The New Opportunities

As an eleven year old, Haewon Jun arrived in Minneapolis on a tiring 18 hour flight from Busan, South Korea, not knowing what life held for her here in America. As we embark on her story she explains her life as she remembers it in South Korea and how different it is in America. With this distinctive perspective, Haewon, brings us to question "who is an American” and how different her life would have been if she remained in South Korea.

The Dreamer

My mom was a really, like, big dreamer and she always thought that she would live in America some day when she was in high school because she loved English.

Said Haewon as she describes her mother' s dream. Haewon was a young girl when she was told she would be moving to America, not realizing what a huge life change was coming her way.

She would be leaving her family, friends, and high buildings, creating a distance between her and her culture. These sacrifices were made for a better life she now realizes.

Its not just a dream but a life change for the better. Haewon was only eleven when she arrived to Minneapolis on an 18 hour flight. The first thing she did was vomit when she arrived to America, as she remembers vividly.

I got sick on the airplane, and the first thing I did when I stepped on American land was I puked. First thing that I did and met my step dad's family and I was on a wheelchair getting carried out and they were like ‘Oh my god’, and I was like ‘I’m fine, just need to go to the bathroom and wash up.”

Returning to roots

Many factors have influenced how Haewon classifies herself.

I feel like I still kind of classify myself as Korean. Because I still live in, kind of like a Korean cultural mind, and I speak Korean with my mom all the time. When I think to myself, I kind of speak in Korean. When I count, I count in Korean, that kind of stuff. And, I don’t know, just because it’s different than calling myself American now that I live here. I guess it kind of has to do with the social aspect as well. Because people will see me as, like, Asian. So, that’s kind of I guess how I will think of myself as Korean or Asian, or that’s what I would think that would make sense.

We also asked if she feels a sense of belonging here in America.

I do. Um, I don’t know. I mean people are accept... people are accepting. They are not like, I don’t get those like “go home” like “ go back to where you're from” kind of comments. So I don’t feel like I don’t belong here. But, um, if I think of home, I do think of Korea rather than the place I live here. (a long pause) But it could be also I have been here like seven years, so I have been in Korea longer in life than I've been here, so.

Haewon has also been able to keep some of the traditional aspects she had in Korea, such as her childhood journals, Korean stationery, and Korean foods she grew up eating.  Celebrating traditional Korean holidays is a little more difficult for Haewon’s family in the U.S.  

We try to. There’s a Korean thanksgiving that, that’s some time in October, and it’s really hard for me and my mom to like keep track of those because it’s not the same day every year. It goes off of lunar calendar and we don’t have those. So, we would think about it and remind ourselves that “oh we should probably call home during that time while they are celebrating so we can kind of take part in it”, but the next morning we will find out that it was the night before, and we will be like “oh okay”.

Haewon “returns to her roots” in classifying herself and in what she considers “home.”

Education in South Korea

We asked Haewon to describe what the education system was like in South Korea.

Korea education is really - like they imprison you. You go to your public school from eight to three, then you have these substitute schools that are right after your public schools so you don't get home until eleven o’clock at night. Life is pretty much schooling and like, I’m pretty sure its like that in China. But in America, once you got out at three [o'clock] you were free, well unless you have sports practice and stuff. When I was free I was like. “what do I do with all this free time?” It was weird but you get a lot more assignments from public school here than in Korea and group projects to do when you’re not at school.

Here, Haewon describes discipline in school in Korea.

Yeah they do… a lot (quiet chuckle).  Like, even in elementary school, I still remember when we were made to stay after school in groups of three and we would sit there and then we would go through this multiplication chart.  It would be numbers from like one to a hundred and we would have to… we’d be timed.  So in sixty seconds, you would go through all the multiplication problems, like a hundred of them, and solve them. And there were like simple one’s, like two times six, like seven times eight kinda thing, but they were just trying to like, build our speed and stuff.  So we would have to go through all of those and they’ll say “times up” and you drop your pencil and they would go through how many you got wrong and how many you didn’t solve, and the number of those you didn’t solve or got wrong you got hit on your palms with like rulers or wooden sticks.  So really enforcing you to learn multiplication.  Um… I don’t think that is fair at all thinking about it now that I’m in, like, I’m here looking at it from an American perspective.  It’s really wrong, and definitely going against the law and of violence and everything, but in Korea it made sense.  You would tell your parents and they won’t get angry and they won’t call the school and they won’t call the police or anything.  They will just say “well, do better next time.” You know (laugh)?  

Korean children are pushed by their mothers to do well in school.

Um… very early.  A lot of Korean mothers, they’re mostly mothers who push their kids to do everything in their education.  They actually try to teach their kids English from age three...or two.  So starting really early and trying to get them to be fluent in Korean and English.  I don’t know how well that’s working, but, um, they really try because English is pretty much a required... skill.

I’m really lucky to be here

Haewon, a freshman at the University of Minnesota, is excited to further her education in the career path she chooses.

I feel like in Korea, I would totally run away from education because it was just not the style that I could follow, it was not the pace that I could keep up with. But over here, I actually enjoy education now because we are allowed to learn things we want to learn, especially in college.

Haewon is presented with more freedom and choices here in the U.S.  She can learn things she is interested in now, she has a lot more free time after school to join clubs and try different things in order to discover construct her identity. She is not pressured to take piano classes or art classes like she had to in Korea. Also, she will not be hit if she does not do well at school here in the U.S.

I’m planning to major in Family Social Science, going into counseling and helping families and couples… possibly (smiles).  Um.  But I’m also looking into doing something else, like doing translation stuff.  Probably not government stuff (laugh).  But maybe teaching English in foreign countries.

When Haewon talked about planning her future, she seems full of happiness and hope because she can now choose what she wants to study here at the University of Minnesota. Haewon explains that in South Korea, because of the competitiveness in the education system, she had less opportunities than here in America. She now has more time to think about her interests and future career paths. Here in the U.S, there are many other factors that contribute to a person's success other than solely academics.

Because of all the opportunities and freedom here, she said:

I’m really lucky to be here.

STORY FACILITATORS: 

Yessica Reyes, Ryan Thomson, Naixuan Han

IMAGE CREDIT: 

http://sistercities.lacity.org/html/07.htm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Minnesota_entrance_sign_1.jpg