On East

Dyeing my hair purple until three AM the night before a three week trip was not a good idea. Nevertheless, my bags have been packed and my hair is a new color. For the DIY people out there, I would not recommend a four-step process in five hours if you don't want to experience a lovely burning sensation on your scalp. Why did I dye it now you ask? Well what choice did I have? I see it like this: I can't have ”unnatural" hair colors at work or at school and this three week trip was the perfect time to play around a bit. I think it looks great, but I think that my family would beg to differ. To appease them, I have brought along a temporary brown spray for the "important" situations.

I'm not quite sure what the logic behind travelling with a family of six in multiple foreign countries was, but I have come to think that it has something to do with my sisters being adopted from Korea. I was also born in Okinawa, Japan where my parents lived a long long time ago (and yes, I can still be President because my parents are citizens and I was born on a military base). If you would ask me and Bethany what this trip is about, we would say that it is an extended shopping trip, and if you were to ask anyone else I'm sure you would get all different answers. Besides shopping, I am also excited to learn the culture of the other half of my racial pie chart. I think that getting to know what life is like in Korea will help me to embrace my American-ness. A lot of conflict arises in the United States, I think, because people don't know how different their not-so-distant ancestors lived life. It leads to people assuming that race can be used to determine culture and many other miscommunications that often result in unnecessary animosity. Knowing and embracing that I am American has shown me my own ignorance as well as others' and has helped me to understand that problems never lie on the surface. My only goal on this trip  is to [insert deep thought here] and to not choke when I eat living octopus!