Unresolved Conflict – Living in South Korea

September 8, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Yesterday, a group of students announced to me that North Korea was going to bomb us the day after tomorrow. “According to who?” I asked. But they were all chattering at me and each other in Korean a million miles a minute, and I was struggling to catch up.

Expat Life in South Korea: Living as an Outsider

April 6, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

Today a white woman got on the bus, and I was struck by her confidence. As is typical on a bus in South Korea, she was the only fully white person on board, but she just calmly smacked her gum and found a seat. My first thought was, “This is the allure of a woman in […]

Racial Clarity

November 21, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

Race can often be a touchy subject, but as a biracial person, I often feel like I have a certain level of immunity when it comes to this subject. I don’t, in truth. If anything, I probably have more responsibility than the average person to handle this subject well. PRESSURE. (Good thing pressure generally just […]

Division in America

June 26, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about America these days. There is a long history of hatred and injustice that has gotten passed down over generations. We can’t just judge and analyze events in isolation.

Back in the Land of Kimchi

January 22, 2015.Reading time 2 minutes.

It struck me upon this particular return to Korea that I’ve grown surprisingly comfortable here. I’ve gotten used to the decreased eye contact and increased physical contact. To the abrupt but convenient public transportation and the way everyone buries their faces in their smart phones. To getting a free pass on explaining myself in certain situations because […]

Adventures in the ATL (exploring the life of luxury)

January 14, 2015.Reading time 6 minutes.

So I’ve kind of been keeping this a secret, but I’m actually in America right now, spending time with family. (Shh, don’t tell anyone.) Since this does happen to be my third visit to the US in the last year, I thought I would tag along with my mom on a random business trip this […]

Alone and Helpless: Encounters with Strangers

October 30, 2014.Reading time 3 minutes.

I locked myself out of my house the other night. Suffice it to say, I found myself outside with a bag of trash and not much else. No phone. No key. No money. No roommate at home to let me back in.

Culture, Identity, and Blood

August 13, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

On the last leg of my journey from Korea to Baltimore, a domestic flight from Texas to Maryland, I found myself seated next to an Asian woman, the only other Asian on the plane. As I sat down, I noticed she was reading a book in Korean. I was sitting next to a Korean! I slept throughout […]