I am still in super rough draft mode - I had a huge bout of writer's block trying to write my thoughts, and so far this is what I have.
IT'S UNFINISHED AS WELL. Please comment, I need feedback of any kind.
Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community, or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
Building a Working Product
I am a young tree caught in the eye of a storm. The colder clouds of my South Korean household engulfed the warm front of my American upbringing and combined to create the typhoon that swirls around me.
The cold front comes from my family - the only branch of the main household that ever emigrated to California. That thought of isolation really motivated my parents to pass as much Korean culture onto me while I was still a baby - whether it was eating Korean food every day at home, cultivating my mastery of the Korean language, or exposing me to Korean media. They themselves learned almost no English at all over the two decades we've been here, a lasting testimony to how much they shunned American culture. I became the hybrid immigrant in my family, the one that was bilingual and juggled two cultures every day.
For the other twelve hours not spent at home, I attended school that was almost entirely non-Korean. It was like I put on another persona when I stepped on school grounds - hiding the Korean culture I had in me, and embracing friends, education, and teachers raised in the American way. I remember not eating the Korean food my parents packed for me, and opting rather to eat the cheeseburgers and the pancakes at school.
For seventeen years the storm has battered me with its hail and its lightning, desperately trying to uproot me to one side or the other, yet I remain calm and thriving under the clash.
UPDATE:
COMPLETELY rewrote this. So if it's bad, please comment and ravish away!
Sometimes I felt like I was wearing a mask, hiding behind another face. Taking on a persona for half a day was always a challenge, especially at school or anywhere outside. Whether it's using only Korean at home, or only English with my friends, I became two different people to fit two cultures.
Born in South Korea and raised by cold, adamant parents, family and the motherland shaped my social culture. Throughout my childhood, I was taught values of independence and perseverance, just as it took me fifteen years to remaster two languages.
Growing up in Los Angeles, however, my teenage years absorbed the American culture that was thrown at me since the first grade. I walked into class not knowing a single letter of the alphabet, and so I had no initial knowledge of a classroom environment, of English, of anything. I learned as quickly as I could to embrace the massive wave of culture crashing down on me. Once I became fluent in English, and transferred to another school in third grade, I began to desire American culture more and more, as I was sheltered from it for so long at home. In order to fulfill that craving, I did my best not to act Korean in any way, so I could fully immerse myself in school and English. Within two years, Americanization infiltrated me, diminishing my knowledge of Korean, and molding me through long hours spent at school and with non-Korean friends. However, I was able to find a middle path between the two conflicting spheres in high school, as I realized that the two halves balanced together created a stronger bond than the two separated.
As I relish the satisfaction in putting long hours in building a working product, my dream is to be an engineer, be it aerospace or aeronautical. The education and culture I grew up with in Los Angeles, balanced with the Korean values passed down from my parents, also anchored my aspiration to become an example to immigrants who similarly struggle with finding their identity behind a persona.