Yeongcheon Boys’ High School choir
My girls competed in a choir competition this past weekend, and I had a blast watching all the performances. haha this was a crowd favorite with the personalities really coming out in the latter half! My students told me that the song is from a popular animation.
“Silk”: Attempting the Korean Perm
The last time I had a perm, my mom was my stylist and I was in the second grade, sitting in our family room. I still remember fidgeting, watching a movie as we waited for the fizzy curls to emerge.
When Americans think of perms, they think of the 80s (as my brother so mentioned when I told him I was getting one). However, here in Korea, it’s the status quo. Every female in Korea does it or has done it or will do it. Even males get their hair permed…it’s just a cultural “do.” So I made up my mind to do it too.
I learned a valuable lesson out the fun experience; my hair just doesn’t perm haha. I spent 4 hours in a downtown Daegu reputable salon and spent quite a bit of money and this is what I got; see photo above. (I’m a bit embarrassed/ashamed at how much money it cost, so we will just skip that little disclosure…especially after my last post on fashion frugality).
It was a fun (and very Korean) experience though. I went alone armed with the words, “digital perm” and a few photos of what I was looking for. The stylists were extremely sweet and funny, and together we gestured our way through the process. We were quite the merry crew.
I had a miniature heart attack when the lady typed out the price (she had accidentally added some zeros) and we both had a good laugh over my incompetent Korean. For a good part of the process, I looked like Medusa with my hair all curled up in the digital perm machine (a good look let me tell you). But the funniest part of it was “I’m sexy guy,” (as he referred to himself).
While another woman was working on my hair most of the time, “I’m sexy guy” kept offering to help her. She finally relented, allowing him to wash my hair and put some of the goopy perm stuff in it.
“Sexy guy” took a liking to me, and was REALLY happy we were the same age, but was just as quickly crushed when I told him I had a boyfriend. So he settled for being “Korean family” and commanded I tell him a funny story about my students. Ummm… for those of you that don’t know, I’m only funny when I’m not trying to be. Not to mention he hardly understands English and I speak minimal Korean. But I tried…and he ACTUALLY laughed, then demanded another one. He did a pretty good job at pretending to find me funny, but after the first one, I decided it was in my ego’s best interest to pretend I couldn’t remember any more stories. Best of luck sexy guy!
At the end of process, when I was sat down in front of a mirror to see the final result, both me and the hairstylist just kind of laughed nervously at the LACK of curls on my head. She shot off some rapid-fire Korean that I just looked confused about before twisting my hair and saying, “….silk.”
So dear fellow expats and people who have thin, silky hair like mine…unless you’re looking for a boyfriend, an interesting 4-hour wait, or want the barely-there perm, just skip the perm and stick to the curling iron! :)
I’ll never get used to watching my host dad power through multiple raw garlic cloves.
On the other hand, I just learned that fresh bamboo is delicious. Who knew!
#pandasknowwhatsup
So this will probably be my one and only post about fashion…but the time has come.
My boyfriend recently teased me about my consistent casual style: he noted that I never wear shorts and hardly wear skirts or dresses. I hotly protested until I realized, ya- he’s right. I rarely depart from my skinny jeans and Sperry’s look. They always say admittance is the first step to recovery, right?
Part of my “style” here has to do with culture: showing my shoulders is considered scandalous and since I already am a curiosity to stare at, I try not to add anything else to the mix (i.e. long legs). This week I decided to change it up and throw some skirts on; it got me thinking about my fashion style in general…
Dream School student project:
“Instead of uniform, I want American style!”
“What’s American style?”
(Points to me): “Jeans.”
Dinner with Elizabeth in my town:
“Oh wait, Elizabeth we are wearing the same sweatshirt. (Our Pepperdine senior sweatshirt). I’m going to take mine off…if my students see me, they’ll make fun of me.”
Coteacher and student interactions today:
“Oh Lisa! You are wearing a skirt today! You look so nice! Why?”
“Ohhhh teacher, fashion today…GOOD!”
“Oh, Lisa! Legs, so thin. I envy!”
Even the sweet special education students pointed out my switch in style. Shoot, maybe I should wear skirts more often…
I highly favor practicality and comfort over cuteness. I’m simplistic when it comes to fashion. I don’t like paying more than 20 or 30 bucks for a piece of clothing. Give me neutral solids any day. Jewelry is great, but I’m usually rushing in the morning and showering is more important than switching earrings. So I stick to the same earrings, rings, and necklace that I wear every day. My favorite article of clothing is an oversized mint sweatshirt with a coffee stain on the sleeve. I like loose, oversized shirts paired with skinny, stretchy jeans and comfy Sperry topsiders.
My reasoning? Maybe students will be playing dodgeball today, or maybe I’ll decide to walk down by the river, or who knows, maybe it will be super windy this afternoon. Perfect for jeans. Or worse, it could become terribly muggy and that cute fitted shirt will just expose how much I’m sweating. Not Cute.
Confession, my students often dress cuter than me outside of school. They all look like the latest Kpop star and I look like…a teacher responsible for 400+ high school girls. Not to mention one who forgets that her boyfriend notices her style even when he is deployed. ^^
I had grand dreams to find myself a Korean Onni (older sister) this year who would make over my style like some Princess Diaries remake. After all, Korean fashion rocks. Forget about the 6 inch heels my co-teacher showed up to school in. Ridiculous. If you can’t walk in them, you probably shouldn’t wear them. However, I love the flowing skirts, fitted jackets, mini dresses, and boots. I love the mix of classic, edgy, and cutesy you see on any given day.
I consider myself lucky that wearing jeans at my school is completely acceptable. Obviously, I didn’t get made over, but there’s been some small changes. I now have THREE pairs of earrings I switch off wearing. And I love my fitted Korean black blazer jacket I got for my birthday. I’m not a total lost cause, Korea…I promise.
Just consider it my rebellion to the prevailing obsession over the importance of outer beauty…
| — | My students found out today that I only have seven weeks left in Korea. I found my heart starting to hurt and tear as they held my hands and gave me those pleading eyes they are so good at. Saying goodbye to them is not going to be easy. |
Sounds like a pretty good Friday night date to me!
6 of my first years wanted to hang out, so tonight we went out to dinner on their break. It was such a blast- I love hanging out with my students outside the classroom: it’s a great way for me to connect with them and get to know them better in an informal setting. Since being the foreign teacher also lets me skirt the rules sometimes, we got to eat off campus and stayed out past the time they needed to return for night study. Rebellion!
The cutest thing that happened was when I turned to ask So Yeon a question and found her using her spoon to cut her pizza. She had been watching me…and since my fork had gotten dirty (and I was too lazy to get a new one…oops) I was using my spoon. haha, we all had a good laugh about that one. Little does one realize just how much students watch their teachers!! ^^
Also. Please note my lack of peace signs or other hand signs in the photos. I’m currently struggling to win a bet with Nate that I can go a whole week without using them. DIFFICULT. haha :)
Hwacheon Peace Tour
Decided to volunteer at a Peace Tour/Forum in Hwacheon a couple weekends ago. Confession: one of my friends told me to sign up…so I did. As the weekend drew nearer, I realized just how far away Hwacheon really is and how little I knew about the trip, haha.
It was a fun weekend though! Each ETA (about 20 of us overall) got paired up with a high school student (although Seo Yeon, my partner, was a third year middle school student) and basically toured Hwacheon with them and played! I think the overall purpose was to facilitate intercultural peace discussion, but my partner seemed a bit unclear about it all. I was also clueless so…we just chatted about whatever we could and had a lot of fun together. The students were supposed to interview us and one hour before parting on Sunday, Seo Yeon asked me:
“Um…peace. What do you think?”
So I said some general things…and that was it. Apparently that was good enough! haha, I had to laugh.
During the weekend we went to the World Peace Bell (made from scraps found in battlefields all over the world), went to a section of the DMZ I had never been before, spent the night in a Hanok village, went to a museum, had a BBQ party, bonded with students, and played a ton of games.
Aside from just how fun hanging out with my friends and the students was, my favorite part was getting to go to a non-touristy section of the DMZ with native Koreans. Prior to this trip, I’ve only been to the DMZ with other Americans or my family. It was a good reminder that our world is small, and that peace is a communal goal. Here, more than 50 years later, a nation remains divided.
