[olliejen]

I'm ABC (american-born chinese) and my wife is Korean (moved here when she was 1 or 2) we've been married for 7 years.

Marriage is a huge adjustment in and of itself. But, you do have to compensate for some differences in culture. Some are really nice, and some are less-so.

Main adjustments/points of interest to me:
1. Koreans are really family-oriented. When we moved into our house, it was basically a given that her parents had a key and use it (e.g. when they come over, about once or twice a week, they use the key and not the doorbell) That was really weird/hard for me. I'm still learning to be comfortable with it. Korean families are WAY close too. My mother-in-law calls my wife every day (mostly to chat and for translation-help) and my brother-in-law is a colossal momma's boy (tho I would say probably like 95% of the Korean guys I know are as well)

2. From my observation, Koreans generally are very fond of brand-named baubles. Guys love brand named cars, watches, golf clubs, etc... Girls love brand named cars, purses, shoes, clothes, etc. For instance, my wife would easily prefer 1 Louis Vuitton purse to having, say, 3 different less-expensive bags that end up costing as much. I don't see much value in a lot of that stuff, but on the flip side of the coin, my wife sees eating something simple at home as serving the same purpose as eating out at a nice restaurant. Or, she can't see much relative value in say, a big plasma tv versus a tube tv that costs 1/10th as much. I think though, most couples must have differences in their personal utility for various things...

3. I think one thing that was odd for me also was that Koreans come from a really homogenous society and really identify themselves in the context of part-of-Korea versus as individuals. For instance, when the Va. Tech stuff happened, the Koreans around here were all very like, "Oh no! Oh no! He was Korean! People will hate Koreans now!" versus, "He was a lunatic; just happened to be Korean..."

Ex. A Korean district congressman started off a session by apologizing on behalf of all Koreans for that kid.

Ex. Koreans ranked Apollo Ohno the least welcome person to Korea (like 2 spots above Osama bin Laden) after the 2002 Winter Games because of the controversial finish with 2 Korean speed skaters.

They're all very quirky/interesting things to adjust to. But, marriage is all about giving and taking and it's all stuff I'm happy to make room in my life for.

edit: Oh, also; a lot of the time I hear Koreans speaking in Korean, it sounds really like, aggressive and forceful and on the cusp of being angry/pissed off. But, its not. That's just the way its inflected, I think. I always ask my wife, "why are you yelling so much with your mom?" and she's like, "huh? was i? i don't think so..."