Isolated in my Homeland

 As we’ve read this week through the anecdotes of David Sedaris and Firoozeh Dumas, language has the ability to change the public’s perception of an individual. These readings have allowed me to recognize this societal habit in my previous experiences.

The first time I visited Korea was when i was graduating kindergarten, before entering the giant elementary school, a daunting idea at the time. However, as I was also living in Alabama at this time and had somewhat disconnected with my culture, I wasn’t that good at speaking, reading, or writing Korean. But prior to arriving in Korea, I didn’t expect this to be a problem - I was under the impression that I would be able to watch Korean Fairly OddParents all day with my grandparents’ snacks. I was quickly proven wrong when I went out to get snacks with my sister at the neighborhood convenience store and we couldn’t communicate with the grannies. Although we could understand them, we couldn’t respond with the speed expected of us. After realizing that we were just clueless American visitors, we were evidently treated as such; not necessarily in a bad way (we were treated as puppies are by children), but still different. It felt that we were unique and exotic characters that needed to be taken in and guided. Fast forwarding a few years, I revisited Korea, and this time, I was much more fluent in Korean. Now, I didn’t get that uniquely different treatment, which I enjoyed as it made me feel like I wasn’t unnaturally isolated from everyone around me. Call it a coincidence, or something to do with age, but I believe it was due to my language abilities. The level that I could communicate prompted those around me to perceive me in a certain way, and therefore, treat me differently.