Day 13 in South Korea | Life as an Oddity

I've read over and over again how kids in Korean schools are often absolutely fascinated by their foreign teachers' appearances. So I prepared myself for that. But what I wasn't expecting was that the faculty would be even more fascinated. Today, the entire school seemed baffled by me.

It started with a third grader coming up really close to me and peering into my eyes. She pointed at mine and then at hers. "Same!" she said. "Yes, we both have brown eyes," I said. She looked troubled. "Why?" she asked. "Why not?" I was just as confused as her. "But... why? No blue?" I explained that lots of people in American have brown eyes too, but she still seemed a little upset at my eye color when she left to return to her classroom.

Next, at lunch, my co-teacher asked me about my curly hair. I'd been wearing it straight all week, but since it was rainy today, I just left it curly. She asked if I had just gotten it permed. No, I said, it's just like this, especially when it rains. But a little bit later, when the office staff women saw me, they all commented on it too, and asked her if I had permed it. She told them that no, it's naturally curly. Or so I thought. But then, as they all fawned over my curls, she asked me how much it costs to get a perm in the States. "I'm not really sure," I said. "I've never gotten one." Her jaw dropped. "You mean... this is REALLY how you hair is?" She said that she thought I had meant that I hadn't had my hair just recently permed, but that I surely must have gotten it permed before I came. "I didn't know hair could be this curly!" she said. She quickly explained to everyone else that it really was totally natural, and all the sudden, everyone was squealing and asking to touch it. The rest of lunch was spent with them all gasping to each other about how people could actually have naturally curly hair. I told them that my sister's hair was even curlier. I don't think they believed me. If this ever comes up again, I will show them a picture of Katy. Their reactions will be insane.

Finally, my co-teacher was talking to one of the office ladies about how she had tried to buy shoes for me to wear inside the school (nobody wears their street shoes), but that she hadn't believed me when I gave her my shoe size (which is only an 8.5 in US sizes), so the shoes she bought were way too small. The other lady didn't believe this either, so she demanded to see my feet. So we both took our shoes off and compared feet. She looked at my (comparatively) massive feet for a while, before declaring that my shoe size was so big because my big toe was too long.

Thankfully, everybody was really nice and fun about all these "odd" things about me, so I didn't mind at all. But I understand how some foreign teachers could get upset when they're treated practically like zoo animals in their schools. But then again, this was only the first time it's happened. Maybe, if this kind of thing keeps up, I won't feel the same a year from now. But I'm trying my best to not get bent out of shape by these sort of things, as apparently a lot of people do.