“Ara... Ara... Ara…”

I look up from my book that morning to see Mom staring at me with slight irritation on her face.

She sighs. “You’re not listening to me.” And she turns back to the stove. “I just want to give you some advice, dear. And to tell you some tips you might need.”

I pause. What is she talking about again? I was not able to listen to her because I was fully engrossed with the book I’m reading. I’m already in that climatic part where the problem arises, and the main character is losing her wits just to find a solution.

What is Mom talking about again?

I try to dig inside my brain. I might have caught some words from her that didn’t register to me while I read, and she talked. Then, I instantly remember her talking about my first day at my new school, and how I’m supposed to behave.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m gonna be fine. I’m eighteen. I’ll be fine,” I tell her.

She turns back to me and hands me a plate full of pancakes. “U.S. is different from Korea, Ara. You know that.”

I nod. “I know. But they’re still people.”

“They’re not as liberated as U.S.”

“Still.”

She sighs again. “Fine. Give me five minutes.” She removes her apron. “I’ll just get changed. Then we’ll go.”

I watch Mom go up from the kitchen until she disappears, and I let myself smile even just a bit. I don’t know how Mom does it, still being level-headed and all. At times she might be overbearing, but she’s still grown-up enough to remember to care. After my Dad died a few months ago from heart attack, I really thought she would lose it. But she made a decision to get over it, accept it, and leave everything behind to forget. And when she said leave everything behind, I didn’t know she would literally leave everything behind and go back here in Korea where we all started.

“It’s a personal move to tell myself I’ve moved on,” she would tell me. I know Mom’s strong and all, but I’m pretty sure she still misses Dad as much as I do.

And so, we found ourselves back here in Korea.

A few minutes after, I hear Mom descend the stairs. She peeks inside the kitchen and jiggles the keys to the car. “Let’s go?”

I have to admit, I am pretty nervous. I grew up all my life in the States, and here I am now being dumped in a whole new world. I know I shouldn’t be, to be honest. I came from Korea. I am a kid from Korea. My whole childhood was spent here in Korea. But then again, after Mom's career sky-rocketed and was transferred to the States, we a