Highlights of my Day... Sunday, April 25

1. Last night I totally called Snickers out on his typical Korean-guy manners at his mother’s house, so I was definitely not interested in heading out there again today. I know Korea is becoming much more modernized, in more ways than one, but with the only real exception being that of K-Gere, his family is very much into maintaining old Korean manners which, for an independent and strong woman like me, definitely doesn’t sit well. Today I woke up and replayed the whole situation in my head. It wasn’t a big deal really but I do remember telling him something along the lines as “unless you want me to break your legs I suggest you stop expecting the women – your sisters and mother – to cater to you” and “pull this stunt in Canada and it’ll be my mom breaking your legs, not me!” Oh gosh… yes, I really said that to my husband… terrible. I don’t regret saying it though, regardless of how harsh it is.

2. I know the Korean culture is totally different than that to which I was brought up in, of course, but sometimes I just don’t understand how they don’t see things. Ok, fair enough, it’s easier as an outsider looking in to see and be able to point things out, and yes, I am trying to maintain the whole ‘just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s wrong’ mentality, but some things are just too off for me. It drives me bonkers that, for the most part, Korea puts the men first and expects women to be submissive, and I see this every time we go to Mama Kim’s house. Snickers is all about our ‘fusion couple manners’, as I call them, but he so easily disregards them at Mama Kim’s house.

3. Take for example yesterday morning. Snickers and the twins made a huge mess of the toys at Mama Kim’s house but when I commented about it when he got up to leave, he noted that his mom would clean it up. I shook my head and told him and the twins to clean up. I wasn’t harsh in telling them but instead made it kind of a game with the twins to see who could pick up the most toys the fastest. Mama Kim insisted that it was okay but it wasn’t okay. “No husband of mine is rude” I told her.

4. There are parts of the Korean culture that I really admire and really appreciate, but there are parts that I totally roll my eyes at and cringe at, this part just happens to be one of them!!!

5. I waited for Snickers to return and then we headed off to Dankook to drop off the Texas chicken wings we had bought from one of my former coworkers. But before that actually, Snickers wanted to give me a quick driving lesson on the scooter. I had mastered using stick shift in the car yesterday on our way to and from Daejon but today it was time to learn the scooter. I’ve driven a scooter before, plenty of them actually thanks to Panty Boy, but our scooter is quite a beast.

6. If Snickers were a father, he’d definitely be one of those fathers who’d throw his kid into the lake and yell out “now swim” to his kid who’s never learned before. I say this because for today’s lesson one of scooter driving he told me to drive to Dankook, which meant venturing on to a major road.

7. We decided to have a dinner and movie date tonight but our choice of restaurant wasn’t the best. I had been recommended to go check out this new pasta and steak house but upon entering it we knew we should have gone somewhere else. It looked as if Barbie had puked every where because everything was a pinkish-purple color, I’m talking about the walls, the ceiling, and even the salad dressing was this cheesy pinkish-purple color. I didn’t know whether it was because there was a sale on that color at the store that day or if someone was overly obsessed with that color, regardless, it was way too much. It looked like a love motel but with sit-down food and tables. Don’t get me wrong, the food was good, a tad bit strange but good, but the interior design of the restaurant was embarrassingly over-the-top and hurt my eyes.

8. Snickers said he felt like a clown at some kind of amusement park fun house and so for the rest of the dinner he tried to amuse me with his silliness. I was all giggles and smiles until the waitress showed up unexpectantly and he accidently spat water at her… oops!!!

9. As for the movie, ‘Kick Ass’, it was just as tasteful (sarcastically speaking that is) as the restaurant. I got ID when I bought the tickets so that was flattering… hahaha… but that was pretty much the best part of the whole movie. I’m not really down with overly bloody ‘Kill Bill’ style movies and I am certainly don’t think it’s funny to hear some child actor recite curse words that she obviously is too young. Pick the worst curse word in the book and that was pretty much what her lines were filled with.

10. After the movie I had yet another scooter lesson. This lesson, unlike the first one, almost ended early when I took a turn too wide and almost crashed into two cars AT ONCE!!! Snickers was fast on the reflexes so he grabbed a hold of the handle bars and shifted his weight just in time. I made him swear that he wouldn’t tell anyone that I almost killed us but later we had a good laugh at it. We cruised around the Dankook campus for a bit and he had me do numerous drills, like backing the bike up and whatnot. Snickers made for a really great driving instructor. He sat on the back of the scooter, guided me through it all, encouraged me, and rewarded my efforts with random kisses. His kisses alone we worth all the effort... hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What part of your culture don't you like?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Much learning does not teach understanding.
-- Heraclitus