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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Apparently I came to Korea with a Celebrity

You know, one thing I like about being Asian where I live
is that people tend to remember me since there isn't a huge Asian population there.

So I have to admit - it kinda throws me a bit that I look like everyone else.
I'll see 'Westerners' and I'll smile - thinking that they know we 
share a common bond

(speaking english)

but then they'll just give me this polite smile and nod. 

oh yeah... that's right. I'm Korean.

In fact this morning, there was an 'inter-racial' couple
(white guy, Asian girl)
and they were having breakfast a couple of tables away from us.
I could see the guy looking at Charlie and smiling at him. 
He mentioned something to his wife who looked over at him and
smiled as well. So of course I'm thinking they're also
here to adopt a baby. 

They get up to leave and as they walk past our table the 
guy looks again at me and Charlie and smiles.

and then he bows to me.

it wasn't a full-body bow, but a major head bow.

awesome.

But nothing beats this morning when Mary Leigh and I
went back to Insadong to pick up some last minute goodies.

We barely got onto the street that takes us into Insadong
and Mary Leigh gets stopped for an interview...

on the Discovery Channel for KBS

on the G20 Summit.

Of course I wasn't asked to give my point of view
so then we moved on...

to a bunch of school girls doing a survey. 
They look straight at Mary Leigh and get all excited
and ask her their questions. 

One of them seems to notice that I'm still standing there
so they reluctantly let me put a sticker on my 'choice'. 

way to make me feel included girls. you all rock.

The rest of the trip pretty much continues the same way. 
another KBS interview, another survey.

For the second KBS interview the guy actually spoke to me first.

... he wanted me to get Mary Leigh's attention ...

So while Mary Leigh talked about how rice gives her energy
(no joke, I swear!)
I got to stand inside the Name Chop shop so that I would be out of the way.

Oh - and kind of random, but I've had many people
tell me that I don't look like I'm 'full Korean'.
So I've wondered if that could be true.

Today I got my answer.

I am full Korean.

How do I know?

Because everyone and their mother is talking to me in

KOREAN.

I should have invested in a shirt that says 
'I look Korean, but I don't speak it'

okay. so maybe just a button.


Here are the photos from Mary Leigh's interviews.








So who knows... maybe the next time you're watching KBS
you'll see Mary Leigh!





6 comments:

Robin said...

You are traveling with a rock star! I can TOTALLY see that happening as the SAME thing happened to us with MaryLeigh. When we were there at the same time this spring, we must have gotten stopped half a dozen times by students asking ML if they could interview her. There were no TV interviews, but I'm sure if the G20 summit had been occurring there would have been those too.

Kim said...

Hehehe!! Same thing here all the way Rachel!! I traveled with two "celebrities" aka "white" people when I was there and I was pretty much chopped liver! Don't ya just love "blending in" though?!?!?! I never thought I noticed that I was Korean in America, but I definitely remembered while in Korea! I was just somebody else and I loved it!

Paula Sloan said...

Oh, this is an intresting post! ML is so much fun! It's the blonde hair that draws them to hair. Rachel, I've thought this whole trip that you look like so much fun... like you'd be a total trip to hang out with! Glad you're having fun traveling with Mrs. Popularity!

Gary and Lisa said...

Love it!! You know...everyone kept telling us that when we went to Korea we might be interviewed or people might come up to us & try out their English on us....nope, not once!!LOL..They must love Mary Leigh's blonde hair!!LOL

Jonathan Holmes said...

this is hiliarious. i'm sure this would be experience too if i ever get to go back...i will need to make that t-shirt!

Kimberly and Ed said...

It's the blond hair:-)

 
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