I walk further down the waterfront. Standing on a walkway that overlooks a lower path that connects the docks, I see two girls who are walking around, each holding a paper, doing what appears to me to be some kind of experiment, survey, or project. One of the girls begins to approach a man sitting on a large concrete mushroom, but then then man gets up and walks away, and the girl reconsiders her mission and rejoins her friend.
I decide to involve them with my own project, so I purposefully walk down the stairs and approach them. Instead of inviting both/either of them to participate, like I did on Day 2, this time I direct my invitation specifically towards the girl who approached the man seated on the mushroom.
I give my usual introduction and invite her to participate, to which she consents. Then I explain the parameters of the experiment, ask for her consent again, and she says "OK." Since we're standing, I suggest we walk to some steps nearby and sit there while making eye contact. She and her friend follow me to the steps. My participant and I sit down, while her friend stands nearby. This time, I am conscious to have my participant positioned so that she isn't looking into the sun. I start the timer.
Her eyes are very dark. It is difficult to tell where the pupil ends and the iris begins. I notice the black makeup on the outer corner of each eye. Periodically her eyebrows raise, then relax. I can also detect a change in shape of her eye line, periodically narrowing, then widening again. Perhaps her focus is changing? I cannot detect which of my eyes she is focusing on, or if she is focusing on either. I don't know what she's thinking, and would like to know. (However, I forget to ask this when the experiment is over.) The wind blows her bangs into her face a bit, but she does not fix them. Most of the time she has a slight, close-lipped smile. Around 30 seconds in (I think) she laughs briefly, softly, still close-lipped. Our shared experience seems to relax around 40 seconds in.
Right after the timer expires she says word in a foreign language. I thought it was a Japanese word, and I ask if she's Japanese. She isn't; she is Korean.
"Why do you do this project?" she asks.
I say that I do it to practice talking to strangers, that I am nervous before, but afterward I feel very relaxed. I do it to meet new and different kinds of people, and because making eye contact like this with anyone is vulnerable and intimate, and especially so with strangers. And I am curious to know if people will do it, and what will happen.
She consents to the use of her name and photograph on the blog!
She tells me her name is Woori and I write it down in my journal. She doesn't like the first photograph, so after fixing her hair we take another, with which she is satisfied. Yay!
I give her a new leave-behind card and tell her that she can see the post about our interaction and her picture at the blog's URL. I also invite her to get in touch if she has any thoughts, feelings, or experiences that she'd like to share with me. This is the first time I've invited a participant to follow up, if they wish.
Before leaving, I ask Woori about what she and her friend are up to today. They are doing some kind of school project, and their papers seem to have instructions and prompts on them. Woori asks me who my favorite celebrity is.
"George Clooney!"
She writes down my answer and asks why he is my favorite.
"Because he's sexy and a good actor."
We each thank the other for participating in our respective experiments, and head off on our separate ways.