Annie and I coincidentally spotted each other the day the Korean Student Associations’ first general interest meeting poster was tacked in the sea of other flyers. Caught up with the student media trends, their flyer showcased the signature dance move of Psy, made famous by his recent song and music video, Gangnam Style. Although printed in black and white, Psy’s silhouette stood out of the motley chaos of student textbook advertisements and club meetings flyers. Note that the flyer had said somewhere along the lines of “Everyone is invited to come – does not have to speak Korean.” It immediately sparked our interests. As big fans of the current Korean media, the both of us flew over and asked one another in unison whether or not the other could accompany in attending this meeting. It was a mess of murmurs to any stranger passing by, but we understood each other perfectly.
“Welcome to Korean Students Association. Nae ileum-eun gim syalon ibnida. Wa jusyeoseo gamsahabnida….” The lady in front of the room thanked us for coming and shared with us her Korean name.
At first it all sounded like English to me, because I have been so used to hearing Korean from watching Korean dramas (with subtitles). I was able to catch a few words here and there, but nothing made sense to me.
I looked and Annie. Annie looked at me.
I whispered to her, “don’t you wish a line of subtitles were playing across the room?” She replied, “Exactly what I was thinking!! I hope we aren’t the only ones who don’t understand.”
We looked around; everyone there looked Korean, and of course understanding every word, they smiled and nodded. Two seats down sat an African American young man. We smiled, thinking, “good, we’re not the only ones.”
Sure enough, after all the members of the E-Board introduced themselves in completely Korean, they asked us each to stand up to introduce ourselves. We only knew that was what they had asked of us when they pointed at a gentleman in one corner, and asked him to stand up and he said his name. Phew, only name. I can do that. These elementary lines are often used in Korean dramas.
“Annyeonghaseyo, je ileum-eun Nancy ibnida,” which means “Hi, my name is Nancy.” – I quickly recited in my head.
The president then announced in English as well, “When you introduce yourselves, please tell us your name, your age, your major, and hobbies! Thank you!” And the gentleman continued in Korean.
Annie and I exchanged surprised looks. “You want to just run for it? The door is right there.”
Too scared to rudely interrupt the meeting, and still interested in what the club had to offer, we watched the dominos fall onto us as it was up to our turn to speak. She spoke first, blushing, she says, “annyeonghaseyo, je ileum-eun Annie ibnida. I am Chinese, so I’ll speak in English. My hobby is listening to Korean music and watching Korean dramas, therefore this club interested me.” She sits down.
It was my turn now. All the eyes were on me. I was glad I wasn’t the first between us to speak, but I was still extremely nervous. I stood up.
“Hi, my name is Nancy.”
I paused. “Ugh, why didn’t I say that in Korean? I haven’t been listening to the others’ introductions so I can recite it in my head.” I thought to myself.
I continued the rest in English, similarly to Annie, explaining myself that I am Chinese and I also have interest in Korean culture. I felt my face reddening with every “uhm” I said.
Two other people presented themselves in Korean, and it was up to the African American’s turn. To our surprise, and everyone’s surprise, he spoke in fluent Korean – no uhms, no blushing, no nail biting, no signs of nervousness. Our jaws dropped in awe, and everyone applauded.
It was amazing how he subtly shocked everyone. With the diversity in our age and place of New York City, one just really can’t judge a book by its cover.
After all the introductions, the vice president came over to warmly welcome us in English, expressing that he was glad we still decided to sit through it respectfully and invited us to attend their upcoming party KSA was hosting. Embarrassed, we smiled, and thanked him for his offer.
Club Hours was over soon enough; it was time for class, and our humiliation was over. We exited the room to re-enter into a realm of English speaking students with English side conversations that we could perfectly understand if we wanted to eavesdrop. But of course, that’s none of our business. We were just simply glad and sighed a breath of relief. Life was back to normal.
Psy’s infamous Gangnam Style
http://openclipart.org/people/jeeeyul/gangnam-style.svg
I like your story-telling method, and the post is very intriguing. You effectively conclude the story with “life was back to normal,” which brilliantly contrasts with “motley chaos” described in the introduction.
You certainly nailed the surprise element by the way you told your story. I didn’t expect the African-American that you had introduced were going to serve such a wonderful role. I was thinking that he was simply a person you and your friend could relate to – all of which cannot speak fluent Korean.
Amusingly, I also attended a language/cultural club – Baruch Japan Club – and was faced with the same problem that you and your friend did. The E-Board members all spoke Japanese extremely well, and fast too! I could understand most of it but I could never dream of responding to or holding up a conversation with them in Japanese. It was impossible for my beginner level of Japanese. But all members seemed to got along well; there were many new members who didn’t know how to speak the language at all. But that’s what makes the club interesting, isn’t it? When you’re new to an activity/culture, there’s always something fun to do.
I really like that you included so many details in your post which made it really easy to understand and follow the story. I also thought it was a great way to pull your post together in the end by saying you re-entered into a “realm” of English speaking people because it ultimately shows how different it was in the club meeting and outside of it even though they are realistically in the same world.
Your post was so lively and such a pleasure to read! It felt like I right there beside you, feeling the same emotions that you experienced. You also had a very strong message: people aren’t always what you expect them to be. Its good that you took a chance and stayed for the meeting, certainly a “biology agitating” moment, as we say in sociology.
All the emotions you conveyed formed a very vivid image in my mind. I could imagine you sitting in that circle, just nervously looking at the person speaking, wondering what the heck you’d gotten yourself into. The story teling method you used, along with leading the reader to believe the african american man could not speak korea was very clever indeed, and made for a light hearted, relief filled ending.
I liked how you stepped out of your comfort zone to go to this club where evidently most people spoke korean because you are interested in the korean culture, and the description of your experience was very well making the reader feel like he/she was right there with you.