Sunday, September 25, 2011
Going to Work
Friday, September 16, 2011
30th Birthday
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Meet Ojiichan
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Welcome! 접대 ほうげい
Welcome! Most native speakers of Korean and Japanese will realize that I have probably butchered either or both languages, but before I defend myself, let me begin with a brief introduction.
I am a proud mother of Rai, a 3-year-old boy whose life began in the womb of a brave birthmother in Korea with a difficult decision to make. Rai lived with a caring foster mother and foster family, who we still call Omma and Appa, for the first year and a half, and he made the journey to the United States of America with me and his adoptive father. Since then, many things have changed, but Rai is still the precious boy I met 2 years and 5 months ago. Rai and I are also fortunate to have Omma and Appa in our lives, primarily by phone and letters, and I hope one day Rai's birth mother will be able to make contact and see how her little boy again.
Being a half-Japanese and half-Caucasian American, I have roots in two separate countries with families in both who visit this blog to see pictures/videos and read updates in between visits. Unfortunately, it has been a long time since I have visited my large family in Japan, so this blog is the best way we keep connected.
As you can see from the title of this post, I am not fluent in Korean or Japanese, but I do try to learn. Aside from being a mother and having family in two separate countries, I am an avid learner of many things. I spent ten years of my life in a university setting: first, earning degrees in Performance and Humanities (with ethnomusicology graduate coursework); and then, teaching courses in ethnomusicology (music and culture), technical communications, literature, and humanities. I conducted fieldwork in Asahikawa, Japan on Japanese festivals and presented papers analyzing the sustainability of a large city, such as Asahikawa, in the midst a highly globalized society through the lens of summer festivals. After my researching and teaching for five solid years, I realized that many of the things I had once set out to learn were now put on hold. I never learned Japanese, despite living in Japan and speaking Japanese with my mother and her family until I was 4 years old, and I never learned Korean, a language my son needs to learn to both connect with his heritage and communicate with those who are so important in his life.
This year, I left the university and set out on a new career path that would free up more time to do the things I feel are important: spend more time with my family and learn the things I've meant to learn for so long. I am now an instructional designer at Monitronics. I spend my work days working closely with 3 departments in our company to design and develop training. After designing and developing several courses when I taught in higher education, this new career feel like an extension of my previous work and keeps me on my toes.
This blog is another new beginning in my and my son's life. I hope you enjoy the pictures, videos, and updates in our lives and feel free to leave comments to help us stay connected!
I am a proud mother of Rai, a 3-year-old boy whose life began in the womb of a brave birthmother in Korea with a difficult decision to make. Rai lived with a caring foster mother and foster family, who we still call Omma and Appa, for the first year and a half, and he made the journey to the United States of America with me and his adoptive father. Since then, many things have changed, but Rai is still the precious boy I met 2 years and 5 months ago. Rai and I are also fortunate to have Omma and Appa in our lives, primarily by phone and letters, and I hope one day Rai's birth mother will be able to make contact and see how her little boy again.
Being a half-Japanese and half-Caucasian American, I have roots in two separate countries with families in both who visit this blog to see pictures/videos and read updates in between visits. Unfortunately, it has been a long time since I have visited my large family in Japan, so this blog is the best way we keep connected.
As you can see from the title of this post, I am not fluent in Korean or Japanese, but I do try to learn. Aside from being a mother and having family in two separate countries, I am an avid learner of many things. I spent ten years of my life in a university setting: first, earning degrees in Performance and Humanities (with ethnomusicology graduate coursework); and then, teaching courses in ethnomusicology (music and culture), technical communications, literature, and humanities. I conducted fieldwork in Asahikawa, Japan on Japanese festivals and presented papers analyzing the sustainability of a large city, such as Asahikawa, in the midst a highly globalized society through the lens of summer festivals. After my researching and teaching for five solid years, I realized that many of the things I had once set out to learn were now put on hold. I never learned Japanese, despite living in Japan and speaking Japanese with my mother and her family until I was 4 years old, and I never learned Korean, a language my son needs to learn to both connect with his heritage and communicate with those who are so important in his life.
This year, I left the university and set out on a new career path that would free up more time to do the things I feel are important: spend more time with my family and learn the things I've meant to learn for so long. I am now an instructional designer at Monitronics. I spend my work days working closely with 3 departments in our company to design and develop training. After designing and developing several courses when I taught in higher education, this new career feel like an extension of my previous work and keeps me on my toes.
This blog is another new beginning in my and my son's life. I hope you enjoy the pictures, videos, and updates in our lives and feel free to leave comments to help us stay connected!
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