
Whijin and Wonjin here were two of my ESL students. On the day of our last lesson, I took them on a field trip to Locopops. Like most folks, they were pleasantly surprised by the flavors: pineapple lemongrass, mango chili, mojito, even chocolate bacon. (WARNING: the rest of this story is not for the squeamish!) Fortunately, we had polished off our pops before the boys started getting creative. "They should make banana beef...cherry chicken...watermelon fish!" This kind of talk quickly escalated into a full-fledged gross-out contest, and you can imagine where the minds of adolescent boys go. If hanging out with my nephews has taught me anything, it's that there's only one way to handle such a situation. You've got to jump in with both feet. "How 'bout cinnamon armpits?!" I offered. In my opinion, this was a much less offensive suggestion than some of the others that had been batted about, so I was quite surprised by the boys' responses. "Uuuuuuugh! If they make that, they bankrupt!" and "That make my mouth hurt!" When the gagging and giggling had subsided, I had a moment of quiet satisfaction. I had won the gross-out contest!