This is from earlier in the year but we only just got around to editing. We went to JongMyo Daeje. You can learn more about it here or here.
(This was when EBS was filming us too).
(Also, I get excited about free stuff).
Category: Videos (Page 18 of 23)
Our video of the Eat Your Kimchi meet and greet!
We made this video because I randomly filmed something that showed the different experiences my husband has in Australia. As we said in the video this wouldn’t happen this way in Korea due to the big age differences between. We always say that neither country is right or wrong, it’s just different. So in Korea you can really only be close friends with someone who is the same age as you.
I’ve seen the problems arise when Koreans aren’t respectful enough to those older than them a lot in Australia. Possibly it happens more than in Korea because it can be difficult for Koreans who come out on working holiday visas. If they are around Australians a lot they may adopt a more Australian way and then accidentally offend a lot of other Koreans. You also get Koreans interacting in Australia who would have never met in Korea, from different regions in Korea, but here in Australia they may be working together or living together and there are some clashes.
As an Australian it is difficult for me to understand why it’s such a big deal sometimes. If someone has no malicious intent surely they can joke around a bit? The word ‘larrikin’ is often used to describe some elements of Australian culture, but it just doesn’t transfer well to Korean culture. Many times I’ve seen Korean people in Australia get very upset because someone Korean and younger than them didn’t use the correct level of speech with them, asked something too directly, made a joke that they thought was too disrespectful. For me as an Australian, if the person who was ‘disrespectful’ is overall a good person, I don’t worry about it much, but for many Koreans it’s something they can get very upset about and there have been huge problems arising from these mistakes.
Those who watch some Korean TV shows may have seen some incidents like that. The YG reality show ‘WIN Who is Next’ had an incident in one of the episodes. YG boss appointed someone whose age was in the middle as the group leader and this guy then spoke very directly to one of the older guys. That guy didn’t take it well at all and stormed out of the room. You may think that’s just made more dramatic for TV but it’s something that happens. People can find it very offensive. My husband, understanding how Australian culture is different, doesn’t ever get really upset about it and especially because he knows my brother is poking fun because he likes him, but it’s something I will have to be careful of in Korea.
5 points to anyone who recognises who my brother is…. some Sydney-siders might have seen him around.
This is where we went yesterday!
So there isn’t enough time to talk about this in the video but I’ll go more in depth about it here because we do often get questions about dating Korean men. I think you have to be careful about who you get advice from about dating Korean men because there can be Korean Australians/Korean Americans etc who may say things like “Koreans don’t date anyone who isn’t Korean” because that was the view of their parents’ generation or from years ago, but Korean culture is changing rapidly so just be careful as the advice might be quite dated. Also some Koreans not living in Korea can have more pressure on them to marry a Korean because their parents are concerned about them losing their culture. When I get emails from people who are dating someone Korean but their boyfriend or girlfriend’s parents aren’t accepting of them it’s almost always been about Koreans who don’t live in Korea any more. So that’s what I mean about taking all advice with a grain of salt.
There are cultural things that play a part in a relationship with a Korean person but don’t believe blanket statements like “Korean guys only like this…” or “Korean guys won’t date girls like this…”
The hallyu wave has increased interest in Korean guys in recent years, but that’s a whole other can of worms we are going to tackle another day.
As I mentioned in the video it’s not fair to judge all Korean men by your own few bad experiences or when someone has a bad experience and proclaims to everyone something like “Korean guys only date foreigners for fun” etc. Yeah there are guys that may do that, the same way in your own culture there are guys that won’t date seriously. If you are meeting the Korean guys in a situation that doesn’t usually lead to marriage in your own culture, there probably isn’t much chance in Korea either. That said, there are people who do meet grinding against each other in clubs and end up married… but probably not the majority.
Not to mention that if you are only dating guys from your country you may date a bunch of guys before meeting the person you want to settle down with it. It doesn’t mean that all guys from your own country only date for fun either, you just have to meet the right person. Not many people end up married to their first boyfriend. Also, not everyone ends up married to their first Korean boyfriend either. I actually dated a few Korean guys before meeting my husband.
There can be lots of challenges when being with someone from a different culture but we’ll talk about more of them another day. I hope this answer clears up some questions. Don’t believe people that say things like “Korean guys only like this…” or “Korean guys don’t like girls like this.” Every Korean guy is different. Hope that helps those that are curious about that sort of thing.
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