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Ok, can you state you name for, for… Ok, my name is Rachel Soyon Otto. Ok, and where were you born? I was born in…Seoul, South Korea.

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And, did you grow up there? Yes. Um, who did you live with growing up? Ah, uh I lived my grandma.

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And actually my parents got divorced, so I grow up with my grandma, um… since I was three. And did you have any siblings? I have siblings, but I didn’t, I never lived with

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them. Um, what was your religion growing up? Uh…Well, my grandma was Buddhist, so I went to temple with her, but—I won’t say that’s my religion, but, um my religion is Christianity, and I became

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Christian since I was uh… sixth grade. Ok. So—while you were in Korea? Yeah. What were your chores growing up in Korea?

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Chores? Uh not really, I was kinda spoiled, So, I get to do just minor thing, you know, clean up the table, and… I make some snacks… but I didn’t

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really have a chores. I was kinda spoiled. Uh what did you do for fun, while living in Korea? I guess all depends, when I was little, I liked the

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hanging out with friends, and we just play whole bunch of games, uh mainly outdoor games. Not like these days with only, you know, stay inside, we liked to go out. Um then my teenage

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time I would loved anime, books, manhwa , I was into it. I love books, period. Uh, I read… all the old classics, Shakespeares, to, all those, , you

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know, whatever manhwa out there. That’s where my daughter got, you know, that from. About reading, anime, and, I—I loved anime.

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Do you still read now? Uh… not really, but, when I go back to Korea, when it’s, you know, book gets available, I kinda pick it up and read here and there. So, do you mostly read Korean books, or English books?

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Uh I read both. Now I read more English books, because that’s what’s available here, but, I’ll–I’ll read whatever, it’s available. Um, do you have any particular, good or bad childhood memory from living

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in Korea? Something that stands out? Mmm… Well I guess, it’s pr—I mean, it’s been good, uh I have a really good memories hanging out

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with friends, and I get to, explore some, uh different parts of Korea, when I was little, with my grandma. And, I have really good memories, um just being kid. Yeah and, have freedom to

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do things, you know not like these days, you know parents are very protective. I was with my kids like that, but when I was growing up, there was freedom, you pretty much go out, hang out with friends all day, and

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do whatever. I was good kid, though. Then, you know, we just come home for the dinnertime, you know. So I, I remember having all that freedom compared to what kids have right now, so I can

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say that is good memory. And… I don’t know if it’s bad memory, but I was say it’s bad memory, I grow up in Seoul, which is, big, big city, just like New York

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City. Uh just crowded with people, a lot of bus, a lot of taxi, car, you know, just very crowded. And I don’t mind it, you know, back then, ‘cause that’s—I’m used to it, but

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now I think of it, like now, no I don’t wanna live there. So, I guess, you know, air wasn’t that clean, so I guess I can say that’s kinda bad memory. But not really bad, I’m just have to say something I think.

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So—so now you prefer more open spaces? Oh yeah, I don’t like cities. I like country, that’s why I live in country. Um, did you work, in Korea?

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I worked, just a little bit, as a, a, cashier. But not really, I only worked for a couple months, but you know, I got married, so, I didn’t really work. I was just spoiled child.

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Um, so how—how did you meet your husband? I met him through friend. My husband, he was in military.

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He just graduate from high school, and he, uh came to Korea, right after his first training, so he was very young. And, I was very young too. We are only

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eight month apart. And, I have friend, very close friend whose uh, sister is married to, American. And she actually lived in America, and she came back to Korea to

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live there for few years, because her husband’s in military, so, um. So me and my friend, we wanted to visit her, and I was very excited because I actually never really seen Americans.

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Other than missionaries on the street here and there; but it’s completely different, you know, people. So we, visited her, and we stay there for, I think, like couple weeks.

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And it was fun, I—I had fun, and she actually introduced me to my husband. Not really thinking, you know, get married. But my husband, he, he

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told me that he fall in love with me, or, he say he knew I’m gonna be his wife at first sight. I didn’t believe him for like fifteen years. But he kept the story exactly the same, so I believe him.

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But, yeah I met, him, I didn’t, I couldn’t really speak much English back then. We study English in school, so I can actually able to read, and I can actually write some, but I can’t really communicate because I never really

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communicate. So, um but, yeah, my husband, he just chased me, you know, he wanted to get married, so I’m like, you know. I liked him, and I was young—we were just young teenagers.

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I was nineteen, he was nineteen; you know, like oh why not? So that’s how I met him and got married. Uh did he speak any Korean?

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Nope. No. Not at all, and he only stayed there for one year, so he doesn’t really know much about Korean culture, or language—hardly any. Yeah. Did you ever find that difficult to communicate with him?

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Yeah yeah. I um… There was a lot, first couple years of marriage was very hard. I think it’s mainly because it’s the communication problem. Uh and on top of that, it’s not just communication, culture difference.

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I don’t know anything about American culture and he doesn’t know anything about Korean culture. So, we had a lot of problems, that—that normal—normally people wouldn’t have.

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But uh… Because I was young and I did learn uh English for many years in school. I did actually remember lots of, you know, words that I learned. You know, it’s so funny, sometimes like, ‘oh, yeah, I know this word!’

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but you know it just uh, it’s good, I think that’s why education is good. Even though you don’t use it, right, it’s, there’s, background. There’s in you, just—just have to pick it up, and use it.

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When you have to use it you, I mean, there’s something you already have it in you, you just never used it. So I really realized, you know, learning English, uh when I was little, that really helped

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me to have a, you know, foundation, and somewhat, I can, you know, pick up some other things even more quicker. While you were living in Korea um studying English, did you ever really have a desire to learn English, or learn about America?

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No, no, I don’t like it. I don’t want to memorize all that stuff . No I didn’t like it. It was hard.

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Oh, um what did you think about America, well, before you came over? Well… I don’t know so much, but I did watch TV, you know. So… I guess I never really

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think about it , but I kinda, you know, have an idea how they live by just watching TV. But again, you know, it’s TV.

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You know, just… yeah. I really didn’t think about America at all because I was just kid. So was it a big shock when you came over? Um… Yeah, you know, funny thing is, I

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see people, you know, have parties and stuff when you watch TV . I thought they would have some parties here and there That was funny thing, but I didn’t see that when I went to my husband’s house.

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And they were like, totally normal, kinda middle, low- middle class people. I was like ‘oh, I thought they live way better than this’ . my husband’s home is not, you know, they don’t live well.

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So I was a little surprised. So when you first came to America, you moved into your husband’s house? No, we just visited there for a couple of weeks. Then we went to Kansas, that’s where my husband’s

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station is. So we uh… yeah. Just to stay in Pennsylvania for five to three weeks, then we moved to Kansas. And, how did you like Kansas?

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Well, first of all, got to tell you, from Pennsylvania to Kansas we drove, like three days. Um, I was like I know America’s so big, but I didn't realize how big, because, you know, South Korea is so

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small. I was really, like, amazed, by how big this country is. Because we’d be driving, driving, driving, driving, and, it really took three days for us to get to Kansas, and it’s not even

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California, you know. So I was amazed at that, and like ‘wow, this is big country’. And when we got to Kansas, uh I didn’t like Kansas at all. That is boring-est land I ever seen.

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I’m from, ok, South Korea is beautiful; we have complete four seasons. Just beautiful, anywhere you go it’s beautiful. I went to Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania is kinda similar to Korea. So it’s beautiful, it has mountain, you know, rivers, I—I loved it.

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Kansas has nothing. None. Just flat. There’s just no hill, there’s hardly no tree. There, nothing there.

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I, I hated it. We stayed there for three years. I can’t wait to leave there. It was hot and humid during summer, cold, during

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winter, and there’s no spring nor fall. Really just boring-est state I’ve ever seen. I can say that even now, after twenty-five years. So obviously you were very happy when you moved away?

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Yeah, we moved to California. And why did you move there? Uh, again, he was, my husband went to school to be a nurse. The reason he went to military, was, so he can get education.

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His parents can’t afford to send him to college. And back then there was no student loan. So, only way for him to get a good education is through military. So, he wanted to pursue that,

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so he went nursing school and he became nurse. And then he, got a job, uh I mean, in military, he’s another, you know, he got stationed in California. So, we moved to California after three years.

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And, I loved California. It’s like, you know, everyone knows, it’s completely different. I was like, ‘what is this heaven?’ I loved it. Why did you like it so much?

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Well first of all, there’s mountains, there’s trees, there’s rivers. Uh especially I lived in Cali—I mean, Sacramento; so it’s hour and half from Lake Tahoe,

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uh hour and half from San Francisco, Yosemite three hours, Monterey three hours, just, we are… very near to all these beautiful awesome places.

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So, you know, I just loved it. Um… It’s ok, I’m drinking my tea. Oh, um what was it like as a military wife?

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Um well, I guess, well since I haven’t really moved around a lot, because, when we are in California he actually got out of the military after six years of serving, and we just settle, there. So it’s not like other military

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family, you know, we have to move around a whole lot. Um so, for me, I can really say it’s much different. I didn’t have a lot a lot of adventure like some other people.

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And, and I was young again. You know, so I’m just barely, like, my decision to marry so young, I’m just busy living my life, and I had kids right after that. So I was just busy living my life with family, so.

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I can’t really, think of anything was difficult, or you know, great, or crazy. I can’t think of anything. I had very normal life like anybody else.

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So when did you have your kids? Uh, I had my son, um first son, at twenty-one. And I had—you’re twenty-one, see? Yeah, and I had my daughter, Cassy, at twenty-three.

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Where were you living at the time? Oh we lived in Sacramento. Um, who were your first friends in the United States, or who did you hang out with? Uh…First friend, is um

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church people. Church friends because that’s the one way to meet Koreans. And I was, homesick. I was young, I came here, I was very lonely. So, uh my husband, he’s like ‘oh you

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need to go to Korean church’ and I’d been going to church in Korea, so I’m like ‘oh yeah.’ So, uh I made a lot of Korean friends, and I hang out with them most. And, it was really good, because I didn’t know how to

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cook, Korean food. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know anything about life. So, it was big help, that I went to Korean church and hang out with them.

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So, your friends from the Korean church actually, helped you to bring some, some of Korea to the United States with you? Yeah, yeah. Just uh, very comforting, you know.

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Food is number one thing. But just can able to speak Korean, and able to share, again, you know, I had a hardship, you know, because of all the culture

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and language difference. And uh I guess I got a lot of comfort from them. Did your husband attend the Korean church with you? Uh, no, because, you know, he cannot understand

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anything. And he wasn’t Christian. But when we went to California. Uh actually we had a English class. So he did attend a Korean church, and he became

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Christian there, too. And, but after a while, my English got much better. And since I was young, I actually adopt American culture very quickly.

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Um… because I didn’t really have any adulthood in Korea, I was just student, you know, just kid. So I had all my adulthood here, so you know when you become adult,

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you go to the world, you learn things differently, you see things differently. So I guess when I was little, my view was very small. Because you know, just school, home, school, home, and friends.

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But here, you know, I actually enter into adulthood here, so, uh everything that I received, you know, I adopted, and I everything that I learned, it’s pretty much from all American culture, you know, from here.

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So I actually became more Americanized than Korean I would say. Yeah, so, it is kinda, I guess, I guess, I guess it was kinda advantage for me coming here at young age.

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‘Cause, I adapted very quickly, and even English too, um I learned it really quickly. I kinda had a little job here and there, but I, worked where everyone’s, you know, American, not

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Korean. So I, I’m more exposed to English than Korean. And I kinda intend to do that. And also my husband,

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he, he doesn’t want me to, um be like, you know there’s, I know some ladies here, they’ve been here for like twenty years and they still can’t speak hardly any English, and I thought that’s really sad. And my husband,

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he’s avery wise man, he doesn't want me to be handicapped, living here; he wants me to, able to, be on my own, just in case anything happens to him, he wants me to survive with the kids.

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So he really, uh pushed me, to speak more English. And he correct me, sometimes. I was very embarrassed, because the way that he correct

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me, you know, when there’s other people there, I was not happy. But, you know, when something like that happen you remember that all the more. So I know he didn’t do that in a mean way, but he really, you

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know, wanted, he was, you know now I think of it, I’m very thankful, you know. And some of my friends say ‘you know he’s very wise, that doing that’, I know that he seems a little harsh at the beginning, but because of

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that, you know, I learned things more quickly like, I used to like ‘can you call doctor and make an appointment for you know, my ki—you know, James, or Cassy?’ and he’s like, he did at the beginning, then later he say

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‘you know, why don’t you call?’ You know? I’m like ‘aw…’ ‘You can do it!’ So I started doing that, and he just start giving me like paperwork too. ‘Why don’t you fill it out?’ You know?

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So, when I started doing it, actually it wasn’t that hard. You know everything when it seems hard if you’re not used to doing it, but once you do it, it’s easy.

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You know you go through that everything, you know, work, and everything. Just, when you don’t know it, it seems so hard, and you’re scared. But once you know it, it’s easy, and it just make your life much easier.

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So I am very thankful to my husband for pushing me. And, you know, help me to become independent, and, so, that’s the story. I don’t remember the

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question now. Oh did you, did you work in Kansas at all? I worked. I worked, um at the restaurant. I worked at the rest—Chinese restaurant, actually, as a waitress,

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for not that long, maybe about six month. Because, you know, military they don’t get paid much . So, I wanted to work part-time, to…

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help family. Give a little better stuff to my son. So it was just couple hours, and I actually liked it, and I get to go out and meet with people and again, you know, my English improved while I was working there, so it was really good thing.

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How, how did you find that job? Uh, I’m not sure. It’s, it’s like what? Twenty years, more than twenty years ago?

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I think it’s either I look at the newspaper, or I probably drive by and see hiring sign. Probably that’s how I got the job. But that was my, uh first job, then, I didn’t

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really work a whole lot because I really wanted to spend time raising kids. Me and my husband, we are very, like uh, home people. Like, kids come first, you know. Money, we can make it later.

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But being at home, raising kids, that’s very important. So… you want me to tell you about my other job? Ok, my second job was actually, um I, bought a flow—flower

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shop, and I was owner of, flower shop for two years. I know that’s a huge jump, from no experience, but I’m really good with the hands. I can make things, like I go to Hobby Lobby,

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I see some decorations, I actually look at it, and I’ll buy the materials and actually I can make it better than what they have. So I do have really good hand skill. Um I’m very, detailed oriented, I’m very precise.

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So, I was really good at making, so, one of, uh friend from church, she owned the flower shop, and I visited her shop couple times and she was actually selling the shop so my husband he’s, ‘hey honey, you know you’re really good at, you know, making

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things, I think you will do great.’ So, I’m like, ‘Yeah, you know, kids going to be going to school soon, so why not, you know? Owning a business sounds good.’ We didn’t have any experience, I mean we were

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just—I was just twenty…something . So I was, was flower shop owner for two years, but it didn’t really work out because flower shop it’s beautiful, I love it, and I became really good floral designer, and I’m really good at it, but uh the time, I really

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want to spend time with family. I thought when I have a business, you know, I can kinda leave to people I can come in and out, but turn out to be it’s not the case. You know, first couple years you really have to put in,

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more than getting out. So, uh especially flower shop all the holidays, are the most busiest time of the year, so I end up spending less time with my family when I really want to spend time with my

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family. So, two years later, I end up just closing the shop. Um I was, it was, very hard time, it was one of the very hardest time, of my life,

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because I was young, I didn’t have any experience, and I just like, jumped into business and it didn’t work. But, uh it was great experience, again. My English improved tremendously there, because I have to deal with

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customers all the time, over the phone. And I learned a lot, life experience. Do I need tell you more about my job, or is it coming more later on? Um, yeah, I mean, go ahead.

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Ok, I just telling you all what I did. After that then I stayed home again, and, uh I home-school my kids, because they wanted to, and I have lot of friends who home school.

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So, I was kinda scared to death. I thought I’m gonna mess up my kids’ whole life, education. And I’m huge on education. I’m from South Korea.

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South Korea, education is, everything. So I was scared, but with a lot of help from friends, I did home school my kids, and I loved it, I really get to spend time with the kids a lot.

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And, my kids get to do a lot of activities that they will never get to do it because they don’t have enough time. But with home school, uh we get to do a lot of things. So I, I can actually say we had a really good time, and kids actually had

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a life. Um then, once kids got older, I tried to work you know here and there um… um but I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do.

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I’m very, I like challenges, and I like something new. I don’t like doing same thing over and over, so, I tried the graphic design, and, I’m really good at it, I’m passionate about it, but that’s not the case,

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you know, I couldn’t really work in that field, because I continued to have to go to school, so, I did went to school, um I, I forgot, forgot to mention that, but I went to school when my kids are little. Um I went part-time,

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then for a time, then part-time, because, you know, kids’ situation. So I did went school for accounting, and I didn’t finish it, because I end up home schooling my kids. I have to, you know, give up my education, which I

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don’t regret at all, you know, but I found out that accounting is easier for me, I like math, I love math. I know you don’t. I like figure things out, so accounting seems pretty easy to me, so I went to school

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for that but I never finish it, so when we move to here, Texas, six years ago, kids are all ready, all grown. And, now really I have nothing to do. So, I’m like ok, I’m gonna go to work, because kids are going to

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college, so I have to, you know, make some money for kids’ college. They are expensive, you know. So, uh I start working, as accounting,

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accounts payable. I have, I have very little experience, but I just pursue it, I said, you know, I have really good positive attitude, and we do

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all the things I been, I have done, I actually came to conclusion that, again, you know, if I don’t know it, it’s hard, but if I know it, it’s easy. And I notice that I’m fast learner, and anything I learn, you know, it

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was hard, but it became easy. So I have attitude, that, I can do anything. You know, just teach me. I can do anything. And with the, uh even school, school is just

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education, you know, you can use that as experience, it is just, you know, telling people you have a base, that, you know, I can able to learn, you know. So, uh I started as, from temp agency.

00:32:24.370 - 00:32:38.360

Because I didn’t really have experience, but from temp agency, they hire me, for like one month here, one month there, but they noticed that I work very hard, and I learn very fast, and I have a very

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good work ethic, so all the companies that, they only need me for one month, they really liked me a lot, so they gave really good feedback to temp agency, so temp agency, every time they give me new task, uh it was

00:32:55.700 - 00:33:09.330

more money, and they were eager to give me, there’s any job available, they they’ll call me first. So my third, I think forth one was, where I’m working right now, EAN Holdings, which

00:33:09.330 - 00:33:24.310

is Enterprise Rental Car, and Alamo National all together, so we call it EAN Holdings , ‘cause we just got merged. And, I got hired to this company, three years ago, and from that temp

00:33:24.310 - 00:33:40.040

agency, I mean, through that temp agency. And, I thought this job is so big for me, I don’t have enough experience and this is big, big company. like five people. So I was kinda like, oh no, I don’t think I’m

00:33:40.080 - 00:33:54.040

gonna get this job, you know, but temp agency really believed in me, and say you know what, I think you’re great. I guess they put really good word in for me. So when I did interview, their interview’s very hard, like,

00:33:55.000 - 00:34:08.820

supposed to be three interview, but one person wasn’t there so I got two interviews, and they ask like, thirty-some questions. But anyways, make it short, they really like me, even though I didn’t have much experience

00:34:08.910 - 00:34:24.650

compared to others, they really liked my attitude, and, so they hired me, so I’ve been there since three years. So this is longest time I’ve ever worked, and I really like what I’m doing, I’m doing, I’m accounts, accounting

00:34:24.650 - 00:34:40.500

coordinator right now, accounts payable, and I got promoted to, coordinator position, uh last year. With a huge, huge pay increase. So, again, you know, I worked very hard, and I worked as,

00:34:40.610 - 00:34:53.700

when I play with the numbers, and you know, paying bills, I look at it as it’s my own. I have a huge, uh ownership of what I’m doing. So I actually found a

00:34:53.840 - 00:35:09.260

lot of flaws, and lot of late fees, there’s a lot of things that we’re not supposed to pay but vendors are charging it, and I’ve found a lot of stuff, so I’m saving our company thousands, thousands dollars, so that’s how I got

00:35:09.350 - 00:35:23.860

promoted, I didn’t even ask for it, see that’s why I want to tell everyone, you young people, work hard, work hard and do your best, have a strong work ethic, and have a good attitude, see you don’t even ask for it, they

00:35:23.860 - 00:35:38.090

say ‘hey I want to promote you, please let me promote you.’ You know, that’s how I got it, so, um now I’m doing a lot of accounting work again, you know, I didn’t finish my school. And I don’t have a lot of

00:35:38.270 - 00:35:51.550

accounting background, but everything they teach me, I’m eager to learn I always there’s anything I can do. So they are like ‘she wants to learn!’ so they just keep giving me new things, new things,

00:35:51.920 - 00:36:18.070

and I take it, I’m conquering it, you know, I’m doing it. So, you know, I’m looking at another promotion shortly. Um, are there other Asian Americans in your workplace?

00:36:23.680 - 00:36:40.820

You know what, I think there’s only one. Yeah. Not, no. Hardly none, yeah. Just only one upstairs, and I don’t even really, know who she is, I seen her.

00:36:42.880 - 00:36:58.380

Do you feel any difference in the way you’re treated because you’re Asian American in the workplace? No, no I actually do have one. You know, I have a cold so I can’t think clearly. I do have one, she’s, her, she’s, she’s more American,

00:36:58.980 - 00:37:14.060

though. She’s Japanese, but she’s third generation Japanese here. So she, her mother was born here, father was born here, but she’s still Asian, so we got connected. You know, there’s thing, you know, because she does carry some Asian culture,

00:37:17.410 - 00:37:34.300

and…it—it makes difference, it’s more fun, hanging out with the same Asian because we have, kinda same culture, even though both—we both are very Americanized there’s something about Amer-, I mean Kore-, uh that Asian,

00:37:34.680 - 00:37:51.900

you know we can kinda laugh about and you know, have something in common. But, uh I think I will enjoy more if there’s more Asian, because I do get connected with the Asian more quickly. It doesn’t mean I don’t have, you know, people not

00:37:51.900 - 00:38:07.140

nice there. Wonderful, I, we have a lot of, we have, white, black, uh Hispanic, we have very multi-national team or company, or mixed. But, I think I would really like to have more

00:38:08.560 - 00:38:24.150

Asians, ‘cause it’s fun to hang out . Do you ever find it hard to connect, with your white, or other minority group co-workers? Hm, not really, for me.

00:38:24.480 - 00:38:37.940

I’m pretty easy-going. Uh and, again, I guess, I don’t have a language barrier any more, and I do know American culture, I know how it is.

00:38:38.070 - 00:38:50.280

So, sometimes, I feel like I'm white. Becau—well, my husband’s white, and, you know, I don’t really feel like I’m Asian, sometimes, when I’m around whole bunch of, you know, Americans.

00:38:51.360 - 00:39:02.520

I can’t feel the difference, but I know I’m different. I look different . But no, I don’t have any problem, you know, get along with them. Yeah.

00:39:10.800 - 00:39:21.830

Kinda random, but, do you know about the L. A. riot—the race riots in L. A.? Yes, yeah all those black people are attacking Korean people. Rodney King? Is that Rodney

00:39:21.980 - 00:39:35.360

King? Yeah, yeah, I—that was, it was huge, because, it was very scary. Yes, I—I remember. Did you have your business then?

00:39:35.760 - 00:39:51.720

No. No, but it was really scary because it was, they were attacking, mainly all Koreans, they were targeting Koreans. So of course it was, you know close to me ‘cause I’m Korean.

00:39:52.570 - 00:40:04.890

And it was very scary. Um and…it was a long time ago. But I was in California, and it happened in L. A. So, not that far from

00:40:04.890 - 00:40:21.820

there. So, what was the question? Oh, just did you, did you, did you know about it and, and what do you think about it? Um, it was scary, you know.

00:40:23.380 - 00:40:38.360

I don’t want to get into a whole lot more in detail, but, I know it was nothing to do really have a Korean, but they, they were mad. I believe it was because policeman was beating him up or

00:40:38.360 - 00:40:54.370

something like that. And, they were mad, so they wanted to revenge, but they decide to revenge to Korean people. I don’t know… I mean I

00:40:54.370 - 00:41:06.510

know some people rude, and not treat some different races, you know, they treat race, you know, different races differently. But I think it goes with everyone, right? I mean, if you think

00:41:06.510 - 00:41:23.030

of it, in a way, um you know, they treat people differently too, I mean, just everywhere, you know, the most, most people I know they are all nice, but there’s a lot of people out there, you know, some people can be rude, some people can be, you know, nobody’s perfect, and

00:41:23.030 - 00:41:36.820

nobody’s, you know, not everyone’s good. But I know they had some problem with some Korean people and, they decide to target Korean people specifically, and

00:41:37.270 - 00:41:57.150

destroying their business and hurting people, and that, that was, wrong, and that was very, very scary. Did you ever, personally feel in danger, or, like you were discriminated… No, I wasn’t there, but it is kinda scary, because you never know how big it’s gonna

00:41:57.190 - 00:42:06.450

get, right? It might start in L. A., but it might, you know, spread to San Francisco or even Sacramento, you

00:42:06.490 - 00:42:16.640

just never know. It’s, it’s very scary. I think we all got threatened by it. And, I don’t remember exactly, but

00:42:16.840 - 00:42:37.700

I’m sure my husband was like ‘don’t go out there at night’ or, I’m sure we were being very cautious about, you know, being out there late at night or something. Do you celebrate any Korean holidays?

00:42:39.490 - 00:42:56.480

I want to , but um… I used to celebrate more when I was going to Korean church. Oh by the way, I don’t go to Korean church anymore. I, I really want our whole family to go to church together,

00:42:56.690 - 00:43:13.410

so, I moved to American church, and we got , and I’m very happy, and I have no problem, get- getting along and I still have a lot of Korean friends, so I don’t really miss, you know, I don’t have to

00:43:13.410 - 00:43:27.080

go to Korean church. So, but anyways, I was celebrating more when I was going to Korean church because they are Korean and they do things together. But since I don't, I, celebrate barely hardly any,

00:43:27.900 - 00:43:42.450

except for New Year’s Day, but even New Year’s Day, nothing compared to what they celebrate in Korea . But I always do eat Korean holiday food on January first. That’s the only way, yeah.

00:43:45.630 - 00:44:03.840

Oh, uh when, when did you move to, Texas, and why did you decide to…? Well, six years ago, we moved here, because my husband change job, so… And, you know, for a long time my husband—he actually wanted to move out of California.

00:44:04.910 - 00:44:20.050

He doesn’t really like, California. Um… people are, ve—very rude. And very selfish, I mean, we all are in a way selfish, but, you kinda have

00:44:20.250 - 00:44:34.660

some respect for others, right, even though… you know, I mean, it can be, you, you know, you are who you are, but you kinda have to have some kind of manner in front of others. You kinda have, you have to kinda

00:44:34.730 - 00:44:53.020

respect others, you don’t know that person, you know, you have to have some kinda respect and boundaries. But in California, it’s not really like that, people really don't care about other people, I’m not saying everyone’s bad There’s lots of nice people, I have lots and lots of good

00:44:53.310 - 00:45:10.310

friends there, but overall, if you see people are very rude. Kids are very, um… not disciplined and, they don’t respect others at all.

00:45:11.610 - 00:45:26.250

They… you know, use bad language front of, older people, they don’t care where, when. They talk about sex—they are little kids! And they talk about that, and, I mean know—I

00:45:27.820 - 00:45:41.660

know you guys do, I grow up like that, you know, when we talk about some of shameful things, you know, I mean kids are bad anywhere you go, I mean they do bad things, doesn’t matter, California or Texas, but at least,

00:45:42.550 - 00:45:57.240

you gotta know the shame, right? You can say whatever with your friends, but when there’s adults walking next by, you know, kinda, you know, be quiet a little, or, you know, whisper, or go—move to someplace else you guys talk about

00:45:57.240 - 00:46:10.130

whatever you want to. But, they are, they don’t care. You know, I don’t want to hear those stuff. They have no respect for anybody. And… so, we wanted to move

00:46:10.220 - 00:46:24.650

California, even though it’s beautiful, we have friends. We don’t like the culture there. California culture, Texas culture is completely different. Uh you know, it’s just the air.

00:46:25.370 - 00:46:44.190

Politics different, you know, we are very conservative, and they are very liberal. And… It’s very clean there, but, you know, there’s so many rules, so… that’s why we really wanted to move out of California, and you

00:46:44.190 - 00:46:54.930

know, we are here, and we are happy. We like Texas. So are you very active in politics? Uh no, not really.

00:46:55.100 - 00:47:14.610

I’m not. But, um… I’m not active, but, I do, have strong beliefs, and, I actually have a view, as an American, but also as a Korean.

00:47:16.470 - 00:47:30.500

And, I think of America as great country, you know, there’s opportunities, there, I mean, this is great country that everyone wants to come here. And lot of people come here and they become successful.

00:47:30.800 - 00:47:46.380

I know a lot of Korean people, they come here, even sometimes, some people they can’t even speak English well now, but still they’re very successful, you know, I really do believe it’s nothing to do with the, really, your, you know,

00:47:46.850 - 00:48:01.470

race, or your, language, you know. This is the country that if you work hard, you will be successful. That’s why I don’t wanna hear anybody else over there, especially

00:48:01.470 - 00:48:18.210

people who’s born here, who’s first language is English, and has all the opportunity to go to school, and they complain about they cannot get a job, and they need the welfare, they need all this free moneys.

00:48:19.190 - 00:48:36.920

That’s why I don’t agree with, you know, all these social, you know, social security. Just, I—I love this country, but I see a lot of things that people are taking advantage of, and I’m strongly against that.

00:48:47.110 - 00:49:06.980

Um did you use Korean with your children, when they were growing up? I did, here and there . But, I wish I had more, but again, at the first, you know, I want my English to be, improved.

00:49:11.410 - 00:49:34.660

Because, one thing I was a little afraid, was I’ve seen people, people from all over the world, they still with their community, you know, like Korean, Chinese, or… you know, Hispanics, and they work

00:49:34.810 - 00:49:52.690

there, they watch, you know, their language, you know, TV, they speak their language. They actually never really learn English. So, what happened is, second generation kids,

00:49:53.440 - 00:50:10.090

when they grow up here, they speak English, and English became their, you know, it’s their first language, and I noticed a lot of kids, struggle communicating with their parents. And, there’s a lot of barrier there,

00:50:10.360 - 00:50:21.170

there’s a lot of bitterness, resentment, because they can’t really communicate, and older generation cannot understand this American culture, because they don’t live in, even though they live in America they don’t

00:50:21.360 - 00:50:30.660

embrace the American culture. They just embrace their own culture. So, but these kids on other hand, you know, they are more American than, you know, Korean.

00:50:31.750 - 00:50:43.440

So, I see there’s a lot of problems. So I really don’t want that, you know. First of all, I wanna embrace American culture. You know I live here, I’m gonna die

00:50:43.440 - 00:50:55.950

here, my kids gonna live here, my grandkids gonna live here. You know, I—this is my country, you know. You know, really, I’m more—I’m American now. I’m not Korean, really.

00:50:56.560 - 00:51:08.090

You know, I, I’m gonna live here, so I wanted to embrace American culture, American language, everything about American. And I don’t wanna be apart from my family.

00:51:09.050 - 00:51:22.220

I don’t wanna be, you know, you know, stranger to my kids’ spouses, you know, like I can’t even talk to them, I can’t even talk to my grandkids, you know. I mean, you think really

00:51:22.370 - 00:51:35.510

they wanna hang out with me? I know, I know they will love me and all that, but I wanna able to, communicate with them in a way that when they have problem, they come to me instead of going to somebody else.

00:51:36.390 - 00:51:55.400

You know, I don’t want, they come to me and tell me something in depth, you know, struggles they have, and I’m like ‘I don’t understand…’ I mean what kind of mom, am I gonna be, right? So first of all I wanna be good mother, I wanna be good wife, I wanna

00:51:55.400 - 00:52:09.220

be good grandma later, you know. And I wanna make good friends, and not just limited to just Korean or Asian people. I wanna include all American people, but if I cannot speak English well, I cannot have,

00:52:09.930 - 00:52:22.970

you know, really, I can have friends, but I’m not gonna have friends in depth. You know, good, you know, heart exchanging friendship. So, that’s

00:52:22.970 - 00:52:38.100

why I was more focusing on; I’m learning English, and I want to speak English very fluently, so then, you know, hopefully I can teach my kids Korean . But, you know…but it’s better for me to speak

00:52:38.570 - 00:52:52.750

English fluently than I speak Korean and my kids speak Korean, fluently, and I don’t speak English fluently. So I guess I had to make choice, and I didn’t know how to do it both at the same time because I was too

00:52:52.850 - 00:53:10.400

busy, just really make myself better… to live here, you know, quality life, here . Quality life. Uh so now are you speaking Korean with your children? I do here and there.

00:53:10.750 - 00:53:25.610

And we have some…words that we kinda goof around, and… especially my daughter. You know, she kinda understands, so it’s kinda fun. So, if they want to learn, they can actually learn,

00:53:26.980 - 00:53:47.630

too. So, I’m more than willing to speak Korean with them now, because I don’t have to worry about my English, or their language forever. I hope everything makes sense, I’m kinda like, my head is this big

00:53:48.170 - 00:54:05.360

. It’s fine. ‘Cause some stuff… No… Um do you have um any, Korean groups here, in Houston, or, Korean friends, or

00:54:05.560 - 00:54:16.950

Korean places that you go to? Hm, I have Korean friends. I have a couple of Korean friends, uh but, you know it’s the funny thing is, I

00:54:16.950 - 00:54:35.960

love all the—you know, all the—you know, traditional Korean people. I love them. But, you know… you hang out with friends kinda alike, right? More I realize that now I, I’m more Americanized, I

00:54:35.960 - 00:54:50.890

noticed my friend is, they are also more Americanized. I have many friends, they are, I guess one and half generation, they call. They, they were born in Korea,

00:54:51.530 - 00:55:10.030

but they raised in America, so, they are more America than Korean. So I, I actually noticed that I hang out with the people, getting more closer quickly and have more in common that, kids who grow up in here.

00:55:10.850 - 00:55:26.040

‘Cause even though, I didn’t come here as little kid, I actually came here when I was nineteen. So I just—you know, I w—I’m kinda like one of them. So, I do have friends here, they, they are

00:55:26.150 - 00:55:40.360

very fluent in English. They actually speak English very well, and very Americanized, and… and also have a good understanding of Korean culture and all the Koreans, so, it’s really fun. I love hanging out with them,

00:55:41.030 - 00:55:57.580

because we can be totally American, and we can be totally Korean. And it’s just fun, I-I just love it. That, you know, I wish all the people who coming from all over the world, uh they do that, you know, just, we

00:55:57.580 - 00:56:11.130

have great advantage, you know, we have two culture to work with. I mean, it can be a little scary at the beginning, but now, you know, really I wanted to pick good culture, good Korean culture, good thing about

00:56:11.130 - 00:56:27.050

Korea, and I wanna pick all the good things about America, and I wanna put them together, I wanna make it mine. Because it’s your choice, right? And I want my kids to…I wanna give that to my kids. I don’t want them to be totally American, I don’t want them to be totally Korean, you

00:56:27.050 - 00:56:44.970

know, but I really as, you know, Korean mother, I really wanted to teach my kids how to respect the elderlies, like, Korea, it’s huge. I want them to uh… put high priority on education.

00:56:46.610 - 00:57:00.460

That’s what we do in Korea. There’s a lot of things—we save money, instead of buy first, make a payment, like here in America. In Korea, you live like, you know, nobody at the

00:57:00.620 - 00:57:19.450

beginning you have nothing, but you build up, and pay everything for cash, and, you know, just build up your wealth. Not here, you just buy everything with a loan. You know so, and again, the other way, in here America, I love the freedom,

00:57:19.860 - 00:57:34.140

not so care so much about what other people think, in Korea, you know, negative thing is about they care so much about what other people think, lot of Asian cultures like that. So they—you know, that’s good and bad, you do have to think of what

00:57:34.240 - 00:57:51.870

other people think, but you got to do it to a certain extent, you know, just like how I was talking to you about earlier have a respect for others. So, there’s some stuff in Korea it’s too much, and here, in America, in just— there’s freedom, and they really get to speak what’s in your

00:57:52.000 - 00:58:07.420

heart, not worry about what other people think. And… there’s, doesn’t matter of how, age difference, you can be friend with a twenty or so old. In Korea it’s kinda hard, because they really like the elderly,

00:58:08.970 - 00:58:24.490

right? And, all the opportunities here in America, just, there’s so many good things America has to offer, and there’s so many good things, other culture has to offer. I think we can actually embrace both of them, and, we can,

00:58:25.140 - 00:58:35.620

you know, give to our kids and interest to others, you know. I like to share things, to you. And, you know, you and other people. Like, ‘hey, try this!’ you know.

00:58:36.540 - 00:59:02.980

And I, I think that’s how we should be—we should be all proud of what we have, and share the good things to others, and so we all can be, you know, happy. Um, I know your daughter recently studied abroad in Korea.

00:59:03.540 - 00:59:16.970

How did you, how’d you feel about that? Well, I am very happy that she did. Uh I really want her to get to know more about Korea, you know,

00:59:17.280 - 00:59:35.990

that’s where I’m from. And… I thought it is just, I thought she will know more about Korean people and Korean culture, and that will bring her and I even closer. So… and she did pick up some more Korean

00:59:36.720 - 00:59:48.720

language . So, that was fun, we text each other with Korean, I loved it. It was so special. I think, you know, it helped us bond together more closely.

00:59:49.180 - 01:00:00.660

So I am very happy that she get to do that and also it’s a great experience for her, like you went to China. You know, what an opportunity, right? Just to go out there and see

01:00:00.710 - 01:00:19.060

the world, you know, see different people, different culture. Uh I know your son is dating a Korean girl right now . Do you think that’s a good thing, or does not matter at all? Um, it doesn’t really matter, to me.

01:00:20.270 - 01:00:34.790

But I am really happy that he did, wanted to date Korean and he’s dating Korean because it shows that, he uh… has, I—I affect him greatly.

01:00:35.450 - 01:00:49.770

See, if you think of it, if I was really bad mother, then he would not respect me or, he can’t stand me, he would not, he probably like, you know normally people like, you don’t wanna, if you, you had great

01:00:49.970 - 01:01:05.650

parents, you normally say ‘oh, I wanna marry person like my dad, I wanna marry person like my mom.’ You know, but if you—it’s really bad, they’re like ‘oh, I never ever wanna marry Korean woman, because Korean womans are mean,’ and

01:01:06.460 - 01:01:23.300

you know, so… I have great son, but… it, by his choosing Korean girlfriend, and he actually told me that he really like to, um date Korean girl, before he even met her.

01:01:25.550 - 01:01:38.740

That kinda made me feel very special, because I really felt that I did something right. I gave him really good… you know, role model as Korean woman.

01:01:39.790 - 01:02:00.790

So he has good impression of a Korean woman. Um if you could give advice to future Koreans coming to America, what would you tell them? Uh well, I think it’s just a summarize what I said anyways uh… Don’t

01:02:04.250 - 01:02:22.940

be afraid, I mean it is scary, and, even with people uh, because you’re English is terrible, you’re worried they gonna make fun of you, but I want you to know that, most of people I’ve met,

01:02:23.500 - 01:02:38.890

American, they are super nice. They are, more than willing to help you, more than willing to, teach you, if you ask, and… they will not make fun of you.

01:02:40.050 - 01:02:53.020

But sometimes we make them laugh, because we say things it’s just—funny, right? But again and also I want you to know that because they say things, don’t take it wrong way,

01:02:53.250 - 01:03:04.980

because I’ve seen it, you know. Um they not really laughing at you, or they, they are not, racist, really, maybe some people are.

01:03:04.980 - 01:03:18.650

So as we are, we Korean, we are racists too, to, you know, like. But thing is, I think it’s because we don’t know, just thing is you really have to try. If you don’t know it, you will never know unless someone

01:03:18.680 - 01:03:35.380

tea—tell you, so I—I, I just wanted to say, don’t be afraid, even though it’s scary, try it. If you try it and, you know, you tell people, ‘my English is not that good, but I wanna learn, and I wanna have American friends.’

01:03:35.880 - 01:03:54.280

You know there’s so many nice people out there, they will help you, and they will teach you, and, you know, they are as, you know, really, this is really, like, amazing thing I discover, sometimes they are as scared as we

01:03:54.280 - 01:04:11.060

are. Really. Because thing is I noticed a lot of American people, they are, afraid to speak to some, you know, Asian co-worker doesn’t speak very well or person that who’s very quiet, because

01:04:11.060 - 01:04:28.090

thing is, I’m, I’m not so comfortable talking to them because my English is not that good, and I’m worried I might make stupid mistake, because I don’t know their culture. I might say something, that, you know, it’s just not going with

01:04:28.090 - 01:04:43.330

American culture, so, we keep ourselves kinda, like, you know, secluded, right? But also for them, they want to be friends with us, but they also worried, they might say something that’s offending to us, because they

01:04:43.330 - 01:04:58.790

don’t know our culture, and... you know, they are very cautious too, so we really kind of, don’t think of it as, ‘I’m the weaker one.’ You know, we all are same people, you know, I always, I used to kind of little

01:04:58.790 - 01:05:15.240

embarrassed about my English, but I, I actually came to point, ‘hey, you know what, you speak one English, I mean one language really well, I speak one language really well. But I also speak second language.’ You

01:05:15.240 - 01:05:28.580

know, I kind of goof around now, say ‘you know, I’m better than you! Because I speak my English, I mean my Korean perfectly, but I also speak English.’ And we kind of all laugh. And it’s ok, you know, it’s ok.

01:05:28.920 - 01:05:42.570

Just don’t be like, you’re the weaker one, you know, people gonna make fun of you, or you know, you gonna make mistake. Hey, Korean, you can speak Korean, you can read and write, you know what Korean culture is

01:05:42.570 - 01:05:55.650

like, you are perfect! You, I mean, Korea you can function perfectly; it’s just new, so you just have to give yourself chance for you to embrace, you know, American culture. And you also have to give other people

01:05:56.660 - 01:06:11.080

opportunity to get to know you, get to know your culture, so they can know you, too. So, I think it goes both way. But if you, you are afraid, so you don’t go out,

01:06:11.640 - 01:06:28.090

you only wanna hang out with Korean people, you only wanna speak Korean, you only wanna watch Korean TV, you never give in yourself opportunity to know whole world something amazing. You are limiting yourself, from so much opportunities,

01:06:28.870 - 01:06:46.980

so many friendships, and so many good things that waiting for you, you are really cutting that off. So don’t handicap yourself by just, closing everything around you, just open up, go for it, don’t be afraid, and, if

01:06:47.040 - 01:06:59.270

people laugh at you, you laugh with them. Who cares, right? You know who you are, you know what you are doing; you know, just do everything what is, you know, good for you and good for others.

01:07:03.040 - 01:07:19.670

And, to kinda finish off, is there anything else you wanted to share about your experience? In here, America? Either, coming to America, or here in Houston? No, I think it just, you know, I just love the opportunity to move

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around, and this is a huge country . So, it’s, kind of fun, I used to kind of scared to move around, so I didn’t want to move out of California, but, I love it here, and I don’t know what futures I had, you know, my kids are getting older so I

01:07:35.840 - 01:07:48.580

don’t know where they gonna be end up, so we might end up moving again. Follow them everywhere. But, yeah, I, I think I, I am, thankful, I am very thankful.

01:07:48.670 - 01:08:03.070

I thank God that he brought me here, I thank God for my husband, my children, all the friends, and friend like you, Bayli. Um I just, I am very

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blessed, to ha—um be able to have family like what we have right now and the opportunity that I have here in America and live like—you know American, and have all this different culture that I get to see.

01:08:20.450 - 01:08:37.290

What a life, this is a huge, huge blessing, so, I hope everyone who’s here, not just people coming from the America to…I mean a different country to here, but even to Americans. You know, what an opportunity, you live here, get to

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see all these different cultures, you know, just get to know them, and have fun. It’s exciting… That’s it. Thank you very much. You’re welcome.