The other day, my taxi driver had a soft porn calendar and a potted plant on his dashboard.
I'm not sure what to make of that, not having ridden taxis much anywhere else. It seems to beg a Letterman-esque joke, but I'm largely incapable of humor. (Although I've been known to make drunk people laugh at my hermit jokes.)
Korean's eyes are immensely black, dark 'til one can't tell what is pupil and what iris. Perhaps they lack irises altogether - which is why they regard each other in the eye so rarely. Their souls must be so vivid, open, bare.
I wrote this soon after arriving, and it has more to do with lack of eye-contact than color. Before some fool denounces me for racism, let me note that I spent many years of my life in the Sahel, where people's skin is darker than any Asian eyes. Not only that, but to be fair I must amend myself. Eyes here vary much more widely that I was led to expect - from soft brown to chocolate black to jet. Many Occidentals interpret lack of eye-contact as a lack of honesty or frankness, but I think my point is that we could make a more metaphorical claim. Souls spill though the eyes, and if, in fact, one's soul is so exposed one should grant others the favor of diverting it. A bare soul is, after all, a heavy burden. We carry very few in our lives. So what one people obscures with gaudy color another hides by gently looking away.