Answers to burning questions we have about Korea

Never saw a hard-shell taco in Mexico.

It must be an American thing. Like Chinese fortune cookies.

No spaghetti and meatballs in Italy too. So I’ve heard

I can not believe I'm the only one who likes hard tacos......

Don Hobak grrrrrrrrr

Also the last line in your post....Meant for me? 
Go suck it you hobgoblin!

I love hard shell tacos.  I've never been to Mexico and for most of my life the Old El Paso Taco kits with their sauce was my definition of a taco.  Costco used to carry them years ago and so did Carrefour when it was around.  Some of the kits had the little taco stands to help out if you were lucky.  Then Cotsco stopped carrying them and Carrefour flew the coop.  I miss Americanized Taco night. 

Why have Old El Paso taco kits disappeared when taco places have been sprouting up everywhere?  I should be able to pick them up at Emart. 

Why do so many of the gym bros here practically sit on their partners' faces whenever they're spotting them? Are they trying to micro-manage their breathing with their ball sacks and buttholes?

You just don't understand bro culture 

Why do so many of the gym bros here practically sit on their partners' faces whenever they're spotting them? Are they trying to micro-manage their breathing with their ball sacks and buttholes?

With American football not really being a thing here, this is the only way they can get sacked.

What does this couple do for work? What are they like?

They're married and probably late 30s, early 40s.
 Sometimes with a baby.  She's wearing a Moncler coat and looks miserable.  He's wearing a full tracksuit and carrying a clutch bag.  I've seen carbon copies of this kind of couple over and over again.  Are they rich or what? What kind of job do you think?

I can not believe I'm the only one who likes hard tacos......

Don Hobak grrrrrrrrr

Also the last line in your post....Meant for me? 
Go suck it you hobgoblin!

I like tacos.

Why do so many cars have heavily tinted windows? Do they think it'll prevent the skin from darkening?

Possibly.
I think it's also perceived to be an indicator of wealth: limos, fancy sports cars, government cars etc all have tinted windows.
It affords the occupants privacy: with enough tint, you can pick your nose in peace at the intersection.
Related to privacy would be anonymity: it's easier to drive aggressively when people can't see who the $%^& is that just cut them off, turned on their blinkers, slammed on the brakes, and turned off the engine. Also, I heard from somebody that making eye contact with another driver at an intersection is like giving away right of way here in Korea lol.

Question
Why do schools open for 2 weeks in early February? I've asked and never got a universal/straight answer. A few changes to the system and some proper scheduling could easily manage an uninterrupted holiday period.

One answer I got was that this extra time was largely for the homeroom teachers to collate grades, and write references for highschool students. At this point, all of their grades will have come in, and the teachers can use that school period to focus on paper work and wrapping up the school year.

Question
Why do people spit? I've heard numerous reasons (it helps prevent cancer while smoking etc.) but never one universal theory. I'm guessing nobody really knows and Korean teenagers simply do it to emulate adults.

Yeah, it's pretty disgusting, unhygienic, and horribly anti-social. Back home it's mostly the rebellious crowd who does it (teenagers, mostly), so I'm guessing it has some macho appeal. Certainly don't see those few Korean women who smoke puddling saliva around their shoes!

Why does every school need a principal and vice principal? One of my elementary schools has a total of 40 students and I've heard of ones with fewer. Do we really need a VP and principal to run such a small school?

Probably a tradition thing. It's how it's always been done, so we should continue to do it today. Governmental positions are very prone to this, I've noticed (as are a lot of governmental practices in general).

Why is it that showing emotion is not ok? Why is there not much sex ed here and why is there so little emotional intelligence?

I get saving face but....

In some of James Clavell's books he writes about how Chinese people think there's a dragon god or something in their lungs, and they have to spit to get it out. Wouldn't surprise me if he was just making up crap though.

Why is it that showing emotion is not ok?

Just wait a few threads and you'll see someone ranting about how Koreans show emotions that we'd keep under control or whatever.

Why is there not much sex ed here

Students learn very little from sex ed beyond anatomy and "these diseases exist, wear a condom", which pretty much any kid knows/can find out if they aren't in an ultra-strict household. If someone isn't wearing a condom it's not because they don't know that condoms can prevent pregnancy and disease, it's because sex feels better without one and they've tricked whoever they're hooking up with into letting them f___ without wearing one. Thinking people don't know what condoms are for or what they do is on the level of people who ask "Why are you smoking? Don't you know it causes cancer?" As though people don't know.

Young adults will learn about sex the same way they have for decades- From their friends and on the street.

why is there so little emotional intelligence

Based on the local wayg population, I can say that lack of emotional intelligence is pretty evenly distributed across cultures.

why have school at all if you can just get your education from your friends or on the street?

why have school at all if you can just get your education from your friends or on the street?

Many do, but the consensus is that it is not the preferred method.

why have school at all if you can just get your education from your friends or on the street?

State-sanctioned baby-sitting with activities+skills for future industrial/commercial work and military service. That and a few networking and educational opportunities to get some promising minds who aren't in private schools.

I'd ask everyone here, where did YOU learn about sex? I doubt out of 100 people here you would get 1 that would answer "Sex Ed class".

Let's be real- Sex Ed class exists so parents can pretend that their kids are getting taught the facts of life from a "reputable source" and so they can outsource that awkward talk to someone else. It's one of the ultimate delusions that society has engaged in. 

Seriously, sex ed should be at 1st grade- "Okay kids if someone wants to see or touch your private parts, call the police/teacher." At 5th grade it should be "Okay kids, these are the Prostate and the Fallopian Tubes" and after that there's little more that you can do. Pretending that sex ed is good for anything more than that is completely divorced from reality. Get a clue folks.

i learnt a lot actually. definitely one of the most memorable things i learnt at school (for obvious reasons).

ah, but i forgot. because DM has had a certain experience with something, everyone else's experiences are wrong. classic

i learnt a lot actually. definitely one of the most memorable things i learnt at school (for obvious reasons).

ah, but i forgot. because DM has had a certain experience with something, everyone else's experiences are wrong. classic

What exactly did you learn? I mean, sure anatomy or like a few different diseases. (Like I knew about the clap and AIDS, but we get to learn about Chlamydia!).

Like what are we talking about here? By the time sex ed rolled around we all knew the, uh, ins and outs.

Also, how old are you? Aren't you one of the old farts here who grew up pre-internet? Times are different.

Or are you the opposite- One of the youngins who got taught sex ed in Kindergarten, complete with some propaganda trying to get you to be transgender at Age 5 or whatever? I guess in that case, you'd be right that Sex Ed would be the first time and place.

I at least learned how pregnancy works....all the steps that take place, the different phases etc

once in year 6, then again in secondary school in year 7. true, it was before i had internet, so i pretty much learnt everything, minus knowing what boobs looked it

anyway, i'm not sure that just because there's internet now, it solves everything. i've met quite a few korean adults (past gfs, old students/friends, even my own wife actually) who seemed to have weird misconceptions or ignorance about things sexually-related, stds, etc. and that's stuff we definitely learnt at school

We learned the biology of baby production when I was 8 or 9? Can't remember. I was the only student brave enough to read the book in class.

We got more in grade 7. Talking about STDS and how to have safe sex.

We had one more in grade 10 gym class which was much more open and question/answer led.

My husband may not be the best example, but he believed (after talking to a dr about it) that the HPV vaccine "protects you from all damage from sex." so he got the vaccine.....