Last night was a busy night. It began with dressing up in a suit and tie (a rare occasion for this academic) to attend the annual banquet for the Korean Association of Minnesota at 6 pm. I was attending in order to promote the multimedia art and oral history exhibit, Still Present Pasts, which will be coming to the Twin Cities on April 14, 2007 at Intermedia Arts. The exhibit is sponsored by the University of Minnesota. By promoting the exhibit, it largely meant encouraging civic leaders of the Korean immigrant community (and some Korean War veterans) to consider financially supporting the exhibit. I am not sure what success I had in this fundraising effort but it was at least publicity. I was a bit bummed to have to leave early because they were going to have karaoke later in the night! Imagine a group of 60-70 year old Korean immigrants singing the Korean blues! Oh well, another time....
Afterwards, at 8:30 pm, I hit the road, trying to figure out if I had time to swing by the fundraiser for Earl Root which CC was helping to organize in downtown St Paul. However, looking at the time, I realized I would not be able to do any live karaoke with CC (i.e., sing with a live band!).
So, I hurried over to the Southern Theater to check out the second act of the Mu Daiko concert featuring Jodaiko. Wow, what an amazing show! Jodaiko is an all-women ensemble of the premier female taiko drummers in North America who play "power drumming" -- hitting hard, fast, and rhythmic. Amazing.
Then, after the show around 11 pm, we made our way for one more evening activity - a birthday party for Harlow's Monkey at the norabang near campus (I think it's called Boomtown Karaoke at 221 SE. Oak St.). Finally, karaoke! It was a good night. We had reserved the large room from 10-12 and I was expecting the usual gross room that this place was sadly known for under the old management of Kumok's. But to my surprise, it was much nicer! It turns out that there were new owners for the place and they had ripped up the nasty, stinky carpet, replaced the thrift store couches with comfy futon-style couches, and upgraded the karaoke system. After only being there for one hour (midnight), the owners asked us to leave. Huh? I was perplexed because usually you can just stay for as long as you want. However, after attempting to communicate in broken English, I switched over to my broken Korean to communicate. It turns out that another party had reserved the room from 12-2 am. So, I negotiated for us to get a slightly smaller room.
Anyway, having now spoken some Korean with the new owners, I decided to keep at it and struck up an interesting 30-45 minute conversation with them in broken Korean-English. I learned that the wife moved from Korea just 6 months ago, bought and renovated the noraebang, and now works there from 10 am to 2 or 4 am each day. During the day, she operates a hair salon on the premise and at night runs the noraebang. Overwhelmed with the work, her husband quit his job in Korea and moved to Minnesota a month ago to help out his wife. This couple speaks literally no English but are making a major go of it. I was amazed. They were clearly exhausted and said as much. They were working 18 hour days and were overwhelmed. It was frustrating to not speak English, to try to figure things out day by day, and somehow raise two high school-age children! I complemented them on their achievements and the renovations and kept them company.
That late Saturday (actually Sunday) night, in between their sleepiness, I could see the loneliness in their eyes and the yearnings for home escaping between each breath. And in that moment, I saw my parents. I was reminded of my own parents' efforts to achieve the American dream. I wish them the best in this adventure and encourage others to support them out! Get a haircut there and sing a tune while you wait!
Posted by richlee at December 10, 2006 03:44 PMI am always moved by my meetings and relationships with recent immigrants to our country. No matter where they originated from there's a commonality that touches the heart and gives me pause in my comfortable life. The fear, hope, courage, determination, isolation; it's a big old bundle of weight to shoulder in addition to the "normal" chores of earning a living, raising a family.
I sometimes think back to how even more incredibly difficult it was for my mother and her girlfriends back in the days of struggling to assimilate, to blend into the background and not make any overt moves that would underline how incredibly different they were in almost every visible way from every other person they met here. I'm sometimes sad for her that she didn't live long enough to partake in the present culture of blending the original with the acquired. Doubling instead of replacing. She might have been very tickled at what is a hopefully permanent way of being American. I know that I am.
Posted by: lolo at December 12, 2006 08:51 AM