Today was probably my favorite day in Seoul so far, if only because I got to do my two favorite things: tutor students and watch a real baseball game.
I started the day by tutoring Olivia for two hours, and then I headed to Sillim where I tutored Sunae. While tutoring Sunae I got into an interesting discussion with her. She mentioned that for her 30th birthday she wants to get plastic surgery to make her eyes bigger and to ‘round’ her facer (Korean women tend to have a sharp jawline). I asked her why she wanted that, and she said she wanted to be beautiful. While I’m not particularly attracted to Sunae, she’s a good-looking 26-year-old woman with absolutely no facial flaws. I pushed her to explain more about why she felt plastic surgery was necessary. She said that all the Western movie and TV stars are beautiful, and Korean society valued that look, so she wanted to look that way.
I find that this is a common mantra from Korean women. They seem to think that typically Asian features are unattractive, and typically Western features are beautiful. How strange. I asked Sunae where she got this idea from and she answered that society and the media portray women who look a certain way as “beautiful.” “So what?” I insisted. “Do you want to get plastic surgery?” She didn’t seem to know what to say. I asked her, “If a stranger stopped you on the street, and told you to do something, would you do it?” She said, “Of course not. It’s just a stranger.” “So why, then would you let the media or society tell you what to do? The media is just a bunch of lucky people who happen to have a TV to express their opinion. That doesn’t mean it’s the correct opinion.” This conversation went on and on for a while, and I could tell that Sunae was starting to what I’d like to call “remember.” She was starting to remember a time in her life when no opinion was important but her own. Like Sue said last night, when I had a similar conversation with her, Korean children show a great deal of creativity and individuality at a young age, and as they grow older they are taught to narrow their interests and opinions to be consistent with “society’s.” Sue lamented about this trend and said she didn’t like it. Sunae, too, expressed disappointment with this trend. As we were talking, I could see the gears of reason in her mind in motion; she was really starting to question whether or not it’s always a good idea to always listen to society. In her effort to be clear, she grabbed her electronic dictionary and looked up a word: “consensus.” I quickly responded that there was a world of difference between ‘consensus’ and ‘conformity,’ the former being a choice and the latter being forced. Sunae ended our conversation by saying, “I don’t think I want to get plastic surgery anymore. When my sister had it, her eyes were black and blue for two weeks and she had to go back to the doctor to have her chin re-done.” I told her, “no, don’t avoid surgery because I said so; just do what you want to do, always, and not what you think society says you should do.” I encouraged her to write a short essay in response to our conversation—the best way to learn how to write, in my opinion, is to have students express their ideas, insight, and opinions. I am looking forward to reading Sunae’s essay on Monday [by the way, take a look at the photo of Sunae standing in a typical alleyway in Seoul…do you think she needs plastic surgery?!?].
After having coffee with Sunae, we strolled down a major avenue toward the subway and passed by many restaurants with a multitude of fish tanks out on the street in front. This is a common scene in Seoul; these aquariums are all over the place and they show how much Seoulites love eating fresh seafood. Before Sunae dropped me off at the subway, we found ourselves beneath the elevated train where there were dozens of little street food stalls and other vendors [see photo]. As I’ve mentioned before, all over Seoul there is cheap food available on the street, as well as all sort of clothing for sale, too.
I headed to Jamsil Baseball Stadium where I watched the Doosan Bears take on the Hanwa Eagles. I bought one of the most expensive seats in the house, about 20 rows back from first base. In New York such a seat would cost well over $100; in Korea, less than $20. It was interesting to see how fans are seated differently, with the home team (the Bears) on the first base side of the stadium, and the away team on the third base side. Also, unlike American baseball games, Korean games have both male and female cheerleaders who pump up the crowd during the entire game [please see video of the stadium crowd]. Walking around the stadium are young men with beer kegs attached to their backs, and for less than $3.00 you get a big cup of beer. The smell of fried chicken was everywhere—there are several KFCs in the stadium, as well as a Burger King. I don’t eat chicken but I must admit that the smell was enticing.
Korean baseball is very popular but for whatever reason the crowd tonight was very small—only about 1/3 of the seats were filled. But boy were they loud! Honestly, it sounded as if the stadium was full. This is largely because in addition to clapping and cheering, Korean baseball fans use “thunder sticks”; most fans have a pair of inflated bat-like sticks that they slam together all game long.
Anyway, there’s not much else to report today. It was a great day, and I am definitely going to go back to watch another baseball game next week.
I'm glad you are having nice time...
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