Korean Job Discussion Forums

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: South Korea

Another of my stories based on figures for Japan. Sex education can be covered in class subjects under English.

Freedom In The West. Story by Andrew / Anda.

1. Min Su. Oh what a month I�ve had Kate. My parents want me to do
this; my friends also want me to do stuff; my boss expects
me to go on unpaid special training trips. My boyfriend�s
parents think that I shouldn�t work once I get married, but
stay cooped up in an apartment raising kids.
2. Kate. Wow, you are the centre of attention aren�t you! You
certainly shouldn�t get bored having so much attention!
3. Min Su. Bored no, but crazy yes! I�ve decided to go back to the
States and get a job there and live a normal life where I don�t
have to constantly listen to this and that advice from
everybody that I know.
4. Kate. That�s right, now I remember you did your Uni studies in the
States didn�t you?
5. Min Su. Yes and after I finished my course at university I worked in
New York for a while. Actually I spent two years there and
had three different jobs. I had a lot of fun working and
socializing with staff at the places where I worked.
6. Kate. I suppose your parents put you through university and
covered your living expenses while you studied.
7. Min Su. Of course my parents supported me through university.
8. Kate. Oh, I see �of course your parents supported you�! Well most
of my friends at university had to pay their own way through
university as well as myself.
9. Min Su. Why didn�t your parents pay for you?
10. Kate. My friends and I are what you call independent. As soon as
we had finished high school we left home and found jobs
and usually shared houses or apartments with other young
people around our own age.
11. Min Su. Cool, did you get a boyfriend when you moved away from
home?
12. Kate. Yes, but don�t remind me about him. He was a playboy and
contracted Gonorrhea from playing around and passed it on
to me. (Gonorrhea = a venereal disease transmitted by sex)
13. Min Su. Oh no that�s terrible. It can cause a lot of trouble if it isn�t
treated quickly, can�t it?
(Gonorrhea can cause loss of fertility and other problems)
14. Kate. I was lucky, one of my girlfriends that worked in a medical
clinic told me that my boyfriend had been named as a
contact by a girl that was being treated for Gonorrhea at
the clinic where she worked.
(a contact here means someone that a girl or boy had slept
with)
15. Min Su. Gee you were lucky to find out quickly! Here in Japan nearly
half of the girls have had sex before they�ve finished high
school nowadays and about 31% of teens have had
Chlamydia at some stage in their teen years.
16. Kate. Gee that many! Chlamydia is a bacterial disease just like
Gonorrhea but only a little less dangerous!
17. Min Su. Yes I know! My elder sister caught it but didn�t realize she
had it until she got complications. She caught Perihepatitus
a liver infection, a common secondary infection. My sister�s
doctor told my sister that she mightn�t be able to have
babies now. You can imagine how my sister is feeling!
18. Kate. Terrible I�d reckon! That boyfriend that infected me with
Gonorrhea, kept sleeping around after I left him and ended
up becoming HIV positive and later died of Aids. Imagine
what would have happened if I had kept him as a boyfriend.
19. Min Su. No thanks I�d rather not imagine. Well I�m safe as I�m still a
virgin and I�m intending to stay that way until I get married.
20. Kate. That�s the safest way! After my first boyfriend I learned
to take precautions. I made my second boyfriend that I�m
still living with, get tested for venereal diseases by my own
private doctor before I slept with him. I told him that if I ever
hear that he�s been near another girl that it would be the end
of our relationship. He also knows that I have regular six
monthly VD checks ups at a clinic. It�s getting common
these days for young people to get their future marriage
partner to have a complete VD examination before they will
go ahead and get married.
21. Min Su. Well I�m going to insist on examinations before I get married.
22. Kate. That�s smart! Oh, what I meant to tell you before is that
without family and long term friends, life in the States can
often be lonely. Many young people these days start taking
drugs to relieve the emptiness of their lives since they have
moved away from their parents and home town friends. It
seems that freedom isn�t all that great in reality.
23. Min Su. I suppose I already know that but I just wish people would
suggest things instead of trying to force me into what they
see as right for me all the time!
24. Kate. Yeah I know what you mean but you either have friends who
want to help you or you get modern day friends who are only
interested in using you up, for what they can get out of you! I
think it�s better to have real friends that try to help you
instead of the others that try to use you, don�t you?
25. Min Su. I suppose so!