"Take Off Your Hijab! This is Korea"

Some people who have never seen any hijab-wearing women right in front of their eyes may easily perceive these women as being obnoxious in their choice of summer fashion. I am not to judge that all people would have that kind of perception, but from what I was told and learned, some of the onlookers simply asserted their sense of uncomfortableness upon looking at the hijab. 

Some may even felt a sense of pity for the hijab-wearing women for having to wear the seemingly unbreathable headscarves, not to mention the whole covering attire from head to toes. Yes,  I tried to understand the standpoint of a Korean ajumma---in this case---who teased my wife to remove her hijab simply because she was concerned about my wife feeling trapped inside the heat under her dress.

Interestingly---as I pointed out earlier---the cycles of repeated stories about "why- don't-you-remove-your-hijab" nagging ajumma mostly occurs in summer. I do not dare to say that all older generations in Korea would associate hijab with oppression and repression towards women. Nope, I cannot go and talk that far. I think I need to dig deeper into that if I ever want to touch this issue.

Put those issues aside, I noticed that my wife (and probably many other hijab-wearing Muslim women in Korea) prefers wearing light colored hijab that could reflect light and heat. She also has a collection of flowery patterned ones that would easily be associated with openness and moderateness---as compared to the dark-colored ones. 

This could be one of the strategies to dodge or avoid any unexpected encounters with anyone who may feel uncomfortable or even discontented with her social appearance. Yup, being a foreigner in a mostly homogeneous country has taught us to learn how to behave and learn the hard way so as not to offend the host. 

Of course, she could have just said or defended herself by saying that it is her rights to wear what she wants. But, I think we are on the same page: we are simply temporary residents who do not want to make any unnecessary fuss that would only generate a tolerable issue into a bigger problem. We simply want to practice what we believe in without having to disrupt others.

Harmony---yup, that's the word and the reason why I do not want to talk this issue in a debated manner is because we once had a quite unique experience. It happened when we were on a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) train tour on a hot summer day in 2016. One woman in her 30s deliberately approached my wife and showed her unwavering interest in the colorful hijab that my wife was wearing. 

Long story short, she and my wife went into the train toilet together and the next thing that happened really surprised me. She was wearing my wife's hijab and managed to take a lot of pictures of herself wearing one. I did not know what she was thinking or what was on her mind. But, that particular incident really changed the way we (my wife and I) deal with anyone who are simply smirking, muttering, murmuring, finger-pointing, or even daringly forcing her to take off her hijab in Korea.

It's all about perception!

They have been perceiving us the way they have so far perceived us. We also have been perceiving them the way we have so far perceived them.

Of all so many ways (be it positively or negatively) they might have perceived us, I just want to point out the positive one that I want to jot down here. They might have thought that my wife was suffering from wearing the hijab. That was the a~ha! moment and the moment we tried to stop complaining about how some of Korean society members still find it hard to accept the hijab-wearing women adorning Korean social sphere these days.