Monday, 5/16, continued

A couple of days ago I played a game in my beginning class called "I'm Going on a Picnic". No, it's not the usual game where you name something to take on the picnic and the next person adds something and then has to repeat your item, etc., and on to the next person. This game requires the leader to name things they'll bring that starts with their initials, but in this case I used only the "B", since the others don't have last names. The trick is then to see if the other players catch on and offer to bring things that begin with the same letter as their names. Well, my students kept guessing things and I kept saying "no", so eventually I thought I'd try to help them out and after someone asked if he could bring a knife, I said no, but that Khanda could. Khanda looked at me with this expression of disbelief and she and Haly burst out laughing. I looked at Haly for an explanation and here's what had happened. Khanda is a Buryat, one of the ethnic groups present in Mongolia, originally from the area around Lake Baikal. Apparently, Buryats are known as being fierce tribesmen, fond of their long knives (which Haly demonstrated with a flourish, drawing an imaginary blade out from under an equally imaginary robe and brandishing it in the air). Khanda thought I was making a reference to her being a Buryat, which I, of course, knew nothing about, nor did I know anything about the group's reputation. But everyone had a great laugh about it and I learned something. Luckily she didn't take any offense at my comment!