascinated with the idea that i come from a culture and heritage that i know little about and know that when the time is right, i will immerse myself in all things korean and korean american.

my girlfriend is white and from twin falls, idaho. she recently met my grandmother, who was impressed with her charming “sung-kyuk” and how tall she was. she is also surprised that i am asian sometimes (my girlfriend, not my grandmother, who doesn’t seem to accept the fact that i feel more american than korean). we met in this program and share the dream of running the clinic / teahouse / music venue / yoga studio / retreat center together.

i post study notes and interviews on my blog, which i also have grand plans to transform it into a unique online resource for natural medicine therapies: www.ncnmnotes.blogspot.com

you can also download my music (and see my paintings) at sunjae.bandcamp.com

many blessings,
eugene