Masculin Feminin

I was lurking Cassidy's blog and found this entry particularly interesting:

"In America, femininity is masculine. Our women are all fourty nine percent man. We like iron-thighed girls with sparkling impish eyes and firm handshakes. We die for them."

I have to say, being in Korea, I'd have to strongly agree with the sentiment. Maybe not 49%, but certainly a far larger portion of masculinity in women is found much more attractive in American women than Asia. Korea particularly I find myself feeling extremely masculine. Most every girl here truly fulfills the submissive asian girl stereotype. I was reading in a cafe today and a couple next to me were discussing what they like in individuals, and the guy flat out said "I can't stand girls with short hair" right next to me! All of the girls have long flowing locks, never leave the house without a pair of heels and a designer handbag. Women are shunned if they smoke in public. I haven't seen a single girl with tattoos or piercings. Many of the asian guys I've talked to (all of which drink and smoke) say they think girls shouldn't drink or smoke at all. Most are so thin and fragile they appear as if they're about to break. All of them just scream high maintenance, which I think is something that American culture now looks down upon. I think it's because the women have to be hyper feminine in order to balance the feminity of asian men. 

Seoul

Cutest Rice cakes in the world, in Shinsegae Department Store

This is where I ate Bi-Bim-Bop today, also in Shinsegae

This is me and my Aunt's poodle Leon, he is ridiculous but I secretly really enjoy him.

So luckily I made it to Seoul in one piece after a 10 hour flight from San Francisco to Incheon Airport. I've been here for two days and I am so overwhelmingly excited and happy to be here it feels as if I am going to burst. Yesterday my Aunt showed me how to work public transportation, and how to get to Yonsei University, where I will be studying for 6 weeks. It's about an one hour commute, and it is a bit intimidating, but I think I will be able to manage. We also went to Shinsegae department store and walked around the Terminal which is a huge underground market full of really cheap clothes and knick knacks.  Today I went back to Shinsegae on my own and walked around for a long time, I bought some gifts for a few friends, which I think are pretty neat. I was pretty proud of myself for not getting lost or stressed out. Everything is overwhelming cluttered with cutesy bright things it makes my eyes want to explode. Tomorrow I get to go on a 3 day fieldtrip and meet some of my classmates. I'm really excited/super nervous about it because I've never really had asian friends before and I'm not really sure what to expect. I feel kind of like a little kid hoping to make friends and not to be the dorky odd-one-out. I guess we'll see.