Who’s Lena, and Who’s Frankie?

“Wow, Renee! You are absolutely going to love Frankie and Lena. They are just adorable!” A few months after my arrival in America, I met a friend who had long, silky blond hair with icy blue eyes. Elise resembled the all-American girl to me. One day, she invited me over to her house. It was the first chance of encountering a typical American family. Since I couldn’t understand what she was saying for most of the times, I assumed Frankie and Lena to be Elise’s chubby, petite younger brother and sister.

“Frankie! Are you home?” Elise shouted out as we entered the living room. From the kitchen, Mrs. Johnson -I predicted and I was right- ran into me in the speed of light with her arms widely extended. I barely had a time to GASP. ‘Ah, I think… she’s trying to hug me?! We just met five seconds ago, and she’s trying to hug me?’ Two seconds later, I found myself became a giant baby in her arms. She hugged and kissed me, and poured out all the adjectives that I have never heard about myself before: lovely, sweet, and yes, of course, adorable. I was embarrassed, but at the same time, equally amused. When Mrs. Johnson finally let go of me, the only thing in my head was the thoughts on how I would escape from that embarrassing moment.

In the backyard, there stood Frankie who was wearing a sky blue apron with small white polka dots. More than his outfit, I was rather shocked to find out Frankie was in his 40s. “Renee, this is Frankie. He’s my dad. And this is Lena, she’s my adorable mother.”

I was stunned. To begin with Korean culture, it is almost forbidden to call one’s parents’ names in public. Whenever I had to state them for any reason, I was required to put “ja” right after each word to show my respect toward them. Besides that point, how could you describe your parents adorable to your friend? It was totally against Korean society’s ethical belief and also, excessively disrespectful. Furthermore, I’ve never seen any Korean father wearing a sky blue apron with white polka dots in my entire life.

Five years have passed since I had the first glimpse of American culture. Still, I never dare to call my parents by their first names. However, there is a change though. Whenever I visit Korea, my Korean friends would prefer keeping their personal space from me because of my newly acquired “huggable personality.” But, seriously, doesn’t it make you happy?

The image was taken from http://rlv.zcache.com/all_american_girl_poster-p228684324339989277tdcp_400.jpg