I Wish My Life Were a Kdrama: Expectation vs. Reality

I wish my life were a Korean drama. I don't think I'm alone in this. Judging sheerly by the number of fantastic kdrama fangirls we follow on Pinterest, many women feel the same way to some extent. The difference is that I seriously expect that my life will still turn out like one. Now I know this may sound delusional, but hear my reasoning out:

5 Reasons I Expect My Life to Be Like a Kdrama



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1. Most kdrama female leads live in the
booming metropolis of Seoul. I don't think romantic comedy kdramas ever take place anywhere else. Now, I'm not so delusional as to believe that I really will meet Lee Min Ho and marry him and end up living in Seoul (although I won't rule that out), but the American romantic comedy equivalent location is New York City. I live in New York City! I have lived here for nearly six months and have had the expectation that my life would magically become a romcom from day one. I still just know that it will.



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2. Kdrama female leads tend to be hardworking in a lowly job in which they are unappreciated or belittled by those in authority. I am a nanny on the Upper East Side for very wealthy people. Talk about working hard and finding yourself in interesting situations! This is right up there with personal assistant in terms of kdrama potential.




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3. One way or another, kdrama females are somehow exposed to rich men, oftentimes multiple rich men, who all fall in love with them. I have the opportunity to take extended vacations to the Hamptons and West Palm Beach as a nanny, which are two of the biggest playgrounds for American millionaires. I can think of few better, non-prestigious jobs to be in where there is high potential to run into mean, attractive, wealthy men. Every time I go to the beach to walk my employer's dog I'm just sure that I'll have an awkward mishap with one, and that we will hate each other, but then run into each other again, and then he will fall in love with me, but I will snub his advances, but despite the obstacles that arise due to our differences in education and class, we will eventually fall in love, even though it's against his mother's wishes. Sometimes I even put on extra makeup just in case.

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4. Female leads in kdramas usually live with their family or close friends in small, poorly furnished, on the brink of being condemned apartments in the poor area of Seoul. I live in the Bronx in the poorest congressional district in the U.S. My home is so old and unstable that I live in constant fear that my add-on bathroom will fall off the side of my house one day with me in the shower. You can visibly see the slant of my room and a ball will roll out the door if left unattended. I am fortunate to live with two interesting roommates who would make great eccentric best friends in my kdrama life. I just have to be careful about borrowing money to improve our furnishings, or else the loan sharks will probably come get me and repossess everything.

5. Kdrama female leads are very unlucky and awkward in love. Their first love either ran off with their best friend, never knew they existed, or moved to another country to study abroad, and they always run into them years later at the most inopportune times. Then they get themselves into these ridiculous, clumsy, embarrassing situations with really attractive men. These kinds of things happen to me. For example, I once moved back to my old town and had just bought a moped scooter that I did not know how to drive. I decided to take it for a spin anyway and ended up crashing and falling off it in a parking lot. Then I heard a horn and looked up to see that it was my first love, who I had not seen in 2 years, waving at me from his car. He had just witnessed the whole thing. This was not even a small town. This is the lack of luck in love that I am just sure will lead me to some fantastic kdrama style moments.

Now, I have to admit that there are many instances in my life where I can just imagine the moment fitting so perfectly into a kdrama, and I'm tempted to try to make it fit into my kdrama-induced delusions, but then I realize what would actually happen. Here is an example:


So, there you have it. I am pretty convinced that my life might still turn out like a kdrama, but I also am aware that I should not necessarily try everything I see on TV. How are your lives like, or unlike, Kdramas? Share in the comments below.

Comments

  1. This post made me laugh a lot and yes I wish my life was a Kdrama every day.

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    1. Yeah, I'm pretty sure my life is a kdrama except for the cute romantic parts, haha. Maybe all the awkward moments are just building up to the good stuff!

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  2. I used to think that if I ignored/was a little bit snobbish the guy that I liked that he would notice and fall in love with me. Guess what it does not work! The guys just thinks thought that I was rude or a snob. Learned a while ago (actually not that long ago) that if you are nice to boys and they feel comfortable around you then they ask you out. Whoah! Didn't see that one coming :)

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    1. Yeah, it can take awhile to learn that lesson the hard way!

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  3. Cute! I love awkward kdrama romances and escape by watching them in all my free time (often multiple times). I nanny too for wealthy lawyers, but in a smallish town with little opportunity to meet anyone close to chebyol status. For now I fantacize through kdramas - I've watched close to 100 in a year :) and hope to travel to Seoul someday. (My Korean is very limited but I will work hard on it if I really get close to going. My brother has been to S. Korea twice on business, so I may join him if he goes again.) Fighting!

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  4. I know how you feel haha! I always wanted my life to be like the ones in Kdramas as well. Sometimes my friends and I would talk about how we should be like in front of guys based on Kdramas (ie. clumsy, hard to get, numb etc) HAHAHA. Because these underdog girls always get the rich hot looking guys hahaha (which I know is far from reality, but who knows, right?). Makes me perceive my dream guys as the flower boy that's always been popular and arrogant but will be soft and cheesy just for you.. HA! I really blame Kdramas for making my expectations so high =)))

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  5. OHHH.That explains it! I now know to tell my mother that the reason why I can't get married is because my live should be but it not like a kdrama. I can here her now..."I knew I should never have let you watch those @#!%^&".
    LOL I just love them

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  6. I dated a korean guy for two weeks after meeting him on a student exchange program. We broke up because he was having a hard time juggling with his studies and his mum won't let him near the computer or his phone. I'm planning to go to Seoul and meet him but I'm not sure we'll be together. Is this Kdrama enough? Oh ya.. his dad is somehow a businessman while I'm living with my middle class parents. I do part time work and saving money for college.

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  7. My friend is the underdog girl who always gets pushed around by mean, slutty girls but somehow she always get the attention of very handsome guys. From gentle, to sensitive, to cold ones, the result is always the same (they fall for her) and they're always changed to the core by her. I mean , she keeps telling them she doesn't want a relationship and they won't give up, they just won't get over it. She's really beautiful and she's an obvious head-turner, she doesn't need to do a lot to catch the attention of every male in the room, no matter where she goes. She has so many guys waiting for her to look at them, it's crazy! She's had over 4 guys in love with her at the same time. All of them say the same, there's something that pulls them towards her as much as they fight it, before they realize it they've fallen for her.
    It makes me think that some girls do get all the luck while most of us are left waiting for even 1 handsome guy to notice us...it's actually quite sad.

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  8. My life has some elements of a kdrama and at the same time it is the opposite of it! Let's start: My boyfriend is Asian (I'm European and we live in a rich country ) and we met at the university because I was in charge of showing him and his classmates around the school. While I was doing that, he and another boy from his class liked me and they were both competing for my attention (love triangle, baby!) In a kdrama the girl gets her arm pulled like every 5 minutes and is tossed around from the male lead to the second lead (I am baffled at the fact that none of them got a dislocated shoulder). In real life I had no interest in the 2 boys, but it was amusing to see how they tried to win me over. One of them spoke engrish so he was kinda disqualified from the very get go. So the Asian one managed to get me in the end, even though it took a long time (in western time) until I understood he wants me to become his gf. There wasn't a lot of kissing involved in the beginning and I was annoyed (now I have the patience and the understanding to wait for the kissing scene in a kdrama). Also, he had an aunt who was against our relationship (say whaaaat?? I thought I was adorable) because I was European and she thought I didn't share the same values as them (spoiler alert: the aunt loves me now, hihi). The second male lead suffered in silence while seing me with the main lead (they were classmates), but he didn't become a stalker, he totally ignored me. Another kdrama element: the food! My main lead can really cook and I'm having asian every night for dinner (if you know what I mean, haha). So now, after almost 3 years I discovered the kdramas and I decided to get a crush on lee min ho. My boyfriend hates him from the bottom of his heart and gets jealous and angry when he sees me on Google images searching for a turtle neck free picture of Lee Min Ho.

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  9. I love this story! Now all you need is a birth secret or some amnesia, and you'll be all set!

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  10. omg you live in new York city! so glad for you. I just visited there as a tourist about 1 month ago and I loved it! the architecture and everything is so pretty and life seems really nice there.

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  11. I hope my life will turn out like a kdrama :( I'm worst in studies... I was so skinny during my childhood...But now after entering into Kdrama life I'm so fat...I have never seen a perfect guy in my life...I meant in real life :P My yong hwa is the perfectionist :P I want my life to be turn out like "A love story between a Kpop Idol and A normal Indian girl"

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