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Rachel Noelle Sammons

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Tag: Asian

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 Rachel Noelle Sammons Personal

What “American” Means to Me

I avoided it a lot. I read NPR stories about it. I liked my friend’s tweet about it. But whenever the video appeared of President Trump’s rally chanting, “send her back!”, I leapt off my chair and crawled under the desk until it was over. I’m not an immigrant. Nor am I a child of … Continue reading What “American” Means to Me

June 4, 2019June 5, 2019 Rachel Noelle Sammons Travel

My Week of Seoul Searching

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

June 3, 2019June 2, 2019 Rachel Noelle Sammons Travel

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

May 31, 2019May 30, 2019 Rachel Noelle Sammons Travel

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

May 30, 2019June 2, 2019 Rachel Noelle Sammons Travel

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

April 15, 2019April 15, 2019 Rachel Noelle Sammons Personal

My Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation

“Do you want a bindi?” The girl who asks me blinks with her synthetic rainbow falsies. I’m at a tapas bar in England, shimmying to reggaeton beneath a canopy of upside-down sombreros. “Sure!” I shout back. The girl—a white English girl—untacks a gemstone from her paper and presses it against my forehead. There. A bindi. … Continue reading My Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation

All this talk about “send her back” has got me thinking: what does it mean to be American? Does it mean to be just white? In response to Trump’s recent language, @Voxdotcom cofounder and senior correspondent Matthew Yglesias says: “Trump sees nonwhite Americans as not genuinely American…as possessing a kind of inherent foreignness regardless of where they were born and a second-class claim on citizenship.” Everyone, the idea that nonwhite = non-American is pervasive. I have a person in my life who calls me half-American. Never mind that my mom was born and raised in America and that her parents are naturalized citizens. No, it’s my dad’s side that makes me American. Because he’s white. - But confession: I contribute to this sense of otherness. I emphasize my Asianness in my writing and in my conversations with friends. So if I don’t want to be seen as half-American, why talk about my Koreanness? Why blog about meeting my relatives in Seoul? Why join a group chat with my friends called Asians Unite and debate over the best Pocky flavor? (It’s strawberry, by the way.) Surely those things will make me seem not that American. Right? - Actually, NONE OF THAT makes me less American. Juliet Lapidos, senior editor of @theatlantic, writes: “This is a country where immigrants can come and decide precisely how much they want to be American, and how much they’d like to retain of the ‘places from which they came.’… The United States offers immigrants the freedom of self-definition.” - The assumption that ‘to be not completely white is to be not completely American’ negates a wealth of experiences that make America America. I can gorge on barbacoa tacos, see a Mandarin movie in theaters, and meet my friend for cream tea. I can hear my coworkers banter in Spanish, and then go to the coffeeshop and overhear a conversation in Slovakian. And ALL those experiences would be characteristic of the American life. They may be different to your experiences. And that’s okay. But they’re still American >> rachelsammons.com - #American #Americanidentity #Americanculture #blogger #identity #Trump #racism #xenophobia #sendthemback #multiculturalism #asianamerican
Happy birthday to my partner in crime ❤️ Let's never stop discussing Tupac, gorging on Korean food, and bringing it all back to Jesus. I love you, friend.
City life #sanfordfl
The speaker said: “If you want to show your English friends that you’re trying to embrace the culture, here’s what you do: have a drink in your hand.” When I moved to England, I equated English culture to one thing: drinking. And who could blame me? My professor brought champagne to our 9 am seminar. My colleagues spoke openly about getting smashed. My friends would meet their pastors for a pint. It’s like Prohibition never happened (because, you know, it hadn’t). I wanted the English to embrace me. So I threw myself into the drinking culture. It didn’t work. - I remember standing outside a club with my friend while she listed all the people she was close to. She ended with: “Rachel, you’re different because you’re American so there’s only so close I can get to you.” I didn’t know my nationality could be a barrier to a close friendship. But still, my mission to fit in didn’t stop there. I craved a sense of belonging. I sought it everywhere I could. It cost me my religious convictions. It cost me my emotional well-being. It even cost some friendships. Turns out, striving to be like the cool kids can sometimes mean selling your soul. Whether or not you’re in England. - Eventually, I did make close friends. I did adapt to the culture. But it wasn’t by people-pleasing. It was by being a genuine person. Living in England taught me to not fixate on blending into the culture, especially the drinking culture. But it also taught me a more important thing: Don’t compromise your convictions to make someone like you. I have to remind myself of this on a daily basis. I left England feeling a sense of belonging. I miss it every morning, every afternoon, and every evening. I miss my friends. They feel like they’re an ocean away (because, you know, they are). But now, I have this lesson in my heart. And I am forever grateful to England for it. - PC: @_ponderthat - #livingabroad #beyourself #blogger #England #livinginEngland #foreignstudent #friendships #cultureclash #traveling #travel #travelEngland #travelUK
These kids taught me something I will never forget >> link in bio. - Funny how, you’re twenty-three, in Cambodia, on the other side of the world from your home, and here, now, is where you see a side of your dad that you’ve never seen before. - #khmer #cambodia #phnompenh #explorecambodia #travelcambodia #travelwriting #travelblog #travelblogging #travelwriter #travelasia #exploreasia #family
What did I do in Cambodia? -I dined at a North Korean restaurant -knelt in front of a Buddha statue -and (almost) ate dog Not in the order, of course. New blog post up! Link in bio << rachelsammons.com - #cambodia #phnompenh #explorecambodia #travelcambodia #travelwriting #travelblog #travelblogging #travelwriter #travelasia #exploreasia #family
Well that's bazaar #sanfordfl #exploreflorida #colorful #sanfording #sanford
OKala is O.K. - #exploreflorida #roadtrip #centralflorida #ocalaflorida #quirky
What was it like to meet my Korean family? UN REAL. Check out my new blog post! Link in bio ❤ - My friend asked me if meeting my Korean family made me feel, well, more Korean. Honestly, I expected that. I thought meeting my relatives would bring me face-to-face with my heritage. - But instead, the reunion was too surreal. I sat across from my second cousins and said in my head: “These are my second cousins...these are my second cousins...these are my second cousins…” - #seoul #seoulsearching #exploreseoul #travelseoul #exploreKorea #travelKorea #travelwriting #travelblog #travelblogging #travelwriter #Korea #family
THIS is why I love street art: The Ihwa Mural Village was a decrepit neighborhood set to be destroyed. Instead, under an “Art in City” project, the village was revitalized by street art. - Over seventy artists spilled their creativity across walls, fences, staircases, alleys, and rooftops // Photos and blog link in bio 😉 - #seoul #seoulsearching #exploreseoul #travelseoul #exploreKorea #travelKorea #travelwriting #travelblog #travelblogging #travelwriter #Korea #streetart #Ihwa #IhwaMuralVillage #muralart
And then I meet Itaewon, a street-art-tatted, expat-infused neighborhood of Seoul. Need a place to warm up, drink beer, and chow down on homemade Cheetos? @magpiebrewing has got your back. (P.S. The bartenders are sweethearts ❤ ). - Blog post > LINK IN BIO 😉 - #seoul #seoulsearching #exploreseoul #travelseoul #exploreKorea #travelKorea #travelwriting #travelblog #travelblogging #travelwriter #Korea #magpiebrewing #beer #drinking #alcohol #brewery #Itaewon
Hello, pretty bar! We slip into Seoul's Pong Dang Craft Beer Company. I feel both proud and apologetic for being in this place. Like we've cracked a code to the underground drinking culture. Sorry, locals! The secret's out...I think... Blog post > LINK IN BIO 😉 - @pongdangcbc - #seoul #seoulsearching #exploreseoul #travelseoul #exploreKorea #travelKorea #travelwriting #travelblog #travelblogging #travelwriter #Korea #pongdang #beer #drinking #alcohol #brewery
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