Month: June 2012 (Page 4 of 6)

Watching Pride and Prejudice

2012/06/13 / Nic / 15 Comments

I love all things Jane Austen but Jane Austen books and adaptations aren’t as popular in South Korea as they are in some other countries. My husband didn’t have much of an idea about what I was talking about when I first started explaining the phenomenon of Jane Austen. This ended up to being to my advantage though. Too often males in western countries can take an instant disliking to anything Jane Austen simply because they have heard it’s something ‘girly’ and old fashioned for women. There are lots of amazing and sensible men who enjoy all things Jane Austen but by far women outnumber men.

I even had a previous boyfriend use Jane Austen as a reason to break up with me (though among other reasons) because he had an irrational fear that I would force him to attend the Jane Austen Festival and dress up in costume. I had no intention of doing that but he had such ridiculous ideas in his head that he refused to listen.

So I was very happy when my husband had no problems with sitting down and watching Pride and Prejudice with me. He wasn’t very familiar with the storyline so it was nice to see someone experience Jane Austen for the first time. He is usually quite expressive and vocal when watching movies and dramas and this was no exception.

The Wickham and Lydia storyline quite upset him. He also watched ‘Lost in Austen’ and had quite a dramatic reaction to the ending which I may make a comic of another time.

Ice Mum

2012/06/12 / Nic / 0 Comments

Something we can never agree on is how to respect and speak to parents. Because my husband comes from a hierarchical society it is ingrained in him to always be respectful to his parents and not to disagree with them. Whereas I come from a society that is more relaxed about parent/children relationships and I will openly disagree with and contradict my parents. I have a good relationship with my parents but some things I may do or say my husband sees as disrespect. He has trouble understanding this sometimes.

This incident however, was actually one of those times where I was not doing anything that could be seen as disrespectful but he still thought I was! And he thought that for many months!

English is Scary

2012/06/11 / Nic / 18 Comments

This happened many times the first time we visited Korea together.

This happened a lot! Friends would boast on the phone how they could speak English but just stood there in stunned silence when they met me because they’d never actually spoken to a native English speaker before. I think it’s a combination of getting nervous and scared in the situation with a mistaken idea of what their English skills actually are.

I know the feeling though- I freeze when I’m supposed to speak in Korean.

Actually the reason why my husband is quite good at conversational English is because he didn’t learn in Korea. He went to The Phillipines and learnt English there and then improved it by speaking with native speakers.

I do a bit of tutoring and I’m always surprised at students who say they have intermediate English but cannot have a single conversation in English. I suspect when they are taught English in Korea there is not enough emphasis on speaking skills- perhaps anyone who has experience with the Korean school system can offer some insight on this?

Tall Girls

2012/06/10 / Nic / 16 Comments

It is no secret that Koreans in general aren’t that tall. I’m an average height for Australia but when I go to Korea people comment that I’m tall. When my husband sees very tall women in Australia he is often astounded at their height. He is in awe and fascinated at how tall some women can be.

In other news: I will be changing the comments system to the Disqus comment system which will hopefully mean it’s easier for people to comment and have conversations on this site. It can take up to 24 hours for comments to transfer over so don’t worry if your comments have disappeared. They will come back!

I have also ordered a tablet to draw comics with instead of the old fashioned way. I’m hoping this means it is quicker and easier. I try to have a new comic up every day but for every comic I first have to draw a draft sketch, then draw onto watercolour paper, then go over in ink and then paint with water colour. Then it has to dry and be scanned. It can take a while. Because I know how long it takes sometimes I have to sacrifice the quality of drawing in order to get something done quicker. Even though I used to work as an artist, I worked in oils and acrylics so watercolour was never my favourite medium anyway. So I’m hoping drawing with a tablet will work out well.