My Korean Husband

Intercultural Life

Page 222 of 269

That Number

That Number

I can’t help myself. It’s funny how much meaning is attached to words because of our cultural background but then can mean nothing to someone else. Even within English, some swear words are seen as worse depending on what country you are from.

Even though I’ve heard this certain Korean swear word, I’ve seen it said in movies and even on occasion heard my husband say it, I can never grasp the real impact of it. He can get very annoyed at me when I deliberately say it.

It goes the other way as well, like when Kpop stars use English swear words. Lately there has been a lot of Kpop stars wearing clothing with very offensive words on them (I’m looking at you Girls’ Generation and GD!) and for a native English speaker it’s like “Why???”

The scenario in the comic has happened more than once because I’m not a native Korean speaker so it’s very difficult for me to differentiate between the swear word and the number. Even if I am really just going through numbers, once I get that reaction from my husband I can’t help but annoy him.

In other news, we’ve been recognised a few times by Koreans in Sydney. Which is so weird! A little while ago a Korean guy who also has an Australian wife recognised my husband in a Korean internet cafe. He drew some fan art about it!

fan art

So basically my husband can be recognised just from the comics! Haha! My husband made that face because he is often surprised when he sees a couple similar to us – a Korean guy with Australian girl. Thank you so much for sending me this Han! Go say hello if you see my husband again.

Cinema on the Park and Review

 

The other day I was invited as a guest blogger to the Sydney Korean Cultural Office’s Korean film night ‘Cinema on the Park’. The movie shown was Petty Romance (2010), which is a romantic comedy. I hadn’t attended a film night there before, though I had visited the Korean Cultural Office a few times.

Before the film started there was an introduction by film critic Russell Edwards which I really enjoyed and appreciated. The film Petty Romance is about cartoonist Jeong Bae (Lee Sun-Kyun), who is a great cartoonist but is not so good at storytelling and has had his comics constantly rejected by publishing companies. He needs a lot of money quickly in order to save an important family portrait so he decides to enter a competition to design an adult comic. He hires sex columnist Han Da-rim (Choi Gang-Hee) to help him with the story. However, Da-rim is secretly still a virgin. Of course at first they don’t like each other very much but as they continue to work together… and fight each other, feelings start to change.

I really enjoyed this film and it was really fun to watch. Some aspects of the film were quite graphic but it dealt with it really well, switching to animation to show the violence and explicit sexual scenes. This was not a film where the sexuality was used just to titillate, instead sexual talk in the film was humorous, particularly because Da-rim is a virgin who thinks she knows everything about sex. Her first attempts at having a sexual relationship are very funny.

The character of Jeong Bae seemed to be a stereotypical comic artist. He draws so well but loses sight of the overall storyline. Although I do make comics now, I didn’t identify with his character that much, because I’m not really that type of artist. I’ve approached making comics from a completely different way which is of course through blogging and making comics about my own life, rather than fictional characters. For me it was interesting to see a different way of making comics and the struggles artists like that have.

I appreciated watching this film with other people at the film night and laughing alongside others. I know that a lot of people who enjoy Korean movies and dramas often end up watching them by themselves, but watching with lots of other people is much more enjoyable. I really recommend that those who live in Sydney attend a Film Night at the Cultural Office. There are different themes every month and February is love month and named ‘Be My Valentine’. Film nights are on Thursday nights in the Arirang Hall at the Korean Cultural Office (255 Elizabeth Street). It is free entry but you have to book beforehand. Of course there are English subtitles. I always appreciate good English subtitles because I’ve had too many bad experiences with terrible English subtitles when buying DVDs or trying to watch online, so attending a proper film night like this has that benefit.

The other films that will be shown this month are Love Fiction (2012), Planet of Snail (2011), Late Autumn (2010).

Russell Edwards

Russell Edwards

Audience

Audience

Korean Cultural Office and Cinema on the Park.

Stickers Giveaway Winners

Okay winners of those cute stickers! Remember, names are picked randomly.

Winner of the Day & Day stickers

stickers1

is: Amber Lai.

Winner of the cute faces stickers

stickers 2

is: Stephanie Moretti

Winner of the cat stickers

stickers 3

is Juanita Seelen

Could the winners please contact me at [email protected]

Something to eat?

something to eat

We usually don’t have much in our fridge… but it’s important to always have kimchi! I’ve mentioned before how we share an apartment because rental prices are so high in Sydney and we live in an area close to the city. Unfortunately sharing has a lot of downsides and I don’t feel comfortable cooking a lot in the kitchen. Also we still live very much like students and there is a big supermarket right near us so we just buy things as we need them. That does mean that some days there isn’t much in the fridge.

 

Countryside Guy…

The countryside guy

Isn’t it funny the type of comments people will make about you when they barely know anything about you at all? Mostly the response to the news article about us was very positive but my sister-in-law, who has been keeping an eye on everything online, warned my husband to not read all the comments because some were just criticizing him. Basically because he is from the countryside, so must be a stupid loser right? So how did he get a cool glamorous Australian wife? It’s not fair! Hahaha. The assumption that I’m some great prize is pretty ridiculous right?

Actually I’m from the countryside too! Just in Australia instead. I avoid telling people my home town because often people laugh. So actually, we are pretty perfect for each other. Both from the countryside.

We expected those kinds of comments so it doesn’t bother us. Actually my family and  friends think my husband is a pretty good catch. My parents love him and think he is great for me. One time when I was taking to my Mum about how nice and sweet he is, she added, “And he doesn’t put up with your crap either.” Thanks Mum! What she meant was that my husband can deal with my artistic temperament. He doesn’t let me walk all over him either.

Anyway, that’s what is important for a good relationship, you don’t want an uneven relationship where someone loves the other more or one feels like the other is out of their league. The best relationships are when both people think they got a pretty good deal.

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