When I left Korea last September, I was so sad to say goodbye to the ‘Couple of the Week’ section of my blog. These couples made me smile. Made me laugh. Made me realise the sacrifices some men will make for real love. Not my man, of course. He dismissed it as an Asian craze and vetoed the suggestion before he could even tell I was joking in my request. I would never actually want to mirror my boyfriend; but his immediate refusal hurt me a little bit. These men don’t mind emulating their other halves. In fact, it is the norm. Back home they would be stripped of their manhood, but here in Korea, it’s fashionable to declare to the world ‘I am with this person and I am proud.’ I suppose it helps ‘she’ does the shopping, too.
The furthest my boyfriend and I made it into this trend was in a gift from my Korean friend, Han Sol. These porroro couple rings made me happy in my last week in Daegu, South Korea. Of course, at that time, we had no intention of returning to the home of Samsung, Park JiSung and kimchi. These rings were a memory of a craze which would never fail to make me smile.
The economic situation at home and the sweet deal of being a teacher in this amazing country quickly turned us around, and when we arrived back in Korea three weeks ago, (this time to Jeju Island) I was ecstatic when I saw my first offending ‘couple-wear’ pair. I don’t know how often I will be posting these gems, but if you like it, I’ll try my damn hardest to ask these couples awkwardly if I can take their pictures, for reasons I cannot explain (because my Korean sucks…). What do you think?
