Korean Adoptee

A recent story titled, “Boy invites entire kindergarten class to his adoption hearing — and it’s adorable,’ started making its way around Facebook. I saw some of my friends share it with comments of “Aww” and “Yep, I cried…” I have nothing against my friends, but quite frankly, I found this article and sharing it in such a way to be very offensive. It’s the holiday season. Last year my dad died, and due to being in a long-distance relationship, for the time being, I am going to spend most of this holiday season alone. Tonight I was driving home…

Earlier this week, I had lunch at a business I know is not Christian-owned, but they have some of the best Christmas decorations of any restaurant I've been to yet this season. They do it because they want to support their Christian brothers and sisters who do celebrate Christmas. They could easily instead say things like, 'This is not a Christian-owned business. We will deny service to those wearing Christmas-themed clothes as it goes against our beliefs.' But, instead, they choose to support one another and their community regardless of their beliefs. I am reminded of how many businesses I've…

I recently found out that it is LGBT history month, which got me thinking about what this means to me as a Korean and as an adoptee. This year was the 20th year of Seoul’s gay pride march. And although I was not in attendance, I was in Korea during the 2nd annual Incheon Queer Culture Festival. Last year’s festival in Incheon did not go off without incident, and so it feels good to know that there is progress being made toward tolerance, even if it is slowly. The News Lens documented some of the progress in their February 2018…

This summer, I was a student in the Short-Term Korean Language Program at Ewha University. Although I learned a lot, the pace of having classes and field trips from about 9 am to 5 pm every day, combined with needing to do at least 10 hours of studying a night, was too much for me. The program was terrific, and I was able to read, write, and speak some Korean by the end of the class. However, I just was not ready to take the 5-hour final exam at the end. I don't consider this a failure, as I accomplished what I…

On Tuesday, October 22, 2019, at about 5 p.m., I was at Peepo's Subs & Shawarma at 10890 Beech Daly Rd, Taylor, MI 48180. I asked for chicken shawarma and rice. The employee told me that the only way that I could order that is if I ordered 'Peepo's Plate, a.k.a Peepo's Bowl, which their menu describes as 'Turmeric Rice topped with your choice of Africano Meat, Tomatoes, Lettuce & drizzled with our Homemade Ranch.' So, I ordered the 'Peepo's Plate' and asked for it with chicken shawarma instead of Africano Meat, tomatoes, no ranch, and add pickles and Fattoush…