Yoonhoo and Yungjeong: What about Ruby & Bokgu?

[Harrison]

I watch "Hearts of Nineteen" (personally, I get around all the various translations by just calling it "Bumpkin") in Philly and I'm just wondering something about Yoonhoo and Yuengjeong: if they do get together, what about their pets, Ruby and Bokgu? Will they get together? What if Yuengjeong moves in with Yoonhoo and his crazy/ evil/ suspicious mama? Will the dogs fall in love, too? I'm just semi-serious about this, but I still remember the episode where Yuengjeong dressed Ruby up like a cheerleader...oh, that was hilarious...I hope we'll be seeing that little crumb-cruncher again...

[ovaridedis24]

When you say Yuengjeong, I hope you mean Gukhwa because Yoonhoo and Yunjung are siblings in the show.

[zorro]

I read it to mean Ugyeong and Yunjeong… and just where is Ruby lately? Did she run off with Mr. Poo from BB?

[Lucy]

Ruby died of a combination of neglect and Korean Soap Opera Disease, which results in the quick and unremarked demise of characters (and dogs) who are no longer needed for plot points.

[ovaridedis24]

lucy said:

Ruby died of a combination of neglect and Korean Soap Opera Disease, which results in the quick and unremarked demise of characters (and dogs) who are no longer needed for plot points.

HAHA! NICE! ;D

[BAE]

zorro said:

I read it to mean Ugyeong and Yunjeong… and just where is Ruby lately? Did she run off with Mr. Poo from BB?

They show more of Bokgu (who is furless... or maybe that's just his breed of dog.. I'm not too keen on dog breeds) than they ever did that Ruby... I think it's to show that Yunjeong isn't that spoiled girl that she was at the beginning of the show.. But the problem is she STILL is that SPOILED girl from the show's beginning.

[Lucy]

Bokgu isn't furless. He's furred. He has white fur. I think he's a Jindo (special Korean breed) or a mini-Jindo, as one of our Korean-language classmates says. He's terribly cute, IMO. I think I might have said this already, but isn't it funny how you've got the human brothers Mungu, Pungu, and Sungu, and then the dog Bokgu? It's almost like they named him as another one of the brothers.

Poor dog does nothing but stand 2 feet from his doghouse on a short leash all day, yet he still wags his tail at them cheerfully when they come out to the courtyard to wash their faces (and what's up with that, by the way? No indoor plumbing?).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_Jindo_Dog

[Soju]

Well, see, Bok-gu is s STAR! He's listed on KBS's cast page for the show:

Ruby was just an extra.

Semi-spoiler alert: You might want to see Bok-gu's makeover in a future episode.

[BAE]

Okay, the dog's barely even on the show for me to have made the distinction between fur/furless. Oh well, I agree, he's quite an adorable dog.

LOL Soju! What a transformation!

That's so cute, they gave the dog mention. Poor Ruby... Even her guest starring appearences are futile....

[justaviewer]

Lucy,

I've been trying to figure that out for awhile. Is there in door plumbing? Does anyone in Korea have in door plumbing? Please someone answer this burning question. It seems to me that the richer families do have in dorr plumbing but................What's the deal? Does anyone know how the plumbing works over there?

[BAE]

They have a bathroom, of course. It's located right by Woo-sook's (is that her name?) room. I don't really get why they have to wash their faces outside though. They don't brush their teeth or anything else outside.. Just wash their face...

[ovaridedis24]

Maybe they don't want to waste water....or maybe they want to give Bokgu some tv time.

[kiparang]

I am not watching this drama so I cannot imagine what kind of house they reside in. But Korea is now a modernized country and so even homes(most of them, anyway) in the countryside have indoor plumbing.

The best explanation for washing one's face outside would be that it is a cultural thing, I guess. Koreans think that it is more invigorating to wash one's face outside, breathing in fresh air at the same time. As they have done for thousands of years in rural areas, from where most of city dwellers originally come. (By the way, nearly all of the Koreans have huge longing for their home town, especially if it is in the countryside. Many of them dream of retiring there and spending the rest of their life peacefully in a rural area.)

Hope the above be of help in explaining the situation.

[Lucy]

That is very interesting, kiparang, and I was about to hazard a theory similar to what you said. That is, the family has rural roots (and from what you say, most urban Koreans do) and the outside washing is something they like to do because it's like the habits of their youth--in the grandpa and sons' generations, I mean.

I don't quite understand where that family lives, by the way. Mungu works at a train station that looks like it's in the suburbs, and when Ugyeong rides his bike home, he's going through the countryside. So I guess they live beyond the close-in suburbs but not quite in the country? In addition, the tailor shop and Eomji's restaurant are on a commercial street, but Grandpa doesn't take the train home from work--or does he? I think the only time we saw him taking a train or bus was early in the show when he went to someone's wedding or funeral.

BTW, my question about indoor plumbing was just my being flippant and "humorous"--I didn't really think they didn't have a bathroom.

[ginnycat5]

I was thinking it would reduce the waiting time, for the toilet. With so many people to share one bathroom, some washing outside helps clear the traffic. I guess they're not going to show us everything, but how about washing hands before dinner? Outside? (Altho on Who's My Love? they showed the toilet in use-yikes, it was surprising!)