The Obama Factor

The election was over a month ago . . .

We were excited after the election knowing we were traveling abroad with a new president coming to America. We figured people would jubilantly accept us and tell us how they loved America and Obama. And you know what, we were right.

So the only other foreign teacher working in our school is Daniel. He is a black South African. I have never really met anyone from South Africa. We went out to dinner with him the other night and he had some really interesting tidbits and info to impart.
First of all, he said he was one of the first black guys in Jinju, our city. When he arrived in the school the students called him a monkey and looked to see if he had a tail. One time some children saw him on the street and they started running the other way. You know what he did? He chased them, in full view of other pedestrians, older Korean women and whoever happened to be out at the moment. Two Korean kids running full speed in front of a dark African. Who knows what the onlookers thought. In due time he caught the two children and asked them why they were running. He said, "Look at my hand. How many fingers do I have? Five. How many fingers do you have? Five as well. How many eyes do I have? Two. Same as you." Then he gave them candy and sent them on their way.
Kevin and I were dumbfounded. We still couldn't believe the part about the students looking for him tail.
Another student, one of my special students who is very bright but also very sheltered, always asked him why he was black. And his response: "Why are you peach?"
Then he told us about how the students reacted to him during the American lessons. Some students took to calling him Obama. He said, then, after Obama won, the children starting reacting to him in a more positive way. He said, "Because a black man becomes president of the United States, I get respect."

One of the few black people in our city, in a xenophobic nation where adults will scarcely hide their amusement with foreigners, a black South African living in Korea gets more respect because Obama, a mixed-race Hawaiian/Chicagoan, becomes president of the USA.
How is that for a more global world?
It is interesting to ask our students about the American elections. Despite their young ages, most knew at least some of what was going on and all like Obama. When I asked them what the Korean media had to say during the seemingly endless saga, they simply said, "That it was good." Even without knowing or understanding the greater details, everyone thinks, "Oh, this is good." Koreans had huge parties on election night (well, it was the next day here) as did most other places in the world. Americans living here got to join in equally with all the revelry. I taught a class of three older women, the "housewives" class they call it, and of course the election came up. "Did you, ah, choose - Obama?" they eagerly asked me. "Of course." Smiles and giggles, nods of agreement. I wonder what they would have done if I said no.
So last night we took a taxi home and for the first time met a cabbie who spoke some English or at least wanted to. When we told him where we were from he said, "Ah, America! I love America." Kevin and I smiled at each other. "President Obama, America, yes, very good," he said. There it was. Our dream of traveling in the world, being greeted as common partakers of a great event that happened only a month ago, when the whole world smiled and sighed in relief. Even in a world half a day away.