Suhan Lee/Final Draft/Tuesday 34

<Final draft> Interview with My Uncle, Pablo EIT 201002454 Suhan Lee   These days, more and more people marry a person with a different nationality. Nevertheless, multicultural families still have many difficulties in terms of different cultural backgrounds, child-rearing, social prejudices, and so on. In this era of globalization, people should accept and respect them just the way they are. My aunt is Mexican. My uncle married her about 15 years ago. They have two daughters who are fifteen and twelve years old respectively. Multicultural families have become common these days, however only 15 years ago there weren't many multicultural families in Korea. Therefore, it might be not easy for my uncle to decide to marry her. So, I asked him how he had met and decided to marry her. After I asked, he was deep in thought for few minutes. He seemed to look back on the past. Finally, he opened his lips. "At that time, I had no choice except going abroad to find new opportunities. I decided to go to Mexico and started studying Spanish on my own. For the first time, I didn't even know the word "Hola!" meaning "Hello!"" he laughed. My uncle has been an engineer in a factory. In 1998, he was suggested to transfer to an overseas branch. He accepted the suggestion and began to learn Spanish on his own. In the local factory in Mexico, he went through a hard time because of unfamiliar environments such as sultry weather, unfamiliar foods and a language barrier. In the middle of hard days, a woman appeared. He said, "She looked like an angel who came down from heaven. Although I've never think of seeing someone from different country, I fell in love with her at first sight." She always helped him in every way. Finally, he proposed to her and they came back Korea together. I wondered whether my grandparents readily consented to their marriage, because many aged people in Korea tend to have a strong prejudice against foreigners. My uncle smiled gently and answered. For the first time, my grandfather strongly opposed their marriage for the simple reason that she was from a foreign country. However, as a result of persistent persuasion, they finally won his assent few days before their wedding. Now they live a stable life, however, it was quite tough to live with a person who has lived in totally different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, there were many crises in their lifetime. I asked him what was the most difficult thing to him and his family. He said the most difficult problem was a high language barrier. Even though my uncle studied Spanish hard, it was impossible to express exactly what he wanted to say. "When I got upset, I just said what I wanted to say in Korean. She never understood what I was saying." he giggled. What was worse, my aunt couldn't speak a word of Korean. This problem brought them bigger conflicts when they faced cultural differences. "I don't understand the way she thinks! Shouldn't she follow our custom when she lives here?" I heard so many time my grandmother complained this way. My uncle was always flustered between his mother and his wife. He said totally different cultural backgrounds always caused conflicts between two women. "Do you have any know-how when facing that kind of problem?" I asked. "Of course I do. First, I stand by my mother and try to calm her down. And then, in our room, I usually massage my wife's arms and legs until her anger melt away. Oh, living as a son and husband at the same time is so hard for me." he whined. "If so, were there any governmental supports for multicultural families?" I asked. He mentioned that there were language, cooking and cultural classes. However, he said these programs were not that much helpful to his wife and daughters. They tried attending there, however they eventually found it actually more helpful to learn in their actual life. He added that he hopes government would give more efficient and practical supports. Also, I asked about his daughters. My cousins have exotic appearances, so I wondered if they have encountered discriminations. Koreans, especially the elderly, have taken an unfriendly attitude toward foreigners and mixed-blood people from old times. My uncle sighed slightly and said, "One day, Eun hee-who is the older sister-came home crying. She said an old lady approached to her and taunted about her appearance. Even, she called Eun-hee "Twi-gi" which is a slang despising mixed-blood people. It tore my heart and I got really upset, but there's nothing I could do for her. Fortunately, awareness of mixed-blood people has certainly improved, so now they adapt well to their school." He said that he is consistently trying to be an example to others. "That's the only way I can do to leave a better world to my kids." he added. Saying this, he proudly showed me his right hand with old wounds and oil stains. "We have to live more diligently to make a living. It makes me tired sometimes, but I'm still happy whenever I think of my family." I saw a sincere smile on his face. In the end of interview, he tapped my shoulder and offered words of encouragement. Then he promised to keep trying his best as he has done until now, linking little fingers each other. I could feel his firm resolution to protect his family as best he can. And then I parted with him promising to meet again.