I feel pretty

"It must be nice to be pretty like a girl."

Says my uncle.

Over dinner.

What am I supposed to say to that? "Thanks. I try really hard to keep my skin clean and legs smooth. It's tough but that's the price you have to pay to look beautiful, right?"

If anyone had said this to me in the United States, it would have given me reason to karate chop that person on the back of the neck. But here, it's a compliment from uncle who says that must make me really popular at my academy. As much as I would like to believe that my looks alone have kept my students returning to class day after day, I really hope they don't look at me and think "What a pretty girl. Coulda done Audrey Hepburn proud."

The Korean standards of beauty have been a source of entertainment, intrigue, and confusion for me these past four weeks. Men with perms and eyelid surgery. Women with...more perms and eyelid surgery. Men in tight clothes. Women in silly hats. Men in silly hats. It's not actually quite as jarring as I would have hoped, but it is quite a sight to see all these men standing naked in front of a vanity "bar" of sorts in the locker room blow drying, moisturizing, and post-work out re-accessorizing. And when I say "sight," I mean that I kind of feel sorry for these people who feel like they have to be a certain image every single second they are visible to the eyes of other Koreans. As much as I would like to raise my head in disdain at these pathetic, materialistic mutants of brand merchandizing, I too have now become more conscious of what I need and should wear to and from the gym.

But it's the price we all pay to be pretty, no? And evidently, being pretty means you're popular AND you have lots of money (as some of my students would put it).

Then a pretty lady I shall be.

I'm off to get some beauty rest for my upcoming week.
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Thank you to my wonderful cohorts in karaoke this past Saturday. And thank you for having the good sense not to get plastered at a dinner with co-workers.