When I was teaching my Housewives class on Friday I told them about my weight loss. They asked how much I'd lost. I had to tell them in kilograms and since one kilogram is about 2.2 pounds, I told them I'd lost 4 Kg which is 8.8 pounds (at the time I didn't realize I'd actually lost 10.4 pounds!). They were so impressed - one woman piped up and told me I'd lost a baby! Hilarious! I countered by saying I'd be happy if I could lose 2 or 3 more babies. I have a lot of fun teaching them - once a week for two hours. They show so much concern for my welfare that I often tell them they are my 12 Korean mothers.
The topic of discussion for the day included a page in the textbook about a fortune teller. That led into a class discussion comparing American and Korean supersititions. Here are some of the more memorable ones I can remember:
- it's bad luck for a taxi driver to pick up a woman wearing glasses early in the morning - go figure
- it's bad luck to a store if the first customer of the day doesn't buy anything - therefore, I was told, many Koreans prefer to shop in the afternoon or evening so they don't feel obliged to buy something
- it's good luck if it snows on your wedding day - so, many Koreans bring cans of aerosol snow to spray above the bride and groom at weddings
- if a bride cries at her wedding, her first child will be a boy, if a bride laughs at her wedding, her first child will be a girl
- the woman who catches the bride's bouquet is predicted to get married herself within six months but if she doesn't, she'll never get married - therefore (I learned at the Korean wedding I attended) the bride usually selects someone to catch her bouquet who is already either engaged or close to becoming engaged
- it is bad luck to write your name in red ink
- the number 4 is bad luck since the the Korean words for "death" and "4" sound similar
- Koreans don't leave their chopsticks sticking up out of the bowl when they're done eating - it represents death.
