"Oh, truly we are a fortunate few who turn on your axis, revolve around you..."
"You Don't See Me," by Keane
My phone had started vibrating just as I had entered the elevator full of Koreans. I flipped my phone open and saw that one of my foreigner friends was calling. "Hello?" I answered half whispering as I didn't want anyone staring at me in such close proximity. "Hey...I just got on the elevator..."
A curious ajumma (a middle aged Korean woman) started looking around the lift, concerned about the strange foreign language echoing in her personal space. Well, this is curious, thought she as panned through the crowd, Not a single white person, yet the sound of the English language emits amongst us. Her mind, I imagined, began Rubik's cubing the hypothesis of One of these is unlike the other. The look on her face as she did her detective work was stern and determined. Our elevator ride suddenly turned into M. Night Shyamalan's Devil, where the passengers try to figure out who amongst them is the devil.
"Okay, see you soon," I said as I flipped my phone closed. The ajumma focused her staring at me. Matlock has solved the mystery. "Nollasuhyo," she barked, meaning I'm surprised.
I get the same even from my fellow Filipinos. I'll walk into a Filipino restaurant (a few new ones have popped up in this city) and one of the servers will greet me in Korean and ask me for my order in English. "Uhm, may galongong kayo po?" Do you have fried mackerel?
"Aba! Akala ko Koreano ka, boss." Whoa. I thought you were Korean, boss.
I really don't think I look very Korean. I might look a little Korean, but not enough to be convincing. Today, I was overlooked when my co-teacher was asked where his foreign teacher was. I was standing right next to him. I played Radial Angel's "Not Beautiful" on my iPod for the rest of the day.
A curious ajumma (a middle aged Korean woman) started looking around the lift, concerned about the strange foreign language echoing in her personal space. Well, this is curious, thought she as panned through the crowd, Not a single white person, yet the sound of the English language emits amongst us. Her mind, I imagined, began Rubik's cubing the hypothesis of One of these is unlike the other. The look on her face as she did her detective work was stern and determined. Our elevator ride suddenly turned into M. Night Shyamalan's Devil, where the passengers try to figure out who amongst them is the devil.
"Okay, see you soon," I said as I flipped my phone closed. The ajumma focused her staring at me. Matlock has solved the mystery. "Nollasuhyo," she barked, meaning I'm surprised.
I get the same even from my fellow Filipinos. I'll walk into a Filipino restaurant (a few new ones have popped up in this city) and one of the servers will greet me in Korean and ask me for my order in English. "Uhm, may galongong kayo po?" Do you have fried mackerel?
"Aba! Akala ko Koreano ka, boss." Whoa. I thought you were Korean, boss.
I really don't think I look very Korean. I might look a little Korean, but not enough to be convincing. Today, I was overlooked when my co-teacher was asked where his foreign teacher was. I was standing right next to him. I played Radial Angel's "Not Beautiful" on my iPod for the rest of the day.
Birthday surprise for my co-teach!
New samgyupsal and coffee house place the foreigners have found. Good times.
2 comments:
Lol. You're such a drama king. Haha. This is coming from the same person who made fun of me in Thailand cause they kept speaking to me in Thai and acting surprised when I spoke English. No sympathy here says I.
you look more thai than me, madam!
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