One night John came over to my house to pick me up for dinner. My brother’s friend Chris was over and they were talking in the living room. Chris said to my brother jokingly, “Man... You’re so bad... You’re a big pimp.” John overheard and replied in his most perfect English, trying to be protective of my brother, “No, he isn’t bad, he’s actually a good boy. And he is definitely not a playboy.” My brother and Chris stared at John in disbelief. Chris was so shocked he apologized to my brother for offending him. As for John, I knew he felt proud for sticking up for my brother. I know he meant well. but he just didn’t underatand the language.
There were little things that I eventually became accustomed to. For instance, John and I always had to watch TV with the caption turned on and I had to be careful not to use any slang that he wasn’t f***liar with. I had to speak slower. I always had to explain why we did certain things here, versus how they did them in Korea. I had to constantly recap4 the stories