I Am KoreAm: Roxy Swenton

Author: KoreAm
Posted: February 17th, 2012
Filed Under: BLOG , I Am KoreAm

Name: Roxy Sujung Swenton
Age: 28
City: Chandler, Ariz.
Occupation: Wife, mother of two, engineer

Describe your background (where did you grow up, etc.)?

I was born in Seoul but my family moved to the States when I was 4. Growing up we lived in Michigan, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland and New Mexico. No I’m not an army brat. Every few years my mom would pick a spot on a map of the U.S. blindfolded and that’s where we would move. Actually, we were modern-day gypsies. Orrrr we just moved around a lot because of my mom’s business (in the gypsy wedding industry). By the time I finished high school I had attended 17 schools! After graduating from college I got a job in sunny Arizona and have been here ever since.

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?

Everything you can get in the food court at a Korean mall (tteokbokki, kalguksoo, shin ramyun, etc). High class all the way.

What is one goal you would like to accomplish during your lifetime?

To just come close to being as good of a mom to my kids as my mom is to my sister and I.

Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.

I always follow the same top-to-bottom sequence EVERY time I shower and have done so for as long as I can remember. OCD you wonder? No. It’s called dedicated consistency.

If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be…

Stubborn, silly, foodie.

If you could be anybody besides yourself for a day, you would be…

A nun so I could experience what it would be like to fulfill that kind of vocation.

What are your pet peeves or interesting thing about you that you dislike?

I absolutely despise it when a smoker hangs/throws a cigarette out of their car window. Like, I get ANGRY. Not road rage angry but I do say a curse word or two at them. Unless my kids are in the car. Then I just shoot them the evil eye.

Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family.

My mother’s ability to do and overcome ANYTHING. I’m fairly certain she’s got a pair of gold bullet proof bracelets and The Lasso of Truth hiding in her dresser.

What is the kindest thing that someone has ever done for you?

My mom brought me homemade miyeok guk for every meal during my entire hospital stay after having both my kids. And even let me have kimchi with it even though you’re not supposed to have anything spicy when you’re post partum.

If you could travel to any place in the world, where would it be and why?

Fiji. Google image it. Need I say more?

What is your favorite book(s)?

I was a huge bookworm when I was a kid (R.L. Stine was the shizz) but AP English classes in high school obliterated any desire to read for pleasure as an adult. However I still cry like a baby every time I get to the end of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.

What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

When I was in 3rd grade I ate what my mom told me were chicken nuggets. The dark color of the meat made me a little weary but I went to town on them anyway. I later found out they were chicken gizzard.

Do you have any phobias?

Losing my loved ones.

What do you think the greatest invention in your lifetime is and why?

The epidural. If you’ve ever been in labor you wouldn’t need to ask why.

Do you have any words that you live by?

“When we love, when we love POWERFULLY, there is often suffering involved. But when you love with everything you have, you don’t lose anything.” – the priest who married my husband and I speaking on 1 Corinthians 13

Tell us about the hardest thing you’ve ever done.

The years in my late teens/early 20s when I fell away from my faith. At the time I felt like an average college kid enjoying my youth but in hindsight, after finding my way back to the church, I realized they were the darkest years of my life.

How would you describe your style in clothing?

Preppy for life.

If you could choose one song to describe your life, what would it be and why?

I’m Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO. I mean, c’mon.

I Am KoreAm and proud because… of everything Korea has achieved. It’s gone from a war-torn country to one of the powerhouses of technology and automobiles in less than a century, its people are stereotyped to be highly intelligent (as if that’s a bad thing) AND we have some of the best calves around.

Check out my blog: This South Korean’s Got Seoul