Rabpig nose, pc bangs, and reports

Today during one of my kindergarten classes, the kids just stopped talking and started staring and pointing at my nose. They wouldn’t stop, and I couldn’t get them to focus back on their lesson. Finally, after a lot of squirming and discomfort on my part, Jenny said, “Teacher…rabbit nose. You have, rabbit nose.” Okay.

Then when I was leaving school a few elementary girls hopped in the elevator and kept staring at me. This is what I got out of it: “blah blah blah teacher blah blah blah teacher nose” then one girl put her hand on her nose to make it squish up like a pig’s. Nice.

Apparently, my nose is just another feature that does not fit into the Korean standard of beauty. My response:


It’s a bit disarming that my kindergarten kids are already vocal about appearance and physical features. They always let me know if something’s wrong...if there’s a button askew or a fuzz caught in my lately bad 80’s hair they’ll alert me in disgusted tones. Self-image is such a big deal here. I’d say even more so than in the U.S, but that’s another blog in itself. I hope this doesn’t sound bitter, because it’s not meant to be, and honestly, I don’t even face the brunt of it. Most days I get “beautiful”, “beautiful” just because I’m Western. It is what it is.

Later this evening, I met up with Emma and Christine, two teachers from my school, and we went to a local pc bang to work on our reports. Pc bangs can be found anywhere and everywhere in Korea. Basically, they’re Internet cafes with rows and rows of computers that are extremely cheap to use. I’m always fascinated by the dimly lit neon green lights and the sound of excited gamers blowing some villain's head off in the distance. It makes for a great background when frantically trying to use other words than “intelligent,” “smart,” “excellent,” “disruptive,” and “apathetic,” when describing your students.

I’m exhausted. Peace.







Now I know how all my teachers must have felt...I bet they were all secret alcoholics.