Ignorance Is Never Pretty...

...and this time it took the form of a fat, ugly street vendor with a bad perm and too much make-up.  

Yesterday, I had a rare afternoon off, so I met up with an American friend to have lunch and enjoy the afternoon.  She just moved to Korea not too long ago with her husband, so I wanted to show her around some fun neighborhoods.  Our wandering took us to the area in front of Ewha University where there are an inordinate amount of little clothing shops, shoe shops, and street vendors.  As of late, I had headbands on the mind - pun intended - and decided to stop at a stand to try on a few.  Now, I realize that nobody likes it when customers come around, mess everything up, and then doesn't end up buying anything.  I used to work in retail.  I know.  Thus, I was very careful about not messing up the display and putting everything back exactly where I found it.  My friend had been beside me, simultaneously taking a look as well.  It must've just been one of those days because everything I put on just didn't seem to look right, so after roughly half a dozen headbands, I decided to call it quits and move on.

As the two of us were working away, I heard this woman comment, rather loudly (and this is a rough translation):

"All that f*ing b*tch did was talk a bunch of nonsense in English and didn't even buy anything."

I thought, okay... she MUST NOT be talking about ME.  But as you might imagine, the severity of the comment made me turn around.  Well, as it turns out, she was talking about me because when I looked back she stared right at me and said, "...or if you know Korean, then why don't you speak it!"

My friend asked what the lady was saying, and I told her that we were basically just cussed out.  I couldn't figure out whether to be more shocked, angry, or just violent.  I literally wanted to go back and punch her in the face, but somehow, by some miraculous force of nature, I kept walking away.  In hindsight, I don't suppose it would've vindicated me in any way had I done or said something in retaliation.  It probably would've only served to fuel this woman's disdain for gyopos (people of Korean ethnic descent who have lived outside Korea), but I know it would've felt damn good at the moment.  And in hindsight, I am also embarrassed -- embarrassed that this is the kind of impression that foreigners will get about Korean people and embarrassed that I am, albeit only in very broad terms, part of the same national collective as that heinous woman.

I have to be honest.  I have not had someone make me feel that bad about myself in a while.  And even though I know I didn't do anything wrong, it still sucks all the same.  This is probably the closest thing I will encounter to racism here in Korea, or one can only hope so.

Actually, I can't even call that woman ignorant.  I am officially escalating her status to straight-up ig'nant.