Inside the Goldfish Bowl

I’m the only blonde girl in this city (that I've seen so far) so I do stand out and having people touch my hair and tell me that I’m pretty is an everyday occurrence.`  I have children come up to me all the time wanting to play with my hair and there is one little boy in my hagwon who is obsessed with me.  He says that my hair is gold and considering the reaction that I get around this city, maybe it's a fitting name for something that seems to be such a valuable commodity.  I don't do much with my hair here.  I did buy some hairspray (and received free stuff) but I've only used it twice and I prefer to let my hair go au natural: wild and wavy.  

To some extent, I now understand how zoo animals feel.  Everyone goes to the zoo and thy not only want to see the animal but they want to watch any type of reaction from the poor caged animal.  Similarly, everyone wants to see how I react in situations.  It’s not their fault.  We all have that innate curiousity. I’m one of the worst people and I’m usually very obvious about looking and commenting but being on the receiving end is very new to me especially on such a mass scale.  On a daily basis, I get the people reacting in a type of way that basically says, “Oh look, the foreigner is trying to cross the street.  Oh, here comes a car that’s zooming towards her on the sidewalk.  Hmmm, let’s all giggle at her as she leaps out of the car’s path.” Yes, this has actually happened.  Discussing the driving skills or lack thereof is for another blog, preferably a video one but I will state that driving on the sidewalks is a regular occurrence.  Hey, who needs a road when there’s a paved sidewalk that’s faster?  

Not to say that it’s always this obvious.  The spectators (as I like to call them) are usually trying to be oh-so-inconspicuous while watching me.  It took me awhile to catch on that they do stare at me even when they don’t seem to be staring at me.  They actually do this subtle side-eye thing so that they aren’t watching you head-on but I’ve been told by the Korean and old-timer (been here 9 years) teachers that this is their way of checking me out.  But often times they just bluntly stare at me while I walk down the street or sit down to eat.  I think I prefer the obvious stares. 

I’ve actually come to a point that this is fun for me.  Every time I walk down the street I pretend that I’m on a catwalk.  I pose at the crosswalk lights and rock my walk to the sound of the music (iPod of course).  Let me tell you, this makes my day.  Some people like to give themselves pep talks to start their morning but I prefer a morning strut down the street to start my day off fashionably with a little catwalk action. 


Don't worry though, I'm too goofy to be taking my "celebrity" status seriously.  On the other hand, whoever said that blondes have more fun definitely must have lived in Korea...