Hello, my name is Sam.

Anyong!

Well folks, we've now been in Korea for five months. And we certainly have adjusted to our life here. Being stared at, pointed at, and talked about now feels normal. We no longer notice that we don't understand any of the conversations going on around us. We are used to the odd sights and smells. We know what to expect when boarding a crowded train, and we are getting better at standing our ground in the shoving match of any Korean crown. We have favourite meals, restaurants and hang outs. And we are getting very brave with using the small amount of Korean we know, or...at least we don't mind having to use our charades skills to get our message across.

However, every week we still discover new things that surprise us. Some discoveries delight us, and others don't. This week I discovered something that really makes me giggle. The confusing thing is how I have not discovered this before.

As I was walking down the hall with one of my students, she passed one of her Korean teachers and said "Sam, bye!". When I asked why she called her Sam, my student told me that Sam is the short form for teacher. I knew that all teachers are called "teacher" here. Sometimes our names are put in front. I am Cindy Teacher, but most often I am just called Teacher.

The Korean teachers are also called Teacher as well, but in Korean, which is songsangnim. However, that "Sam" revelation somehow tweaked my brain. I started hearing it all over the place. And the part that made me giggle, is that I discovered that the korean teachers themselves all call each other Sam. Yesterday I heard a conversation that thrilled me. I am going to put numbers after the word Sam just to make things more clear about which Sam is speaking:

Sam1: Sam(2), do you know where my book went?
Sam2: No Sam I don't. Sam(3) have you seen Sam(1)'s book?
Sam3: Oh yes. Sam(4) where did we put that book? Sam(1) is looking for it.
Sam4: Um, I gave it to Sam(5).
Sam3: Hey sam(5)! Can Sam(1) have the book that Sam(4) gave to you yesterday?

This was all in Korean, but I am pretty sure I understood most of it. Sam1 never did get his book, by the way. Sam5 had lent it to Sam6 who was using it to teach a class that day. I am so glad that we simply call them by their real names!