blondie

A group of friends and I were approached yesterday by a frantic Korean woman in the street. "Barbie! Barbie! Barbie!" she exclaimed, caressing my hair and rubbing it against her face. "So beautiful!" She was walking 3 small dogs who were all conveniently tied to one small leash. The woman was hugging me and kissing my face and saying, "so beautiful, just like Barbie." We all know I am far from a Barbie. And in my opinion, being called "Barbie" is not a compliment. The woman was beside herself, I didn't think she was going to let me go. The 5 of us stood there in an awkward circle, while this woman went on and on about my blonde hair and how the 4 of us looked like sisters. Hey- is that cause we are all white? All of us have such distinctive features, any fool could tell we are NOT related. She hugged all 4 of us again, and wrapped her arms around me even tighter and once again rubbing my ponytail against her cheek. I know having blonde hair in an Asian country can cause a bit of a reaction- I mean, I stick out like a sore thumb. But this reaction left us all speechless.

My kids often refer to my hair as yellow or gold. One of my students, James, asked me the other day, "Teacher, why gold hair?" "Um... I don't know?" was my exact answer. Before I came to Seoul I was told Koreans would approach me, complimenting my hair, but, this is the first time its actually happened. Recently, I've been aching for some highlights, but given the recent compliment, I guess my hair is fine how it is.