I survived 3 and a half months in Korea this summer.
There were a couple of break-downs in between. 1st, In my 1st month there I was home sick and frantically looking for Southeast Asian or western food. 2nd, Kimchi boy & I broke up for 5 short minutes at Sinchon (Seoul) but quickly made up while eating Taco Bell. 3rd, We quarreled, I got angry and threatened to leave Korea.
This summer I felt the warmth of his parents' love towards me. I met so many of his relatives and they were so kind and made me feel like I was part of the Shin family already. I invited friends to stay over in their house in Daejeon City and his parents were so nice to my friends as if it were their own daughter's sleepover. When I had to go to Ulsan City for a summer program, they drove me all the way from Daejeon to Busan to Ulsan. The night before I left for Singapore, his mother prepared seaweed and other Korean side dishes so that I could bring it back for my family. I now know that I will always have a home in Korea too.
I am now back in Singapore, completing my last semester at NUS. I remember almost two years ago before I agreed to be his girlfriend, I'd googled a lot on "Korean boyfriend", "Korean guys", "Dating a Korean"... hoping to find information on what to expect when dating a Korean man. I was worried about things like do I always have to bow whenever I see his parents? Are Korean guys shy to show their emotions to their girlfriends? Will we have huge cultural differences? I did not know what to expect as a girlfriend of a Korean guy. After almost two years of being with kimchi boy, I now know that.. You just have to be yourself, as if you were dating a guy from your own country. There is "nothing" to expect because each relationship, whether or not it is with a Korean, is different on its own.