My Friend Want to Talk to You

Sometimes, my students choose to not participate in their lesson. This can happen in the form of cancelling the lesson, simply not picking up the phone, or in very rare cases, giving the phone to someone else in the room. The last time I wrote about that last scenario was in the post A Marriage Proposal, where I unknowingly taught a lesson with my student's friend.... and then he apparently fell in love with me.

Today, my student had been drinking and asked if his friend could say hello.

Me: You want me to talk to your friend?
Student: Yes. He is right here and wants to talk to you.
Me: .... Okay. I guess I can say hello for just a second.
Student: Great! Talk to you later!

(phone is handed off)

Me: Hello?
Friend: Hi. I am very embarassed.
Me: You're embarassed?
Friend: Yes. So embarassed.
Me: Why are you embarassed?
Friend: Well, because now we are drinking. My friend and I are having the traditional Korean drink.
Me: Oh, really?
Friend: Yes. And so I am embarrassed.
Me: I see. So, you're embarrassed because you've been drinking or you're embarrassed to be talking to me?
Friend: Well..... I'm embarrassed because in this situation, we are drinking alcohol so my friend give the phone to me. 
Me: Ah. I see. Well, he said you wanted to talk to me. Is that true?
Friend: Yes. I want to practice my English with you. We work for same company, so it's okay.
Me: Haha. Okay. That's fine. Well, your English is pretty good. So, you really should be proud of your language skills.
Friend: Thank you.
Me: So, how do you know my student?
Friend: Well, we started as freshmen at the company. Now we are close. He is my best coworker at work.
Me: You mean your best friend?
Friend: Yes. He is my best friend.
Me: That's awesome that you are so close. So, do you guys go out a lot?

Friend: Yes. Of course. We go out many times every week.
Me: Oh, cool! What kind of things do you do together, other than go to the pub?
Friend: Well..... I don't know if I should tell you.
Me: Okay. That's fine. We can talk about something else.
Friend: Okay. Well, I decided I will tell you.
Me: Haha. Okay. What do you do together? Is it a secret?
Friend: Yes. Well, kind of. It's not a secret. It is illegal. So, I don't want to make trouble for my friend with you.
Me: Oh. Well, you don't have to worry about that. I just talk with your friend and help him with English. I don't communicate with your company about our lessons.
Friend: That's nice. Okay. So, I will tell you now. Even though it's illegal in Korea, we somedays smoke together.
Me: You smoke together? How is that illegal? Many of my students smoke and haven't mentioned it being illegal.
Friend: It is not the tobacco. It's the other.
Me: The other? .......Oh...... Are you talking about marijuana?
Friend: ..... yes. Haha! The marijuana. We somedays have this.
Me: Ah.... I see. Well, I won't judge you at all. Did you know that a few states in the U.S. have made marijuana legal?
Friend: Really?!?!? Ah... maybe I need to move to there.
Me: Maybe. But, I don't know if they would make you a citizen just so you can smoke marijuana.
Friend: Oh! So true. You are very correct, teacher.
Me: Yeah, I think you need to just think it through before you decide to come here. Haha.
Friend. Okay. I can do that. Teacher? I need to go. Thank you for enjoying a talk with me.
Me: No problem. I'm glad I could help you practice your English! Can you hand the phone back to you friend?
Friend: Well, he hand me the phone and then he leave. I think he doesn't want a lesson today. Bye-bye!

Apparently, my student decided that he didn't want to talk to me at all and had given the phone to his friend and walked away. Too bad for him that our student evaluations are being turned in tonight. Haha!