You Say Tomato, I say Tomato

Memory: December, 2011

I was over in Busan (Korea's second largest city) helping a friend through his LASEK eye surgery. It was Christmas day and we were back at the clinic for a short day-after check-up. The day before, during his surgery, I had hung out in the waiting room and observed families, friends and significant others doing the same. There were a few families with small children running around, one in particular that stood out. This family was a mother and her two small boys, no older than five, who were absolute nut-cases. This woman seemed to me like the type of mother who lets her children do ANYTHING, regardless of how it might affect people around them.

So, needless to say, the boys ran around the waiting room making loads of noise and playing with the other children (at one point, two little boys got in a little fight about sharing a computer and the older brother of one threatened to punch the little one in the face---ahhh, brotherly love). One of the sons was clearly a little trouble child, as he went around the room touching people's things, grabbing their paper cups full of coffee, cell phones and the like. At one point, I turned around to find him about six inches away from me staring at me intently--deep into my eyes, I might say. Koreans are often interested in eyes that are any color but dark brown...

After a brief staring contest between me and the little boy, he practiced his English like a good boy and said "Hello!" It was evident that this family was of higher income and, in Korea, that means the kids usually speak decent English. So, I asked the boy a few questions like "What's your name?" and "How old are you?" He did a great job answering. He ran away and came back to stare into my eyes again a handful of times, and I just rolled with it.

On Christmas day at the check-up, I was waiting in a chair, when the family with the two little boys walked in. I had told my friend about this boy and pointed them out as they walked by. The little boy almost walked by without recognizing me, but just as he passed in occurred to him who I was. He got SO excited that the waygook ("foreigner") was back! He pointed directly at me and excitedly told his parents that the waygook was there. People around laughed at it, including myself. It was actually kind of cute.

So, the boys proceeded to be boys and run around, my waygook self occasionally grabbing his attention... When, suddenly the boy appeared in front of me and said in loud, clear English "Hey! Teacher! Stand up!" Most people around me knew enough English to know what that meant, and laughed. It was quite hilarious, actually!

So, I couldn't resist and did what the little boy asked of me. I followed him over to a closed cafe and he proceeded to point to all of the items in the display case and tell me what they were in English. "Apple. Orange. Kiwi. Cake. Chocolate cake." And then, my favorite thing, was when he pointed to the tomato and said it perfectly with an American accent before mumbling to himself in Korean (which I could understand) "In Korea we say tomato (think British English accent) and in America you say tomato." ADORABLE.

He may have been an energetic, spoiled little brat, but boy was he a cutie...