Summer 2004. It was the first day of class at the hagwon* where I used to work and each new student - a mix of businesspeople, university students, and baek soo/jo** - took a turn sharing something interesting about themselves.

One girl in her early 20s, perhaps the fifth or sixth of about twelve students to speak, told everyone that she was studying Chinese in university. I asked her if she could speak Chinese. “Of course,” she replied, “I lived in China for four years.”

Master of Goofiness that I am, I felt sudden inspiration.

“I can speak Chinese too,” I said and continued on, uttering complete nonsense, “Shing shong sun hao fun me hong fu she mao wa.”

The class broke into laughter for a good thirty seconds (wow! I didn’t expect that much of a reaction) before settling down. Suddenly the woman sitting next to the university student turned to her and asked in Korean,

“So what did he say?”

*hagwon (학원) - a private institute
**baek soo (백수) & baek jo (백조) - terms used for someone who is unemployed (baek soo is for males and baek jo is for females)