Fun Things to Do to Foreign Students

If you have never seen the facial expression of someone biting into saurkraut for the first time in their life, especially if they have no idea what it is, I highly recommend it. I stumbled on to this new form of mirth last night while galavanting around Denver with my darling Keiko.

I never knew it before, but apparently I’m fluent in Japanese facial expressions. When encountering saurkraut for the first time, a Japanese face will say, "Oh my god, what the hell is in my mouth? Holy shit! I should spit it out. No, that’s not polite. What the hell is this? I should swallow it. But what the hell is it? I can’t swallow it. I’ve got to do something with it. What the hell is it? I must swallow. What the hell is it? I hope it doesn’t kill me. Actually, that was kinda good. Let’s have some more!"*

For my part I was sitting across from her feeling vaguely guilty about not having explained what it was before she bit, yet at the same time trying very hard not to laugh so hard that the spatzle came out of my nose (which would have been very cute, I’m sure). It’s added new dimensions to the spit or swallow conundrum and given me new ways to amuse myself at other peoples’ expense, provided they don’t know what saurkraut is, of course.

*I’m sure my face said just about the exact same thing when I had to try sea cucumber at a wedding, except when I got to the swallowing part my thoughts diverged towards, "I wonder if anyone will see if I discreetly vomit into the potted plant."