Hi Everyone - - - I thought I would write a post for a change, kind of random one at that. I know some people have asked me what dramas are like in Korea. Well, last night one that I have been watching for a while finally finished. It was 104 chapters and it was on Saturday and Sunday nights from 10-11:15 maybe. . . so about a year. Anyway, the title translates to "The Wife I First Married Club" similar to first wife probably. Anyway, it was about this family and they are not a rich family, just common people. This drama was interesting because it mainly had to do with everyday people and not the rich that we always see in dramas. So, their is a father and a mother and they have two sons and one daughter. Somewhere along the line, the father gets another lover and basically treats the first wife like crap, and hits her and does many bad things in front of the kids. Basically, they don't get a divorced and the second woman lives with them while the first wife stays there because in Korea, a wife that runs away or something like that is still looked at as very bad.

So, fast track to the kids are grown up and the first son marries a woman and has a kid, but later he too takes a second woman and the first one leaves. Granted that the second woman he took also left her husband and daughter. That is one child of this family.

The daughter a good woman, marries a man and has two daughters. He is a playboy though and treats her really bad too and leaves her. She still lives with her father though and that house, her husband was a doctor and wanted to be a professor. He was handsome and basically tried to play himself to a good position, but then he got caught and couldn't get another job at a hospital at Seoul.

The third child, a son is a good man and marries a woman and basically there was not a lot there. He was the good child and was very hurt that his family had all of these problems, especially his older brother.

So, the first son, his first wife meets another man (younger than her) and from a rich family. . . which is kind of not stereotypical here in Korea. They fall in love, but he is engaged to another woman who his father wants him to marry and he is a big CEO of some company. The father finds out he loves this common woman who is older than him and has a son and is extremely upset and very against the relationship. He tells his son many times you can't meet her, and goes to her work where she works and threatens her many times, saying that she has to break up with his son. Then his son is so upset and doesn't listen to his father so his father hires men to take his son away and do whatever it takes to keep him away from his lover. Then on top of all this, the woman's first husband, the oldest son, finds out about this and becomes very jealous and wants her back. He starts treating his second wife like crap, hitting her and trying to throw her out of the house, etc. She starts to drink heavily, and at the end almost committs suicide because she has nothing and has lost everything. No one cares about her. This story was basically the main part, and finally at the end after many things that happen and being hurt too much the woman and her lover are together, after the father finally agreed about the relationship. The oldest son loses everything too and feels guilty and blames his father for everything because he set the example about the second wife and thought it was great. He ends up at the end after everything finding the second woman after they have been hurt a lot, and they all together.

The daughter of this family too was hurt too much because after her husband left she met another man. This man she met when he was about to jump off a bridge and committ suicide because his wife left him with their son to America. They fall in love, but somehow his first wife gets pregnent later but it might have or not have been his son. However, he doesn't love her and they plan to get married, but the first wife wants him back. And then she is pregnent and has the baby so he is responsible for that, so it is too hard. This couple was engaged and then broke up but they finally ended up getting married. The daughter's father wrote a letter to her that she found on her honeymoon saying how sorry he was for all the pain he caused her mother and her for taking the second wife because after that she stopped calling him father. The last episode she is happy and pregnent again.

Finally, after all of this the lesson was learned by everyone after all of the hurt and pain how stupid some of them were and how hurt everyone was. I don't know how to translate it this in English, but Koreans say "너무 힘들고 어려워요" so difficult and exhausting. Anyway, in the very last episode the whole main family is together and the father apologizes to his first wife, the mother on her birthday privately saying, "I am sorry for everything and thank you for staying and keeping the family together" after twenty or thirty years. They are crying and happy that their family is okay.

This drama was good because I think it revealed a lot of Korea's culture and the way people think about love. In Korea, love is hard because of family responsibilities, parents (who are often opposed to their kids relationships), and how men and women view love in Korea (especially traditonally) but the younger generations or changing. This drama was tiring to watch sometimes, but I am glad I finished it and could give you a little glimpse into Korean dramas.

I watched the last two episodes at my girlfriend's parents' house with her parents. . . which is a blessing that that is possible now after everything. Praise God!