Where’s your hometown?

My hometown is for sure Koreatown. I was born and raised here. I was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital. I think almost all of my siblings were born here.

Have you always gone to school in Koreatown, or have you gone to schools outside of Koreatown?

When I was 2 years old, I had to go to Korea and Japan for a bit because of my mom’s visa problems. While I was in Japan, I went to preschool there for about a year. I don’t have a lot of memories from there, but I do have some of Japan and what it was like being a child there. But back to Koreatown, yes, I’ve been going to school there since kindergarten. I went to public and charter schools, but I’m attending a private school right now.

How do you get around Koreatown, like school-wise?

In the beginning, when I went to school, my parents usually gave me rides. These days, I’ve been riding the bus and subway a lot because my parents are very busy taking care of my younger siblings. In the morning, it is kind of hard to give me a ride because I’m part of the student council, and there are times when I have to go to school early. On those days, I usually ride the subway or go to school on the bus.

I’m experiencing Koreatown or L.A. on a different level because there are so many weird people on the subway. I’ll just be walking around, and then there are people pooping or peeing on the floor. It’s kind of weird because there are public restrooms. I don’t know why they’re doing that. It’s kind of the negative stuff that most people don’t know about or see.

When I told my friends in Korea that I live in Los Angeles, the first thing they told me was, ‘Oh my God, you must be rich!’ I’m like, “No, it’s not that. There’s different stuff in Koreatown.” Going back to your question, I usually get rides from my parents, which I’m very thankful for because I don’t like riding the subway a lot.

Going back to what you were saying about your friends in Korea, what is something positive that you would say about living in Koreatown?

I think Korea is very, very strict. They’re strict about everything there, so busy, and always try to make everything so packed. Recently, I went to Korea, and my little sister is not fluent in Korean, so when she didn’t understand what they were telling her to do, [people there] got mad at her. They were like, ‘Oh my goodness, I told you multiple times to go that way!’ She was kind of upset because, you know, nobody speaks to you that way in Koreatown. If you mishear, they’re more polite. I feel like Koreatown is much friendlier in those kinds of aspects. 

Wearing clothes that are too revealing or short is very new to Korea. When I went to Korea, the clothes I wore here in Koreatown were crop tops or short mini skirts. If I wore that in Korea, random grandparents — not even my grandparents — would just come up to me, and they’d be like, ‘I wouldn’t wear that if I were you. You’re still pretty without wearing those kinds of clothes.’ 

In Koreatown, nobody would say that to you. You know, people usually just mind their own business. If not, they [compliment] you, like, “Oh my god, I like your shirt today.” “You look pretty today.” Those are definitely more of the positive things I know about Koreatown.

Okay, so there’s definitely a big social aspect to living in Koreatown. How would you say your experience living in Koreatown differs from your friends’ experiences living in Korea?

[Since everything’s] so packed together in Korea, it’s much easier to move around and stuff like that. But going back to what you asked, I think America has a different view and culture than Korea because my friends in Korea keep to themselves more and aren’t really open to new concepts, even with identity. If you say that you’re queer, people would react, or they would pause for a bit and maybe have to process that. I feel like that would never happen in America. It is definitely more inviting here. 

Growing up here, I’ve been given more opportunities to interact with different people from [diverse backgrounds]. In Korea, if you go there, it’s almost all Koreans. These days, it’s been getting better. You will see some foreigners, but not many, and you can only see them in certain places in Korea, like the hot places. But in America, wherever you go, you’re going to see different ethnic groups or different people. Being given the opportunity to [meet] different people when I was younger [helped] me to become more comfortable living in the world.

Do you think living in Koreatown has given you a more open-minded perspective on the different cultures here?

Definitely. First of all, I don’t know how big Koreatown is, but from my perspective, it’s pretty big. Wherever you go, you’re going to see many different people with different personalities. There are people who like certain stuff and people who like other stuff. Getting to experience that firsthand gives you a different experience of culture.

Like I was saying before, in Korea, people catch on to trends really fast. But once that happens, everyone dresses the same, has the same hair, wears the same glasses, or eats the same food. In America, even if there are some trends people follow, there are also others who do stuff that they are more comfortable with or think is better suited for them.

My friend would dye her hair blonde, but then I would keep [mine] black because I like having my hair black. I know some guy friends who don’t want to dye their hair ever, and then some who bleach their hair every other Saturday or something. Even if it’s that kind of stuff, it’s so different, even in my own ethnic group in America. Experiencing culture is not just about ethnicity and that kind of diversity; there are other personalities that you can encounter here.

I go to a Korean church. But we have a separate youth ministry for English-speaking people. In that, you can already see the different backgrounds people grew up in and how that affects the way they act, like the way they talk and stuff. I have friends from church, and they talk really — I wouldn’t say sassy — but kind of like that because they go to a school where the majority of people talk that way. If I go to their school, the majority of them will talk the same way. Even that, I want to say, is a different culture.

It’s different at my school. At my school, people are more — I don’t want to say tame or sheltered, but they kind of are. They don’t really talk that way or are not as outgoing. Just going to different places in K-Town, you’re going to experience many different cultures and people, and I feel that’s like an opportunity in itself.

Speaking of Korea, what’s something in Koreatown that’s the closest to Korea or reminds you of it?

Personally, at the beginning of high school or the end of middle school, I was really into BTS [a popular K-pop group]. I would go to Madang Courtyard and the K-pop store there and try to find BTS albums and stuff. That kind of stuff is so well done in Korea because [Koreans] are very proud of their culture and of the people or groups like BTS that represent South Korea. That’s one of the things I would be able to experience in Koreatown.

There’s also food. A lot of people from Korea come to America and start businesses, and usually those businesses are Korean restaurants. [One place] I go to is this seolleongtangjib (설렁탕집 — a restaurant that serves ox bone soup). It’s this beef broth soup place, and it’s really good. I feel like those are the things you can taste from Korea. If you taste it, it’s like, Wow, it tastes like Korea! Those kinds of things give me memories from when I went to Korea. 

Obviously, food in Korea has shifted more to the American taste, but more people are into spicy food there. [Koreans] are very into food; they’re always eating food, and a lot of it at once. They think of creative ways to eat food. They would have tteokbokki (떡볶이 — spicy simmered rice cakes) but randomly add ramen to it, and then they would eat that, and all of a sudden, that’s like a whole different meal category.