Everyone looked straight ahead and kept to themselves. When I broke away from the norm to look around, fellow subway goers were either playing on their cellphones or staring–if not straight ahead, then at the few foreigners. Many “waegukings” (foreigners) often feel scrutinized and under a microscope. I hadn’t looked around that long when a sound caught my attention…
SNAP-SNAP-SNAP! A distinct snapping sound came from the man to my right. Naturally, I looked. He was snapping alright. Nevertheless, this snap was no one-handed snap that every American is familiar with. SNAP-SNAP-SNAP! My eyes got wide and bright with excitement. He was using two hands to snap!
Scrutinizing, analyzing, and all the while very wide-eyed and intrigued, I leaned in to see how this snapping tactic was performed. He was humored by my apparent foreign reaction to his snap. Nodding to show recognition of my curiosity, he chuckled and showed me the layout of his hands. As my Korean language skills are very limited, we reverted to body language; I mimicked him.
One cannot snap repetitively on a quiet, hush-hush subway without turning heads. People caught on to this interchange of snapping information (I also showed him the one-handed snap, but he’s a snapping pro and already had it down pat). The best part was the reaction of these once quiet, keep-to-yourselves, subway goers. Everyone around us started snapping the two-handed Korean way while chuckling at my numerous failed snapping attempts.
Finally, with the help of my neighbor and the encouragement of my fellow subway riders, I succeeded in the two handed snap. I leaned back in my subway seat, not only satisfied with my new skill, but breaking through the cultural barriers, even for just those few minutes. After it was clear I mastered the snap, everyone leaned back in their seat, looked strait ahead staring off into oblivian, until the snap was no longer a sound but a snapshot in their memories.
A Line in the Life of Phoebe* 
I tried to submit comment on your blog before and couldn’t, and Chad said he couldn’t either. But I will try again. Here is my comment:
This is the same kind of snap they do in Iran, which you learned years ago. I guess it is an Asian thing, huh? But I always forget how too, don’t worry. It’s been a long time. Did the guy that was snapping talk to you any more after that?
No, that was the end of it. As soon as I learned the snap–which by the way is a DIFFERENT two handed snap than the one from Iran, which I DO remember–that was the end of it and it went back to “normal.”