I have never been a fan of those “everything I ever needed to learn I learned in kindergarten” Spam e-mails or Chicken Soup for the Soul bullshit, but over the past couple weeks, my kindergarten class has hit me with some amazing pearls of wisdom. At least once a week my students will proclaim that I am “한국사람 (a Korean person).” In spite of the fact that I am white, to them, the fact that I live in Korea, understand Korean, like kimchi, and can yell at them in Korean if they are being unruly, is good enough for them.
At least once a week one of them will ask where I am from. When I explain that I am from America they become confused and will protest (”No! 한국사람이에요!”) So these kids are willing to look past the color of my skin and bestow Korean nationality upon me simply due to the reasons cited above.
On a similar note, last night I met with my adult private students. They use some sort of textbook, and last night we studied the “have to/ should / can / must / ect.” In the text there was some passage about different cultures and things people should and should not due in those cultures (ie. “You shouldn’t point your feet at people in Thailand as it is considered rude”). Anyhow at the end of the passage, there was some discussion questions. One of the things to discuss was the idea of “When in Rome do at the Romans,” and things that foreigners in their country (Korea) should do. Without even pausing both women proclaimed, “Try and speak Korean!”
So foreigners living here, if you want Korean kindergarten students to offer you citizenship, and thirty-something Korean women to respect you more, try and speak some Korean.
