giiiiirl! humble yo'self

The above pictures were taken by two girls I tutor on Thursdays. One of those girls is a tall and lanky sixth grader with scowling eyes that hide a great amount of fear and also a great yearning for kindness and love. The other is a plump little third grader with eyes that take up half her face along with the knowledge that batting the lashes attached to those saucer eyes will get her pretty much anything she wants. These girls devour me on Thursdays. They never let me take pictures of them, but insist on playing with my camera phone and taking unwanted pictures of me. I am teased, picked on, whispered about and laughed at. And I love it.

They had progressed a great amount in the past few weeks and I promised them a dinner trip. So yesterday, we headed to Kanana, a pizza cafe, where they proceeded to eat up the entire store (three medium-sized pizzas, a pasta dish, sodas and 팥빙수 -- I myself had three slices of pizza and a cup of coffee). The store owner literally shook his head with disbelief.

These two girls are world weary. And they're honest. To them, facts are facts. Beauty is beauty. Ugliness is a given. There's no beating around the bush. No subtleties. No filter. I sat there yesterday, as they explained to me why one person shouldn't be perfect. If you are perfect, you are disliked. Therefore, a pretty girl should have a bit of nastiness to her. A rotund girl better make sure she has a good personality. If you're plain looking, you ought to be smart. "Don't you want to strive to have everything? Don't you want to strive to always be a better person than you are now?" I asked them stupidly. They shook their wise little heads in unison. "No one can have everything," they explained to me, "and if you happen to have everything, you're sure to be the target of malicious jealousy."

"But I think you both are very beautiful inside and out," I tried the flattery route.

"My face isn't great, but I'm tall and thin," said Eunche, not buying into the compliment."

"And I'm pretty, but I'm short and fat, but smart," said Sunju.

I laughed at their simple logics. "And look at you," continued Sunju. A little knot of worry formed in my stomach and I stopped laughing. "Your face is fine, but you're not as nice on the inside as you are on the outside."

"Yes," chimed in Eunche, "Your outer appearance is fine, but your Corean is terrible."

No fliter, I tell yah. And I love it. I love them.