- How much of a culture shock was it for you?

So you mentioned coming couple days prior to Halloween, and then obviously coming from Korea when you were eight to Michigan of all places.

What was that like for you with school?

What was that like for you with just growing up without the diverse population of other Asians?

- It was shocking, you know, because my sister and I were not the only Asian American or Asians, but we were the only, I think minorities in our elementary school, at least, I don't recall middle and high, but definitely in elementary.

And so, it was really hard.

If it wasn't for my EL teacher, Ms.

Demiko I still remember her name till this day.

If it wasn't for Ms.

Demiko, and she was half Japanese, part Japanese, if it wasn't for her, I don't know how I would've survived, because somehow I learned English with her help.

She was with me in the classroom several hours a day.

And so, I picked up the language really quickly as kids do.

So language wasn't as hard as the culture because culture is the way that you move, the way that you speak, the way that you behave.

And those things, I think something that you can't, a teacher can't teach you in a notebook, right?

Like, you watch, you observe, you take in, you just kind of put the pieces together, you know, and think, "Okay, this is how I'm supposed to behave.

This is how I'm supposed to talk."

And so, that was the hardest for sure.

And my sister and I we were best friends and we just stuck by each other, you know?

And so, school was a terrifying place for us.

- Yeah.

Well, thank goodness for Mrs.

Demiko.

- Yes.

- Wherever she's at, you know?

- No, totally.

- Yeah.

So then that meant you spoke Korean at home, then?

- I spoke Korean at home because my parents knew that I would pick up English no matter what.

And they were so worried that I would forget Korean.

And so, I mean, I didn't like that for the longest time because I wanted to practice my English at home.

- Sure.

- With them.

But they said, "No, it's only Korean because you'll have plenty of opportunities to speak English."

But home is where, you know, we are Korean people still.

And I'm grateful because I can speak fluently, read and write still.

And it was because of my parents.

So they sacrificed their English, though.

- Yeah.

- Right?

So that we could keep the Korean at home and their English was only enough for them to run their dry cleaning business, literally just to get by.

But beyond that, you know, they didn't learn more because they just felt like my children need to, you know, have their Korean in them.

So did you speak like Taiwanese at home or English?

- So I grew up speaking with grandma, Taiwanese.

- Oh right.

- And when I came to the US, my parents, even though my dad spoke Taiwanese, my mom didn't.

So ended up losing Taiwanese dialect, which I'm really sad about.

But we spoke Mandarin Chinese at home and then at school spoke English.

And honestly, because I was so young, I don't remember if there was, like a someone like a Mrs.

Demiko in my life.

But somehow- - Oh you don't remember going to EL school?

Okay.

- Yeah, somehow I learned English.

- What were the years you were in Oklahoma?

- Oklahoma was 1985.

- Okay.

- To 1988.

- Okay.

Well, those are primitive years.

Like, five years old to eight-years-old.

- Yeah.

- Right?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

And so, how was school for you in those years?

Like elementary school, do you remember?

- I don't remember.

All I remember is this.

So my parents were, when they came over, they didn't bring very much money over, their parents didn't have very much money either.

So they came with suitcases and then maybe a few $100 and that was it.

And so I just remember staying in these kind of like section eight homes where it's subsidized, and basically, the closest grocery store was the gas station around the corner.

Other than that, just remember a lot of other families around that were international families.

So families from India or Korea or Japan.

- It's interesting when you say that, you know, where you guys were living in Oklahoma, that the section of homes that there were lots of international, primarily maybe international families and possibly there for the parents to study.

And you were kind of exposed to various cultures and languages even.

How did that make you feel as Asian?

Although, I don't know if you had those thoughts right, at that age, but do you remember feeling like, "Oh, there are all different cultures here.

This is a little bit different than where we were."

Do you remember feeling, I don't know, some sort of like solace, you know, with people that you were living near or still felt different?

- I think one of the things that was really impactful for me was food.

So the reason why I share that is because a lot of the different people that live in that, in those apartments, there's such a variety of ethnic foods that was available.

And I think early on that was something that I really took notice into is just that, you know, there's such a difference in the food that people eat, but in the sense of the togetherness, having that shared connection, food is just such a language that connects everyone together.

What about you?

What were some moments for you with food?

- With food?

So many moments.

I know when I talk about growing up in Utica, Michigan, it's a lot of stories of feeling isolated, feeling different, feeling small.

And while that is true, there were little moments of me feeling accepted.

So one of those moments is, you know, my neighborhood friend Rachel.

- Yeah.

- And so, you know, and she's white and her parents were wonderful.

They were the ones that drove my sister and I and Rachel to school every single morning, picked us up every afternoon 'cause our parents worked late every day.

So Rachel's mom or dad would always take us.

On the weekends, we would go each other's home 'cause my parents would work on Saturdays as well.

And I remember as a teenager, we were watching "Beverly Hills, 90210" sitting down and we were eating ramyeon, but not like a soup noodle.

But back in the day it was a really cool thing to eat raw ramyeon.

Like, you crush it up and then you sprinkle the seasoning on it and you eat it like a snack.

So we did that with Rachel, because Rachel was so fascinated, "Oh, what's that?

I wanna try it."

So she would sit there eating and we're eating this Korean snack, watching this very American show.

And I remember feeling like maybe I can be both, right?

Maybe I don't have to just be American.

Maybe I can also be Korean.

And to share that with my friend who's not Korean or Asian was very powerful.

And that actually got her into eating ramyeon, like real ramyeon.

And so that is a memory that I hold that I don't wanna forget because yes, it was hard living in Utica and have everyone mispronounce my name and all of that stuff.

But there are also those small good moments too.