FAMILY

THERE ARE FIVE PEOPLE IN MY FAMILY. MY MOTHER, CHAE, IS ORIGINALLY FROM SOUTH KOREA AND MET MY FATHER WHILE SERVING AS A CIVILIAN ON A MILITARY BASE IN HER HOMETOWN. MY FATHER, KEN, IS ORIGINALLY FROM A DURANT, IOWA WHERE HE GREW UP WITH HIS PARENTS AND SEVEN SIBLINGS. HE SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER, WHICH IS HOW HE MET MY MOTHER WHILE STATIONED OVERSEAS. WHEN MY FATHER RETURNED TO THE STATES WITH MY MOTHER, HE WAS STATIONED IN CALIFORNIA AND THIS IS WHERE MY ELDEST SISTER, ANGELA, WAS BORN IN 1981. WHILE MY FATHER WAS STATIONED IN GERMANY IN 1983, MY MOTHER WAS PREGNANT WITH MY SISTER RITA. WHEN SHE WENT TO VISIT HER FAMILY IN KOREA SHE WENT INTO LABOR AND RITA WAS BORN IN SEOUL. BY THE TIME I CAME ALONG IN 1988, MY FATHER WAS ONCE AGAIN A CIVILIAN, AND MY FAMILY HAD SETTLED DOWN IN BETTENDORF, IOWA. I WAS BORN JUST ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN MOLINE, ILLINOIS AND WE HAVE LIVED IN BETTENDORF MY ENTIRE LIFE.