A story of an International family.
If you are interested in Korean language. Please visit my other blog. learnkoreanwithlily.blogspot.com
Thank you. :) Have a fabulous day!!! <3<3<3
I am 5 weeks and one day pregnant today. I am extremely excited about this. I want to have many children. (At least, that is what I feel right now. Hehe.) I felt like I had to get pregnant quickly so that I cannot be too old when I have my last baby. Anyway, before I went to Korea (this year March), I felt like pregnant for two months consecutively. And then, I felt like pregnant again right after I came back to the US (October). But the pregnancy kits were showing only one line. So, when I told my husband I felt like I was pregnant this month, he was like "I don't know, are you sure?" I had to wait a bit to buy the pregnancy tester since my husband told me he doesn't want to waste his money on the kit all the time. ( We wasted 3 kits so far.)
When I tested it, I couldn't see the line next to the letter "T" right away, but it gradually started to show. Then, my heart started to beat so fast. The line was not really distinct, but definitely I was pregnant!!!!
I told my husband James that I was pregnant, and he looked at the tester and, at first, he said the line was not really distinct. Anyway, we both were very happy and James carried me and sang with joy!! :)
I made a video of myself talking about my symptoms and the dream that my mom had when I conceived. And, I am showing my belly!!! (Twice!! First, when I am by myself, and then, when Yuri was with me.)
Check the video out, and Please rejoice with us!!! :)
I was 4 Weeks and 5 Days pregnant when I made this video.
Now, we live in the USA all together. I know James is so happy to have us back.
:)
In this picture, James is the one driving. I used a mirror version on my camera.
I took a video on the ride.
I love Yuri in this dress! I think it is really cute on her. :)
James is braiding Yuri's hair. He is concentrating!
Check out his braiding Yuri's hair.
Walking home from church.
So cute.
Just before Yuri's taking a shower. :)
In this video, Yuri understood me saying "Smile" this time. I was quite surprised because I had to say it in Korean all the time because she didn't understand the word "smile" in English.
However!! When I came to the USA and bought and ate Cheetos, I was quite disappointed. It was too salty!!! WHY are all the US snack so so so SALTY??
But, now I think I got used to the saltiness of Cheetos of USA, so I can sometimes eat it and actually quite enjoy it.
1. USA Cheetos
My favorite one is Cheetos Puffs. It is quite soft, and it is not that salty as other kinds.
There are several kinds.
Jalapeno! Sounds hot!
A basic one, I guess.
Twisted one. I have never seen this before.
It looks too red. I don't like snacks with too much artifical colors.
It looks like a limited version. I have never seen it.
I bought this yesterday, and I am writing this post eating this. The red bag.
I have never seen this before, either. I wonder how giant the balls are. lol.
I have never seen it.
XXTRA Flaming hot? I don't want it.
How come I have never seen this Asterolds version? Do they sell now?
Let's check out Korean Cheetos.
2. Korean Cheetos
The main two popular Cheetos are these two kinds.
The red bag is Barbecue Flavor, and the black bag is hot Flavor. I like both, and hot flavor is not that hot, just to let you know. :) They are not salty like American ones.
I think this kind is fairly new because I have never had it. It is Grilled Onions flavor.
This seems very new, too. I have never had it. It is Sweet Chili flavor.
There are Mini Cheetos. It is a small amount, and the purple bag is Hot Sauce Flavor, and blue bag is Bulgogi Flavor.
Hot Sauce Flavor
Bulgogi Flavor
If I have to choose one over the other, I will choose Korean Cheetos. They are less salty and yummy! :)
If your parents are against your international relationship,
you need to know why they are against it.
If they are against it because of their personality, then it is fine.
However, if they are against your relationship just because they are out of your race or foreigners, then I think you shouldn't care about them too much.
Your life is your life. Your marriage is your marriage. You live your life, and you and your spouse work your marriage. No one does it for you. You need to know if your girlfriend/boyfriend make you happy, that is all that matters.
One thing that you need to remember is you shouldn't date him/her just because you want to be rebellious to your parents.
You might feel that you are Romeo or Juliet since they are against you. You might think that that is more fun and exciting because they are against it so it must be forbidden love and more thrilling.
However, you need to know that when parents are against your love, there must be reasonable reasons. So, you need to think about it again.
Many of my subscribers and readers of my Youtube and blog want to know how open Korean people are about international dating and marriage.
I asked what kind of questions that want to know about Koreans, and many people commented on the video.
I interviewed my students and picked the questions that were most asked by people and asked the questions.
I interviewed 6 students of mine. They are all Korean born and raised in Korea.
These are the questions that I asked them.
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country?
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race?
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV?
4. Do you want your girlfriend/wife to learn Korean or will you learn English?
5. Do you want her to move to Korea or will you move to her country to live?
6. As a Korean man, do you get upset when you see Korean women date foreign men?
The first student that I interviewed was Adam.
He didn't want to show his face on the video, but later on another video, you will be able to see his face! :)
His answer was
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country? Yes.
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race? He would elope. He said he is still young and has that kind of courage. :)
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV? He said Black people have their certain fashion and vibe. He met little black boys (around 7 years old) in Australia, and they wore hiphop clothes and looked very much like how they were portrayed on TV.
4. Do you want your girlfriend/wife to learn Korean or will you learn English? He said he would first communicate with her in English, but he will teach her Korean so that they can communicated in Korean as well later on.
5. Do you want her to move to Korea or will you move to her country to live? He wants to live abroad.
6. As a Korean man, do you get upset when you see Korean women date foreign men? A little bit. He thinks that some Korean girls change the way they behave after they date foreign men. Their attitude change in a bad way.
He was being honest and I appreciate his opinions.
The second student that I interviewed was Justino. He is a very honest guy.
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country? Yes, but she said he would marry a Korean woman.
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race? He wouldn't care about their opinion because they are always against his opinion. lol.
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV? He doesn't think so.
4. Do you want your girlfriend/wife to learn Korean or will you learn English? He doesn't want to push his girlfriend/wife to learn Korean, so he will learn English.
5. Do you want her to move to Korea or will you move to her country to live? He doesn't care where he lives.
6. As a Korean man, do you get upset when you see Korean women date foreign men? Not at all.
My third interviewee was a woman. Her name is Irene, and she is good at Chinese and English.
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country? Yes.
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race? She thinks that her parents would be ok with anyone that she chooses because she is a bit older than other Korean women who get married.
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV? No.
4. Do you want your boyfriend/husband to learn Korean or will you learn English? If her husband cannot speak Korean, she will learn his language. If he speaks Korean, they will communicate in Korean.
5. Do you want him to move to Korea or will you move to his country to live? She can live anywhere.
6. As a Korean woman, do you get upset when you see Korean men date foreign women? No. She thinks that is very stupid to do that.
The next person that I interviewed was Troy. He is a married man who said he cannot have a chance to date anyone who is outside of his race. He was being very honest about answering his questions. He is good at Japanese.
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country? He said he would not. Obviously, he is already married, so he said it. lol. He said he would not because the cultural difference would frustrate him.
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race? He thinks that his parents are very open-minded so they would accept it.
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV? No.
4. Do you want your girlfriend/wife to learn Korean or will you learn English? He will learn English.
5. Do you want her to move to Korea or will you move to her country to live? He wants to move to USA.
6. As a Korean man, do you get upset when you see Korean women date foreign men? No.
The next one was a woman again! :) She has the most hits among all the interviewee's videos. She said she likes Black men because they have good bodies. :) She is a very sweet girl. Her name is Bella.
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country? Yes!
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race? She would try to make her parents meet her boyfriend several times so that they can get to know each other. She thinks that her parents would accept him because they like her and they trust her. (That is exactly what happened to me!!!!)
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV? No. She LIKES BLACK MEN!
4. Do you want your boyfriend/husband to learn Korean or will you learn English? She will learn English and he will need to learn Korean so that they can understand each other's culture better.
5. Do you want him to move to Korea or will you move to his country to live? She wants to live in another country.
6. As a Korean woman, do you get upset when you see Korean men date foreign women? No.
The last person that I interviewed was Kevin. He is very studious and never skipped my class. He is not married yet(he didn't believe in marriage), but he is thinking about getting married soon since his girlfriend wants it.
1. Would you date someone outside of your race/country? Yes, but he would not marry them.
2. What would you do if your parents disapprove of you dating or marrying someone outside of your race? He would think about dating and marrying her again.
3. Do you believe African Americans all act and look like we are portrayed on TV? No, but Black men are a bit scary. (Maybe because they are big. He only met one Black man in person in his life.)
4. Do you want your girlfriend/wife to learn Korean or will you learn English? He will learn English, but he will teach her Korean as well.
5. Do you want her to move to Korea or will you move to her country to live? He wants to move to another country since he has lived in Korea for his entire life.
6. As a Korean man, do you get upset when you see Korean women date foreign men? No.
After I uploaded these videos, many of them asked my students if they would marry (not date but marry) foreigners. So, I asked them the question and made another video.
Three out of four men said, they would not marry someone outside of their race or they would hesitate if their parents are against it. Only Adam said he would because he is young and wild. LOL. Irene was not in class because of her business trip, so I only interviewed Bella. She said she would marry and I believe that Irene would probably say she would marry, too.
They wanted to ask foreigners questions, so we made a video of asking questions.
The questions are
1. If you got married to a Korean, would you learn Korean and could you live in Korea? - by Troy
2. To WOMEN : If you want to get married to a Korean man, are you willing to cook Korean food and eat it almost everyday? - by Kevin
3. TO MEN : What do you think about Korean women? - by Bella
4. TO WOMEN: What do you think about Korean men's obligation to go to Korean army for 2 years? - by Adam
If you want to answer the questions or want to check out other people's answers, watch the video on Youtube, and you will be able to see the comments. :)
The next day, we decided to go to U-do which is a very pretty small island right next to Jeju Island. You need to get on a big boat to go there.
On the way to the port to go to U-do, we stopped by Dragon Head Rock.
Does it look like a dragon head?
Dol-harubang is a symbol of Jeju Island.
Hi!!!
We were almost near the port, but we saw one guy with two horses, and we had to rid the horse before we went to U-do. It was extremely beautiful right next to Sungsan Sunrise Peak.
The flat peak behind us is famous Sunrise peak. People go there to see the sun rise.
We will never forget this moment.
We got on a boat and went to U-do. Your car can get on a boat, too. You just drive to the boat and then when you get to U-do, you just drive out of the boat!
U-do!!!! Look at the beach and the sky!
Just amazing!!!
Yuri imitating Mommy!
One!
Ah!!!
We had lunch right next to the beach.
Grandma and Yuri love each other so much!
We went to U-do peak.
The place was just breath-taking.
Really Be-autiful!!!!!
We went to a smaller island called Biyangdo right next to U-do. It is connected by a bridge, so we could just drive there.
A cute little beach at Biyangdo.
There was a chair called Sunrise Wish Achievement Chair, so we sat there and put some little pebbles on top of the chair. (Korean people pile pebbles on a sacred place when they make wishes.) Look at Yuri praying!
We came back to U-do and met another beach.
Sea-woman Statue.
Touching Mermaid's breast. ;)
We came back to Jeju-Island and went to Black Sand beach at night. Obviously, it was hard to tell if the sand was black or not. :)
It was a short trip, but my mom, Yuri, and I all had a very good time together. We will never be able to forget these precious moments. I love my mom and my baby so much! (Of course, I love my dad! I am sorry that he could be with us. I hope he gets well so that we all can travel again!)
