180 centimeters
By Carlee Jensen
CSPA Class of 2010
Yeon Woo asked me how tall I was today.
“Five eleven or six feet,” I said, “I’m not sure.”
It’s a reflex answer, the response I always give to the not-uncommon question. I wasn’t expecting Yeon Woo’s response, though.
“Five eleven?” She said. “I don’t understand that concept.”
As it turns out, in South Korea everyone is measured in centimeters. Yeon Woo is 160 centimeters – about 5’3″ – and my “five eleven” was meaningless to her.
The United States is one of the few countries that still measures in feet and inches, pounds and ounces. Metric measurements are meaningless to me. Talking to Yeon Woo this morning made me wish I knew the metric system a little better.
For the record, I am about 180 centimeters tall. I’ll have to let Yeon Woo know.
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The best of the 2010 CSPA Workshop student blogs have been nominated to appear on the CSPA Workshop website by instructors and counselors. This post was nominated for inclusion by instructor Jessica Davis.
