Miss Korea . . . Rock On!

I've never been one to care about beauty pageants, but that all changed today. The director of my school was asked to coach Miss Korea on her presentation skills for the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, so this afternoon, she came to my school. My school's co-director offered to teach my class, which allowed me to spend an hour and a half with Miss Korea.

I'm impressed. She is a truly lovely person, inside and out. She's a graduate student of traditional Korean music at Seoul National University, the most prestigious university in the country. She plays the kayageum, a traditional Korean harp, has recorded 4 albums, and has performed at Carnegie Hall. She's a competitive skier, tae-kwon-do black belt, and a scuba diver--incredibly accomplished and only 23 years old. What really struck me in my short time with her this afternoon is that she's a genuinely good person. She's been involved in mission work since she was a child and entered the Miss Korea pageant as a way to spread awareness about impoverished children. Her platform charities are Compassion International and World Vision. It turns out that we both sponsor children in the same city in the Philippines through Compassion International. Rock on . . . I have something in common with a beauty queen.

After her session at the school, she was kind enough to be in pictures and sign autographs for kids. She told me she'd call me in June when she returns from the Miss Universe pageant. I don't know if she really will, but I sure enjoyed spending the afternoon with her and would love the opportunity to talk with her some more.

May 28th will be a new first for me--the first time I've ever intentionally tuned into a beauty contest. I even have it written on my calendar. (Before coming to Korea, I never imagined that one day my calendar would actually have things written on it like "Buddha's birthday" and "Miss Universe Pageant," in the same month, no less!)

I do have photos, but since I didn't ask her permission, I'm not going to post them here. If you're someone I know and want to see them, please send me an email at emherbert(at)gmail(dot)com.

The directors of my school have recently become involved with a new international non-governmental organization called Educators Without Borders, which operates on a similar principle as Doctors Without Borders, only with education in impoverished countries being the primary focus, rather than medicine. They asked me to be the English-speaking MC at the inaugural ceremony on Korea's "Teachers' Day" on May 15th. Of course, I said yes! The invitation list includes Korean government officials, all the ambassadors in Seoul, Bill Clinton, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, among many others. (By the way, they received an email response from Bill Clinton--a holiday form letter dated December 14, 2006. I guess it's a regret, but it is a response nonetheless.) The problem this presents is that I have absolutely no suitable clothes for such an event and shopping is a challenge for me in this land of people with very different body proportions. Catherine went with me to try on suits the other day, but no luck just yet. There are still a few weeks to go.

Other than those big pieces of news and another round of my usual spring-time cold, it's been a relatively normal week around here, and for that, I'm thankful. Not to sound too cliched, but the shootings at Virginia Tech remind me how very much I have to be thankful for and how not one moment is to be taken for granted. The reaction to the shootings has been very interesting here in Korea. Many of my students' parents have been asking me about what happened and have expressed their condolences. A couple even apologized to me--as if they have anything to do with the shooter because they are Korean and as if I have anything to do with the victims because I am American. I don't know if this sentiment comes more from the feeling of helplessness that all of us at a distance from this event share or from a feeling of Korean unity, maybe a little of both. I'm much relieved to hear that my sister's friend Meredyth, who is a Virginia Tech student and is walking Relay for Life in honor of my mom, is safe. Even though she and my sister are very close, I don't know her all that well, but I immediately thought of her when I read about the shootings on the internet.

I'm off first thing in the morning to a staff retreat in the mountains east of Seoul. Hopefully I'll have some photos to share at the end of the weekend.

Happy Birthday, Sal!