Bobby

One of my new friends that I have been spending time with more is this really grand guy named Bobby. What's unusual about Bobby is that he is African-American, and being black in Korea (no matter what continent) is a totally, TOTALLY different experience. Since Korea, despite how advanced it is, is still devoid of foreigners, being a black man in a homogeneous society is like putting an orange in a basket of apples; he stands out...big time.

And Bobby, well, he's not just a typical black looking dude: he's a big, black dude. With dreads. Imagine being this enormous guy among a group of Asians, who are naturally smaller than the rest of the world (I'm the example of that). In other words, he draws maximum attention. Wherever you go. (Except in Seoul, where Seoul is more of a hub for foreigners)

Me, I'm on the opposite of the spectrum: I draw no attention. I'm small, I'm young looking (store clerks ask me if I am a student myself...sheesh), and I'm Asian. No one expects Asians to ACTUALLY SPEAK ENGLISH. Let alone be an English teacher!

So, when he, James, and I hang out, it is one heck of a funny experience cuz we comprise the foreign rainbow (James is white-American, so he is the politically correct ESL model teacher; Bobby and I are not). Everyone in Korea expects the foreign teachers to be white, but I liked the fact that our recruiting company has started to send more DIFFERENT foreign teachers into the classroom. Going out in public with Bobby is such a culture shock to me because everyone stares at us, and of course, mostly at Bobby. The funniest moments were when these middle school girls walked up to Bobby and asked to touch his hair: they petted it (the dreads), then immediately repulsed in surprise because of the hard surface of the hair. It was like Bobby was an alien from Jupiter, and they were so curious to touch them like he was the first black man to descend on their planet. But the whole time, they ignored me! Since I don't look like the real foreign teacher, they just paid attention to Bobby, and Bobby always teases me about how I get no love from the natives. Then when I start speaking English with the girls, they start giggling because I know English, then I tried speaking Korean with them, and they were shock that I could speak the Mothertongue and were like "whooaaa!" When I even told them I taught at "Yeonsu High School," they were like "WHOOOAA!" (Yeonsu has a good rep)

To sum it up, what I really like about Bobby is his attitude towards his foreigner situation. He is very outgoing, funny, and kind. He lets the little girls play with his hair, or says hi to the little munchkins who walk up to him, or messes with the high school students who try to act hip-hoppish around him for some dumb reason. I remember this old Korean man approaching us, and he started to do this stupid walk (inflating his belly, walking like a giant spider), trying to impersonate a gangster, but we ended up laughing so hard cuz he looked like a moron. But Bobby takes it in stride, which taught me a thing or two because I would probably get more and more paranoid if Koreans kept staring at me all day.

So being foreigner can be odd at times, and even more tougher for an African-American. But Bobby likes to mess with the natives too, like when we enter restaurants he'll yell "ANYONG-HASEYO" with a southern twang, which gets a laugh from everyone. Or he'll mess with the kids by being silly and making stilly faces. In other words, when life throws you lemons, make lemonade.