Musical Card

I was sent a musical birthday card from the U.S., the kind the plays a song when you open it.

I took the card to my classes here at our English academy (we're located a bit west of Seoul) to show my students.

Turns out that probably 95% of the students had never--never ever--seen a musical card before.

They were truly fascinated by it, wanting me to open and close it again and again, looking at the back to see where the music was coming from . . . one girl just stared at it with an open mouth for a long time (while I tried not to laugh).

We talked about it in the teachers' room and basically decided that it is one of the things that Korea--in its technological jump forward--passed by.

Kind of like personal checks.  They never happened here.  You can get an ATM-generated check, but basically it's either cash or card or cell phone payment (mostly debit/credit cards).

As I showed the card to more students, I began to feel a bit like a museum curator, showing off a treasured item from the past.