ddong chim

It's hard to believe that one year has already passed. I guess every year that goes by is like that...and this is no exception. I haven't posted anything in quite a while. I suppose part of the excuse is that the novelty of living in a new place has kind of worn off. It sounds strange to say...but I guess it's normal.

The funny thing is, though, that even after being here for a year, I know I've only scratched the surface of understanding Koreans and Korean culture. There are a million and one things I have yet to learn...so the ebbing sense of novelty is a poor excuse for closing my eyes to the strangeness/different-ness that really is still all around me.

I learned about 똥침 (ddong chim) pretty soon after getting here. This phenomenon is unique to Korean elementary and middle school boys and the fact that it hasn't spread beyond that demographic is probably a good thing. Literally, "ddong chim" means "poop needle," and consists of sneaking up behind a friend and poking him in the you know what with your finger. I guess if you want to surprise someone but are short on prep time, this one's a winner.

If you want to go the literal translation route, "poop needle" will do fine. I, along with my class of ...surprise...all elementary boys, came up with the moniker "poo poke." It's got a nice ring to it, I think.

And as you can see, "poo pokes" can happen anywhere. It happened to me early on, but after pinning that kid to the chalkboard and yelling at him, I've been ddong chim free. But if you're a Korean kid trying to fend off your friends/assailants, you may not be quite as fortunate.

Anyway, so even though I really don't understand "ddong chim" and many other things that go on here, my year in Korea has been endearing enough for me to sign up for round two in August. And thankfully this next time around, I'll know at least enough Korean so I don't have to resort to shoving kids into chalkboards when they try to surprise me.

Coca Cola Mashita

Usually when there's a dispute about who gets to go first, a quick round of Rock Paper Scissors will settle it. Rock Paper Scissors is practically the national pastime. I think I play it at least five times a day here. But every now and then it gets shoved aside, and the Korean version of Eenie Meenie Miney Mo takes its place.

It's fun to say. If you memorize it, I'll give you a high five next time I see you. I'm pretty good at high fives now too.

The Body of Christ and Paper Airplanes

I think Korea can be a lonely place for many foreigners. I guess anywhere can be lonely for anybody, really. Maybe that's one reason the Church is so important. We weren't meant to do life on our own. And for introverts like me, that's something I need to be reminded of more often than not.

ICC (International Community Church) has become my church home in Korea. Any and all of my meaningful relationships are in and because of this group of believers. In many ways, ICC is different from my church back in CA. But in other respects it's the same; It's a quirky group of people trying to love God and love others.

I've met some great people at church who love others well. Among them, are my friends Scott and Ashley. Back in October, they invited a bunch of people over to their place for the Busan Fireworks Festival. The fireworks were OK. I think some of us had more fun throwing paper airplanes off the 10th story balcony. My buddy Scott fashioned the legendary "Dallas Hammer" whose epic flight can be witnessed in this video.

I'm prone to forget God's goodness, and complain about all the things I don't have, but wish I did. But every now and then, I think He scrapes some scales from my eyes and reminds me of his goodness again. He is good for sending his Son. He is good for sending the Holy Spirit. He is good for giving us the Church. And he is good for giving me friends like Scott and Ashley, who's apartment just happens to be a pristine paper airplane launching zone.

오바이트

I took a quick trip down to the corner store with some students before class. On the way, we saw a particularly gross pile of vomit on the ground. So when we got back to class, I decided to tweak the lesson plan a bit.

Handsome guy. Thanks, you too.

Whether or not I’m a good looking guy is very debatable. But every now and then I get complements on my looks from complete strangers. I’ll just be walking down the street and someone will greet me with, “Oh…handsome guy!,” and then walk off. If I didn’t know better, I might try riding the wave of my own inflated ego for a while. But early on, I discovered that the “handsome guy” complement is one nearly any white guy in Korea can expect to get on a regular basis. Strange but true. Back in the states I’d be little weirded out if random guys on the street came up and said that to me, but here it’s becoming commonplace. Maybe it’s evidence of a massive practical joke that some designer of public school English curriculum decided to play on the Korean populace. “Oh, yeah…it’s REALLY common for American guys to say that to strangers. Let’s put it in ALL the books from elementary up through high school. (He he he).” Then again, maybe it’s just part of the broader cultural phenomenon of giving frank commentary on other people’s appearances. Unfortunately, the commentary isn’t all bright and sunshiny. The day after I got a haircut, my students told me that I looked like a monkey…or a big baby…with a big nose. So much for my ego THAT day.

All this to say, I’m still getting used to the barrage of blunt opinions that are flung my way fairly often. And for a while I didn’t really know how to handle the “handsome guy” complement. But then I figured I’d just say, “Thanks, you too.” And when I went out for dinner with some co-workers, I had my chance.

The owner of the restaurant was a bit tipsy and in true Korean fashion, he told me I looked handsome. So I tried to return the complement. Apparently, I didn’t use the correct honorific word for “you,” and everyone got a kick out of it. Then he wanted me to swear off any other type of alcohol from now on, and only drink macoli (Korean rice wine). And then I found out that the words “Thanks, you too” are magic…well, kind of…at least when you say them to a tipsy Korean guy who’s feeling generous.

Korean Animals

After hearing the story of the little green frog, I decided to learn the different sounds that animals make. In English a dog goes, "woof woof" or "bow wow," but in Korean, a dog goes, "멍멍" or "왈왈." ("meong meong" or "wal wal").

Check out the video to see what else Korean animals say. My favorite is still the frog.

The Green Frog

Korean kids can get really stressed out. They wake up, go to school, run home for lunch, then rush off to their respective academies where they study for the rest of the day. Often, they don't get home until 9 or 10pm. And these are elementary students. Sometimes I think the healthiest thing for these kids to do would be to ditch their after school academies, go outside, and throw rocks at things. And yet, ironically, this give-yourself-gray-hair-by-age-thirteen academic system is the reason I'm employed.

All that to say, sometimes I feel sorry for my students. So every now and then, if they're stressed out from upcoming exams, or the book we're using is really boring, I'll drop the scheduled plan and do something completely different. Over the past couple weeks, I've been asking my students to tell me Korean folk tales. It's a blast. Even if it's a pretty low level English class, there are usually enough kids shouting out details so that I get the gist of the story.

One folk tale that every kid knows is the story of Ch’ong Kaeguri. You can read it below to find out why frogs croak when it rains. You can also soak up the not-so-subtle Confucian value of obey-your-elders-or-else.

The Green Frog
[Ch’ong Kaeguri]

A Korean Folktale

retold by Heinz Insu Fenkl

Long ago, the green frog lived with his widowed mother in a small pond. The green frog never listened to his mother, and when she told him to do something, he always did the opposite. If his mother told him to play in the hills, he went to the river. If she told him to go up, he went down. If she told him left, he went right. If she told him this, he did that.

The mother frog worried about what she would do with her son, he caused her so much distress and embarrassment. "Why can’t he be like other frogs?" she said to herself. "Why can’t he respect his elders and do what he’s told?" She worried about what would happen to him when she was gone. She knew she would have to do something to break his bad habits.

Day after day, week after week, the mother frog scolded the green frog and tried to teach him the proper way to behave, but he continued to ignore her and did just as he wished. The mother frog was growing old, and she worried so much that eventually she became sick. But even then the green frog did not change his ways.

Finally, when the mother frog knew she was going to die, she called her son to her side. She wanted a proper burial on the mountain, and since she knew that the green frog would do the opposite of what she told him, she chose her words carefully. "I don’t have much longer to live," she said. "When I die, do not to bury me on the mountainside. You must bury me on the bank of the river."

The green frog looked at her forlornly with his head bowed.

"Promise me," said the mother frog. "You must promise."

"I promise," said the green frog.

Four days later, the mother frog died and the green frog was terribly sad. He blamed himself for her death and he was sorry for all the heartache he had caused her. He knew it was too late to undo all of his past misdeeds, but he could become a good frog for her now. He resolved finally to listen to his mother’s instructions. "I always did the opposite of what she told me when she was alive," he said to himself, "but now I will do exactly as she told me."

So, even knowing that it was unwise, the green frog buried his mother by the river. And when it rained, he stood watch, praying to heaven that the water would not rise. But when the monsoon rains came that summer, the river rose higher and higher – it flowed over its banks and washed his mother’s grave away.

The green frog sat in the pouring rain by the river bank, crying and crying for his mother. And that is why, to this day, the green frogs cry when it rains.

NOTE: In Korean, as in Chinese, the word "Ch’ong" can refer to both blue and green. For this reason, this story has sometimes been mistranslated as "The Blue Frog," with the mistaken notion that there must be something particular about the son frog (i.e., his blue color) that makes him so contrary. But in Korean, there is no confusion of the colors blue and green, even when they are written with the same Chinese character. The ch’ong kaeguri is a typical small green frog. What seems to be the odd specificity regarding its name in the story is due to another kind of wordplay: another Chinese character, also pronounced ch’ong, means to make a petition or a plea. The Korean term for frog is kaeguri, which is also the sound it makes: kaegul, kaegul. When the frog makes its prayer – its ch’ong – to heaven, it does so by crying out its own name. So the name of the frog, ch’ong kaeguri, can be read as either "green frog" or "frog who pleads."



©2003 by Heinz Insu Fenkl