The Exotic Teacher

Once upon a time, there was this young Filipino teacher who bravely travelled to America from southeast Asia. Lady Luck quickly found him a middle school math teaching job at a small school that sat very close to the Rio Grande River just across from Reynosa, Mexico.

One day, as the new immigrant wrote sample math problems on the chalkboard, he heard one of his seventh graders say out loud a word that sounded so familiar. The teacher turned around and saw Noe (not his real name) tentatively say the word again as he addressed another boy who promptly hurled the word back.

Instinctively, he thought that both students had  just learned about the delicious Filipino rice cake, called puto, and that they were trying to impress the whole class and their exotic teacher with what they had just learned.

"So, Noe, how did you learn about puto? Did you get to taste it?"

"No, sir! Why, sir, have you eaten puto?"

"Yes, Noe. It's one of my favorites!"

Somehow, the teacher quickly earned a new title: the teacher who liked to eat putos.

A few days later, he brought a tray of the now-notorious rice cakes to be sampled by all his students. Suddenly, to his relief, he wasn't the only one who liked to eat putos anymore!

In this corner of immigrant-friendly America, puto is Spanish for male prostitutes.

The exotic teacher was... me. :D