What the Fox Say?

It always strikes me how trends spread here like rapid fire.  It's because Korea is such a small country, and it's so intensely homogenous.  A few examples of this in the classroom:

1.  Mother, Father, Gentleman.

If you are unaware of the latest Psy song, his sequel to "Gangnam Style," it's "Gentleman."  It's a song whose chorus goes "I'm a mother, father, gentleman." 

This is fun for English teachers.  And by 'fun' I mean 'kill me, kill me now.'  EVERY SINGLE TIME I have to teach a new class about family I encounter this.  As I teach "It's a mother, it's a father..." I get interrupted by a rambunctious student who yells "Teacher, TEACHER!! Mother father one more time."  So I roll my eyes and monotonously say "Mother, father..." and wait while they all yell "GENTLEMAN" at an ear-piercing volume.

2.  Let It Go.

This one in actually cute.  At this point, I don't think there is a single person in Korea who has not see the movie "Frozen."  Not one.  Even the president must have seen it.  It's all anyone talks about and if that wasn't enough, "Let It Go" plays in every single coffee shop and bar.  Mention the word "snowman" and instantly students yell back "teacher, oh-la-puh" (Olaf).  If I say, "okay let's do something else" this prompts "Teacher, Elsaaaa."  Yeah, yeah.  One day, as I was trying to teach 6 four-year-olds about toys I was interrupted by a boy in the class named Cole, who started to yell "Let it gooooooooo" as loudly and off-pitch as he could and for the next five minutes of class I endured a rousing chorus of the words "let it go, let it go" on repeat because that's all they know.

3.  What Does The Fox Say.

The most obnoxious example of this is "What Does The Fox Say?"  Though I'll admit this song has come in handy when teaching animal sounds, this song has become the bane of my existence in ways.  Like I said, it's fun to use this song when I want to ask my class about what a cow says or rabbit says.  "What the cow say?  Moo moo moo moo moo moo moo moo moo."  You get the idea.  However, I have one class who was clever enough to figure out that "What the fox" sounds a like like "What the ..."  (fill in the blank, reader).  This class will sit in class and go "What the foc...x say."  To which I respond, "yeah, that's...that's a good one guys.  You're so funny...ha. ha. ha."  Sadly, they don't understand sarcasm.

Jeonju

Off the bat, I'll know I'll get a little backlash for this one.  I'm fine, seriously.  I always use my judgement.

Last Saturday, February 1st, was New Year's Day in accords to the Chinese Lunar Calendar which is also in practice in Korea.  So I decided to get an little escape from Yeosu and go to a town called Jeonju which is known for it's traditional folk village "Hanok Mal (한옥마을). " 

The last time I visited Jeonju, it was virtually dead.  Mostly everything way closed.  I feared this may be the case once more, since it was a holiday.  WRONG.  It was so packed in the village I felt like I was in Shang-Hai.  (Politically incorrect??)  It was so hard to get anywhere, there were so many people.  This fact is why I knew right off the bat that someone was following me.

While pushing and shoving my way through the village, I made a second-too-long eye-contact with a guy who had a grammatically incorrect English shirt on.  This one was particularly offensive to the name of English and I without thinking did a double take to 1. read the shirt and 2. throw my hands up in anguish.

Later on, I decided I needed a break from the madness that ensued around me as Korean people in general cannot a. walk in a straight line b. NOT walk in a blockade of the throng type variety or c. let anyone through or EVER move out of the way.  They just can't allow it.  I decided to sit down and drink some coffee.

I chose a coffee shop with a really cute lion dog in it.  You know, this kind:   I pet the dog and somehow I scared it.  I looked up to see if anyone was around to share a 'haha' moment with, and who did I see through the window but the guy with the bad English shirt.  I thought, hmm, that's a coincidence.  But deep down, I knew something was up.

I got my coffee just as I was finishing it I noticed that the bad English shirt guy was down in the coffee shop, sitting at a table a bit near mine, but not drinking coffee or any liquid of any kind in fact.  Red flag.  Finally he got up and, as these things always turn out for me, he came over to my table and asked to sit with me.  I think my exact words were "...ugh...sure..."

And so he did.  He asked a few generally questions and then I got hit with it.  "So, are you a Christian?"  Ugh.  I came to Korea because I thought this was a country full of Buddhists.  I could NOT have been more wrong about anything in my life.

I avoided the question entirely because nothing motivates a missionary more than someone that says "no" to that question.  I tried to get up to leave but he decided that he was going to be a part of the rest of my journey through Jeonju.  I couldn't shake him.

We went to look at an art gallery.  Inside, the owner thought we were a couple and took about twenty pictures of us together.  When he finally noticed my somewhat horrified expression, he asked me why I wasn't smiling and the bad English shirt guy finally explained that I wasn't his girlfriend.  That was awkward for everyone involved there.

While in the shop, the bad English shirt guy decided he needed to buy me something so I let him buy me a postcard.  Hey, I'm not one to pass up free gifts...but it's not going to convert me over to Christianity if that's what he was hoping.

After we left I needed to just leave Jeonju.   I couldn't take it anymore.  Just as I was about to hail a cab, the bad English shirt guy said he'd drive me to the station.  I'm not one to pass up a free ride...so there I went.

I had thought we had gotten past the God-pushing part of our time together but it turns out that the car ride was the perfect opportunity for him to make me watch God videos on his cell-phone.  Videos so cheesy and terrible that I could have vomed everywhere.  Vom.com/youtubegodvideos.  Bleh.

What do you say in response to these videos?  I just said "um...that's nice."  I have no idea.  When we finally arrived at the station I just kinda booked it.  See ya never.  Like one cheesy youtube video was going to convert me into a Christian.  Jeez.  Can't we all just believe what we want to believe quietly to ourselves in peace?  Why do people have to shove their religious beliefs down other people's throats?

Anyway, Happy New Year's.