The Odd Ones Out

It is quite a unique experience being in a society where you are the odd ones out due to your appearance and skin colour. This has both benefits and drawbacks, but luckily the benefits generally far outweigh the drawbacks.

Back in August, a few weeks after we arrived, we took the kids to one of the local water parks. It was school holidays for the Korean schools so the place was quite busy, in fact it was much busier than any public pool I have been to in Australia, including Wet ‘n’ Wild. First thing we noticed was that everyone was wearing bathing caps! This was a requirement so we bought the kids one each, luckily I don’t have enough hair to warrant wearing one so I was let off. As is often the case, we were the only westerners there so we were the subject of much staring and giggling. This was amplified when I took my shirt off and I wasn’t sure if they were staring at my bulging muscles (I may have forgotten to wear them that day) or my high percentage of body fat compared to their slender frames. It wasn’t until I was in the water with Harper and Promise that the reason revealed itself. A group of teenage girls gathered around us and were saying that Harper and Promise were very beautiful, and at the same time they were pointing at me and giggling. After a couple of minutes one of them built up the courage to come over and touch my chest! She quickly jumped back to her friends speaking in Korean at 100mph and laughing. Then they all came over to poke me in the chest and laugh. Of course I stood there making my pecs do a dance and lapped up the attention. Well that could have happened, but the actual truth is that I was quite uncomfortable so we got out and I quickly, but coolly, put my shirt back on. It was at this point that I realised that hey had never seen anyone with hair on their chest before and they had to touch it to see if it was real. Perhaps they thought that a gorilla had escaped from the zoo. I think that next time we go I will have to invest in some sort of full body bathing cap.