Seoul Searching: You are very beautiful.

The most surreal thing happened to me two days ago in the Seoul Metro.

Trying to take a selfie at the World Cup Stadium in Seoul.

I was at the platform of the World Cup Stadium station, having spent the last hour within the stadium's walls, when a lady came up to me. She spoke to me in rapid Korean while touching her cheek.

The Lady who thought I was beautiful! All I could do was thank her for being so kind! 

 Completely rattled, I took her hand and cried out to a group of teenage boys seated at a nearby bench. They were the obvious suspects who might remotely know English in the rather empty station.


A rather bespectacled cutie rose and came up to us and talked to the lady. He then turned to me and said, "You are very beautiful." I was shocked to the soles of my feet, to say the least.

"What?"
"She said, You are very beautiful."

I turned to the lady, not knowing if I should laugh or cry. Clearly madam, you haven't been to the Philippines.

She then proceeded to ask me, through our translator, how old I was, where I came from, and if all people from my country were as beautiful as me.

I laughed quite consciously. How does one respond to a situation such as this one? So I simply said, 'Thank you."

Then the train arrived.