Day 1 Two words: sensory overload. Hongdae is a stacked array of Parisian-inspired dessert bars, skin food labs, multilevel arcades, karaoke bars, and cafés boasting fruity lattés topped with marshmallows and whipped cream. There’s a sleek Boba tea spot with a line of people waiting behind a velvet barrier rope. A woman with a headset … Continue reading My Week of Seoul Searching
How to Be an Outsider in Cambodia
“Can you speak Khmer?” The customs officer asks me this with his eyes squinted. It’s 10 p.m. at the Phnom Penh airport and I just got off a six-hour flight. “Can I speak—no, no, I can’t,” I answer him, blinking. “Where were you born?” he asks. Literally, you have my passport in your hand. “USA.” … Continue reading How to Be an Outsider in Cambodia
What the Khmer Kids Taught Me
I know I should be listening but I’m zoning out. Teresa*, the head of A New Day Cambodia, is explaining to my family and I how the school works as we sit cross-legged in their main hall. But my gaze is on the long scroll of paper tacked to the wall and covered with Magic … Continue reading What the Khmer Kids Taught Me
Meeting My Korean Relatives
Let me just say, it was unreal. My mom, dad, brother, and I approach a tall building with an escalator traveling into its middle. We wander to the third floor, quietly, because the corridors are silent. (I don’t know why. This is apparently a mall. The hair salons, micro-gyms, and clothes shops must be sealed … Continue reading Meeting My Korean Relatives
