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While On Duty (군대 똥 이야기)

2012/07/21 / Nic / 12 Comments

I have to make it clear that this comic is NOT about my husband. It is about a friend of ours who very kindly allowed me to use the story of what happened to him while in the army. All South Korean men have to do about 2 years compulsory military duty, which they usually do in their early 20’s. Therefore Korean men have a lot of stories about being in the army. Some are sad but others, like this one, are funny.

Uh oh…. standard Army underwear has the soldier’s name on it. Technically the underwear belongs to the South Korean Army… and he used it to wipe his butt.

He was punished of course, he had to carry 40 kilos of weights and run about 5 kilometers. He laughs when he tells the story though.

Here is the same comic but in Korean this time:

Frog

2012/07/20 / Nic / 8 Comments

Last year we stayed with my husband’s parents for a month. They live in a very rural area of South Korea and their house is surrounded by rice fields. At night we could hear the frogs singing loudly but one night I was surprised to find one in our room. I have no idea how it got inside the house, especially as our room was upstairs.

It’s true I have zoo keeper training, but I don’t work in the industry at the moment. However, I knew what I was talking about, though my husband had ideas of his own…

I let him catch the frog for his male pride (I’m always the one to catch things like spiders) but he then refused to listen to me and tore apart the room for 20 minutes trying to find this frog. Of course it was just hiding while he heaved things around. I don’t know what his parents thought we were doing… it was late at night and there was a lot of banging and crashing.

Eventually after we did exactly what I said to do we saw the frog, grabbed him, and then he went back outside again.

Who knows the word for ‘frog’ in Korean?

Big Bang Giveaway

2012/07/19 / Nic / 102 Comments

This happened this morning:

I was excited not only because the very large package contained presents for me (my birthday is later this month) but also because it contained prizes for readers of my blog! My sister-in-law selected some Big Bang things in Korea especially for this.

FIRST PRIZE!!!

First prize includes:

Big Bang Still Alive Special Edition (this includes CD, YG family card, booklet and Branding Big Bang book).

2 Official Big Bang Pens

12 Official Big Bang Alive Photocards

5 pairs of Big Bang Socks

I was really only going to have one prize pack but my husband’s sister sent soooo many socks. More socks than even the biggest Big Bang fan needs… so I have a second and third prize as well now.

SECOND PRIZE

10 Pairs of Big Bang Socks!

THIRD PRIZE

6 Pairs of Big Bang Socks!

So how do you win? All you need to do is leave a comment in the comments section. Winners will be selected at random in 1 week. Winners will be contacted and prizes will be sent out as soon as possible. Good luck!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS HERE

Drama: A Gentleman’s Dignity

2012/07/18 / Nic / 8 Comments

That was me watching the start of Episode 16.

Is anyone else watching this drama? If you are but aren’t up to date or if you plan to at some point- WARNING: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!

I won’t go too much into the synopsis of this drama as many people probably already know or are watching themselves. There are so many Korean dramas, so what makes this one different? Well, personally, it is one that both my husband and I are watching. It’s pretty rare for us to agree on a drama. He usually watches the more serious ones and I prefer lighthearted ones. A Gentleman’s Dignity seems to have everything though. My husband loves the friendship of the four male leads and the aspects of male friendship he can relate to, while I love watching the romantic and comedic elements.

This drama has raised some questions for me and we’ve talked about some differences between Korean culture and Western culture. The obvious difference in this drama for me is the big deal having a son from a previous relationship is. In Western culture, it might be something a bit difficult to deal with but not necessarily a deal breaker. Blended families are normal to us, if a couple really loves each other, does it matter that he has a grown son from another relationship?

It is a big deal for Koreans though. My husband explained that while some people may be able to deal with it, in Korea where bloodlines and families are important, it is a deal breaker. People are very judgmental of that situation – as we saw in that scene where the other high school teachers were gossiping about it. As a Westerner my view is “so what?” but obviously this is a much bigger and more scandalous issue for Koreans.

Some things are not as strange to me though. For example: if your sister who is seventeen years younger than you was in love with your best friend? That would be a problem in Western culture too.

While this drama has comedic elements the serious scenes are done so well. If you did not feel sad watching the beginning of Episode 16, where it shows the friends helping Yoon after his wife has just died, then you have no heart!

Now the count down to the next episode…

Interesting Food

2012/07/17 / Nic / 35 Comments

Now, I don’t recommend that you mime vomiting when Koreans talk about eating intestines as it may cause offense. I was just with my husband and some friends though so I wasn’t too worried about displaying how grossed out I was. I wouldn’t do that in front of my husband’s parents or older Koreans though.

So yes, Koreans eat intestines. They like to barbeque them or have them in soup. The intestines in question were pig intestines and apparently are quite expensive. But, it’s not something I want to try. I don’t care how much my husband tells me that it tastes delicious.

Do you eat something in your culture that other people may find gross?

Psy Gangnam Style

2012/07/16 / Nic / 11 Comments

Gangnam Style might actually replace Fantastic Baby as our dancing around the house song. Just released by the ever hilarious and ridiculous Psy.

Gangnam is a suburb in Seoul where rich people live. ‘Oppan Gangnam Style’ basically means “This Oppa is Gangnam Style” but talking about himself to a younger woman, because he is using Oppa (plus particle) to refer to himself, which is the name females use for an older male.

Here is the video:

I pointed out to my husband that he should actually sing “Jinju Style” instead hehehe.

Smoothie

2012/07/15 / Nic / 13 Comments

Confucianism again. In particular filial piety. The Korea Blog has a good article on filial piety in Korea HERE

This is something that comes up sometimes, especially when we are staying with my parents. My relationship with my parents seems too casual and not respectful enough to my husband. While the interactions with my parents are quite normal for an Australian family, it would be really unusual for a Korean family. Occasionally I get a lecture from him about how I don’t respect my parents enough. And just sometimes he guilt me enough…

My sister and I do most of the cooking when we are home. My dad is quite lazy about cooking but somehow he magically appears when my sister and I were making something for ourselves. Although the ingredients might be right there, he often can’t be bothered cooking it himself, so we quite often would tell him no when he asked for some of what we had just cooked. Doesn’t really bother him either way. Well… can’t say no if you are in Korea. Not just for parents but when anyone older asks for food you’ve just cooked. I’ll explore that topic in a later post though.

In the incident in the comic, I really did sit there thinking about it. I couldn’t enjoy my mango smoothie because of what my husband had said. Even though all the ingredients were right there and my dad could make one himself if he wanted I thought more about it and decided to make him and my mother one too. And then I felt better.

My Korean Husband