Kimchi, not for me

I don't get it. From a Western perspective, the phrase "Korean Tact" is somewhat of an oxymoron. I'm sure there is tact within the culture, perhaps it's just that I'm on the receiving end of Korean people speaking English (their second language) poorly (sad but true). Point in case: last week I was sick. The Korean people I work with, of the six or seven Korean staff members, at least four or five of them said basically the same thing to me...it went something like this with (I swear!) NO exaggeration at all: "You're just too stressed, living in a foreign country all ALONE, by yourself, with NO ONE to help you *deep sigh* it must be hard for you." Each one of them that tried to offer their sympathy literally said "alone" in at least three different ways. Then there was stuff like, "When I was in (insert foreign country here) for a few months, I got two colds." (knowing nod) Change the number of colds, change it to a flu, it's basically the same. I don't get how a Korean person can get sick and just be sick, whereas when one of us native teachers gets sick, there MUST be a reason. It couldn't be just because everyone in the office and most of our kids are sick, right? Certainly not.

And lately, I've had lots of people telling me that I look pale. First off, I've been/am currently sick, so it's entirely possible. Second (this is a biggie) I'M WHITE. Of course I'm pale. I'm white AND I'm fair-skinned. In fact, I had the privilege to take part in a conversation in which my boss told Kylie and I that she wasn't sure if Kylie and Donovan were white because the pictures that sent were after the summer and they were tanned. HUGE stigma here...I don't know how any non-White American/Canadian finds jobs here, the discrimination is just above and beyond anything I've ever experienced. One of the teachers that was here when I started but has since left wasn't even dark-skinned enough to say he had an olive complexion. Maybe way back in his family heritage there is some middle eastern blood or some such thing, but the kids and parents and school thought he wasn't white enough. So bizarre. Anyway, that aside was just to say that if I am in fact pale, you should be happy, because in effect, you pay me to be that way! So long as I'm not pale and mute, you're still getting your money's worth - because in reality being white and a non-British-native-speaker-of-English is what you pay me for. (They want "American English" not British English. *shrug*)