Teacher, you are very tall !?!

I realized that since I have been in Korea I have neglected to include life as seen from a six foot tall woman. This occurred to me when I was recalling the button I made, and later lost, at the World DJ festival.

(Again, I lost my camera but I will be updating my blog later once my 친구, friend in Korean, sends me her photos. At that point you will be able to see the button and all of its glory.)

So what did the button say? "Too Tall" and then below it in Korean it said, "정말 크고 오전", I am very tall. Simple, classic and straight to the point. I figured after multiple encounters with Koreans saying, whoa, you are very tall, I should just create a button that beat them to it. That way they knew that I realized I was tall and therefore, it created no need to continue to say it to my face. The woman who was making the buttons told me I had created the best button of the day, as her and her friend giggled while she wrote it. Koreans are just blown away that I am as tall as I am. My students gasp every time my height comes up in a lesson and I write 180cm (which is not even accurate, I am actually 182.8 cm) on the board. But in Korea height is power and prestige. Take for example the "short men are losers" incident,

"Lee Do-kyung, a Hongik University student, appeared on a popular KBS TV show 'Misuda', or 'Chatting with Beauties' on Monday and said, 'I don't like short men. Height is competitiveness these days, and I think short men are losers. Men should at least be 180 cm tall.' * This was all over the Korean media outlets*

See the full article at:
http://hanopolis.com/?articleNo=3886&story/Female-Misuda-Guest-Men-under-511-are-LOSERS

Leave it to my students to take it one step further. Apparently one of my students, after discovering I was 180 cm and obviously taller than all other teachers in the school, told every male teacher that they are a loser because they are shorter than me. It is no wonder the male teachers won't talk to me after my student single-handedly emasculated the entire teaching staff. But no complaints from this corner. I have become quite accustomed to people commenting on my height. Luckily, it is a characteristic that in most cultures is revered as beautiful. It is just something that has been exacerbated in Korea. Lets just say I haven't found a need to wear my heels in Korea as I am afraid of the reaction. It might be something along the lines of, "Oh my God Jinju! It's monster teacher!" I am sure there will be many more amusing stories to report on this topic and I will be sure to keep my followers updated. For now this is Too-Tall-in-Asia signing out :)