So Vain

Korean's are some of the most vain people that I have met. I should stop being so shocked by it but I just can't. It's ridiculous!

I am currently sitting in a coffee shop and across from me is a table of three girls maybe college age. They all have compact mirrors out and are working on their make-up. This is a normal thing to see everywhere...the subway, the coffee shop, the park, the beach, the grocery store. They are always fixing and applying more make-up. They are always looking at themselves. Even if there isn't a mirror nearby they will use windows or anything else reflective. They seem to care and worry about their looks so much! Sometimes it makes me sick because everyone looks the same...plastic. There is no individuality.

So the girls who are sitting close to me have just begun taking pictures of themselves. They each have their cell phones aimed at themselves and proceed to take picture after picture of the same thing...their face. I'm sure they've each taken at least a hundred pictures by now. I wonder, what can they do with a hundred pictures of their face in the same setting with the same expression. Oh and expression, that's another thing. They never smile in their pictures, and if they do it's just a small little awkward smile. So weird! The girls here are so beautiful, but they never smile or show their teeth in pictures. And they're always worrying about their head size. Maybe they think if they smile with their mouth open it will make their heads look bigger, haha! Some Korean's won't be in pictures with me because I have a small head. How crazy is that?? They say that my small head will make their head look bigger, so they refuse to be in a picture with me.

The girls at the table across from me have now produced a large camera. They are each taking turns standing up and posing while the other girls take pictures. They are posing with their purses, with coffee mugs and with other things in the coffee shop like chairs and tables. What a scene! But no one else notices because this is so normal to them. People taking a million pictures of themselves or of the same object is normal in Korea! Everyone does it. Now the girls are changing their outfits. As if one outfit wasn't enough. They'll proceed to do the same thing in the next outfit and then probably change their outfits 3-5 more times. They'll take all these pictures of themselves, drink their fancy latte with gobs of whipped cream on top, and then leave. I have witnessed this happening with different people in this same coffee shop three times in the last month now.

My astonishment with the things they do in this culture is never ending. It's constant entertainment for me, I just hope it doesn't rub off on me after living here for too long!