I believe that how people love is certainly affected by culture. 연애(yeon-ae: courtship)  with 한국인(han-kook-inn: Koreans) can be different from dating a person from your own culture. Although I’ve been a 아줌마(ah-joom-mah: a married woman) for a while, I am not familiar with 유행(you-hang: new trends) in dating culture in Korea. However, I can give you some recommendations that you may want to know if you are dating a Korean. Of course, this advice may or may not apply to your situations, since dating someone is an exclusively personal experience.

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1. 사공이 많으면 배가 산으로 간다. (Sah-gong-ee-manh-ueh-myeon-bae-gah-sanh-ueh-roh-gan-dah : It is a Korean proverb. It literally means that a boat will be rowed at mountains, if there are too many rowers It is translated as too many cooks spoil the stew.)

Korean parents can involve themselves in your romantic relationship. It is likely they can decide whether you are the right one for their daughter/son. Additionally, opinions from siblings of your date might affect your love life as well. Even if her/his family is happy with you, a fortune teller may also interfere with your romantic relationship. The culture of 궁합(goong-hap: marital compatibility predicted by a fortune teller) is common in Korea, whether you take it seriously or not. Many happy couples were told to break up by their fortune tellers. Remember, love conquers all.

2. You will remember all the celebrations you can ever have in a lifetime, if you are dating a Korean.

Did you know there are many 이벤트 카페(event café) in Korea for couples to celebrate anniversaries? Many Korean couples celebrate multiple anniversaries.  For example, couples will celebrate their 100^th day from the first day they met. Some even celebrate their 50^th day. The longer you date, the more celebrations are coming along. 200^th day, 300^th, 400^th. and so on.

The concept of event cafes is new to me. I can’t give you the most current update on event cafes since I have never been to one. I can only guess Korean couples, nowadays, book an event café to celebrate their special days, instead of going to movies. (that’s what I would do to celebrate the 100^th day, if I didn’t forget.) Using event cafes may be a good idea if your date is into celebrating big, but, to each his own!

3. You had better know how to use 카톡(Kakao Talk: a free mobile instant messaging app) to text your date

Kakao Talk is one of the most used messaging apps in Korea because it provides free texts and calls as long as you have an internet connection. Since you can connect to the internet almost everywhere in Korea, most people communicate through this app. Given this fact, you can expect to hear the distinctive Ka Talk message sound throughout the day in Korea, including silly cartoon emoticons. Although don’t panic if your date sends you numbers of texts that make you start to think whether she/he is a stalker. It is common courtesy to ask your date whether you ate lunch,, where you are, at or even what you are doing at that moment. It may feel that you are probed, but your date can be simply being nice. (Although trust your gut feelings. If you get over several messages in a minute, RUN!!!)

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I have more ideas to talk about on my brainstorm sheet. However, let me stop right here so you can be the judge in your relationship. Nonetheless, if you and your date are from different cultures to begin with, may the god of love lead you to find a perfect one for you.