shaved legs, plucked armpits, and obama's policy in afghanistan

this year some of the m5s wanted to start doing conversational english classes, so during 9th period, maddy, abby and i switch off teaching one of the two groups. today i was "teaching" (hanging out with) a group of about 10 of the juniors. at first we were having light conversation about how their weekend was--always boring, they're always just sleeping and playing on the computer--then we started talking about motorbikes and the only boy in the group showed me his motorbike scar. i, of course, had to show mine back.

this was slightly embarrassing for me, though, because i haven't shaved my legs in a week. i was like, "ughhh, guys, sorry, it's kind of gross but i haven't shaved in a while." the girls talked in thai with each other for a minute then looked at me.

"you shave your legs?"
 "yeah, usually every other day, but not always."

thai women in general don't shave their legs, as far as i understand.

"you guys don't shave your legs, right?"
"nooo."
"do you want to?"
"nooooo."
"why not?"

they didn't want the rough hair that comes from shaving. they know that if they shave their hair off, it won't be soft and thin anymore. i told'em yeah, that's true, then let them touch my gross, rough legs. does it hurt? they wanted to know. no, because it's not like the razors are going into your skin...just right against it. but sometimes if you go too fast, it hurts.

all this girl talk has everyone really going. everyone's pulling up their pants to compare hairiness of legs, and i can tell some girls are embarrassed but nobody's so ashamed that they can't speak. the boy was totally cool with all of this.

"what about your armpits?" i asked. they all made plucking motions by their armpits, to which i gasped. "NO WAY. ow. does that hurt? how long does it take? how often do you do it?" yeah, it kind of hurts, it takes about 20 minutes, most of us do it once a week.

the conversation somehow drifted to obama and they asked me if i liked him. yeah, i said, but nobody's perfect. we started talking about the afghanistan war and then i was somehow explaining the obama administration's war policy and democratic peace theory in brief (which i hope hope hope i explained right). everyone listened silently. at one point in my explanation, there was a break and i paused. "no no no, keep going," the girl next to me urged. they were fascinated. i love these kids.

i gotta go now. i promised'em i'd shave my legs today so they could feel, which is sort of creepy, but everything is a learning opportunity.