{"id":82884,"date":"2020-11-19T23:25:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T23:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/portrait\/angela\/"},"modified":"2020-11-19T23:25:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T23:25:18","slug":"angela","status":"publish","type":"portrait","link":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/portrait\/angela\/","title":{"rendered":"Angela"},"content":{"rendered":"<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-82884-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Lee-Mi-Kyung-interview-mixdown-compressed-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Lee-Mi-Kyung-interview-mixdown-compressed-1.mp3\">https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Lee-Mi-Kyung-interview-mixdown-compressed-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Angela works at a Korean newspaper in Koreatown, where she oversees the website and other media. She has several years of media experience, having worked at MBC and other newspaper agencies. She is a resident at KYCC\u2019s Menlo Family Apartments, where she lives with her four children. Angela was an elder participant in the Koreatown Storytelling Program.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Where is your hometown?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have lived in many different places, like outside of Koreatown. I have lived in Korea, Torrance, and Victorville. I immigrated from Korea in 2007 because my business in Korea failed and for my children\u2019s education. I came with my husband and my two kids.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After I settled in the States, I had two more kids. Currently, there are four children, and their dad is not in the picture. It\u2019s just me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I first came to America, the word that appeared in my head was \u201csurvive\u201d.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> No matter what the situation was, I had to survive for my kids and myself. Initially, I struggled a lot financially; I think everyone can relate to that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was also old when I came to the U.S., so it was very hard for me to learn English. I went to an adult school with my kids to learn English.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I overcame my hardships with my mental strength. I came to the U.S. without any base, so I was having a hard time financially. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My family and finances got stabilized when I came to the Menlo Family Apartments. It has been really great.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Do you live or work in Koreatown?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I came to Koreatown because of the Menlo apartment. I was looking for low-income apartments, and I was introduced to Menlo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was hard for me to get jobs since I had small children; however, in 2012, I got my first job in Koreatown. Since I did not have any ability or base, I had to go to any company.\u00a0 Fortunately, there were several companies that needed extra workers at that time. I applied to some companies, and I got hired.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I originally worked at a customer service center, which was not only customer service but also accounting and basically everything, so the connections and experience helped me find work at a newspaper company. I have worked at MBC and several other media companies, so that helped me a lot to decide on my job. But right now, I work for a Korean newspaper. I have worked for a lot of newspaper companies, so it wasn\u2019t difficult for me. Also, I think this job fits me well. I work in the customer service department. Overall, I manage the company\u2019s websites and media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>How has COVID-19 affected your life?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My work hours shortened. However, since I am an \u201cessential\u201d worker, I still go, but my work hours and income decreased by 50 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What do you think of the U.S. response to Covid-19?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think there is a serious problem with it. I think their initial response was wrong. They could have stopped or reduced the virus from the beginning, but they missed the chance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What are your thoughts on Koreatown?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I first came to America, I lived in Koreatown, then went to Victorville, then came back to Koreatown, then went to Torrance, and finally came back to Koreatown. So, I don&#8217;t really remember my first impression of Koreatown. I was very busy at that time. But now, since I got help from KYCC and Menlo Family Center, I feel like Koreatown is a very good place. Here, I got a job, and my family is here, so Koreatown is my town. Therefore, I have very positive thoughts on Koreatown. My favorite memory is when I got to live in this apartment. Since I moved around so much, I felt much happier after I moved in safely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since I am raising small children, I\u2019m in a situation where I have to stay here. Still, it is a really good place to care for my kids. Although I still have to work and run errands, I am always within a three-mile radius from my children.This kind of convenience in Koreatown means a lot to me. Especially because I don\u2019t have any relatives to help me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>You told me that you once lived in Torrance before. How was Torrance?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city of Torrance is a cool city with a beach and nature, but, to me, I don\u2019t have a good memory of Torrance because I was in the shelter for about a year and a half due to domestic violence. It is a familiar city to me though.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Can you give advice to other Korean people who are willing to immigrate?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, a lot of things have changed, but one thing I want to say is that you can\u2019t just immigrate to the U.S. with determination. It is really hard to get a job as an immigrant if you don\u2019t have any family, money, or plan. It\u2019s even hard for people who live here to get a job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What is your favorite place in Koreatown?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Koreatown, my neighborhood and home are my favorite place.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I only go to work and home back and forth, so I don\u2019t really know much about \u201cplaces.\u201d Also, it\u2019s been a long time since my family went out to eat. I just want to go out and eat with my family. My children love eating Korean barbeque, and I love seafood. So I want to go to a place that serves both good barbeque and seafood.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I really like the beach. My favorite place in the U.S. is Vixen Beach. The weather was very hot when I visited, but it was very cool in the car with the windows open. Also, the harmony between the mountain and the beach was beautiful. The aroma from the trees was awesome, as well. My kids loved it, too. It was nice that there were some places to take a break, even in the middle of the driveway. If I have some time in the future, I want to visit Hawaii. Since I really love the beach, I want to live near the beach.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Angela works at a Korean newspaper in Koreatown, where she oversees the website and other media. She has several years of media experience, having worked at MBC and other newspaper &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-82884","portrait","type-portrait","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portrait\/82884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portrait"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portrait"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portrait\/82884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kyccla.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}