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.