IMPORTANCE OF JOON'S B'DAY

[toranaga]

HERE is a link to korean wiz that partially explains
why goeun was so emotional about this party.

www.koreanwiz.org/understand2.html

[Lucy]

Thanks, toranaga. I was talking to someone over the weekend who told me some other things about the first birthday celebration. Notably, you know those big stacks of fruits and rice cakes arranged so spectacularly? Sometimes they're fake, i.e., plastic! They just put them up for the party (I don't know if the family keeps them around, like in the attic or something) and then take them down when the party's over. LOL.

[Catalpaunlogged]

What I wanna know is, why was the mother (Goeun) the farthest away from the baby during this important ceremony, behind the grandparents holding him?? Was she crying b/c she missed seeing him pick up the pencils or b/c it's his first b-day or what?

[Lucy]

Catalpaunlogged said:

Was she crying b/c she missed seeing him pick up the pencils or b/c it's his first b-day or what?

I do not know. Goeun is bothering me these days, i.e., I'm worried about her. I assumed she was crying because she was so moved and grateful that her in-laws had done the party for Joon, who isn't a blood relative. But her crying didn't really seem like that after a while. She seemed really sad. And she denies that her illness on the spa trip was due to nerves over Joon's birthday. I wonder if she has some private grief she's not sharing.

[soapygrams]

I think that one of the reasons she is crying is because she is thinking that had she originally married Huynsik, Joon would be his blood son ... so when the adults were clapping and saying he would be studious like his father ... she was regretting again that she had not married him in the first place. There is another reason for her sad mood but it's a spoiler so I won't write anymore about it. I love this show ... it's one of the best IMO ... the love and kindness and understanding of this family is wonderful to experience in a K-drama - so opposite to ScreechyM in MSMD and the lack of laughter and support in Ok jin's family even with all their money. Makes the point that money cannot buy happiness.

[galacticchick]

I agree, Soapygrams. Ever since she got married, the thing I've heard her say over and over is "I'm so grateful and sorry" I think that she sees her first marriage as the biggest made she ever made and will have to live with for the rest of her life. Everybody aludes to the fact that she would be perfect, impeccable if only she hadn't married the other guy and come in with a baby.

The good thing is that they don't take it out on little Joon. Good point about this family and the one on MS/MD.

[ginnycat5]

lucy said:

Catalpaunlogged said:

Was she crying b/c she missed seeing him pick up the pencils or b/c it's his first b-day or what?

I do not know. Goeun is bothering me these days, i.e., I'm worried about her. I assumed she was crying because she was so moved and grateful that her in-laws had done the party for Joon, who isn't a blood relative. But her crying didn't really seem like that after a while. She seemed really sad. And she denies that her illness on the spa trip was due to nerves over Joon's birthday. I wonder if she has some private grief she's not sharing.

She didn't seem pleased after Joon picked up the pencils. I wondered what profession Joon's birth father had and if she was thinking of him. Or if it was just gratitude. She didn't look pleased, tho.

[TheBo]

I think she's grateful to them. They are treating him like the first-born grandson, after all. I think Joon's life will be a far cry from Min-jae's (OMR). I think all those comments they make about it being a pity are more to remind themselves of his heritage than to say anything to Goeun, sort of like when Grandma complains to Goeun that she's (Goeun) is sick, how could she do that, when really, she's worried about her. They do talk a LOT in this family, I guess they can't help but have everything come out of their mouths three or four times.

Bo

[TheBo]

I forgot to tell you guys, I had cut out and forgotten a recent article from the Tribune about the first birthday of Korean children, which I just read last night (a Korean family living in Northbrook or summat had one). Apparently, Koreans only celebrate the first and the sixtieth birthdays. The first because if your child lives a year, he's probably going to survive, and the 60th, because that's probably as old as you'd get. (Nowadays, most people celebrate the 70th instead.) Also, they celebrate after 3 months of life for similar reasons to the first birthday.

Probably, this is covered by Koreanwiz, but I wanted to call attention to myself.

Bo

[Lucy]

Isn't the way they calculate age different, too? I think the child is a year old when it's born. This occurred to me after our discussion of Him-chan's rapid aging in "My Sweetheart."

[ginnycat5]

I heard that somewhere too, but it doesn't reconcile with the idea that the baby has survived a long enough time for family to relax and think the baby will live, and a 12-month baby is able to choose and grasp objects that might predict a career. Wonder if "one-year birthday" is a term chosen by the translators so we understand it, and in Korean maybe they say "2-year birthday."

[TheBo]

This morning I finally got to watch the birthday, and I was so much more touched by it this time around (than I was the last time I watched it years ago). The first time I saw this, I didn't really understand the prejudice a child from a previous marriage faces in Korea. (I had not seen so many Korean dramas at that point.) Seeing how Goeun and her mother were so grateful and happy made me cry a lot. (Good thing I didn't have my makeup on yet.) Goeun really did luck out.

One thing made me laugh (in sort of a sympathetic way)--the poor baby who plays Joon was apparently "having a bad day" LOL. S/He was clearly miserable, and the actors tried so hard to ignore it--exactly how people try to handle any fussy baby on a special occasion. I thought s/he was going to snap those pencils in half (notice they did not have the cameras on Joon when he "took" them--younger grandpa was nearly holding them in the boy's hand LOL). They must have been on a short shooting schedule, that they could not wait until s/he was in a better mood to shoot the scenes. It was also funny because s/he's usually such a docile baby, too.

Bo

[Lucy]

Yes, that baby was pretty upset. But, funny thing, I asked my friend who's married to a Korean guy about the 1-year birthday (BTW, they do call it a 1-year, not a 2-year, birthday), and she said the babies usually do cry and are hard to deal with at these ceremonies. Reasons: 1) the new clothes and that headdress! 2) all the fuss and noise and people trying to get them to pick an object.