Get your hands off my goodies...I mean it!

Yesterday I received two wonderful care packages from my mom and my cousin. Asaa....It was Christmas in March. When I got to school yesterday the packages had already arrived. Great... now they could mock me ALL day.  This was my thought process all morning, I should do some work ( packages) let me get some tea (packages) go to lunch with co-workers( packages)..  you get the idea. My school handyman even dropped them off at my house later on that day while he installed my new sink ( that's a story for a later date). I was soo pumped to open them, that I couldn't stand to wait for the bus, so i took a taxi home. I got home and tore through my boxes like an ADHD kid on Christmas. Asaaaa...everything I wanted a more.  Minutes later my Korean friend called me ( trust me it's important that I identified her as such) and asked if I wanted to do dinner. She said she'd bring some food over so I could cook. I told her to give me a ring when she was on her way. Kate arrived minutes later and I told her of the dinner plans. She agreed and we snacked on a few Reese's Pieces as I showed her my booty.( booty: being treasure not the new baby dunk I've acquired since living in Korea) We smiled deviously the goodies. " Oh I need to put some of these away "I said as I moved to put most of my American Junk in the cupboards. "She's a snacker"!

A little bit of back story on "the snacker":When Fran came to visit she brought me snacks my first month here, one night " the snacker" came over to hang out and crushed my Cinnamon Toast Crunch ,Cheez-Its and some of my Twizzlers. ( I told you she was a snacker)

So to combat her American Snack attack I started storing the goodies away.

There was a knock at the door and wouldn't you know it was her, and she didn't call.

Unfortunately a bag of reeses, a box of Hot Tamales and a fresh box of BIG Cheez-its( the only one I received) were left on the refrigerator. Big mistake! As she sat down, I positioned myself in front of my mini fridge and hoped  to block my Cheez-its. I know that might sound really fat, but I LOVE Cheez-Its especially the BIG ones and you have a hard enough time finding them in the states. So sorry if I didn't feel like sharing. After a  short conversation I proceeded to make dinner thinking the snack crisis was over. I spoke to soon. " Oh what are these?" she asks. "you know what they are "  I muttered under my breath. She read the box opened it up and helped herself to a few generous handfuls. Now in America one wouldn't just help themselves to another's snacks ...they would generally ask first. Yeah well this is Korea. That doesn't happen."Nom, Nom, Nom" she ,"these are so delicious".. ." I know" I snapped " you can't get these in Korea" " Nom, Nom, Nom" she says with a mouth full of Cheez- Its. " Uhuh , I know" I say stirring the Tofu as I  started to feel a small twinge of  anger as she went back for a 5th handful. Debating... do I say something? do I not? Is it rude since she brought over food for dinner? As soon as I had reached a resolve to say something she folded down the bag and put the box back on top of the fridge, ( a sigh of relief, there should be some sort of handbook that cover etiquette in awkward situations like that. What you want to say is get your damn hands off my snacks, but what's the best way to convey that without snatching the box?)

As I started to cut veggies  for the pork she made her way to the bathroom. I fumed at Kate in a whisprer voice " did you see her going hard on my BIG Cheez-Its... I only ate one...I frowned... I didn't want to ruin my dinner" Kate cracks up... " I hope you're making all that tofu" she giggles making sure she didn't get out scarfed by " the snacker". I hid my Cheez-It box behind noddles and other groceries on the fridge . ( another bad move on my part). As dinner wound down and everyone had their fill , Kate did the dishes, as I tried to hook up my new DVD player. This left the snacker" unoccupied. She made her way back to the fridge found the box between the noodles and the pancake mix ,  and helped herself to a few more Cheez-Its and a handful of Reeses Pieces that were open. Kate looks at me and giggles.Ahhhh! screamed the 5 year old inside me... "get off my damn snacks. Those are MY snacks from AMERICA". Breathe, keep your cool I said to myself!

Now let me say normally I don't mind sharing just about anything with anybody, hell I share Mai chu with little Korean children on the train, but this is different, I cant just pop to the shop and buy another box.

My care packages were still sitting by my bed, " Oooh what's this from America too,?" she asked a chipper voice . As looked through the boxes she quickly lost interest... they were sans snacks!

The three of us chatted a bit more then " the snacker" jumps up very Korean style and says it's time for her to go. She puts on her shoes and the snack fiasco is over...or so I thought.

On her way out the door she grabs the box off my fridge and pops four more Cheez- Its in her mouth and then nicey closes the box" Oooh so good! Nom, Nom, Nom"! "Bye...See you girl" shes waves and just as swiftly as she arrived she was gone.

I looked to Kate, and at this point all I could do was laugh. I opened the box of  Cheez-Its to find half of the box gone!

" I only ate one" I whimpered, shook my head and laughed.

Good thing my mother will be here next month with reinforcements. The next boxes are going under the sink. So cracking up I munched sparingly on my BIG Cheez-Its and called it a night.

Confucius say: Foreign snacks are to  be closely watched when snackers are about. If they are left to long to their own devices you will surely pout.