We spent last weekend at Disneyland. Amazingly, my younger two children did not want to go. My youngest feels clastrophobic in the lines (I don’t blame him.) and Alexia would rather hang out with the girls. So it turned out that I went to Disneyland with only Michael and my son. It actually made the park easier to navigate but that is another story.
We stayed with some Korean friends while we were in L.A. They live quite close to Disneyland and would have been offended if we came all that way and didn’t stay with them. (My sister lives down there too but she was probably relieved that she didn’t have to entertain seven extra people!) They have a daughter, five, who didn’t speak any English a year ago but now naturally switches between Korean and English depending on who she is talking to. As I only spoke Korean to her she was very comfortable speaking Korean to me and not at all surprised that I spoke Korean. Her mother, on the other hand, can’t speak English at all. The five year old very easily translates from English to Korean and back again if necessary. I thought she did very well for her age.
They also have two daughters who are in high school. Their English is not as good as their younger sister’s. In fact, their mother turns to the youngest whenever she needs help understanding what is going on. Regardless, the high schoolers are getting straight A’s in school. Their plan is to use their high school experience to get into an American college and then take that credential back to Korea. My feeling is that they will probably end up staying here in the states.
Their mother is very comfortable living in L.A. While I was having fun standing in line at Disneyland (a record breaking day for heat by the way) everyone else was… shopping, of course. The Korean area of Los Angeles is very big and, as it turns out, very close to Disneyland. Our friend literally has no reason or opportunity to speak English if she doesn’t actively seek it out. Restaurants, supermarkets, clothing stores, you name it and you can find it run by a Korean. Interestingly, I didn’t see even one Korean while at Disneyland.
Of course, with so much shopping to be done you can guess that “the girls” did not pass up the opportunity. My wife stocked up on Korean groceries while my oldest took advantage of some excellent prices on clothes. It turns out that if you know where to go you can get some great bargains on Korean stuff without the plane trip. Then again, I may have actually saved money if everyone came with me to Disneyland instead of shopping.
