- You wore bralettes in Korea?
- Yeah, 'cause it's hot!
Ain't nobody going to Korea in the summer.
You gon' die out there, are you kidding me?
You need a bralette, I'm not gonna walk out there
with no T-shirt on in the summertime in Korea, you crazy.
- Your accent's coming out.
- Yeah, your accent's coming out.
(all laugh)
(lighthearted xylophone music)
- I'm here with my Korean-American friends
to talk about growing up in America.
^- I was born in Louisiana, grew up in Georgia,
^I came here when I was 16.
^- So I came to America, 2010,
^after I graduated high school from Korea.
^I used to live in Orange County area,
^and moved to Fullerton
^and moved to LA about three years ago.
^- I was born in San Francisco,
^and I lived out in Korea since I was one,
^and then I moved back here in second grade.
^- I was born in Korea
^but I moved to America when I was 12.
^Since then I haven't been back yet.
(upbeat string music)
- I went to the dentist,
I guess they couldn't remember my name,
^and then they wrote on there (speaks foreign language)
^(all gasp) - Really?
They just wrote (speaks foreign language) because they knew
I was speaking English, and I was just like,
"Yo I'm Korean", like you know?
So I mean, that's gonna happen.
- But these days, there is a lot of people who go
out to Korea to teach English and stuff.
- Yeah.
- So you'll meet a lot of people
who speak English just as much as you do.
- There are a lot of foreigners living in Korea.
- So I speak Korean with my parents, fully,
but like because I did the growing up like here,
I feel weird speaking Korean to people like my age.
- Do you have an accent?
- No, I don't.
- I've never seen you talking.
- My Korean language is like elementary school level,
so I wouldn't know any of the new slang.
I wouldn't know what to say.
- I think when you go to Korea, the way
everyone grows up is different, so
- Yeah.
- Even though I was raised in Korea like
when I was young, and then I went back when I got older,
I still had a depression because it was so different.
(upbeat music)
I go both ways. - Yeah I go both ways.
- But I still kinda root for Korea.
- I think I would root for Korea more.
- Korea versus America, I would for sure root for Korea,
but America versus other countries, then of course America.
- Yes I think that way too, yes, yes.
- Well said.
I think that's what I was trying to say.
(quick piano music)
- So I watch more American TV shows,
but I laugh more at Korean shows,
it's just more relatable, it's funnier.
They way they react with each other on TV,
I feel like Korea has a really good reality program,
- Right.
- It's like so funny.
^I love (speaks foreign language)
(all gasp)
- Oh my gosh, The Animal, that's like my favorite TV show.
^- (speaks foreign language) For sure.
- Oh yeah, that one's funny too.
- Sometimes when I watch American shows,
I don't understand anything.
- Me too, I don't get their humor,
like the dry humor is not funny to me.
- I don't get the Korean.
- Really?
- Yeah, I have to look at the subtitles.
You know the captions when they come up?
- Yeah.
- I'm like "Oh, that's what they said".
- Korean reality shows are more like,
people suffering, like in a funny way, you know?
- Games.
- Yeah games, and like they living in small houses,
and like doing things challenges together,
and I think it's funnier to see people like
going through hard things,
but like, laughing through it.
- I find that like Korean variety shows it's more involved.
Only celebrities.
But in America,
there are some regular people involved in the
a lot of variety shows so I think that's, like that's cool--
- Reality. - Yeah.
(upbeat xylophone music)
- I grew up in (speaks foreign language)
and they have a bunch of like Korean people.
I definitely hung out with mostly all Koreans.
- So when I came here, I didn't know who to hang out with
because Harris County just, is black and white and then me.
You know, and my aunt, you know.
But she don't go to school with me, you know.
(all laugh)
It was just like "Whoa!" So overwhelming for me
so I had a really thick accent when I first came here,
and they're like "You have an accent".
I'm like, "No, you have an accent".
(all laugh)
And then I just felt kind of like,
kind of like stuck.
- One thing that really bothers me.
If you act like too Asian, if you have Asian friends,
if you look Asian, if you dress Asian,
^you're called FOB, right?
^- Right.
- And people look down on you,
people are like "why are you even in America"?
If you act American, or if you have more white friends,
or if you dress, let's say, not that Asian,
you're called whitewashed.
- Oh yeah.
- Ever since I dyed my hair blonde,
I've seen comments saying like,
"Oh she's whitewashed, she's trying to be white".
And maybe I dye my hair because I like the color,
maybe I want to have a change,
just like how everyone dyes their hair color.
Growing up, especially in middle school,
because of that FOB stereotype,
I think that's why I tried so hard
to hang out with American people.
And I wish I made more Korean friends there,
but I was so worried that I would be called a FOB,
and then now like, people calling you whitewashed
just because your acting not Asian,
it's like so not fair to be on each side.
I think we need to stop thinking
we have to be one way or another.
- But I think it's getting better than before.
- Yeah, for sure.
- Like these days I kind of feel that way.
- Yeah.
- I wish I came to American earlier,
because I came to America when I was getting into college.
So I didn't really get to hang out
with white or black or like hispanic
- Other races.
- Yeah other races.
I hung out with mostly Korean and other Asians
like Taiwanese, Chinese.
Whenever I meet other race friends in class,
they would find Korean-related thing
and they would only talk about like that.
- Oh, like K-pop and stuff?
- Yeah K-pop, or like "I've been to Korea",
like my friend is Korean teacher.
- You're good considering when you came by,
you came in high school?
- Yeah.
- You're really, really good.
- When I first met her,
that's like one of the first things I said.
I had no idea you came when you were 19.
- That's really young.
- That's crazy.
- You're lying!
(upbeat music)
- English.
- When I get really mad, just English.
- I don't cuss in Korea at all.
When I cuss in English, it doesn't sound bad.
- You know everybody says like (bleeps).
In Korean if you're like (bleeps)
(all laugh)
You know? It actually sounds worse.
(upbeat music)
- Tipping.
- Oh tipping.
Cause you don't tip in Korea.
- No, not at all.
- Now that I think about it,
cause in Korea you don't tip and that sounds so nice.
- But now I think in Korea they don't get tips,
so I feel bad for them.
- I literally taught my friend that's just
just visiting from Korea how to tip, I was like
(all exclaim)
you just times this by 15% or 20%.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Another culture shock.
This is a good thing but whenever like strangers
they smile.
- Yeah, when you walk by?
- Yeah!
- Like welcoming.
- Very welcoming.
- They don't like to talk to strangers in Korea,
but here they're like "Hi"! Or whatever.
- If you say hi to a stranger in Korea,
they're like "Whoa, do I know you"?
(all laugh)
- You know your age, you're one year younger here.
- Right.
- And it just sucks,
cause sometimes I go to Korea and they're like,
"How old are you"? I'm like "Oh, I'm, example, 24".
(all laugh)
Right? And then like I come here and I'm like,
"Oh I'm 24, oh just kidding I'm 22 or 23".
(upbeat guitar music)
- All of a sudden we're cool, but we were always cool.
- Yeah.
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah!
Without the K-pop, we're still us, like we're still cool.
We can still dance, we can still sing, like.
- But then again, that's what's making us more noticeable.
K-pop, K-dramas, definitely put like a big, big,
it does its job.
- But we were always cool.
- We were always cool.
- Everybody's just more aware.
- I'm really just thankful, though
that it's getting known here.
- Oh no, of course.
^(upbeat music)
- Like you have to be brave and be ready to embrace.
- I think like when you first come,
you need to kind of feel out of your circle.
Even if you're uncomfortable,
try your best to learn English.
So adapt to this culture,
and then you can still keep your culture
where you came from, which is Korea,
that way you can really become like a Korean-American.
- Try to keep both cultures.
You don't want to grow up only speaking English
and forgetting the Korean side.
You want to keep the both sides.
- I think both cultures have amazing things.
- And I was a super shy kid when I was little,
I know it's really hard to tell now.
(all laugh)
- Hard to tell.
- There's a lot of mean kids out there,
when those kids would pick on me,
I would go home crying like "Am I ugly"?
Like "What's wrong with me"?
Like "Is there something wrong with me"?
I didn't understand what was going on, but
you know that's just ignorance.
Be fearless.
- Yeah, be fearless.
- Do whatever you want to do.
- Be you, yeah.
- Yeah.
(lighthearted jazz music)