Green onion kimchi Arirang

"Get your mind right. You look like a green onion kimchi pickled in salt. What's wrong with you? Before you went to America, if your temper didn't work out, you used to roll around on the floor. After you go to America, you’ve lost your bad temper and get a good temper"

You did well to go to America. It's good to study, and it's good to get rid of your bad temper, and I didn't spend for your wedding cost, if you got married in Korea, I would have been very broke. It must have cost a lot more than studying abroad." That was what my father said in joy when I visited Korea a long time ago.

A cousin brought me a big box full of Korean food to the airport, asking me to deliver it to her sister-in-law in Chicago. When I asked where Chicago is, she answered, it is close to New York. She pushed it into the loading dock, saying her sister-in-law would come to pick it up if you contacted her.

A Malaysian student from school stood at JFK Airport with a paper with my name on it. The smell of Korean food was leaking out of the box. I couldn't understand English more because I was so embarrassed.

After I enrolled in school, I called Chicago. She who is my cousin's sister-in-law wanted me to send it by mail, saying she is too far to pick it up. I didn't have a car. I didn't know where is the post office, and I didn't know how to send it.

A professor in Seoul gave me who was going to study in the U.S. linger for years a phone number of his acquaintance. I spent months hesitated to call.  One day, I called with courage. Carefully, I said, "I'm Lee Su-im from Seoul." He answered, "I don't meet Korean people." I couldn't put the phone down because my body hardened as if I had a bad head hit by a metal stick.

I ran into a Korean woman. It was very nice to meet her. However, she said, “I don't deal with a cunning girl who just came from Seoul because I'm scared.” I felt fumble in a deep swamp.

I was so lonely. I had a chance have a drink with a Korean man. I listened eagerly, twinkling my little eyes to make it look good. He said, "If I make money at this time, I've made a lot of money already. Time is money in the United States." I couldn't move the feeling of falling down a cliff.

During my long life in America, countless times, I fell to the cliff and climbed back up. Then, I slowly became a green onion kimchi pickled in salt.