Category: Culture (Page 17 of 24)

Traditional and modern Korean culture.

Turning 30

2013/06/29 / Nic / 26 Comments

Also my birthday is in winter! Right in the middle of winter! So hard to organise anything fun. Winter here is just cold, rainy and miserable. I always wished I had a summer birthday then I could have picnic or a pool party.

For those that don’t know about Korean age: In Korea you are 1 when you are born and then when the new year rolls around your age goes up. So Korean age can be 1 or 2 years older than your international age. It’s always good to remember that when meeting Koreans, they are more likely to say their Korean age.

Yes Sir

2013/06/28 / Nic / 15 Comments

Now your perception of what is rude in this comic might be different depending what culture you are from. You may think that him calling me a pig and making pig noises is the rude thing, or you may think me whacking him with a towel is the rudest (I changed it from hitting his head so it wouldn’t be too rude). One of the reasons why trying to understand cultural differences is important.

Mr Gwon does get into really rude and cheeky moods sometimes. He will say “Yes Sir” sometimes when I get bossy because he knows it annoys me. Then he further annoyed me by saying my pet name is pig, even though I know it’s cute in Korean, I know he is doing it to get a reaction because he added the pig noises. It’s very different from when he lovingly calls me his honey pig other times. He also knew that I was likely to whack him with something too. So I got my revenge when he cried “ouchies” like a little kid. Then we had a good laugh.

Supanova Sydney 2013

2013/06/24 / Nic / 9 Comments

This is our video of our Supanova experience! We didn’t have much time as my husband had to work that night and my brother was only in Sydney for the day. It was really crowded inside, even more so because people couldn’t hang around outside as much due to the rain. I’d really like to see it in a bigger venue next year (though we are unlikely to go as we’ll be in Korea).

We really liked seeing the Game of Thrones costumes. My other favourite was the Futurama ones. It’s always cool seeing the effort people go to.

It would be nice to see more areas for people to sit and talk to others. People are forced to sit on cold cement up on the second level walkway. Also an area for children is needed as well I think, there seems to be more children every year and it would make it easier for them and their parents if they were catered for too.

Overall it’s still a really cool experience and we enjoyed it, even though we were functioning on only 4 hours sleep.

Sneeze

2013/06/12 / Nic / 54 Comments

Ew boogers. I think he is a little bit more ready than me. Probably because he doesn’t have to be the one giving birth.

We have a plan for children but we need to wait a few years. It does help having a plan about children, especially when we go to Korea and get asked when we are going to have a baby all the time. That is a bit of a difference between Australia and Korea. Some people in Australia might ask, but a lot of people don’t because it is a very personal question. It’s way more acceptable to ask in Korea so I’m glad we can easily say “In a few years” when we get asked. If we weren’t planning on having children or if either of us had some medical problems or something, that question would get really stressful. We’ve already had some Korean friends urge us to have a baby right away, so sometimes even the “in a few years” line doesn’t work, but the time isn’t right at the moment.

So for now we’ll just enjoy all our friend’s babies.

Homeschool

2013/06/06 / Nic / 54 Comments

This is another one of those times we realise the differences in our childhoods. I wasn’t home schooled but I knew lots of people who were for at least part of their education. So that joke is quite funny to me.

I tried to research a bit on home-schooling in South Korea but mostly got sites for foreigners. I did read it is illegal in Korea, but I’m not sure if that is true. When I ask my husband he just says something about “duty of education”.

From what I can gather foreigners are allowed to home-school their children but Korean children must attend school. Leave a comment if you know more about this.

Were you home-schooled? Do you know other people who were home-schooled? Any other jokes about being home-schooled?

Walking by the River

2013/04/30 / Nic / 27 Comments

No comment 😀

Frodo

2013/04/21 / Nic / 30 Comments

One of the cultural differences we deal with seems pretty superficial but it does come up a lot. We had very different childhoods and we didn’t watch the same TV show or see the same movies, we didn’t have the same fads or sing the same songs. What this means is that my husband, the love of my life, my best friend, doesn’t always get references I make. Things that an Australian my age (or probably anyone my age from a Western country) would understand instantly, is something that he has very little idea about or interest in.

Now, Lord of the Rings isn’t something that everyone will get, but most Western people would know what Sesame Street is right? Blank face from him when I mention Sesame Street. My husband is discovering things now and is a fan of many things, like Doctor Who for example but we don’t have that shared history. He has no memories of ever seeing an original Doctor Who black and white episode on TV as a child. It is so strange to him when I flick over the channel to ABC Kids and sing along to the Bananas in Pyjamas.

I think it’s different now because of the internet and the way the world is changing. A lot of Koreans have favourite American or British TV shows and there are plenty of Western people watching Korean TV shows and dramas. My husband and I however, were born in the early 1980’s so there wasn’t much overlap in our cultures.

It makes me a little bit sad sometimes, not having that shared history. Knowing that my siblings or friends or even strangers may understand an offhand comment, but he won’t. But it’s okay, it’s such a minor thing in the whole scheme of things.

Do you remember a previous comic about him not understanding why I liked Happy Days? I always liked Happy Days and it is on TV here late at night but he usually pays no attention. He actually properly watched a scene the other day where The Fonz did something cool. He was surprised at how funny it was and said, “Wow! He is really cool!” That made me happy.

In conclusion: “Frodoooooooooooooo!!!!”

(He is singing a Korean song from his childhood now that I don’t know).