Students: Teacher, Teacher! Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: Do I have a boyfriend?
Students: Yes
Me: What do you think?
Students: Ah, yes! Yes! Very very have a boyfriend!
[Whole class laughs and I smile]
[They take my smile as a "Yes" and cheer wildly, applauding me on the edge of their seats]
[I correct them, and the cheerful, applauding smiles turn into the most mournful of faces]
Students: Ooo....
Me: [strategically flipping to the next PPP slide] but, Hey! Look - A picture of Exo!
[Students instantly forget their sadness for my single status and scream their heads off in unison]
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| As far as I can tell, the "hottest" boy group in Korea. School girls will scream in delight if I as much as post one |
Student 1: Teacher, Teacher!
Me: Yes?
Student 1: Teacher, you look like [something unintelligible to me]
Me: [squinting my eyes into a question mark] Who? I look like who?
Student: You! Your face..like [something unintelligible again]
Student 2: [nudging Student 1 and looking up at me] Ah! Yes, Teacher, your face is [unintelligible again]
Me: ...Ah. ha ha ha... Uhm. Huh...?
Student 2: You know Aladdin?
Me: ...Yes?
Student 2: You are Aladdin's girlfriend!
Me: Ohhhh! Jasmine! You mean Jasmine!
Students: Jazhmeen. beautiful! Arabia! You are Arabia!
Me: Arabian, huh! You think so!
Students: Yes!
Me: Why?
Student2: [without hesitation] Small head - no, small face! - and big eyes! Big, big eyes!
Student 1: And long hair
Me: [recognizing their compliment] Ahh! Thank you.
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| Artwork above created by Finnish graphic design student Jirka Vaatainen. |
HOW I AM PROCESSING THIS ON MULTIPLE LEVELS
This is the third time I have been compared to Jasmine from Aladdin.As a teacher, I am flattered that my students are grasping to connect with me in whatever way they can! As an English major, I have already half-analyzed how the princess brand has and continues to help reinforce female gender norms across cultures. As a CHID major, I am troubled that Western ideals of beauty are so idealized by young women here that even my younger host sister talks about getting plastic surgery to "correct" various physical features, including her eyes. It's as if to compliment me on my "big eyes" they have to uncompliment themselves on their own naturally-given eyes.
Yet another part of me just really wants to ask out loud:
"Aint nobody ever seen or head about no Pocahontas or Mulan 'round here??!"
MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU
What do you think of the Disney Princesses? Did you grow up especially favoring one of them? What made that princess so appealing to you? I have asked this previously but, again, what is your definition of beauty? What characteristics strike you as being beautiful and remarkable? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
I think my favorite "Disney Princesses" was Mulan (though I also liked Pocahauntas and Bell), because she followed her own path, cared about her family, and could stand on her own two feet. I always liked the cool, "do it yourself," capable female roles a lot more than the delicate, helpless characters. What one considers beautiful is fairly objective.. but I think being confident, capable, and passionate are attractive traits in any character - male or female. :)
ReplyDeletePS. You have such a nice blog, Mimi. Good luck with week #2!
Dear Anonymous, thank you for stopping by! Please leave your [first] name next time so I know who to address my responses to :D This thread is making me watch the Disney movies. There are a few that I still have not watched. It would be an interesting activity, especially since I am coming into this without necessarily a childhood love for the characters. That last night was spot-on. I wish more people agreed and conducted themselves accordingly in daily life!
DeleteWelcome to the Korean culture where young people, especially, want to look "westernized." You probably saw all the plastic surgery center ads while you were in Seoul. The eyes, cheeks, chin, and believe it or not, the calves, are popular body areas for surgical correction. Make-ups are geared to have the face look "white." Talk to the ETA coordinators and I'm sure they have more stories to share. My wife and I have a son who was a former ETA and currently still works for the Fulbright office.
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy following your blog and your fellow ETAs. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I am happy to know that parents of some of my mentors are reading along! I have seen the ads in person, but had some mental prepping by Youtube videos and web pages I saw circulating before coming to Korea. Not that these even came close to absorbing my shock, but it has allowed me to listen to my young host sisters talk about plastic surgery with more understanding and context. I'm sure this will not be my last post on western influence and ethnic beauty...
DeleteHello! Nice blog! :)
ReplyDeleteLast year, I spent a year abroad in Taiwan, and saw similar things - many of my female classmates (in a Senior high school) thought that my big eyes were very beautiful/handsome (I am male, but they used both words to describe my eyes). And many of the girls at my school would wear contact lenses that would make their eyes into different colors, and make them look bigger...
But to be honest, I just couldn't understand why they did this. I know that they think Westerners' eyes are very beautiful, but I was always used to the idea that Westerners, or at at least Americans, thought that Asian eyes were very beautiful! I at least have always thought that. ...But the saddest part for me was that they were covering up their eyes and making them look different... Before Taiwan, I had never seen people using different colored contacts to change their eye color/size... It makes me sad though, because their eyes are beautiful already, and I'd much rather see the natural color and size than some...falsified version...
Anyways - a little tangent - are you also trying to learn Korean while you're there?
I enjoy reading your blog!
Hi Anonymous, thank you for stopping by! I learned a bit of Korean before arriving at my homestay in Busan. Since then, I have been speaking mostly English and have greatly lagged in my efforts to learn the language!
DeleteWhat an interesting experience you had in Taiwan! I have observed that Koreans also use beautiful/handsome irregardless of gender. To them, either word is meant to be a compliment so I just take it as it is. What brought you to study for a year in Taiwan? Was there a particular program you were after?
It's refreshing to hear you say that you find Asian eyes "very beautiful" (I guess my students' incessant complaints are getting to me). I couldn't agree with you more though! Most of my students' eyes are unadorned with make-up, and they have absolutely stunning shapes, colors, and character.