(토요모임) [May 16, 2015] Saturday meeting topic

[Ray`]

In our baby's illness, a life lesson

- Please, watch video below and let's discuss

Video Retrieve from "https://www.ted.com/talks/roberto_d_angelo_francesca_fedeli_in_our_baby_s_illness_a_life_lesson"

1. what do you think of these brave parent learned lesson from newborn son's stroke?

2. how do you feel if you have the case of the parent in the video?

    could you be brave and positive like them?

3. Have you ever felt a big failure?

    could you share that exprience?

4. Some people just give up after getting failure, but some people overcome and get lesson from it.

    what kinda person you are? and How to overcome it?

Youngsters Feel Living Together Before Marriage Is OK

Young Koreans have predominantly liberal views about marriage now, a study suggests, with more than half saying it is OK for unmarried couples to cohabit. Seven out of 10 are in favor of cross-cultural marriages.

The study of 5,800 people aged 13 to 24 by Statistics Korea in May last year, which was published Tuesday, shows that 56.8 percent of people aged 13 to 24 feel premarital cohabitation is fine, while 26.4 percent said a couple can have children without tying the knot, up slightly from 25.9 percent in 2012.

Also, 74.2 percent are supportive of interracial marriages, up from 73.4 percent in the previous survey.

Asked who should take care of aging parents, 45.4 percent said not only their family but also the government and society must share responsibility, while only 38 percent said the family should shoulder the burden alone. Some 13.5 percent said senior citizens should take care of themselves, up from 11 percent last time.

Asked which of the children should care for aging parents, 80.1 percent said all children should take on the burden equally, while 12.5 percent said the one who made the most money.

Meanwhile, the proportion of young people aged nine to 24 in the total population of 50.62 million fell to under 20 percent for the first time. The youth population was 9.61 million, accounting for 19 percent of the total, and the proportion is projected to fall to 11.4 percent by 2060.

The proportion of school-age youngsters aged six to 21 was 17.5 percent of the total population, which is expected to fall to 11.1 percent by 2060.

 Retrieve from " http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2015/04/29/2015042901187.html"

1. what do you think about Living Together Before Marriage?

2. what's the reason some couples're Living Together Before Marriage?

3. what dis/advantage of Living Together Before Marriage?

4. do you want to Live Together Before Marriage?

    how long? and what's your parent's opinion?

For Chinese Tourists Behaving Badly, A Government

Blacklist

May 08, 2015 4:15 PM ET

"Ugly Americans" — tourists with appalling manners, loud voices, louder apparel and heaps of cultural insensitivity — have been an enduring stereotype for decades.

They are now facing a major challenge from their increasingly well-traveled Chinese counterparts.

Not only are the Chinese bemoaning their rudeness at home and abroad, the government has responded with new rules that took effect this week, aimed at keeping loutish travelers in check.

And in a major innovation, the government has named four tourists to a new blacklist, which could affect their credit ratings and freedom to travel for years.

i

Not exactly what that's for: Two tourists climb on a statue in Huayin, China, near Huashan or Mount Hua, a famed tourist destination, in May 2013. ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

There was considerable competition in the airborne category.

Travelers Wang Sheng and Zhang Yan earned special recognition for their performance on a Bangkok-to-China flight last December. When they did not immediately get the seats they wanted, they threw hot instant noodles at a stewardess and threatened to blow up the plane. The pilot then made a U-turn and headed back to Bangkok, where police detained the pair.

Another traveler was blacklisted for opening a door on his flight as it was about to take off. Another was photographed climbing on statues of Chinese civil war-era soldiers.

Last year, Chinese tourists took 109 million trips overseas, 20 percent more than in 2013. Many host nations may be inclined to overlook misbehaving Chinese tourists because China now contributes more money to the global tourism industry than any other nation.

Chinese characters that read "Ding Jinhao was here" are seen on the torso of figure on the wall of a 2,500-year-old temple in Luxor, Egypt, in 2013. A 15-year-old Chinese boy scratched the characters onto the wall of the ancient site. China Stringer Network/Reuters/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption China Stringer Network/Reuters/Landov

The problem of what Chinese officials call "uncivilized tourists" has become "a major issue in our oversight of the tourism industry," says Li Zhongguang, a researcher at an arm of the China National Tourism Administration.

"Our government has been forced to respond to it."

About two dozen government departments were involved in drafting the new rules, Li says, including the ruling Communist Party's "Civilization Office," which is in charge of ideological affairs.

Li adds that China has had laws on the books for nearly two decades banning bad tourist behavior, and encouraging its opposite, but he says they haven't had the desired effect.

One of the most embarrassing episodes came two years ago, when a 15-year-old Chinese tourist carved his name on ancient bas reliefs in a temple in Luxor, Egypt.

Some Chinese citizens have questioned whether the new rules are too harsh, or infringe on civil liberties, such as privacy and the right to travel. Li says the concerns are overblown, and the rules will affect very few people.

"Some media have misread these rules as being tougher than they really are, like reporting that folks won't be able to pick their noses in public," he says. "These rules are really are only meant to curb the worst excesses."        

Experienced Beijing-based tour operator Chuck Liu has taken tourists to many countries. He welcomes the new rules. He thinks they'll help him to help tourists avoid the most common forms of bad behavior, such as cutting in line, littering, smoking and talking loudly where they're not allowed.

"As adults, they completely understand the principles involved," Liu says of his customers. "It's just a matter of changing their ingrained habits."

Not everyone gets it, though.

"Some of them think nothing of it. They say 'never mind, it doesn't matter.' But I tell them, 'this is the law in the U.S. We're not in China anymore.'"

Liu remembers bringing a group to Hawaii during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a holiday celebrated by ethnic Chinese. In their luggage, the tour group members carried the traditional treat eaten during this holiday: mooncakes.

Liu says that when customs officers discovered the cakes, they said they'd have to confiscate them. And if it happened again, they could be barred from entering the U.S. But that's not where the story ends.

"While I was communicating with the customs officers, my group proceeded to eat all of the moon cakes," Liu says. "When the officers saw this, they were at first embarrassed. But then they got angry ... when they realized that the tourists had just eaten all the evidence.

 Retrieve from "http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/05/08/405183120/

beijing-clamps-down-on-chinese-tourists-behaving-badly"

[윌리엄]

Here is an interesting article discussing cohabitation and marriage. It suggests that the age of entering into a serious commitment (marriage or cohabitation) is an important variable when considering the impact of cohabitation on divorce rates. "Individuals who committed to cohabitation or marriage at the age of 18 saw a 60 percent rate of divorce. Whereas individuals who waited until 23 to commit saw a divorce rate that hovered more around 30 percent.. the age you settled down with someone, not whether you had a marriage license, was the biggest indicator of a relationship's future success."

[윌리엄]

Cohabitation before marriage can help partners learn whether they can live well together but it also comes with some risks. For example: "Once you buy dishes, share a lease, and get a dog, it can be difficult to cut your losses and accept that the relationship isn't working." Cohabitation can also increase the risk of unwanted pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies can lead to couples deciding to get married before they are sure they can live well together.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-science-of-cohabitation-a-step-toward-marriage-not-a-rebellion/284512/

[윌리엄]

If cohabitation increases pressure to get married, that may also lead to some bad decisions.

[윌리엄]

From a shorter article: “Studies have consistently overstated the risk of premarital cohabitation... because they have been comparing couples by their age at marriage rather than by their age when they moved in together. On average, cohabitors move in together and start trying to “act married” at a younger age than couples who marry directly... When couples are compared by the age at which they move in together and start taking on the roles associated with marriage, there is no difference in divorce rates between couples that lived together before marriage and those that didn’t..

[윌리엄]

What leads to divorce is when people move in with someone - with or without a marriage license - before they have the maturity and experience to choose compatible partners and to conduct themselves in ways that can sustain a long-term relationship.”

https://contemporaryfamilies.org/cohabitation-divorce-brief-report/

[Ray`]

Interesting.
Thanks for sharing additional info.