God’ Gift – 14 Days image source: crazy9drama.wordpress.com

You’re All Surrounded image source: www.koreandrama.org

What is a Backwoods Mama doing making kimchi, learning 한국 (Korean) and watching Korean dramas? Well it all started four years ago when a young Korean student stayed with us for ten months. At the time I didn’t have much interest in Korean culture simply because I had no exposure to it. As our student adjusted to Canadian culture we learned a little about Korean culture. We started eating ramen from Korea and making kimchi. And then one night our student invited me to watch a Korean show with her. Boys Over Flowers was my first foray into the world of Korean dramas. When I tell people that I enjoy watching Korean dramas most give me a funny look, but there has been a huge interest in Korean culture in the last couple decades so I’m not the only one riding the Hallyu wave. Korean dramas can be terribly addicting and here’s why:

1 – Clean Fun. Korean dramas are more family orientated so they tend to be “cleaner” than North America drama series.

2 – Good cinnamatography. Korean shows are pretty and some have amazing shots.

3 – Eye Candy. There are lots of beautiful people in Kdramas.

4 – Simple. Kdramas tend to have a small cast and relatively simple storylines. I like this because the focus is more on character development.

5 – Fairy-tale endings. Korean shows can have sillly fairy-tale endings but that’s part of the charm.

6 – One Season. Generally Korean dramas only have one season because Korean TV watchers expect new content all year round. I like this is because the stories tend to be tighter, there is a foreseeable ending and there always new shows coming out.

7 – Options. Comedies, thrillers, action, historical, sci-fi, melodrama, romance… no matter what you like there is a drama for you.

8 – New Language. Korean dramas are subtitled for those of us that are not fluent in Korean but it doesn’t take long before you learn a few Korean words.

9 – New Culture. Learning about a different culture is interesting and can give you a different perspective on life.

10 – Free! There are so many great Korean dramas that you can watch for free on sites like www.dramafever.com or www.dramago.com . Tip: If you install AdBlocker on Google Chrome you can block ads on dramago and sometimes it works on dramafever.

And to give you a head start here a few Kdramas that I have recently enjoyed: My Love From Another Star, God’s Gift 14 Days and You’re All Surrounded.

If you want a great list of dramas to check our look through Drama Beans’ Drama Ratings List.

My Love From Another Star image source: www.koreandrama.org