“My Korean American Story” is a collection of stories that describe someone’s personal experience as a Korean American. Students from all over the nation have sent in their “Korean American Story” to KASCON 26 and we hope to receive more! So if you’re interested in having your “Korean American Story” on our website, please email us at info@kascon.org with your story (and optionally, your name and class year).
My Korean American Story
Having been constantly jostled around between the U.S. and Korea, I have a tendency to grasp a bit too tightly to my fragmented past. I suffer daily from the paranoia of “what-ifs” — envisioning my life going off in an incomprehensible number of tangents and all the people I could have been but never will be.—
I pretty much flunked out of Korean School when I was younger. When I wrote to my mom in the introductory Korean I learned during my summer study abroad in Seoul, she cried hysterically with joy and showed it to all our family members.—
My mother neatly wipes away the things that have been, as if to deny the past of its existence. She cleans the house weekly, if not daily, and is not lacking in the audacity to throw away what I would have carefully slipped into a storage box. Instead, she remembers through her hands and tongue – the precise cuts she makes in the squid with her knife, the swiftness of her hands when she stuffs the kimchi, and the familiarity of her tongue to the exact ratio of salt and sugar in the marinating sauces. When she begins to cook, she remembers how Texas had cheap beef stew ingredients or the time she made the kimchi so spicy that it made my father cry. She casually recalls the past with each chop of the knife against the cutting board. Then when dinner is done, she carefully tight-seals her memories in Ziploc bags and begins to clean once more.—
The first time it really hit me I was in America was when I saw how expansive and spread out even local parks were.—
In America, is there any difference between a Korean American and a Korean Korean?—
People often comment on how good my English is. And I respond, ‘Thanks, yours is, too.’—
So far, I’ve dated 5 Chinese boys, 1 Indian guy, and 1 Korean guy. I wonder if this means that I’m more attracted to Chinese boys than Korean boys.—
Before Gangnam Style, I was embarrassed to listen to K-Pop when my roommate was in the room with me.—
I have a baby sister, who is 10 years old now, and I find it funny that when she tries to talk in Korean, she has an American accent.—
When I lived in Korea as a young kid, all I wanted was burgers, fried chicken, and french fries. Now that I’m in America and much older, I miss Kimchi, Ddukbokee, and all the other delicious Korean food.—
Growing up in Houston as the only Asian in my elementary school, I remember accepting at some point the labels and stereotypes that were given to me by my peers..as truth.—
Being a Korean American isn’t about trying to fit into the Korean or the American society. It is about being proud of my unique experiences and identity and embracing them.—
Growing up as a theater actor in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood in the early ’90s, I always wondered why I had to be Mulan and never Belle.—
