That Time White Worship Backfired

Andrew and Vesta hosted a Christmas/farewell party at their high-rise apartment in Yongsan.  It was nice to see a bunch of people from my orientation there.  I chatted with Lisa, who had been placed at the main institute at the Seoul headquarters.  She was a petite blonde in her 20s from California who had come with her Chicano husband.   She was SO ready to leave.  From the moment she’d arrived, people were going on and on about her beautifully pale skin, small face, large blue eyes, blond hair and aquiline nose.  Photographers were constantly in her classroom, and sometimes, she was even pulled out of class for photoshoots.  She became the face of our hakwon chain’s new marketing campaign.  Her face was all over our posters and promotional literature.

Funnily enough, when the new brochures arrived at my hakwon, my Black South African co-worker had said, “See this?  False advertising.  These Koreans are going to sign up for classes with us thinking this blonde girl will be teaching them.”  Yeah, they were going to be sorely disappointed.  All the teachers at my branch were either dark-haired or brown skinned. 

Most people in her position would’ve eaten up all the adulation, but she was a decent kid uncomfortable with all the shallow attention.  “I came to teach, not to be a model,” she’d said in disgust.  What made it worse is that her olive-skinned husband was treated like chopped liver. 

When contract re-signing time came, she told them she was leaving at the end of her six-month contract.   They BEGGED her to stay.  Promises were made for a bigger apartment.  Raises (which are supposed to be strictly based on seniority and only after 12 months) and gifts were offered.  To their dismay, she was unmoved.  Their golden girl didn’t love them back.  Hadn’t they treated her like a princess?  Like a goddess, even?  That was the problem, some people don’t want to be worshipped for their appearance or for anything else, for that matter.  They just want to be treated like regular humans.

December 2012