In the Eye of the Beholder

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in Korea, almost any Caucasian is beautiful. You see all kinds of homely middle-aged men with the most beautiful Korean girls; most foreign white guys have their choice of girls here. We have two friends, both of whom are tall, lanky, and have blue eyes, and both of them have been told that they look like Brad Pitt. They may not be ugly, but Brad Pitt they're most definitely not!

Still, it's hard to complain when you're the recipient of the compliments. One of our Korean friends told me I have the ideal face (big eyes, small face, long eyelashes). In a class yesterday with a bunch of freshmen girls, one interrupted me. 'Teacher, you're so pretty!' Then they got into an argument. 'No, not pretty, beautiful!' 'No, not beautiful, gorgeous!'

I've been running on the track by the river the past couple of weeks because the weather has been so lovely. A couple of days ago I passed a group of schoolgirls who started singing 'You are so beautiful to me' as I ran past. It's kind of nice to hear, even when you're sweaty and gross and your face is as red as a tomato.


The track by the river, which runs behind our neighborhood. (This picture was taken last winter.)


I don't flatter myself; I'm no beauty queen. But if Koreans want to flatter me, I have no complaints. If you're feeling frumpy or otherwise unattractive, come to Korea for all the compliments you need!