Cross Cultural moments

We had brunch with James’ lab at his advisor’s home on Sunday. We were among the last people to leave and his advisor exclaimed, “Wait, we have way too much baked salmon, you must take some!”

“Sure!” I quickly agreed. I could feel Jrex looking at me. “Wait, I have to do the Asian thing,” I added quickly, “I can’t just say yes like that I have to play the game. ‘No. No. No. Sure!”

“I’m sorry,” Jrex sorrowfully shook his head while his advisor laughed, “She has no filter.”
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In Korean culture, the men are notorious for not even knowing how to boil water. If the wife doesn’t feed them, they will starve to death in front of a full refrigerator. I’ve only seen this in action a couple times, but it’s shocking each time. A few years ago I had Thanksgiving dinner with two Korean-Korean (vs. Korean-American) women who had to get home to feed their husbands and couldn’t even stay for dessert. It seemed the men couldn’t survive being alone more than 4 hours at a stretch.

Jrex decided as a bachelor that he didn’t want to live on TV dinners and Ramen, so he taught himself to cook. At this point he’s a much better cook than I am. It’s a creative outlet for him and if he gets inspired, I get out of the way. Grilled salmon with a crusted almond/dill glaze and steamed veggies with a hint of balsamic vinaigrette? No really, dear, you shouldn’t have.

I’ve written previously about going to Seattle for a week in January. Last night we were talking and I asked Jrex if he really minded me going. “No, it’s fine,” he quickly reassured me.

“What!?” I joked, “You’re not supposed to be THAT quick with your answer!”

“Well as long as you make and leave me a week’s worth of frozen dinners, I’ll be fine.”