<div dir="ltr"><div>Greetings to all on the list, many of whom I owe at least a decade's worth of New Year's wishes. I'll try to catch up!<br><br></div><div>To the immediate point, I attended university in Seoul and certainly do recall people who graduated before, with, and after me discussing what nice gift to present their parents with, whether to present them with the whole of the envelope containing their first monthly wages, and so on. It also seems to me that over the years I've occasionally read mention of people buying their parents red thermal underwear on that occasion. Up until the late eighties thermal underwear was not a particularly unusual gift (I received some myself on occasion), whereas red is not a celebrated color like it is for the Chinese. <br><br>A simple internet search of "first monthly wages" and "parents" reveals a lot of discussion of this, especially by younger people asking "Why thermal undies and why red?" The general consensus seems to be that back when Korea was poor and people were getting their first jobs in public life disconnected from family (1) thermal underwear was special because it was expensive and heating systems were poor and (2) red was the cheapest dye available. <br><br></div><div>Here's a piece written by a father who posts pictures of a purse for his wife and brand-name "outdoor wear" for him, from their daughter on the occasion of her first wages. <a href="http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001858594">http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0001858594</a> <br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">Peter Schroepfer | 서반석 드림.<div>5!O.29O.3439<br></div><div><br><span>"Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.</span>" - Bruce Lee<br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 4:51 PM, Lieber, Ron <span dir="ltr"><<a target="_blank" href="mailto:lieber@nytimes.com">lieber@nytimes.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">Hello - <br><br>My name is Ron Lieber, and I write the Your Money column for the New York Times -- all about anything and
everything that hits you in the wallet. I write often about families
and money -- how not just dollars but also wisdom and values are taught
and passed between generations. <br><br>On that note, over the years Korean-American
friends of mine have told me about a tradition where new college
graduates (or teenagers or college students or even some older adults getting their first
paychecks at a new, prestigious workplace) buy a gift for their parents after they start their first
full-time jobs. I've heard about everything from handing the entire
paycheck over in cash to buying red thermal underwear for both parents or lingerie for
their mothers. <br><br>I'm trying to trace the origins of this
tradition and write about how different Korean and Korean-American families
interpret it today. I think it's something that
all young adults might want to mimic in some way, whatever their family
background.<div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">If you can help, I'd be grateful for an email reply -- even if it's to share a story about a gift you've given or received. <br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"></div><div class="gmail_extra">Thanks so much...<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Ron Lieber<br></div><div>The New York Times<br></div>Your Money columnist<br><div><div><a target="_blank" href="mailto:lieber@nytimes.com">lieber@nytimes.com</a></div><div><a target="_blank" value="+12125561514" href="tel:212-556-1514">212-556-1514</a></div><div><a target="_blank" href="http://nytimes.com/lieber">http://nytimes.com/lieber</a><br><br></div><div>"The Opposite of Spoiled" is my book about how -- and why -- to talk to kids about money. For more information, visit <a target="_blank" href="http://oppositeofspoiled.com">http://oppositeofspoiled.com</a><br></div><div><br>Twitter: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ronlieber">@ronlieber</a><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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