One thing that I noticed while staying at my older siblings was that gender still matters quite a lot during my family's Choosuk time and New Years..All My cousins from paternal side are female so I am used to getting much love from my grandfather and grandmother since I was young.
There are many tragic incidents where I favored over the maternal side of cousins right in front of them, because I am the only male grandson who would continue my family line. There was an one incident when I witnessed very tragic moment for my cousin from maternal side. Because our grandfather is successful, yet very hot-tempered and strict, when my cousin was in trouble, he refused to help because he was not his grandson with same last name
The world is still a patriarchy despite Korea's strong effort to improve the issues of gender equality and equal opportunity. Even though, most societies have been very patriarchy including USA (women were not allowed to vote until early 20th century). The root of patriarchy was implemented to a higher degree when the Confucian system was imported from China and made the official state belief system in about 1390 A.D. Order and authority are the main teachings of Confucian ideology. Fathers are responsible for their families and must be both obeyed and revered by everyone. During the dinner with families, older people are sits first and eats before anyone else can hold a spoon. Also, one of the key tradition of order is that no one in Korea calls an older person by their first name, but respect them with "Hyung" and "Nuna".
The dual citizen person like me, who is used to both Korean culture and American culture, it was very confusing in the early age and had to go through many experiences to understand Korean's order and full culture. However, I wish that I had learned it sooner, because it took me many years to talk to my cousins from Korea without a family dispute.
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