What is culture for me?

I find myself thinking about this more often as the days go by.  I'm just American.  I mean, American in itself is a sort of culture, but not the rich culture I see in others.  Some American families still celebrate their German, Irish, Indian, Jewish, etc. cultures.  I am mostly German with a mix of Irish, American-Indian, Swedish, French, English, etc. thrown in.  We have never celebrated a culture in this family.  My dad's family came over from England in the 1600s and married into Irish, American-Indian, etc.  My mom's German family came over in the 1800s.  Even my great grandmother still spoke some German.  My husband's grandmother’s still speaks some German, but neither of our families do anything to celebrate cultural heritage.  We're all completely Americanized; our culture has become a meld of our own born cultures and a million others that were brought here.  

I struggle with this whole concept.  It seems so many other ethnicities have such strong ties to their culture.  I forget how much I admire, respect and am a little jealous of this until we go to Children's Day at a Korean church.  The closeness within the church community and how they include adoptive families is one of the most beautiful things to see.  Watching the youth and adults interact while reenacting Korean traditions such as drumming, dance, cooking, writing and hearing them all still speak the language is just so beautiful.  I know you will hear some Americans complain when they hear someone speaking another language.  I've overheard Americans complain plenty.  But, these people speak, mostly, perfect English too.  Most are Americans too (which I think is sometimes forgotten or not acknowledged) but, they're able to conserve their children's Korean heritage and culture and keep it alive.  That's what I wish we had; a culture to keep alive.  So, while we cannot bring our children up with Korean culture because we're not Korean and fully capable of doing so I wish we could bring more of the culture into our family because it's the culture I do feel closest to.  I adore the values they have in their own society and how they are so wonderful with each other's children as well as their own.  You know the saying 'it takes a village'.  They are a wonderful village.  They represent what we used to be before our generations began changing to a me/selfish society of the wants and have nots.

I only wish we had a Korean community here so we could be more of a part of it.  Partially for my 3 youngest, but really all 7 of us could benefit.  I would love for all 5 of my children to be raised the way these kids are.  Korean culture, along with many others, are just so beautiful.  It's the way the elders are treated, preservation of what's important today and yesterday and always a sense of belonging.