It’s your business, but I know a few people who have been long term dating Korean men and they were invited to meet the parents and it wasn’t a big ordeal. I get the 4 days in a row but possibly it’s not as big a deal as you think?Just a thought?
It’s not that I’m imagining it to be a big ordeal — Busan’s family is pretty casual. It’s just the big deal that it already is. If there were some way for me to go down and stay in a hotel, or just have dinner or something, I’d be on board. But it’s going to be awkward to navigate the whole big holiday, and I’m not entirely convinced Busan’s mother really wants to deal with this yet. I think she has a tendency to give in too easily to his pushing. I also don’t think Busan’s really thinking it through all the way himself.
There will be plenty of less intense chances for us to get to meet and know each other in the future, before we go whole hog with it. I just prefer to take it a little slow.
I wouldn’t even say it’s a lot, either. I know for me, just because I occasionally get frustrated with things doesn’t mean I don’t like being here. And a lot of my expat friends are the same.
Well, the thing about living in a place for three years is that eventually, it stops being My Life in Korea, and just goes back to being your life. People who look into these blogs from the outside as some sort of window don’t always understand that. Especially anyone who’s planning on just coming over for their big year abroad adventure!!! I’m not on an extended vacation in the land of King Sejong and Big Bang. I’m just living my life.
In the same way that me having a disagreement with a coworker, or an unpleasant experience out in public doesn’t mean that I hate Korea and Koreans and I hate living here and I should just leave and go somewhere where I will be happier. I don’t see my coworkers as Koreans, the big bold category, and I don’t see every experience I have here as Korean Culture, the big bold category. They’re just people, and this is just life.
My friends and I often joke that the ones who come over the most gungho and hi ho Korea number one! end up leaving the most bitter after their year of unmet unrealistic expectations. The second you accept that there are crappy people and bad days in Korea, as in every other place, is the second when you can truly start to appreciate your life here for what it’s really worth.
