A: "Jason, isn't it delicious?" B: "Uhm . . . yes?"

One of the 6 month trainees in my class brought in a traditional Korean dessert/snack for all of us to have after we finished the last class I'd be teaching them for the program.

The trainees kept asking me if I thought the rice/potato dried pieces (I'm not sure what the name of it is) was delicious . . . I said it was to be polite all the while chewing on a small piece and thinking: what the hell? it's dry, there's hardly any flavor, and the texture is . . . something else.

Here's a shot of it.

And here's a close-up . . .

I can really only think of one thing that comes even close to a comparable flavor in western cultural food from Canada: burnt toast with no butter or any kind of sweet flavor topping/sauce . . .

I guess I should be proud of myself for having developed diplomacy and tact skills after nearly 5 years in Korea. When I first came here I held to my personal belief about always telling the truth in every situation . . . I've learned that this is not a universal value and that telling the truth is NOT always the best choice. Often, if you tell the truth in Korea, it leads to unnecessary stress and conflict that could easily be avoided if you just take the time to learn the expected/scripted responses for the role foreign teachers play on the Korean stage of 'reality' . . .

I don't know whether or not it's a case of my taste buds just not being developed enough, sensitive enough, to 'savor' the subtle flavors of this snack . . . or if it's just a case of I didn't have my mother and/or grandmother indoctrinate me into seeing it as delicious over the course of my childhood . . . maybe if I eat more of it I could learn to appreciate the flavor more . . .

Maybe . . .

Anyways, the 'moral' of this story is that one should just generally say 'it's delicious' every time they're asked that question in Korea--unless of course your face is turning inside out and green from trying not to be sick or something from the food you're eating at the time, lol.

I wonder where the trainees are taking me for lunch . . . knock on wood.

J