From the Mouths of Babes (highlights from this week at school)

In one of my intermediate reading classes we were reading a selection about Howard Hughes, the rather eccentric Hollywood legend who “led an exciting life.” We talked about the meaning of the word “exciting.” I asked my students what they thought leading an exciting life would entail. One of the students responded, “Studying very hard and getting a good mark on the test.” Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore . . .

From JunHo, another intermediate student, out of the blue, “Kate School is hell.” Well, the sentence structure is correct, he got his idea across clearly . . .

And in another intermediate class we were discussing the meaning of the word “daredevil.”

Me: “What are some things a daredevil might do?”

Student: “There were these children, who had really dirty clothes, and ate dirt all of the time behind the house. Their parents went went to the hospital to drink poison, but then they didn’t eat the bark.”

Me: “Hmmmm. Okay. Next question.”

Don’t even know where to begin with that one.

The “p” and “f” sounds are interchangeable in Korean. Several students were giving each other a modified version of the middle finger, saying, “Puck you!” and giggling uncontrollably, thinking they were saying “bad” words. One of the teachers turned to me and said, “Well, I have to go f now” and headed to the restroom. I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. No one else thought it was funny.

Woobung Tower Land

I’m not making that up. There really is such a place, right here in my new home town of Daegu. It’s an amusement park. Sort of has the feel of Walt Disney Land how I imagine it was in the 1950’s. “It’s A Small World” was even playing as we entered through the gates. And you would have thought Chanta and I were Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Children would stare at us as if they had never seen anything even resembling a white person before. They would point and say, “Wegug saram!” “Foreigner!” After the, oh, twentieth time this happened, I was tempted to point back and exclaim, “Hangug e!” “Korean!” But I didn’t. No need to start an international incident. We had so much fun. Roller coasters, rides that flipped us upside down, rides that spun us around. And the lines weren’t that long. This isn’t a screaming society, though. You could tell where the white girls were on the ride.

Interesting Things I’ve Noticed. . .

**You can only buy toilet paper in packs of 24 rolls

**You can only buy banannas in pre-priced bunches of 20

**“Cereal Milks” – a bottle of milk that is sweetened so that it tastes like the end of the bowl of Sugar Smacks

**The largest bill here is 10,000 won – the equilavent of $7.80.

**Tonic water and soju come in packaging that looks remarkably similar. That could be bad. Very, very bad.