I am in my late twenties…living in the city…still unmarried. And sure I have felt the pressure here and there, particularly from people who don’t live in the city. But other than that, it’s the norm. It’s ok to be female and single. My entire social circle…nearly unmarried even though many are in long-term relationships. It’s ok.

There is one friend who laments the sorrow of not being in a relationship. She and I went to see a chick flick once—not of my choosing, but because I just wanted to hang out. It was…almost offensive to me. To submit to the wills of someone else—especially a male one? Insulting! The thought of that rippled through the angry asian girl inside me.

Every so often, I talk with friends about our intents of relationships. Our expectations. There’s always a story that I tell back in September 2006. The first weekend, a male friend took me out to a nice fancy place for dinner. He insisted on paying. The following week, another male friend “tricked” me into dinner and when the bill came, he dropped his credit card without even inspecting. Then the third week…you see…Chris and I went to a local sushi restaurant and when the bill came, we looked at it and split it evenly. Two credit cards on there. You could say that I was enraptured.

So when I came across a so-called Korean “Sex and the City” on Hulu, I was intrigued. Named The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry…yeah! I sat down and watched the first episode since other trashy shows weren’t as appealing on Hulu. For awhile now, I had been wondering what this fervor over Korean romances and dramas was all about.

BUT it was nothing like I had imagined. My female Korean friend from graduate school…had insinuated that relationships are about where the girl just waits patiently until the guy comes around. But to me, that wasn’t it. I hate being passive aggressive even though I know that I can be. What surprised me was that…it was expected that in Korea that women marry early! And that it was almost a shame to the family when a girl was still unmarried in her early 30s. What happened to career stuff?

I am glad that I live in the states.