My parents stayed with us for three weeks to help us take care of our newborn.
When I first asked her to help us out with our baby, my mom responded, "I think American babies are different than Korean babies."
"What do you mean?"
Continue reading "On Mothering" »
Read parts 1 and 2, here.
Well, as you can probably guess, my youngest gomo (aunt) decided to immigrate to America. I have never ever asked her about this and I don't think she even knows that I know this story so I don't know exactly why she decided to immigrate... but I have some educated guesses. My youngest gomo is pretty driven and she's also very smart. She probably would not have been able to go to college had she stayed in Korea because of the fact that she is a woman and that she is the youngest in the family.
My oldest uncle (kun appa) is the only person in my family that was educated. He was the first son so of course he was bestowed this privilege. Actually, he was educated to become a priest (see Roots part 1 re: my family's Catholic heritage). He's no longer a priest though but that's a different story for a different time. My father, I think, barely went to junior high school or maybe a bit of high school. (My mom didn't graduate from high school either.) My other uncle and other aunts also did not go to college. Education in Korea during those days, and even now, is very expensive. Especially college. So had my youngest aunt stayed in Korea, she would not have been able to pursue her studies... something that she wanted to do very much.
Continue reading "Roots (part 3)" »
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