no such thing as a free lunch

I'm starting to see that for some Koreans, there is no such thing as a free lunch. If the Kim family invites the Mun family over for dinner, the mama mun plans a dinner for the Kim family. If James and I want to go over to his cousin's house, we're reminded that we (or mama & papa mun) have to reciprocate the hospitality. Now, if both parties are on the same page with this sort of culture then it's fine, albeit exhausting. However, it totally fails if one party operates on this principle while the other doesn't.

Enter: My family & the Mun family. Mama mun has invited my parents over often. But it's usually not reciprocated because my parents don't think that way. The result is disappointment on my in laws part and total oblivion on my parent's part.

I thought the cultural gap was only between our generation and the previous but I'm learning that is totally not the case.