The story is that One of head family of Korea become a Mafia family,

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한국의 한 종갓집이 마피아 집안이 된 사연

     My husband and I are like to spend time together watching movies.  We have a lot of DVDs in our big cabinet because it has become my husband’s hobby.  Living overseas has provided a good excuse to buy and collect DVDs that can be watched more than one time. The collection is so large, it is almost time to prepare another DVD cabinet.  We also had tons of video tapes before DVDs came out.  I complain all the time to my husband for spending so much money for his hobby.  However, it is sometimes useful when we want to have a relaxing time.  I usually pick a movie whenever I want to have a quite and quality time on the weekend or after the kids go out.  A glass of wine and some candles...

Hmm ‘what a relaxing day!    

    

     How do you feel about re-watching the same movie a couple times?  Why don’t you try it? You can find that you have a different feeling or interesting point of view every time you watch the same movie.   Moreover, you can sometimes find the funny scenes you missed the first time watching a scene. Sometimes you can catch a scene that the editors changed during the filming. Little things that were changed and you may have not seen the first time. Also, repeatedly watching the same movie is the best way to learn English.   To tell you the truth, I watched ‘Friends’ and ‘Everyone loves Raymond’ over and over again.  Probably over 100 times.  That is the how I learned English. 

     Unusually, I allowed my husband to pick the movie today.  It was a really old movie ‘The Godfather’  It was released approximately 30 years ago called ‘Dae bu’ in Korea.   It is a masterpiece and sometimes plays on TV these days.  This movie stars Marlon Brando who played as a the main actor and the movie was a rip-roaring blockbuster at that time.  I thought his character was too strong to be forgotten 

   He deeply loved his family as well as he managed his organizied crime family. His word was the absolute rule for all associated with his family and business. 

Absolute power:  I bet this is the dream of all guys.  Hmm... 

     I want to talk about how the head of a Korean family is like the mafia family in the movie.  Anyway my father’s oldest brother, who is my uncle, is the head of our entire extended family.  That is why my uncle and his wife always are the host and hostess all of family functions.  For example, conducting ceremonies for those who have long past and memorial services for the family. My husband had no chance to see our family functions because he is son-in-law and not a son.  Anyway, he understands basic Korean customs and is respectful of them. For example, he knows to turn his upper body away when he drinks in front of his seniors or has to deeply bow to elders or a big bow to an elderly relative on Lunar New Year .

      However, he couldn’t imagine the absolute power my uncle has as the head of our family.  It happened on my father’s birthday a couple years ago.  My uncle came to our home to celebrate my father’s 70^th birthday.  All of our family was a little bit nervous because of his presence. Nevertheless, we brought everyone back to our house for dessert after having dinner at a local eating establishment. You can imagine how it looks like typical Korean home in holiday season or during family functions.  All of the women usually gather in kitchen, while all men try to catch up in living room and the kids play games together. During these times, my husband usually retreated to his den. 

The head of family usually gives us all good advice during these family functions.  My uncle made a small coughing noise to get the families attention.  At a time, all of our family tried to see my uncle and listen quietly and intently. My husband heard the quiet and came out from his den.  He came stealthily close to me with a nervous face and asked me, “Honey, Is something wrong?”  

I only could give him a ‘be quite’ sign and keep listening to my uncle.  My husband noticed that he has to be quite and took a seat next to me.  After his words, I translated to my husband what my uncle had said.  Soon after, everyone departed from my father’s birthday party without any trouble.

 

    This is a common situation in Korean Life and I am sure it had a deep impression on my husband. My husband said to me, “Honey,  your family seems like the Korean Mafia.”  I was scared after watching the Godfather movie.   It is hard for my husband to understand how my uncle can be the big boos of the entire family. He thinks it is strange that my uncle can capture everyone’s attention with small cough noise.  Even at meal time, it was hard for my husband to understand the culture where men eat first, then kids and then women.  It is not understandable in American society because everything is focused around the husband and wife. However, it’s not a big deal any more.  We just try to accept and respect the fact that we come from different cultures. We just try to enjoy the best things from both our cultures. The American culture of my husband and the Korean culture of my family. 

    This incident has not only left an impression on my husband that our family is like the Mafia but has become a favorite part of my culture that my greatly respects.

Did I talk too much about a subject without much meaning?