Urine and Photoshop

My first full day in Korea, a Friday, two office workers, a man and woman, from my hakwon took me to a large hospital in Incheon to get a full medical check-up.  For years, my custom has been to drink two cups of water as soon as I get out of bed.  Since I was jet lagged and out of my routine, I forgot to drink water. I showered, dressed and left the apartment.  At the hospital they took blood samples, did a chest x-ray, weighed and measured me, etc.  Then a nurse gave me a small white cup for a urine sample.  I went to the bathroom and discovered that, to my horror, my pee was neon yellow, not its usual pale, almost colorless shade. 

I took the cup back to the nurse.  Would you believe that these two grown-ass (she was in her 30s, and he in his 40s) co-workers of mine were craning their necks to look into my cup?  “Let’s see what foreigner’s pee looks like.  Duh-huh!”  Under normal circumstances, that would just be weird and creepy, but considering my specimen was abnormally bright, it made me feel even worse.   

Afterward they took me to a photography studio to take photos that would be attached to my official documents.  The photographer took a bunch of photos.  When he was satisfied that he had enough to work with, he took the memory card out of the camera, inserted it into his desktop computer and immediately began to Photoshop me.  His mouse zipped around the screen to smooth out the lines on my forehead, make my eyes bigger, lighten the dark circles under my eyes, enlarge my breasts, and smooth out my neck.  It all happened so fast that I couldn’t even react.  The thing is that he didn’t think to ask permission to make those changes.  I’m happy with my face the way it is.  I love my breast size----not too small, not too large.  Besides, when he cropped the photo down to passport size, the breasts were complete cut off.  All that work for nothing. 

And I couldn’t even be angry at him because it was obvious he was working on automatic pilot.  He was doing all the things that Korean customers usually expected him to do.  At least he didn’t try to lighten up my face, which has happened to a couple of my Black friends.  In Korea all job applications must be accompanied by a photo. (There has been talk about changing that, but it’s going to take a while.)  Because it is such an appearance-obsessed society, coupled with very narrow beauty standards, it has become normal to alter photos so applicants can at least have half a chance at getting an interview.

This is the photo that eventually went on my alien registration card----the most important document after my passport. I hated it.  Every time I looked at it, it upset me.  I looked like a seventeen-year-old.  I wanted to look my age.  Thankfully, I only had a six-month contract at the hakwon, so I didn’t have to use that card for long.  With my next job, I made sure they used a photo I had taken at CVS pharmacy.  Unaltered, unfiltered.