I recently watched Minari , an movie specifically tailored to the Korean Immigrant experience. It was actually quite shocking how accurate and raw the movie felt


There is one moment during this time that I remember with absolute clarity. My mom made instant ramen, but wanted to make more soup to add rice too (so that one packet of ramen could feed more), but because of that she made it too watery. I remember crying because it wasn’t that good and complaining about how she ruined the ramen for us.
After 9/11 because the economy tanked, my dad lost his job in NYC. He was raising 2 kids in the city, and had to leave after living there for 18 years. We moved to Maryland where he found a job as and engineer. It’s wierd to think about how significant that event took a change in my life (even though I don’t remember it) and the American world. I hear “post 9/11” world a lot because it marked a change in US politics


Theres a fear of failure in so many immigrants. That maybe coming to America was the wrong move, or maybe that it would be easier back at home. I think this fear of failure is reflected in a lot of second-gen immigrants.
We also have a “eat every single grain of rice” mentality, where no food would go to waste because food at some points was rare or hard to find in my parent’s life.