Reflective Essay On Cultural Identity

The culture I identify with is Cambodian-American due to my upbringing in a Cambodian community. I am also a huge fan of Korean pop music, better known as K-pop, which involves me in a whole new culture that I did not think I was part of. The following two experiences will show what makes me a multicultural individual by my identification with two different cultures and how I could connect with students of different cultures and backgrounds. In 1994 on November 9th I was born to a refugee single mother. I have a brother who is eight years older than me who speaks primarily English. The Khmer language is primarily spoken at home and with my mother and Cambodian elders within the community. When I was younger, I could mostly speak Khmer since that is all that my mother really spoke. With my brother being older than me, he would speak to me in English, which helped my English listening and speaking skills, especially when watching television with him. With two languages spoken around me while I was younger, I grew up bilingual from a young age. I would listen to a conversation in English, then reply back in Khmer when I was younger. It
My friend, Ruby, who is Chinese-American, introduced me to K-pop back when we were in our Freshman year of high school. The music was different than American pop music, and the rhythm of it suited my taste, therefore Ruby and I bonded over the music, but neither of us had any idea what the artist was saying. Also, because we were in to K-pop, we picked up a few words and phrases of Korean and would teach it to our other friends, who could care less about it. This lead us two Asian-Americans to grow closer during our four years of high school because the music brought us together. I also met people back at York County Community College who also enjoyed K-pop music, and we would always recommend each other different songs by different