Cauc[Asian] Comparisons: A Korean-American's Take on Thai Culture

This was a short submission I wrote for the newsletter we put together. A compilation of our perspectives and observations will be put together into a pdf and sent to family and CIEE members. 
This was my chosen topic.

I’ll always remember our first exposures to American culture in Thailand. The group would excitedly point out the first McDonald’s and KFC or marvel at the stores that screamed Abercrombie & Fitch or Express in every way but the name. But no one will remember as well as I do when we see traditional Korean clothing (hanboks) sold at the night markets or hear Korean music playing in coffee shops and electronic stores. The prevalence of Korean entertainment and culture is much more extensive than I realized. Almost everyone I meet has asked me where I’m from though I plainly speak English and I have yet to meet a Thai unfamiliar with at least one Korean word or a popular Korean music group.

It isn’t something I can explain but it is something I can feel and describe everyday.  I never expected my Korean-American upbringing to present itself as an advantage in so many ways. I’m not gawked at as often as my friend with blond hair and blue eyes. I order spicy food without fear and eat strange cuts of meat at homestays without questioning. Being a smaller, shorter Korean-American, I shop much more comfortably in Thai boutiques and for the first time in a long time, I don’t struggle to find shoes to fit my 5 ½ size feet. I’ve assimilated to the new culture relatively easily compared to my white American friends as well. Whereas the Caucasian-Americans in my class see a cultural contradiction, I see its similarities to the Korean culture I’ve grown up around. The polite greeting wai comes more naturally to me when I greet elders because my Korean heritage intrinsically has me bowing in respect.  Additionally, learning Thai isn’t as difficult when my Korean speaking, reading, and writing abilities helps me accurately pronounce Thai phonetics and numbers.

All the same, being Asian in a Southeast Asian country will still have its limitations because I am also an American, a farang. It’s as if the cultural connection is crystal clear one moment and fuzzy the next. I’m not used to eating rice with my hands and the family structure within villages still confuses me. My roommate watches more Korean dramas than I do and I’ve yet to find a Protestant church to attend on Sundays. I’ve noticed that the Thai’s traditional perception of an American has yet to include an Asian-American who found most of her heritage growing up in small Korean communities in small American towns and not the mother country itself. Thais I meet find it a little difficult to understand that I’m not completely integrated with the Asian culture I was born into. At the same time, I find myself wondering whether I’d understand more or less if I had been raised in Korea my whole life. But I realize that the differences between Korean and Thai culture can be just as gaping as that between American and Thai culture. It’s simply that the little things I understand come to me naturally and I’m grateful that I have a small cultural foundation to build my new experiences upon.

Hence, I count myself as lucky. Thailand, I hear you loud and clear.