Snakes, Pigs and Male Virility

Korean schools have school festivals a few times a year, where the entire school decorates, kids compete in games and show off their various non-academic talents. They usually look something like this:
This is not my school but you get the idea.

My co-teacher had mentioned a few weeks ago that our school festival was coming up and asked if I wanted to perform. I chuckled heartily to myself and set her straight on the facts. The facts being:
a). I don't even sing in the shower, much less in public (usually - thanks for the emotional scarring from that one night, Eric), and
b). people tell me that while dancing I am dangerous to wander near as one of my awkwardly flailing arms might sock them in the face.

Maybe I should have explained all this at the time but I just went with "haha, no."

This past Monday, the week of the festival, my co-teacher approached me and said "you need to end your after school class early today."

"Why?" I asked, thinking I was going to score some extra lesson planning time.

"We have festival dance rehearsal after school."

"What? That's a bad idea. I can't do that," I told her.

"I think you, uh" she hesitated, as if trying to find the right word, "you must do it. You must do it."

And what song and dance were we practicing? Well, I just happen to have this music video.



As my fellow teachers/dancers explained (or from what I understood, anyway) the song is about a girl who finds a bunch of snakes. Koreans traditionally believe that eating snake will increase a man's stamina and virility. So, the girl sings that she will take them home to her father and he will be so happy.

Since the band, Kara, wears school uniforms in the dance, the other teachers thought we could all just wear some old student school uniforms left by graduates. I love my school.

In all seriousness, though, I wasn't at all sold on performing, even after I saw the music video. But if I get to wear a cute school uniform, hells yeah, I'll dance and sing my ass off.

(This last comment may have sounded creepy. Please understand, getting to wear a school uniform was a childhood dream of mine.)

Oh, Sailormoon brainwashing.

(I'm not sure that explanation made me come off as less creepy...)


Anyway, just when I was really beginning to get into it (I'd finally memorized the opening lines I was supposed to sing!), they cancelled the festival because a few kids are sick. Swine flu, you ruin everything.