I tried to cook myself last night!

[Gandalf]

That doesn't sound like a particularly healthy relationship there miles, is it often that she loses it or is it just an occasional thing? You're not painting Korea in a particularly good light either.

From watching travel programmes it seems to be a very corporate-driven country, where success is all-important.

Well, it has been twice in the last week. However, it isn't usually that frequent. We usually have a good row about once every couple of months. When the rows happen they can be pretty mental. For intance, we once had a nice cooking pan. She lost it and decided to hit it against the wall about 100 times. It totally deformed the pan and messed up the wallpaper. I mean, what greater purpose does that serve? It's just so silly. I guess the Korean model for a row is two people going at it hammer and tongs and for the pair to do a bit of pushing shoving. But as a rather typical old fashioned English man I really don't like to go beyond the verbal sparring. Sure, you want an argument then I will put my viewpoint back at you. But when you try to push it towards violence that is when I retreat and want to get out. Her tactic is to goad me and push me into doing something, but beyond pushing her away and then locking myself in the bathroom or managing to get out the front door, I just won't do it. That kind of carry on is just mental.

No, I don't always paint Korea in a positive light. I often contrast the Koreans with the Japanese who on the surface have a clean country, drive small cars and have good manners. The Koreans on the other hand have a filthy country, constantly spit on the floor, drive ridiculous SUV's and are loud and emotional. It is a nation with a serious chip on it's shoulder. It is a harsh country and nepotism is rife. Koreans work the longest hours of any OECD country, but in truth are actually very lazy workers.