When you stick out in a foreign country...prepare to be noticed

I would like to share some of the most memorable odd experiences that I have had so far during my time in Korea. First, if being a foreigner in Korea has made me realize anything it's that I stick out. People look at me constantly. I find it sort of flattering. In the USA I would consider myself average looking. I am not trying to put myself down, but I have never considered myself worthy of being stared at by any means. I am just me. However, that is not the case here. I have never been told I am beautiful more in my life. While I know that this is mostly just a response to the fact that I look very different in comparison to most people in the country, and that it isn't something to let go to my head, I would be lying if I said that it hasn't boosted my self esteem. It is nice to be noticed for once. In the USA I felt like a ghost most the time. Here people notice me, even if it is just because I am blonde. I am thankful nevertheless. So with that said I would like to share some of my oddest/memorable (but most definitely not all) of my, "look it is a foreigner" moments:

I think that one of the most memorable moments was during my walk to school on one of my first days of teaching. As I was walking to school a dog ran out of someones yard to greet me on the sidewalk. It was a shy dog though and soon ran off. At this moment an older man who was walking toward me further down the sidewalk suddenly started bowing and repeating the words, "I am sorry" over and over and over again. My impression was that perhaps the dog belonged to him, but I honestly have no idea. He bowed to me repeatedly for several minutes as he apologized for some unknown reason and talked and talked in a bunch of Korean too quickly for me to understand. He also fist bumped me twice...and saluted me prior to leaving. I felt so awkward and confused, but honestly I found the whole situation so funny that I was giggling the rest the way to school. It was my first impression of, "living in Korea is going to give me many odd experiences."

Another moment that left an impression on me was when I met the students that I would be teaching for the first time. They were fascinated by me. I had several boys who did nothing but gaze at me with wide eyes for several days. The young girls were mesmerized by my hair. They asked me so many times, "Teacher is your hair natural? No dye? Teacher your hair is soft!" They also loved my eyes and would ask me, "Teacher, no lenses? Lenses?" They would all shout in excitement at the fact that my eyes really were blue and green. I have students come up to me just to gaze closely at my eyes often.

Then there was the one K-drama moment that I found myself in. I was walking home from school and it was raining a little. I had walked most the way home, and was pretty wet, when I had to stop at the crosswalk to cross the street to get to my apartment. There was a university guy also at the crosswalk and he had an umbrella. I noticed him watching me as I stood there in the rain. We crossed the crosswalk together and when we reached the other side suddenly his umbrella appeared above me. I was a bit startled and took my headphones out to look at him. He said something to me in Korean, something along the lines of, "Don't you have an umbrella?" In English, I told him that I had forgotten it at home. Well that was the extent of our conversation...he was so quiet...but turns out we live in the same apartment building, so he walked me to the door of the building and sheltered me from the rain. I could not believe that a stranger was so kind, kind enough to do something which in the USA would've seemed so trivial. In the USA most people don't even use umbrellas where I am from. Walking in the rain is natural to me, but in Korea nearly everyone uses an umbrella so I think seeing me without one made him feel awkward and like he should help me. I thanked him several times before we went to our separate floors.

At the bus stop...

Well it was Friday and I was at Naju's bus terminal preparing to head out to travel for the weekend. I was standing there waiting for my bus when an elderly woman walked in. She stood next to me and very obviously was staring at me. She looked at me up and down, head to toe, several times. It was at that moment that she said 예뻐, which in Korean means pretty. I was flattered once again...she must have told me 2-3 times that I was pretty, as she just kept muttering the word over and over. I politely thanked her and she smiled at me.

The U-Turn...

It seems like most of these moments happen on my walks to or from school...lol

I was headed to school one day and was waiting to cross the driveway entrance to a rather large complex of apartments. The traffic was fairly busy, so when it cleared I intended to move quickly. While I was waiting a car had pulled into the driveway and parked across from me. At least I thought they had parked, turned out they were waiting for the traffic to clear as well so that they could make a U-turn. Well when the traffic cleared I went to cross the same time they began their turn. When I noticed the car begin to move I stopped right away, intending to wait until they passed me to cross. As they made their turn though, the passenger window of the car rolled down. Inside were two guys that looked about my age. The smiled at me as they made the turn, waved and called out "Hello!" to me in English before they sped off down the street...I am pretty sure that they saw how flushed and instantly red in the face I became before they drove off. I was grinning the rest the way to school, embarrassed and flattered at the same time.

The Karaoke Room...

So myself and another foreign teacher finally decided to go to a karaoke place near our apartment. It was our first time there and turns out it was a rather small place. When we arrived all the rooms were full, so we sat down on some stools and waited until the next room became available. It wasn't long before one group finished and they left their room. When the four guys exited their room, they seemed a bit surprised to see foreigners sitting there. They looked back at us several times as they left. We took their room and began singing. We were one song in when there was a knock on our door. The guys had returned, and one of them opened our door and politely asked if he could have our phone numbers. Again I was very surprised. I have to say though, it was pretty courageous of him to do that, so we exchanged numbers, he thanked us and went on his way. About 5 minutes later there was another knock. The group had returned. This time when we opened our door, the same guy reappeared and said, "please except these drinks" and handed us two bottles of soda from the convenience store next to the karaoke place. Flattered, we smiled, laughed, and accepted them. Since they were so nice and obviously curious about us, we offered to let them join us. They were our age, and attended the university nearby. We had been hoping that we would be able to meet some locals our age if we went out, so the trip was a successful one for us that night. We had fun, sang, got coffee afterward and were able to meet some people who could potentially become our first local friends in the city.

I have learned that for the most part Korean people are very friendly. Unless they send bad vibes or the situation doesn't feel right, I am learning to just go with it and see what happens. I am always with others and never alone, so I think it is safe. Plus, otherwise I wouldn't have so many amusing stories. Being stared at used to make me super uncomfortable, but it is something I am growing accustomed to, as I can't really expect anything less here. I understand that I am stared at simply because I am different, interesting, and because I make people curious so it is beginning to bother me less here.

However, oddly enough, when other foreigners see me and stare, like in bigger cities with a higher foreign population, these stares still make me uncomfortable. I know it is probably a ridiculous response, but when other foreigners stare at me I do not like it. My first thought it, what reason do they have to stare at me so openly...since they should know what it is like. It is kind of a weird feeling.