She was surprised, because the Anna she met in New Zealand 5 years ago didn't give a fig about hair rollers, and spent her $ on really cool things, like traveling and authentic Italian pizza and theatre.
And I still like all those things! (A lot.)
But... Now I also give a fig about hair rollers. Something happened to me upon arriving in Korea. I suddenly realized that it was imperatively important to me that I dress the part of Professional Teacher. And not in a "dejected-because-I-have-to-fit-the-mold-but-don't-wanna-because-I-am-a-rebel-at-heart" way, either; no, I felt eagerness and excitement over this drive to fit the working-woman mold.
Hose and high heels! Dress pants and blazers! Neat hair and dress shirts! Bring it on!
(No make-up, though - that's a personal line I only cross for special occasions.)
What? Why is this so exciting to me? Or, to most of me. Part of me feels uneasily like a traitor - Mary G, do you still love me? - and is baffled as to why I am embracing these dress code conventions so enthusiastically.
But the answer is really simple: I've never had a job that required nice clothes before (set-building, rock climbing instructor, nanny, pre-K teacher - grubbies only), so it's a novelty, a persona I've never tried on before. I think my inner actress believes that my job is just a play and Professional Teacher is my character, and just loves wearing a costume every day.
Plus, my Husband's eyes get really wide and happy when I look fabulous (which he says is always), so I'm frequently guilty of going out of my way to dress sharp for him. And now I dress nice every day.
Some days are more miss than hit, though. Like yesterday.
I got dressed, realized I only had black and white in my outfit, and threw a scarf around my neck for color. Then I looked in the mirror.
"Adam!" I wailed, panicking because we were late and I didn't have time to change clothes. "I look like a flight attendant!"
He looked at me, smiled widely, and said, "That's not a bad thing." He really is no help sometimes.
But it was a bad thing. See photo below.
How are students supposed to take me seriously when they have to fight the impulse to request beverages and peanuts whenever they're hungry/thirsty?
And how is my inner actress supposed to take this?
I have a minimal flight attendant phobia. Despite knowing and loving some beautiful and fabulous flight attendants (yes, you, Marnell and Lily), I have never had the aforementioned 2 women as my flight attendants on any flight I've ever taken. Instead, my absolute most embarrassing moment in my whole life came about because of nasty, uncaring flight attendants. And no, I'm not telling that story in this post, so if you were getting excited and hoping to hear it, "get used to disappointment." (I just posted a photo of me posing as a flight attendant, so that's quite enough embarrassment for today.) Also, you get 10 points if you're the first person to guess correctly who said the above quote.
Anyways, I'm sure my students struggled mightily against their impulses, but the day passed without a single peanut-packet-demanding incident. And I drank the tea in that mug in the picture myself.
Adam must really have liked the outfit, though, because this is what I found on the blackboard after he finished teaching English:
:)
In retrospect, I probably could have just taken off the scarf, and I would have shed the entire flight attendant persona. But instead, I wore it all day long, because I didn't want to wear only black and white, which is what I usually do.
