Today my adult class acquired a new student. Eddie wasn’t there, so I had one new student and Rachel. The new student seems like a pretty standard square Korean guy. He has 2 kids, and apparently owns a semiconductor business.
We were supposed to talk about an article about The New York Philharmonic visiting Pyongyang, but this got derailed by introductions and finding out about American life. Which further derailed into why I wanted to write this blog entry.
I miss eating beef all the time. A lot. I’ve been in Korea for over a year now. When I go out with friends or my girlfriend, and they ask me what I want to eat, I only ask that it be Western, and filling. I told my class this, and this turned to the safety of North American beef.
I explained how rare Mad Cow really is -10 animals have been detected in Canada, total. This baffled them.
Next, I asked them why they were worried about it. Here comes the shocker.
Apparently Korean news reports that American beef has ground up bones ADDED TO IT DIRECTLY. Imagine trying to explain the concept of “bone meal” to someone, in their second language, in contradiction to something they heard on the news. I did it, and apparently didn’t step on any toes.
Next, I managed to successfully determine that 2 people in my class, as adults, believe that you can die from sleeping in a room with a fan on. This is a relatively common belief in Korea. One of these people is a retired nurse, just to remind you.
I elected to teach them the term “Agree to disagree,” and moved on.
Now, those of you who knew me around age 12 or 13. Think about that. I am okay with lots of someones believing a fan can kill you in your sleep.
