There's some things that happen in Korea that would never happen in the U.S. If there's a theme to this blog, I guess that's it. This is another tale to re-iterate that point.
So there I am, out in downtown Seoul buying our Filipino nanny a Christmas present. She had gotten us this sweet lamp that we had wanted so we thought it the least that we could do. By the way, this lamp is similar to another lamp that my parents got in the Philippines 30 years ago. My brother and I have an ongoing feud about who is going to eventually get this lamp. I decided to take matters into my own hands and get one myself. But I digress...
So I'm sitting in the store talking to the salesguy about getting our nanny her present. We haggle over the price and finally agree. Instead of picking up the purchase from him, he makes a call to his... supplier?... and tells me to wait five minutes for the guy to bring it around. So we're sitting uncomfortably silent for a couple of seconds before he asks me if I'm from the U.S. and how old I am. I tell him, not too surprised because Koreans love to ask you how old you are. It's a status thing. The older you are, the more respected you are. Then he goes on to tell me that I'm "very handsome, movie star." This was completely unsolicited and took me a little off guard. But I took in stride and we kept talking. Next he wanted to know who was the biggest movie star in America. He proposed that it was Brad Pitt. I agreed, saying he's probably the biggest right now. Then he said, "Tom Cruise?" and made that side-to-side hand tilt that means "a little fishy." I said that Tom was pretty big, but probably not the biggest anymore. This was all a little surreal. Then another Korean guy came in that worked there. Without asking the other guy, he asks me how old I am and tells me that I'm very handsome. Did I miss something? Why am I getting a creepy feeling all of a sudden about this place. But there was nothing strange in the way he said it. It was an honest compliment.
It had me thinking how strange and out of place that would be in America. As a guy, I can never ever think of a time when another guy has said how "handsome" I am. Let alone a salesman at a store. Imagine if you were at Best Buy and the kid showing you the TV's said, "Hey, you're a really good looking man." It just does not happen. Ever. But here, it's apparently not that uncommon.
On a completely unrelated topic, Aidan is arguably the safest baby in the world. This picture was completely unstaged and he brought me the safety gear to put on himself without any prompting. As far as an explanation why, I have yet to figure that one out. Enjoy.
2 comments:
Is that the famous TULANE ENGINEERING shirt that you are modeling? Very Handsome!
tino and Laurie
are you really that tall or is your apartment just tiny? how will you hang that lamp? It will touch the floor. And you're handsome, but you're no Drew Pepper.
Post a Comment