Brad Pitt Eat Your Heart Out

Greetings

When Jo and I stepped off the plane last summer we were transformed from regular people into superstars. No really...it's true.

One minute we were Joe and Jane average and the next we were bigger than life, or at least we became D-list celebrities (like the guy from the Karate Kid).

You see, Korea is still a fairly isolated country and the number of non-native citizens living here is remarkably low in comparison to most other industrialised countries. Because of this, we are noticed wherever we go. You might say we stand out like sore thumbs, or bad kimchi (bada bing, bada boom).

It's more than just being stared at though. A lot of people approach us in order to practice their English on a couple of waygookins. It's pretty common to have someone walk up to us and say "hello" (usually it's children but adults do it every now and then too). In fact, it probably happens around 5 to 10 times per day. We'll just be walking and people will shout out "hello". The funny thing is 90 percent of the time when we respond they giggle and run away (usually the adults don't run away, it's more of a slow walk backwards).

We joke around that we're quasi-celebrities over here but somedays it can be a wee bit much. Once we were walking home and having what you might call a minor disagreement (it was more like Jo was bringing me up to speed on what I had done wrong), and a man walked over and tried to converse with us. We're still not sure if he was trying to help or practise the latest vocabulary from his English conversation class, for he asked us "are you serious?" repeatedly. Unfortunately we were not in the teaching mood, and he got a different lesson instead: don't get in between two angry Canadians. It turns out we were serious.

Some foreigners find it diffuicult to get used to all of the attention and come to loathe it over time. But other than when I'm having a really bad day I generally enjoy the attention. Somedays it's fun to mess around a little too. Like this coversation I had the other day:

Random child on the street: HELLO (they always yell)
Me: Hello
Random child on the street: HELLO
Me: Why yes, I do find most Marxists to be pedantic and full of postualtions
Random child on the street: HELLO

And there ya have it, a typical conversation one can have on any given day. It can be theraputic.

The place where we receive the most attention is in front of our place of work. Aside from all our students milling about, there's also a giant elementary school across the street where we're known by most of the students. Of course, our infamy is made worse by the advertisements our boss has outside of the academy. Check these out:

A nice shot of Jo and I from an English camp:


Here it is closer up:

And another great shot from a Speech Contest:


And again, closer up:


I suppose we should enjoy our fame because I predict that in a few more years it'll all be gone. As Korea expands its trading partners and opens the door to more foreigners, being different will stop being such a big deal.

One day English teachers will be as popular here as they are back home (ranked somewhere between Kevin Federline and the fat guy from Mad TV).

But hey, between now and then, I'm going to keep on enjoying my celebrity status.

Cheers

Shayne