A student asked me, the other day, "Teacher! Why haraboji hairstyle?"
"Haraboji" means "grandpa." So he was referring to the fact that, as I have allowed my hair to grow out a little bit in the last several months, the gray shows more, as well as the fact that it continues its thinning, apace, up top. I guess as my hair grows longer, I end up looking older.
I should observe, as I have before, that I have NEVER had a conversation with an adult Korean (male or female) about my appearance where the question "why don't you dye your hair" DIDN'T come up. They seem to find the fact that I don't do this astounding. I have almost succumbed to the pressure, but it has always been something that repelled me as being somehow vain. I would sooner begin shaving my head, to be honest.
Well, anyway. Was I offended? No – not by the student. But I may return to the shorter hairstyle – I'm not so utterly free of vanity as all that. I'm not a grandpa yet. "Ajik" I said to the student. "Not yet."