Intercultural Life
Traditional and modern Korean culture.
Because of the romance/couple culture in Korea it’s quite normal to see guys holding their girlfriend’s handbags or doing things like tying their shoelaces for them. It’s nice to change things up though! I also sometimes grab his wrist the same way guys do in Korean dramas.
For Lunar New Year we went up a small mountain to visit my husband’s family’s ancestral graves. It was quite serious and solemn, so it was completely bizarre to see that squirrels have been using one of the burial mounds as a place for their nuts! There was a hole with small pieces of branches around it, which my father-in-law had to fix.
We were in the middle of the woods up a mountain in winter and even though I knew we weren’t far from the town it still felt very isolated. It didn’t help that I started thinking about the Barrow-wights in the Fellowship of the Ring (the book not the movie) when I saw the hole that had been made. I’m great at freaking myself out.
When I got the hanbok the women in the hanbok store told me that I shouldn’t eat while wearing it. I can see why, because they are very expensive!
This may be one of the reasons why he refused to have one made for him, because he would have to be careful and not eat much in it. Lots of people asked on the social media why he wasn’t wearing one, and there are a few reasons. They are expensive and he didn’t want his parents to pay for it. Also, hanboks for men are less flattering and not that many people actually wear them these days. In fact, besides from a few children I was the only one here wearing one. Also, when he wore one at our traditional wedding, his pants kept falling down! So he has embarrassing memories of wearing one.
I still think he should own one though, what do you think?
One problem I had on Lunar New Year was not wanting to eat for fear of dropping something on my hanbok, but then everyone was urging me to eat at the same time. I ate some watermelon and some dripped onto it and I silently was like “Noooooo!” and quickly covered it so no one could see. I didn’t eat again until the dinner when I could take it off.
Korea, like many other Asian countries, has a superstition about 4 because it sounds similar to the word for death (in Sino-Korean).
Of course tetraphobia is not the only thing needed for living in Korea. I’ve been thinking about how grateful I am that I visited Korea many times before moving here, because it has made the transition a lot easier. If I had never been to Korea before, I would be very overwhelmed. Even more so because we are in a rural area and not a city. I’m sure there will be hard times ahead though.
My visa was extended easily enough thankfully. The visa system here is different to the Australian system. I came to Korea with a 3 month partner visa which has now been extended to 1 year. We just extend again when we need to.
He gets really shy about compliments because I don’t think he has actually received that many in his life. He was never the handsome guy so it’s strange for him that people now compliment him. He doesn’t really fit into the general Korean girls’ standard of beauty so when international people say something like, “You look like this actor” or “You look like this Kpop star” he gets embarrassed and says he hopes Korean girls don’t see those comments because he dreads to see their reactions.
For example, last night he was playing poker with my brother and some Korean girls and I walked in and affectionately called him a “handsome boy” because I like his new haircut. A Korean girl there immediately reacted with such disdain, “Handsome boy???” He then pointed out that his wife is allowed to call him a handsome boy regardless of what anyone else thinks!
Hopefully you have seen this comic and know what my husband was trying to do and why he didn’t bring a towel. This time my brother and I were swimming and I didn’t think my husband was getting in the pool, so I didn’t make sure he had a towel. He joined us later and was still planning on using my towel! Luckily my brother knew what he was trying to do!
Short video from New Years Eve…. when there is no noraebang (karaoke) what can they do?
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