Boobs, Butt, & Hair

It has been interesting being a foreigner in South Korea. For the most part I don't feel like I look that different. The main difference is that I have light colored hair, a butt and larger boobs than most Korean women. (even though mine are still small)

Walking down the street people will either completely ignore me (which I find normal for city life) or they will stare me down. I don't mind when people stare me down because it makes me feel like I am different and exciting. It's a confidence booster in some ways. Sometimes though, I get interesting reactions when people see me. Once I turned a corner and the man on the other side was so shocked to see a foreigner that he snorted. It was a full out loud snort with a shocked look on his face. I couldn't help but laugh as I walked away. Another time I walked past an old woman who was watching the ground as she walked. When I approached her wearing my flip flops she followed my feet straight up to my face, stopped mid-stride and stared at me with her mouth open like she'd never seen a foreigner before.

Children here love foreigners. If they are very young they will usually just point and smile. If they are school age some will come up to me and try to practice their English. Others will just walk by, stare, and finally muster up the courage to say ''hi'' and then run away. The other day I was walking to school and this pink blur shot past me. Up the sidewalk a ways the blur stopped, it was a little girl. She stood there and waited for me to walk by. As I walked by she grabbed my hand and we began walking hand in hand. She just looked up and me and smiled the most wonderful little smile. She proceeded to say hi and ask where I was going. I told her I was going to school because I was a teacher. She just smiled and continued walking and holding my hand. At the next corner she let go of my hand, said bye and ran the other way, once again becoming a pink blur.

Today in my kindergarten science class the kids kept pointing to my boobs and saying ''chu-chu''. I ignored it thinking they were just being the crazy kindergarteners they normally are. This continued for all class. When class was over I brought the class into the hall to meet the other kindergarteners. When they mixed with the other kids, they spread the whole pointing and "chu-chu'ing". All the little kids in the hall were pointing at my boobs, laughing and saying "chu-chu". I couldn't figure out what was going on. Finally one of the teachers told me that chu-chu is when a baby nurses. I guess kids just aren't used to seeing young women with boobs unless they have nursing babies. It was definitely interesting and somewhat embarrassing.

I have another class of middle school girls who just can't keep their hands off my hair. They call my hair golden and beautiful. They are always wanting to play with it, stoke it, or just touch it in any way they can. They told me that if they were to dye their hair my color they would be beaten for it at their public schools. I asked why and they said that the teachers would call them unclean. Apparently there are a lot of Russian prostitutes in Korea and most of them have 'golden' hair. So now I'm realizing that people on the street may think that I'm a Russian prostitute especially because I wear flip-flops showing my feet and tank-tops on hot days. (Korean women don't show their shoulders) This crazy society!