I am the first of six kids. You probably already know this if you've been hanging out for any length of time, but that means that I have a pretty high tolerance for embarassment. Lord knows, my brothers have been working on it for years and I've developed a pretty thick skin because of it.
However, I have been embarassed in the last year! If you'll recall, I went to Korea last October to attend my little brother's wedding in Seoul. I was presented with an absolutely beautiful hanbok (traditional Korean dress) to wear to the wedding.
It's not a terribly complicated thing to put on. There's a slip-corset kind of thing to go on under the dress (as well as long underwear made of ver lightweight material). The first one was too small, so we got a bigger one - which was also quite tight. I couldn't really bend over in it which made getting my shoes on and off quite an ordeal so I had to have my own shoe helper - basically anyone I could snag to either take my shoes off or put them back on... but that's not the embarassing part.
Over the top of the underskirt is my blue skirt. It's attached to a bib-like structure, so it's kind of like putting on wraparound overalls. The key word here is "wrap". Once you have the skirt on and tied off, the jacket goes on, which hid a multitude of sins for me. Except one.
Because I'm so big, the skirt that wrapped around had very little overlap. I didn't think about that. So I'm walking around hannok (traditional village where the wedding was held), with my (thankfully) slip-covered rear end exposed as the not-big-enough overlap flapped open in the wind.
I probably would have gone on that way all day, but for Uncle's wife. She doesn't speak english, but her meaning was plain when she grabbed one side of my skirt, pulled it across the vast expanse of my rear and "told" me to hold on to it. Yeah. My face was a little red that day.
8 comments:
This reminds me of trying a onesie dress outfit on K this morning. She wore them the last 2 summers I think, I got them on deep discount (size 24 mo). Was pleasantly surprised when they snapped at the 'bottom' and still seemed to fit, last summer they were tight over her diapers. Until I turned her around and 3 inches of underwear showed on either side of the snaps.. sigh.. a few more for the 'outgrown' pile!
Sometimes we need no words to communicate, just a small gesture will do. This is one you will always remember. BTW...please excuse my senior moment comment on your post below about your brother n sister inlaw being in Japan...I realized later on that they were in Korea! Sorry!!!
Adds a 'wholenother' meaning to "Blowin' in the Wind."
What a special experience regardless of your embarrassing moment.
Embarrassment transcends culture. I should have participated this week - I have stories to fill a book.
ha.ha..ha... that's pretty much the Korean version of "Your dress is tucked into your pantyhose!" :)
Reminds me of those painfully inadequate doctor's examination gowns. Did notice on last visit that they've finally figured out that everyone is not size 2. In your case, glad one of the family "elders" had he never and kindness to give you a heads up that you needed to mind your flanks!
It's always good when you can look back at a situation and find the humor in it -- just makes you human :) Not sure what is worse that or toilet paper trailing behind.
Ha! ha! ha! ha! ok. That was funny Sayre!
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