Thoughts on Snack Time

I stepped outside today to find the weather cold and rainy. Good thing I was armed with a sweet hand-me-down rainbow umbrella that was given to me by my 72-year-old Korean best friend. That's right, Mr. Peter is my best friend and the father of my boss. He is employed by the school to take care of the Native (that's me). He does a great job. He refers to himself as my "tour guide" and takes me to do all the fun stuff like pay bills and go to the doctor. His interests include his lovely wife, hiking, and drinking tea (but only if it is served at the correct temperature...I have received an impromptu lesson on how to do this properly when he showed up at my apartment unexpectedly one morning to bring me the aforementioned umbrella). He also likes to bring me little gifts, such as a planner and some instant rice; the planner because I accidentally almost missed a meeting with my boss, and the rice because he noticed I didn't eat a lot of it at lunch and thought I should probably work it more seriously into my diet. That said, he takes care of me and I am grateful to have such a caring bestie on this side of the globe.

That was not supposed to be the topic of this post, I think I might have gotten a little carried away. I just really love my rainbow umbrella. BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I LOVE SNACK TIME!! You see, on Tuesdays and Thursdays the kids are in class for two hours straight, and they get really hungry. I know this because around the same time everyday they all start chanting in unison "Teacher, hungry!" and rubbing their bellies and pretending like they are dying and fall on the floor. They can be really dramatic sometimes...this same phenomenon takes place when they get a paper cut...the slightest bit of blood and they totally freak out. Anyway, the time always comes when the receptionist shows up with a tray full of goodies! And what kinds of goodies would those be, you ask? Weird Asian goodies that I find completely disgusting, of course!

It's bad enough that I teach a speaking class and the kids repeat everything I say (in some of the classes they have figured out it is really funny to repeat EVERYTHING I say, in which case I get them with the old "I'm an idiot" trick, which I think is extra funny since they don't know what idiot means) but when they are talking with their mouths full of whatever horrible smelling treat the director has blessed my classroom with that day, it makes me more than a little nauseous. I know it's cold outside, but I'm opening the window.

For the first few weeks, I tried not to let snack time distract the kids too much. But when week after week I couldn't figure out what it was they were eating, I started to ask. One of the mystery treats looked something like string cheese. I was jealous at first, until I found out that they were eating room-temperature sausages. Then there was this one thing that looked like a big flat piece of crunchy bread. One day a student offered me part of his. I asked "What is it?" and he paused, and then replied "cookie". I smelled it, and it did NOT smell like a cookie. So I asked another student who replied "fish". Hmm. That's a little far off from cookie. So then I asked the class and they all decided that it was a "fish cookie". I decided to be brave, and then almost immediately regretted that decision. Quite possibly the nastiest thing I have ever had in my mouth...wait...correction- the nastiest thing that has EVER been in my mouth would be the cooked bug I ate at the cherry blossom festival two weeks ago. It looked (and tasted) like a small cockroach. I would not have done that either, but I couldn't have been shown up by Meghan's mom. Wow, she is such a badass. Anyway, snack time is really really awful and I dread it everyday.

Now, I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that snack time is also one of my favorite times of the day. Sharing. The kids are so happy and willing to share with one another and it can be truly amazing to watch. For example, one of my students does not like the "fish cookie" (smart kid) so every time they get one, he works very hard to break it into seven equal pieces and gives one to each of the other students in the classroom. The first time he did this I tried not to cry. Another day each student got a little cup full of what looked like spicy fruit loops. One of the kids accidentally knocked his entire cup on the floor. Without hesitation, each of the other kids took a little handful from their cup and put it in his until his cup was full again. This time, I think a tear squirted out. And yet a different day, one of the students was absent, so there was an extra snack and drink. Instead of fighting over who would get two, they all decided that I should get the snack because I didn't have one.

Koreans are, in general, more worried about the group as a whole than they are about themselves. This doesn't happen just at snack time with my students, I also witnessed it over and over during the Easter egg hunt when students were giving their extra eggs to the kids that didn't find any. At the risk of sounding sappy...wouldn't the world be a better place if we took this simple concept and applied it more directly to our actions everyday? Sharing. Think about it.

Up Next: The Top Five Things That Might Kill Me In Korea