Catalpa
Junior Addict
Focus on what you can do, then do it with all your heart. ~Lois Wilson
Posts: 207
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Post by Catalpa on Jul 28, 2005 13:44:18 GMT -5
Does anyone else find it ironic that Geoun is a PhD candidate but she'll be expected to do housework and not continue school? I know she said she doesn't want to finish school, but the culture shock, to me, is enormous. I do know people who have an advanced degree (incl. PhD) who are stay-at-home moms, so it's not like I think it's the end of the world or anything. But I think it's amazing that the bulk of her time will be spent cleaning, cooking and serving others. Most of the moms I know who stay at home have some sort of outside interest, be it a hobby or volunteer work, that keeps them sane.
Then again, as Joseph Campbell said (to paraphrase) the Asian ego is quite fragile, almost nonexistent, compared to the West, in which individuals have a huge, hard ego. A buddhist monk need barely ping an Asian's ego to shatter it, (still Campbell) but with a Westerner he bangs and bangs with a huge hammer and still sometimes just barely cracks it.
There's also the sexism. The women are constantly serving the men, even just a glass of water, even if the woman is busy with something else.
Comments?
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Post by Lucy on Jul 28, 2005 15:27:47 GMT -5
Ji-yeun. Yes, it bothers me. As you say, she doesn't want to, but Yoon-sik says he wants her to. Which makes her choice even more disturbing--she even has her fiance's backing if she wants to. But she'd rather waste all that education--and I don't mean "waste" because she'll be a wife and mom, but because she won't have her degree after all that and obviously doesn't value the education she's gotten. She even said she only went on to higher degrees because she wasn't dating or getting married. Huh. This brings up my other problem with Ji-yeun, which is that she is raring to have a baby right off the bat. That's fine, but she doesn't want to spend time getting to know Yoonsik first? and it makes it seem as though she's only marrying to be able to have a baby. She should have married Ki-joon on "My Sweetheart"--Screech Mom would have loved her! It always takes me aback that the men treat the women like waitresses. "Bring me a cold drink." "I want ____." Without a second thought even! I have a hard time understanding the Westernized modern Koreans. Like, women can vote and have jobs and have independent thoughts, but when they get married it's back to the 19th century and they're in servitude to the in-laws and the rest of the family? And they make a virtue of it?
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Post by BungalowDweller on Jul 31, 2005 19:08:35 GMT -5
Ji-yeun. But she'd rather waste all that education--and I don't mean "waste" because she'll be a wife and mom, but because she won't have her degree after all that and obviously doesn't value the education she's gotten. She even said she only went on to higher degrees because she wasn't dating or getting married. Huh. This brings up my other problem with Ji-yeun, which is that she is raring to have a baby right off the bat. I remember shocking other female colleagues when we discussed post-graduate school plans. My plan was to get pregnant. They all thought that I was nuts. ;D But I was 38 years old. . .and I had waited enough. My advanced education was to ensure that I could work contractually if I wanted to do so. I remember being shocked at finding out that corporations sought MA/PhD workers because their bond ratings rose with the number of advanced degreed professionals working for them! Insurance costs were also lower for them, too. It had nothing to do with the level of work being performed. It depends upon where people live. I've been told that it is virtually impossible to get Any job at all in Boston without a Minimum of a Master's degree. After working over 8 years in Washington, D.C. I can tell you that it's pretty much the same there, too. In Washington D.C., the ratio of women to men is roughly 2:1. I had friends who made "going back to get that added degree" a lifestyle. They were all single and used school as something to DO because they didn't have a significant other. "It beats shopping" more than one friend admitted. It's not unusual in Washington to meet people with 2 or more master's degrees, a phd, and various certifications!!! It's crazy! Maybe Ji-Yeun had friends like that and she went to school just to go. Maybe she was hoping to meet someone at the university. Maybe she was going to get that PhD as insurance against unemployment and to ensure financial security in her old age if she remained single. If she was so willing to walk away, she didn't really care about pursuing it. And she probably wants to have that baby right away because she doesn't want to go through the heartache of being unable to conceive. If a woman waits too long she can lose big-time. Ji-Yeun may know something about her own body she's not telling!
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Post by ginnycat5 on Aug 2, 2005 15:43:41 GMT -5
Ji-yeun. This brings up my other problem with Ji-yeun, which is that she is raring to have a baby right off the bat. And she probably wants to have that baby right away because she doesn't want to go through the heartache of being unable to conceive. If a woman waits too long she can lose big-time. Ji-Yeun may know something about her own body she's not telling! I wonder what if anything Ji-yeun knows about her birth parents, She may not know anything about their health histories, so she's being cautious. Yoon-sik will be angry if he finds out she's kept such a secret from him.
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Post by Lucy on Aug 2, 2005 16:37:27 GMT -5
"birth parents" Uh, whatever it is she's keeping secret from Yoonsik has been a secret to me, too, up till now. Did I miss something earlier in the series?
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Post by TheBo on Aug 3, 2005 14:02:22 GMT -5
Yes, ginny, whatever do you mean? Ji-yeun's mother is the fashion designer, and her father is in France. She is in touch with both of them. Do you mean some other person?
Bo
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Post by ginnycat5 on Aug 4, 2005 14:50:09 GMT -5
Yes, one time Ji-yeun was walking with her mother after having dinner out, and her mother said something about her being adopted, and would Yoon-sik's family be upset or?, and JY said, Don't worry, noone knows about that.
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Post by Lucy on Aug 4, 2005 15:08:24 GMT -5
Oh, I think we talked about that and decided she was just being funny. Wasn't it like, the mother said something nice about Ji-yeun, and JY said something teasing about her not being her real mom, and the mother went along with it?
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Post by ginnycat5 on Aug 4, 2005 15:18:40 GMT -5
Yes, that situation sounds familiar. But at that time, did JY say nobody knows about that...? Could be the same time, but I'm thinking JY was more serious than kidding. not sure now.
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Post by TheBo on Aug 4, 2005 15:27:29 GMT -5
Huh. I missed that completely. Maybe it was cut out of the version I watched. But they do seem to have a better relationship, including wry humor, so maybe they were kidding each other.
Bo
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Post by ginnycat5 on Aug 5, 2005 16:46:10 GMT -5
I think it was 2 separate occasions. The earlier one, JY and Mom were walking to the car outside a restaurant, JY in a black sheath dress, I think, and Mom said something about her being adopted,and JY said, no one knows about that, don't worry. JY seemed unconcerned but not exactly jolly like kidding around. That's my impression, anyway. The second occasion was indoors, and JY and Mom were having a pleasant conversation instead of butting heads the way they usually do, and Mom said are you my daughter? or something like that. And it was kidding around. I think they were wearing light colored clothes and were seated at a table.
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Post by Lucy on Aug 8, 2005 10:27:20 GMT -5
Wow, I can't believe many of us missed that adoption business, if it took place--I can't believe JY would hide something like that. I hope if it's true, that it doesn't cause problems. !!
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Post by galacticchick on Aug 8, 2005 14:00:50 GMT -5
The second occasion was indoors, and JY and Mom were having a pleasant conversation instead of butting heads the way they usually do, and Mom said are you my daughter? That's just an expression though. Like when they like to say "Are we strangers?" I don't think she's adopted. But who knows...
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Post by galacticchick on Aug 8, 2005 14:02:08 GMT -5
Catalpa, I'm sorry for modifying your thread title. But it was so confusing because I'd think of Goeun and then realized that we were actually talking about Jiyuen.
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Post by TheBo on Aug 9, 2005 10:10:05 GMT -5
Awww! I was going to modify it, but I was so tickled by "Goeun, PhD"--'cause she's got the smarts, that's for sure. But I guess it is less confusing.
Bo
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