Here in Korea, anything that's not Asian is beautiful. I've been told so many time "oooooh! beautiful, beautiful!!" - mostly by strangers, students and their parents. I've been stared at so many times. Touched by old ladies, some of them even grabbed my butt.
But here's the thing. Today I felt crappy and didn't feel like being the center of attention.
I went to the park, took a sunbath and read Kundera ("la lenteur", great book!) Then I went to Carrefour to run some errands.
Of course you can never expect to get right in this department store, quickly get your stuff and get out. Oh no! You're in for AT LEAST 20 minutes - they have this whole marketing thing where you HAVE TO go through the whole store, the whole 3 floors, to finally get to the food section.
Then when you want to get out, you must be patient. The store is filled with lazed Korean families who just stand there in the way, on the moving walkway, and you can't shift them. There are no stairways so you're stuck and must wait.
Today when I got to that part I was going out of my mind. Look at this lady. It's a bad picture but the point is that she totally freaked me out.
She's smiling. No, she's laughing.
As I was quietly looking at some cds in the music section, I noticed a woman staring at me. I didn't look right away, hoping that she's get over it and move on. But she didn't. So I looked. And I felt like an alien.
She was totally staring at me from head to toe, and didn't move when I looked at her in the eyes. I looked away, focusing on the cds. But she moved, just enough to block my sight. By that time, she'd turned around and I was facing her back and she was facing the music. She'd look over her shoulder, and when I tried to move around, she'd take a quick step so I couldn't see.
Tired of this game, I put my hand on her back and pushed a little. But she resisted, still smiling. It was so weird. Not funny at all, kinda creepy. On and all it probably lasted 3 minutes. So I made as if I was leaving and when she saw that, she left. I was stunned. So I followed her, cell phone in my hand, just to get a picture. And to see what kind of freak she was.
I guess she didn't notice me, but at some point she kinda turned around and saw me. She burst into laugh and that's when I took the picture. I smiled, and left.
As if that wasn't enough, outside the store I was stared at by a Black dude. There are very few Blacks in Mok-Dong, yet he was staring at me. Totally hot guy, but I couldn't smile. I always feel like people look at me because there's something wrong with me.
In Carrefour it was the big Chuseok pre-celebration. The national holiday is coming soon and that's when families get together so they have huge sales. And plenty of people to let you know about those very sales.
Some of them were wearing the Korean traditional costume.
Others still wore the typical Carrefour "come to my stand and taste my juice" costume.
Finally I'm home. Gonna cook some Thai food and watch movies with the gals tonight.
