There is one thing about living in Korea that I have never gotten used to, and that's when groups of middle and high schoolers stop what they're doing, point at me, giggle, and yell HIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!! You really have to experience this to realize it's not all that cute. Sure, it might sound fine and you're probably thinking "So what, say Hi back". I thought this too when I got here. WRONG.
First of all, when I'm walking with someone else and having a conversation, I find it utterly rude to be interrupted by squealing children yelling at me. Second, the fact that I'm being pointed and giggled at makes me feel violated, zoo-animal like, and frankly a little violated.
So I decided to start having a little fun with the f*ckers.
At first I simply ignored them, but that didn't turn out to be any fun. Then, when they started giggling and pointing, I started giggling and pointing back at them. This simply made them giggle harder, which wasn't really the reaction I was looking for. I then upgraded antics, and learned how to say "What the hell are you looking at?" in Korean. The responses I get to this I can't understand, because well, I don't speak Korean. So again I was bored.
Asher proved to be more fun than I bargained for. Since Koreans are mostly NOT fans of dogs, whenever I'm walking him and I get the giggling and HIIIIII, I let him a little looser off his leash, which sends him barelling towards the middle of a group of 13 year old feet. The screaming and sheer terror this ignites in the kids makes me laugh. I know, I'm a horrible person. But it excites him, and who am I go keep my dog from being happy?
I've also become a fan of sticking my tongue out at them. It's not mean, and it makes them laugh. I see them staring, I stick out my tongue and cross my eyes. I get bonus points if they do it back.
When really little ones point and stare, I like to favor the bite. I look at them like I'm really mad and then snap my teeth together. This usually results in a wide eyed stare, and open mouthed gasp, and an immediate turning around back to their parents. I'm a huge supporter of teaching your kids manners, and not to stare at other people. It's rude.
Today was my crowning glory of having fun. It's probably totally wrong, but whatever.
Liz and I were walking downtown. And a side note, I saw more coffee girls today than I have ever seen on any given day, and one even said HI to us!!! How exciting is that?! I know, I was pretty pumped. ANYWAYS.... we were walking downtown, and about 100 feet in front of us was a gaggle of twittering 13 year olds, probably 8 or 9 of them. I knew we had a split second before we were spotted, so I said to Liz "Ssssh, play along". As suspected, as soon as we were within their range, they all started pointing, giggling, waving, and saying "HIIIIII". I waited until we got right up to them, saw them waving, look at them and did the following: I pointed to my ear, made an X with my arms, and then used sign language to Liz. All girls immediatley quieted and a chorus of "aaaaaaahhhh" echoed around the sidewalk. Annoyance averted.
I'm probably going to hell for what I do to kids here. But seriously, I'm not much of a drinker and I have to keep myself entertained somehow....
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