Valentine's Day Package (This Post is a bit Delayed)

I was surprised to find a package for me at the post office the other day, when I went to mail a letter. It turned out to be a largely Valentine’s Day package from my grandparents, which included some amazing homemade cookies but also Valentine’s Day hearts. I have spent the last two days trying to explain Valentine’s Day to my students, so this could not have come at a better time. It was difficult to explain that Valentine’s Day is no longer a Christian holiday, but anyone can celebrate it. Then getting into love and hearts is something that they really need something tangible to understand.

I shared some of the hearts with my host family the night they came. At first my family just ate the hearts, until I explained that part of the point of them was reading the messages on them. And so they set about trying to interpret the messages on the hearts, while I provided explanations when necessary. My host mother poured some into the sugar bowl. After awhile, we began paying attention to other things, and my host mother stood up to reach into the sugar bowl and popped something into her mouth. She noticed that I had looked up, and smiling, quickly reassured me that it was a piece of sugar she had taken, not a candy she had neglected to read.

Those candy hearts are kind of hard to explain sometimes. It’s difficult to know what translates and what doesn’t, metaphorically. “Be my world.” The use of “2” for “to” and “4” for “for.” To understand the latter, the person has to know some English. Understanding the former requires the same metaphors to exist in both cultures, and that’s harder to know. When I gave hearts to my conversation club kids, they of course wanted to know what the hearts meant. They giggled for the one’s about kissing, and probably wondered why someone would want another to “jump 4” them. Frankly, I wonder about that and I speak English.