Last week in my Advanced class there was a jovial debate between two of my students, Dean and Sung-rak. Sung-rak has been married for several years and has a five year-old son. Dean has been married only a few months. Dean was saying he does not want to have a baby for at least a year. He wants to spend some time with his wife as a married couple and enjoy each other's company before having a child. Sung-rak was arguing that having a child was the greatest thing ever and that Dean will be so much happier when it happens. He even disturbingly added that he loves his son more than his wife. They agreed to disagree.

Well, today Dean told me that his wife called him this morning and she is pregnant! Despite his plans he is still very happy to be having a baby. Needless to say, Sung-rak had a few things to say about it. Dean has said that he very much wants to have a daughter. Even his father wants him to have a daughter. This is very unusual, as Korean society strongly favours boys over girls. Dean's family is full of males though, and he says the only women at family reunions are those that have married into the family. It was very cool to hear about it. Another of my Advanced students, Sammy, recently found out hi wife is pregnant also. Dean is a little worried about telling his family, as his family was a little hesitant regarding his marriage in the first place. He has an older brother, and apparently getting married (and having a baby) first upsets some sort of Korean family hierarchy. Meh. Dean also said he could remember the moment of conception and that he thought he "did something." More than I needed to know...