Very Desperate Housewives

I don't know why I am surprised about the way that Korean women act here when it is such a male dominated society, but I think that these women saw an episode or two of Leave It To Beaver and accepted that June Cleaver was the role model to follow.

First of all, up until the early nineties there was a law that women were not allowed to smoke in public. The law no longer exists but the only women you see smoking in public are foreigners, the rest do it in the washrooms, which not only makes waiting for a washroom even longer but also makes you emerge smelling like an ashtray. Of course this is just a minor observation, most of my observations on Korean women come from the lady I tutor.

Now before I start the domestic bashing let me say that sometimes her life seems pretty sweet. She comes for Enligh tutoring two mornings a week, from there she goes swimming or to the gym, then she goes for lunch with the other housewives where they spend the afternoon talking, going to the saunas or shopping. Seems like the life of luxury, but then she tells me about other things from home.

Last week we had the term rebel and I was trying to explain to her what it meant. When she understood she was like, "Ah, okay," she laughed and then proceeded to tell me that, "Sometimes after dinner I don't do the dishes right away, and sometimes I even wait until the morning!" to prove that this isn't her only rebellious tendency she followed up with, "And sometimes, I don't wash the floor for two or three days!!!" And then she cackled like this was the most rebellious thing in the world. In addition to these acts of rebellion she usually tells me stories about how her husband always comes home drunk, smelling of whiskey and cigarettes. (When I asked her about cancer she also informed me that, "I don't think cigarette smoking is that harmful to people") This past Monday when I asked her what she did all weekend she said nothing because her husband and kids sat in front of the tv all weekend and the only time they talked was to say, "When is our meal ready?"

A few weeks back I asked her about North Korea and she told me her thoughts (and I use the term thoughts very very loosely):

#1: I don't think Koreans worry about things like that too much.

#2: I think God will take care of it.

It took much of my effort to not ask her where this God person had been for the past world wars, but I managed to smile and nod like these were very profound thoughts.

Now maybe you are thinking that my lady is just the exception to the rule but Lorne teaches a lady as well and his stories are often very similar. It is great really though, because not only have I gotten a trip to Korea, it is also like a time warp to the 1950s.