If living among the Asians for the past year and a half has taught me anything, its that people generally think that having western features is a sign of beauty. It's not uncommon for people to praise someone who has "big eyes" and a "high nose." As an American I have been subject to endless compliments because I happened to be born with these desired features. In Korea, nearly every woman I meet has had eye surgery to create a "double eyelid" (their eyelids usually lay flat across their eye) and sometimes even nose surgery, whereby the bone is broken near the top, to make their nose "higher" (their noses generally lay flat).
Tonight at the gym I was surrounded by high school girls while changing in the locker room. Although there are a lot of foreigners living in Korea, its not often that people have the chance to talk one-on-one with someone from another country. The girls were really eager to practice their english and they wanted to know where I was from and what I was doing in Seoul. After talking for a few minutes, one girl boldly said, "You are so beautiful...your nose looks like a mountain!"
Uhhh...thanks?
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1 comment:
Haha I love this post! I still remember trying to compliment one of our students on her strength (she had just demonstrated some martial arts), which didn't go over well at all. And then I told Jackie laoshi that she had cool dark skin... again, wrong thing to say. Funny how we want opposite things so often!
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