Adoptees Who Were From A Different Country Than Adopted, Or Has A Biological Parent From A Different Country, How Do You Connect With The Culture? Any backlash?

Hello, I'm (24F) an adoptee (tep-parent adoptee),

My biological mother was born in the Czech Republic. I had zero knowledge of the culture, language, or anything growing up.

When I was in my teenage years I attempted to learn some Czech, but it felt like a betrayal to my mom who adopted me. I felt some guilt I had to deal with.

As a young adult, I connected with my nice family over there, I'm now studying the language, and even applying for second citizenship from there. My mom is not exactly happy about it, but she's still supportive.

It took a long time for her to slightly come around, and we still don't always discuss it even if I'm doing actions such as sending paperwork for the citizenship, or learning Czech.

My mom has said once before, "It feels like a slap in the face/to the face." I understand she perhaps didn't mean it, and apologized later. It's just extremely difficult to navigate the feelings of the one who adopted you, and attempting to connect with your culture and heritage.

I'd like to hear other adoptees feelings and thoughts about how they dealt with connecting, if it was important to them, how their family reacted to whom they were adopted by. If it strained relationships, etc.