Remember how my students are hopelessly bad at recognizing diversity in foreigners? In two of today's classes my first task was to convince everyone this is not a picture of me. (The third class was a third grade class, which means they were all thinking it was a picture of me but not saying anything about it because contributing a potentially useful utterance to a classroom is devastatingly uncool in Korea when you're 15.) One girl, upon accepting this as an image of a stranger, shouted "brother!"
Also, they're shallow. I know, everyone is shallow. But read this or this. In the two classes willing to speak there were cries of "HANDSOME!" and "SO HANDSOME!" and "BIG MOUTH!!" which I had to quiet. Even after I'd explained about how that fool isn't me. (Students hassle me about being handsome every day, especially when they want something.) Dang it Korea, you're supposed to laugh at the man's buffoonery not fall in love with him.
Actual conversation from yesterday apropos of nothing:
STUDENT: Teacher... tall?
ME: How tall am I?
STUDENT: [nodding]
ME: 187 centimeters.
STUDENT: Oh! So handsome!
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