As some of you, or all of you may know, I have a tendency to make facial expressions that do not convey what I am necessarily thinking or feeling. When I attempt to concentrate on something, whether it is a lecture or someone talking to me etc, I scrunch up my forehead, furrow my brow and slightly curl my lip. This expression, although altogether hilarious for my sister to watch during her graduation ceremony, has elicited some concerned responses from teachers and people I speak to in general.
Here is the scenario:
Looking intensely at the teacher speaking at the front of the class, Kathryn wears a concerned and confused look on her face while learning the difference between a metaphor and a simile. Well, here’s the thing. She gets it. A metaphor is a literary device that takes something and uses it as a symbol or representative for something else and a simile is a figure of speech that is used to compare two things in order to enhance the image of the subject. Everything seems to be pretty normal, until the teacher stops, looks at Kathryn and says, “Are you okay, are you understanding this?” Kathryn snaps out of it and begins to explain her deceiving expression, “Oh yeah, yeah I get it, I just make weird faces when I am trying to listen.” The teacher, still suspicious of such a statement, continues on with the lesson.
Question: Why did I tell you a story in which I referred to myself in the third person? (Don’t worry, the third person thing won’t become a trend.) Answer: One of the things I’ve noticed while I have been here are the facial expressions of the people walking on the street. They all have the same sort of confused/concerned/serious flavor as some of mine. You can say that everyone here wears that face because they lead difficult lives, live from paycheck to paycheck and are tough as nails, but that is way too obvious and to me, not necessarily true. It is time I get over my fear of speaking in Armenian (I’m a little self-conscious) in order to understand what the natives actually think about their lives. Ultimately, it’s my job while I’m here to find out what drives and is behind that Armenian facial expression that I know is simply a mask for something deeper and more meaningful.
Successfully inserted, yet refreshingly cheesy simile? Check. Wahoo!
I'm quite jealous--to be able to trace a personal quirk through your ancestry must feel nice. Never having felt connected to either side of my genetic predecessors, it's something I've been curious about for some time. Now when you glare at me when I recount the exploits of my day, I can blame an entire race of people, and not just you. :)
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