Wobble, Bow, What up?

While sitting in a restaurant in India in 2011, I had my head in a menu and mumbled off something I thought I would like to order to a waiter. Imagine my surprise when I looked up from my menu and saw him wiggling his head from side to side. Not up and down in  a 'yes' movement, side to side, as if he was trying to touch his ears to his shoulders. After each person I was with ordered he would make this gesture for 'yes' and I just began grinning. It looked like so much fun, this little wobble of the head that he was doing, and I just thought it was so much cooler than nodding the way I was usually do. Someone mentioned he looked a little like a bobble head, which was very true, but that made this all the more appealing in my eyes. So of course I tried to mimic his movements over the next 9 days of my visit in his country. I ended up looking more like an idiot than someone trying to fit in with the customs of India, but I had such a fun time participating!

As I woke up from a sleepy long flight to Korea this past August, gathered my belongings, and exited the plane the flight attendants bowed to me and said Thank you in Korean. At first I didn't think much of it as I was half asleep, but then when I got to baggage claim someone else bowed in my direction. When I met my recruiter as I exited the airport in Seoul, he did the same, and so on and so forth. At first I felt very uncomfortable not knowing if I was supposed to bow back to him or what the protocol exactly was. But as I have lived here now for almost 5 months I have grown to truly love this tradition. It is such a respectful way to greet someone, regardless of if you know them or not, it's better than just a simple wave. It just seems like what people deserve. Koreans, as well as many other Asians, are giving others a moment of their time to acknowledge the importance of the other persons existence.

Driving down a popular street in my hometown I look out my window and see a group of people chatting with one another. A friend comes walking up to the group and the infamous head nod, up and down, begins. The footnote of this gesture is 'What up?'. It's so typical Americans to be so relaxed and informal in their greetings. Sure there are the huggers, and wavers, the people who will dap you up (younger generation term) but no where else in the world do you see the 'What up' head nod! So just like the wobble of the head is unique to India, and bowing is a well known Asian custom, the head nod is our gesture in the States. I do it all the time, whether someone is far from me or close by, I give them the 'What up' nod and a big smile! Sometimes it's nice to have an informal greeting to just say 'hey'.  And I will admit, getting a nod back from American teachers here in Korea is quite a nice taste of home.