In class, I overhear a conversation between a couple of girls involving this very issue. As it turns out, both lasses tattoo eyebrows and eyeliner for a living. A few years ago, I had looked into having this done in Canada, but it was cost prohibitive. Prices for eyebrows alone ranged from $360 to double that amount. Curious, I ask the girls about pricing in Gwangju. They tell me that eyebrows will set me back 25 Canadian dollars, while eyeliner would be about 8! When I tell them what it would cost at home, they are incredulous! They inform me that for that price one can get Asian blepharoplasty, otherwise known as "double-eyelid surgery." This is a rather popular cosmetic procedure in which the skin around the eye is reshaped to create an upper lid with a crease. This is desired because most Asians have a single eyelid with no crease. Oddly enough, I have always envied that look thinking they have a better palette for application of colour. One woman's problem is another woman's treasure. Needless to say, I make plans to get tattooed, post haste!
Today's TA, Gun, (pronounced "gone") is studying to be a textile designer. Like many others, he's had to modify his dream and switch majors once realizing how much time and money is involved in getting the proper education. Gun is as enthusiastic as his charges. We have great conversations, and there's plenty of joking around. They love using music as a learning tool, and especially appreciate The Beatles, who truly are a global band. Beatles merchandise is as common here as it was when I visited Liverpool 24 years ago. We sing songs, I play air guitar, and they astonish me with their maturity and tenacity as they wrangle with high concept English idioms and difficult pronounciations.
I meet a Korean doppelganger for Rainy, the brother of one of my favourite students ever, an Aboriginal boy named Wallace. This kid doesn't just look like Rainy, he has the same disposition, shy and sweet. I get sage advice from the Korean version of my son Kael, who says that while streets are safe, "ladies should not walk alone overnight" as they could be sexually assaulted. He delivers this message with a sense of gravitas that a son would use with his mother.
I learn how to say chullhunda (the first half of the word sounds like skull, the second has an oo sound as in look). I'm surprised to discover a depth of knowledge about politics that I hadn't anticipated when a student guesses as to the cause of an argument in a drawing and suggests one man is "right wing" while the other is "left wing." There's even a discussion regarding the roles of men and women in society. I overhear a couple of young women challenging the notion that they alone must bear the burden of housework.
I'm not a feminista by any means, but there are some Korea social mores that rankle, especially since some of the most powerful and capable people I've met since being here are women. I have trouble with the infantalization of grown women wearing Hello Kelly jewellry and big bows, like Catholic girls heading to catechism. I also bristle at the whispery girlish voice that gives us instructions on the elevator. And it hurts me to hear TA Seo Jin tell me that she's not sure she'll be able to find work as an architect because companies only want men. Still, we in North America, where equal pay for work of equal value is still more of a concept, have nothing to crow about.
Yet, the westernized northern part of South Korea, and North America itself, are still considered places where dreams can come true. Many developing countries, this one included, are big recruiting zones for the Disney corporation and it's international intern program at Disney World in Florida. It's a great deal for students who, for room and board, have an opportunity to learn English, but it's an even better opportunity for Disney because it provides free labour. A number of my Japanese students in Canada are taking advantage of this program, as is a previous TA, Lu Yin Hao. In a move that would make my visionary father very proud, I've already established links between Hao and my former students, so as to ease his transition to America. (Forgive me, but, it really is a small world after all!)
At the end of today's class, my TA pays me the highest possible comment telling me that the students have been learning a great deal today; they've been very active and they're having fun. Best of all, Gun says, "they feel no burden." This makes me unspeakably happy! Later, when I meet Chonnam's International Centre Chair, Dr. Shin, he teases me that I'll have ruined these students for everyone else. Dr. Shin's personality matches his naturally cheery countenance; he looks like the host of the Chinese restaurant on Seinfeld who refuses to give Jerry and his friends a table.
Having entertained, sung and danced this morning, I'm famished, and at lunch, I eat quickly and purposefully, like a Korean. It's hard to believe we've been eating cafeteria food, for this just isn't the fare we have in commercial institutions back home. Just when I thought they couldn't beat yesterday's one inch in circumference rice noodles (or ddeuk bok ki), they kick it up a notch. We have miso soup with big squares of chewy sea weed, small bowls of spaghetti with a gravy of vegetables and small chunks of meat, potstickers, and those incredible greens that look like tall grass but taste like green beans. (Apparently, there are a thousand such edible grasses.) I taste a last bit of spicy, hot vegetables, and then try a spoonful of icy honey melon soup that is so heavenly, my eyes pop out as if on springs, like Jim Carrey in The Mask.
En route back to the apartment, I see a motorcycle left running in the street while its driver goes into a building for a few minutes. Again, imagine doing this just about anywhere in North America. Part of me wants to walk to the residence near Sang dae for a kiwi slurpee, served in a plastic glass with a whimsical cartoon crocodile rowing down the river, but I decide instead to take care of some business at home.
At night we approach the Hu Moon neighbourhood from the backside, making our way to the more familiar section at the end of the street in front of our apartment. When we come home, we sip thick black Korean stout beer and sort our loot. In addition to our purchases, we have been given many gifts while here; today alone we've received Chonnam shirts and beautiful agenda books. But perhaps the best treat of all is yet to come. The impending rains this weekend have prompted organizers to postpone the overnight temple stay. Instead, get this, we will be going to the Gwangju World Cup Stadium to join a crowd of thousands in watching South Korea take on Uruguay in their first game of the second round in South Africa! We simply cannot believe our good fortune! We are having such a great time, it is as if we are in Disney World.
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