I feel so out of the loop with my coworkers, especially when it comes to the subject of humor, Korean style.  I was sitting in a meeting and I thought I was following along just fine when all of the sudden a burst of laughter erupted.  Everyone in the room was cracking up.  I look up and everybody was still laughing at the joke someone had made.  I later find out it was some reference to a comedy show from the night before.


 


Even ¡°Textbook¡± Lee had a smile on his face…and that¡¯s something you rarely see.  He got the name because he does everything by the book. 


 


Me, looking around all confused, I soon become the next center of attention and all eyes were now on me!  (They think of me as a foreigner)  I realized that they soon realized that I had no idea why they were laughing and that just started up a whole new second round of cows. This time at me!  ¾ÆÀÌ°í!  If only I had watched °³±× Äܼ­Æ® (Gag Concert) the night before.  It¡¯s a comedy show everyone likes to watch here.


 


Wait a second…I did watch it!  I just didn¡¯t get it. I hear some people say that about SNL segments too, right? 


 


¡°You are always serious!¡± says Mr. Kim, 44 yo office manager, ¡°even my cool joke doesn¡¯t work on you at all!¡±


 


But I¡¯m really not…no seriously!  I do have a sense of humor!  Look, I can be funny too!    See?  Ack!!  As still a student of the Korean language, I guess I am finding that I take too many things literally and fail to see the humor in a lot of what Koreans are trying to say.  I¡¯m going to have to undergo some serious culture boot camp in order for me to communicate with them the way I want to. 


 


“Every morning I will give you basic training”  he says. “every morning i send you funny email.  If you understand, then you are true Korean.”


 


Sounds good to me, suhn-sae!  Sign me up!


 


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Day 1:  Ugh…I’ve been looking at this one for about an hour now.  Everyone I’ve shown this to so far laughs. 




You always laugh at the guy who has that delayed reaction to a funny joke.  I’m now that guy!  I feel like such a blonde!  How did this happen?  Somebody help me!!!

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