A space for all

Hello,

I never really was into my Korean background at all.  I would’ve thought I’d make a website dedicated to kyopos but here we are.

During high school I wanted to have blue eyes, blond hair, and hated that I wasn’t born this way.  Throughout my life, I’ve been called Chinese, Japanese, or the typical ‘Asian’.  I hated being called asian, it almost sounded degrading; people would assume I played the piano well.  I played piano well because I practiced, but was quickly assured that it was because I was ‘asian’. Right.

Sometimes, it would really hurt; I was American, but people could only validate me as an asian person, or a white-washed person, banana, twinkie, what have you.

I knew I wasn’t Chinese, or Asian; people in America are seriously not educated very well and they don’t know any better.  And I wasn’t either !

Really, I’m living in Australia for the time being, and yes, Americans are known as the idiots of the world.

Give your child a good education, but that’s another story. Moving on!

I’ve never been prouder to be a Korean-American, a Kyopo, but overall, I just like doing me. ^_^

It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to stay for a long time in Seoul, that I learned so much about the Korean diaspora.

Diaspora means the dispersion or spread of people from their native homeland.

Did you know that right now, there are Russian-Koreans who speak fluent Russian?
Or over 33,000 German-Koreans in Germany and a German town in South Korea called Namhae ?

Did you know, that the British accent does not only come out of a Caucasian or Indian person’s mouth?
(There are a lot of Indians in England. A lot.)

If you already knew this, well, good for you because I didn’t. (- . -)

For me, I’m just thrilled that there’s a whole world full of people like me.  It’s such a unique and exciting time to be a Kyopo. It really is. I have a lot of interests in general but one of the most passionate subjects I’m interested is us !

Our parents didn’t leave their native homeland so we can bitch and moan about our identities.

Seriously, you know Korean dads, they work and work and work. And work.  He’s not the brightest of the bunch, but damn, I love him. My parents gave up everything.  They probably sacrificed some things that maybe, they will never tell us.

My parents did know something though, deep down, they wanted to give me a life they could only dream of, which was, ANYTHING!

I can be a bum or a fucking acrobat.  Whatever ! Well, not a bum, but you get the idea.

So let this be a tribute to not only ourselves, but to our parents.

감사합니다.