Adapting to the New World

Originally, I was born in South Korea and lived there all my life until I married and moved to America. While living in America for five years now, I have tried to adapt to the rapid pace of change in my life. Although I felt worried at first, I doubted that I would find many differences between our two countries. After all, we are much alike even though we speak different languages, and have different traditions and cultures. People in both countries wear blue jeans, love children, and seek freedom. Despite these similarities, I found it difficult to adjust, for so much was alien to me.

Most difficult for me was learning a new language. I discovered that American English combines the influence of many other languages, mostly European but many of them global. The language is basically English, of course, for the English, who came over on the Mayflower, settled here early, and in the largest numbers. On the other hand, the Korean language was heavily influenced by Chinese until about 400 years ago. For Korean learners of English, the different uses of noun and verb are hard to grasp, at first. For example, an English speaker would ask a question by reversing the noun and verb, and often separating the verb, as in "Where are you going?" However, in Korean, one would ask, "You go where?" Learning a new language was hard for me, but an essential part of beginning life in this wondrous land.

Next, I needed to adjust to American food, which is relatively mild, with the exception of Cajun dishes. Generally, Korean food is very spicy, like Kimchi, which covers many types of pickled cabbage and other vegetables; Koreans cannot live without it, and often make their own from old family recipes. In addition, Koreans enjoy low fat, mostly vegetarian diets. The American diet, on the other hand, consists of high-fat, very salty items, like the fast food and instant TV dinners which are so popular. These foods may account for the high rates of heart attacks and strokes, cholesterol-clogged veins, and fatness among Americans.

Finally, Koreans and Americans treat marriage very differently. Even though we have entered the twenty-first century, many Korean marriages are arranged by matchmakers hired by parents. Or, parents of marriageable children will get together and arrange their marriages. Of course, some marriages come about through dating just as in America—young people meet, fall in love, and decide to marry. Yet, despite or because of arranged marriages, the Korean divorce rate is very low compared with American divorces. This may be due largely to the strong family bonds in Korea.

On the other hand, young people in America are allowed the greatest freedom in choosing their partners; they base marriages almost entirely on love, never through matchmakers. And a very strong trend, nowadays, is for two persons to live together for a while before getting married, though many never formally marry.

Despite these differences between our cultures, I've realized that Koreans and Americans have much in common. We tend to seek freedom, share the same excitement at a new birth, and want to make good friends. Also, we place a high value on hard work, often spending long hours at our own businesses in order to send our children to good colleges; we want to give them opportunities earlier generations could only dream of. If we can learn to accept cultural differences as unique values, the world may be more peaceful. We need to put aside our often unfounded attitudes of superiority and prejudice against other cultures.