Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sillywilly]

Why do a disproportionate number of ESL teachers have beards? Especially the older ones?

[kangnamdragon]

What about those under 37 without beards?

Maybe some men have beards because

1. women will go after them anyway
2. they are not home so they can experiment with different looks
3. most Korean men can't grow them well so western men look more "manly"

[BTM]

Except for a few brief packets of months here and there when I was farking around or too damn hot and living in the tropics, I've had a goat constantly since about 1984, and still do. And I'm exactly 37, which is a bit odd, pollwise.

[thinker]

I have a beard now, but i think it's more to do with keeping my face warm in freezing subzero temps> > >didn't need it in korealand

[william beckerson]

Anyone remember that kid in the cartoon "Stickin' Around" who talked really loud?

[Zyzyfer]

I can't vote. I'm under 37 without a beard.

Usually I alternate facial hair style, but the woman prefers a smooth face, so I shave everything just before I meet her, and go gruffy all week long.

[Ody]

IS THAT "KOREAN AGE"?

[sillywilly]

I dont know.. er, no. western age.

[The Donkey]

I am going home to shave, talk to you all later....

[VanIslander]

I've noticed a couple of Grizzly Adams teaching ESL in Korea and chalked it up to a frontier mentality and a lack of inhibition, since Koreans treat us as strange anyways, it's not like a lack of facial hair will help us fit in better.

I shave in Korea but I've been tempted to grow a beard again, as I did in my third year of undergrad. It was an interesting sociological experiment that changed my perceptions of strangers based on their perceptions of me. I've always been a non-threatening, cute and harmless looking clean-cut kid. But with a big beard, and being tall, I was treated totally different on the street. People were scared of me in Canada.

I even got stopped a couple of times by the police for no apparent reason. One time, I was walking in the downtown area of a small city in the evening, on my way to the campus dorm from my part-time job, when a police car pulled up and an officer asked me where I was going and what was in the bag. I said I wasn't going to answer those questions because I have done nothing wrong, and said that by law they need a specific reason to require a specific citizen to do anything if they haven't broken any law. I was angry because the police officer's perceptions were so reflective of the attitudes I'd faced the previous few months. The officer was disturbed but only said I should be on my way then.

Westerners aren't so liberated about the wearing of beards, especially with strangers on the street. Stereotypes still result in fear and harassment.

So I think bearded ESLers in Korea probably think, Why not? One won't be treated any worse than back home.

Plus there's the even greater sense of anonymity.

[ryleeys]

I had a goatee the first 5 months I was here... then one day just randomly shaved it. I may grow it back sometime... I personally haven't decided what's a better look, it's just that I'm too damn lazy to shave every day.

[Newfoundlander]

I was clean shaven for over a month... which is a miracle for me. I did it for that Irish play.... but man oh man, am i ever glad to be back looking like a dirtbag.... feels good. I'm not one to care entirely too much of what other folks think. Viva la Gautee.

[Toby]

[Toby]

I haven't really, but she does. And two alpacas. And two sheep. And thirty chickens. And 10 ducks. And three dogs. And two cats.

[VanIslander]

BTM, Toby is just trying to get your goat.

It's interesting that three with the goatee pipe up and contribute another reason for facial hair in Korea: laziness. They just can't be bothered.