Learning Curve
Every day in Korea I learn something new.
Some things are language related:
Kudu does not, in fact, mean ‘grape.’ Â It means ‘leather shoe.’ Â A fact I realized after I pointed to a plate of grapes at a teachers’ dinner and proudly announced, ‘kudu!’ Â I will now always remember that ‘podo’ is grape.
Other things are cultural:
Do not wear anything other than black when appearing for a school-wide teachers’ photo. Â If possible, wear a jacket. Â Otherwise, you will ‘stick out.’
The wearing-black goes for outdoor exercise as well.
Some things are dining etiquette:
If you accidentally pick up the enormous silver bowl while standing in the lunch line, the lunch ladies will fill it to the brim with soup. Â Your fifteen minutes of lunch will then be spent drinking a bottomless bowl of broth using only a spoon and chopsticks.
Today, I learned something about first grade girls. Â Specifically, about the first grade girls in class 1-3.
They do not like snakes. Â This goes for photographs of snakes as well as, I assume, live ones.
I showed a slide of a snake striking at the camera for a lesson on “I like/I don’t like.” Â As soon as the skinny green snake appeared, the girls slapped their hands to their cheeks, Home Alone-style, and shrieked in that prolonged way that only little girls can. Â Then they shook their heads vehemently and made an ‘x’ with their fingers or arms, the official Korean gesture to express negativity.
Meanwhile, the boys threw their arms up, making a giant circle over their heads. Â This gesture has the reverse meaning, indicating that they did like snakes. Â Judging by their toothless grins and nodding heads, they like snakes a lot.
It took a few slides of puppies and kittens to calm everyone down.
Today’s lesson – no snakes in the classroom.
