새전북신문

Pig or Dog?

기사 작성: 잉그리드 전주교대 교수 - 2012.05.31 20:54

Walking past a neighbor’'s garden on Sunday night I noticed that the green peas were ripe. I love fresh green peas. I was bad and took two of them and ate them on the spot. They were delicious. A lot of people here think I am weird for liking raw green peas but when they are young they are very good. So since Monday was a holiday I went to Nambu market on Tuesday to hunt for peas. Actually, I was hunting for sweet corn too but found none. I did get some at a big local store last week but I was hoping for fresher. Since I didn’'t leave until noon, I drove my car and took my dog, Spike. He likes any adventure and I made sure he drank some water before he left the house. He found it cool along the riverside and followed without complaint to the area with the stalls selling fruit and vegetables. I kept a close watch on him because he likes to urinate on the stalls which isn’'t so conducive to selling food and reasonably upsets the food sellers.
He always gets more attention than me, which is fine by me. As soon as we walked up the stairs from the river we got attention.
Almost no one else was out shopping and the fact that Spike is a strange looking black dog in Korea and I am also not a native always makes us stand out. Many of the grandmothers were commenting on Spike immediately. One lady came over with a plastic bowl of water and told him to drink. He just looked at her. She made a gesture to the bowl and then he noticed the water and drank. She laughed and said he must not understand Korean but does understand body language.
All the old ladies were watching him drink as I was purchasing cucumbers. The lady with the water told him to drink more and he did. He ignored her third entreaty and then she splashed some water on him and then poured most of the remaining water on him, worried he might be too hot. I thanked her and then we continued on our way. I found some good looking potatoes and hit the jackpot with some peas. I bought two bowls of them and tucked them into my backpack with the rest.
We continued along the path among all the stares and comments from the sellers. I could hear a few comments from some other passersby who were debating whether Spike is a dog or a pig. I have often heard this before. I suppose my dog has some similarities to a mountain pig, seeing his coloring, current length of his hair and his chubbiness could contribute to a pig silhouette. One woman asked me his name.“" Spike,”"I said,“" Like in volleyball.”"and I made a spiking motion. She smiled.
At a few more stalls I could hear some women talking about me.
I think the one woman is my neighbor’'s friend, who I had seen isiting with her. She knew a lot about me and where I worked.
I could hear her clearly but maybe she didn’'t know I could nderstand her. It doesn’'t matter, at least she has her facts straight and is not telling people I am an imported wife from the Philippines.
Finally, in English, one elderly woman said “"Is that a pig or a dog?”"I was a little surprised. No one had asked me that in English before. “" It’'s a dog of course. Children never have a problem telling that but older people do.”"I answered. “"It looks like a pig.”"she said.
“"He has paws, not hoofs and look at his nose. Not a pig’'s nose, a dog’'s.”"I replied and continued on my way.
My little pig dog made it back to the car after I got some onions and we returned home. He seemed unfazed by the questions of his species or having a stranger pour water on his back and I just thought that it was another interesting story to tell my friends later while I munched happily on my fresh peas. /전주교대 교수

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