RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD

Seriously though, why is everyone so busy right now?

because THEY AIN'T DONE SH*T ALL YEAR~

Sorry, but truth.

Time is linear, beloved Korean brethren. Start getting used to the concept.

You mean, like an arrow? 

I know exactly what you mean. Everyone is pooping their pants crazy at my school right now and I'm just, like, what? Oh, that's been finished for weeks.

It's like a spear that comes out of your chest. They're like workers, assigned to each of us.

kevingrabb - I want that breakfast in your photo!!!

kevingrabb - I want that breakfast in your photo!!!

I ain't even gay, but I'd have Jake Gyllenhaal for breakfast.

I don't even

Seriously though, why is everyone so busy right now?

because THEY AIN'T DONE SH*T ALL YEAR~

Sorry, but truth.

Is it just like grading and stuff? I see my co teacher doing all this stuff on her computer that looks really complicated and its all in korean and she's been sitting at her desk during all our classes (leaving me to fend for myself), working on this stuff and she looks SO busy but good lord what the hell could you be doing?

The one thing that must never appear on these shores is meth. It's cheap, low-rent, nasty and purely chemical. It's basically a more portable version of soju. They would go nuts on it. The country would be devastated

Surprisingly, it's already here...

It's call Philopon and was originally developed in Japan.

Please don't tell my coworkers; they're already mental!

Seriously though, why is everyone so busy right now?

because THEY AIN'T DONE SH*T ALL YEAR~

Sorry, but truth.

Is it just like grading and stuff? I see my co teacher doing all this stuff on her computer that looks really complicated and its all in korean and she's been sitting at her desk during all our classes (leaving me to fend for myself), working on this stuff and she looks SO busy but good lord what the hell could you be doing?

She's busy looking busy. Remember that in Korea appearance is number one.

Seriously though, why is everyone so busy right now?

because THEY AIN'T DONE SH*T ALL YEAR~

Sorry, but truth.

Is it just like grading and stuff? I see my co teacher doing all this stuff on her computer that looks really complicated and its all in korean and she's been sitting at her desk during all our classes (leaving me to fend for myself), working on this stuff and she looks SO busy but good lord what the hell could you be doing?

She's busy looking busy. Remember that in Korea appearance is number one.

MINE DOES THIS TOO. In between her naps of course

Nothing wrong with the occasional desk nap...

Seriously though, why is everyone so busy right now?

because THEY AIN'T DONE SH*T ALL YEAR~

Sorry, but truth.

Is it just like grading and stuff? I see my co teacher doing all this stuff on her computer that looks really complicated and its all in korean and she's been sitting at her desk during all our classes (leaving me to fend for myself), working on this stuff and she looks SO busy but good lord what the hell could you be doing?

She's busy looking busy. Remember that in Korea appearance is number one.

MINE DOES THIS TOO. In between her naps of course

Nothing wrong with the occasional desk nap...

True, true. I'll take one too occasionally. But hers are like full fledged I'm gonna grab a blanket and go lay down on the couch and turn all the lights off and don't disturb me for 1.5 hours type nape

aahhhhh... that sounds glorious

Also these horseflies are really getting on my nerves. I've never seen this many horseflies in America... why are there like four flying around my desk at any given time? And they're in the bathrooms and the cafeteria and they're in the public buses and the convenience stores..what's the issue

There are no horses here to hunt them and keep the population down.

Yesterday I had to stop two first grade middle school boys from molesting a donkey. I can honestly say with all of my experiences here I never thought I would have to add that to my my "What the @#$%" list. I think I am going out to get drunk tonight to try and forget that summer camp 

Yesterday I had to stop two first grade middle school boys from molesting a donkey. I can honestly say with all of my experiences here I never thought I would have to add that to my my "What the @#$%" list. I think I am going out to get drunk tonight to try and forget that summer camp 

Details, please.

The English department head at my school has a serious attitude problem. She's got a huge stick up her arse and loves bossing everyone around. Despite her having terrible spelling and grammar, she constantly criticizes the way I speak (I speak relatively quickly sometimes), going so far as to barge into my classes and tell me off in front of my students.
I absolutely hate her with all my being.
Today we were planning the summer camp, and as I was preparing a PPT she sat down in my office to initiate a meeting with the other teachers involved. Seeing as I clearly wasn't needed for the inevitable 30 minutes of constant reiteration that seems to accompany group meetings in Korea, I kept working on my ppt. The bitch slapped my arm to get my attention and just said 'ANDY TEACHER you have to be in the meeting!' Like, chill you loser. Then during the meeting she asked me a very open ended question like, 'what will you do?' So I replied, 'with what?' and she became irate and said 'what PPTs will you make for the camp!?' and made that 'ashhhhhhhheeee' sound.
The only comfort I've found is that nearly every other teacher sees through her bullshit and doesn't like her. She dampens the whole teaching experience which is a shame because every other aspect of it has been wonderful.

I just sat through a meeting with my super timid co-teacher during which she just sat there and went, "Hmm... hmmm.... hmmm" in her super soft timid little voice for 45 minutes instead of responding to my suggestions for our lesson tomorrow. Every 10 minutes or so she'd add "OK then, I'll think of some activity and let you know" and then proceed to go "hmmm... hmmm..." instead of getting the f*** out of my office.

A rant about the local cops where I live.

I teach an after school class in one elementary school to grade 2 students once a week. There is a Nigerian girl in the class who is a native English speaker but was born here and is perfectly fluent in Korean. I taught her brother 4 years ago in grade 6, he too is fluent and is now in his 1st year of high school..

When I arrived here in early 2011 I met their mother and father, both Nigerians. I saw the mother once or twice but haven't seen either of them for a long time.

I asked the grade 2 Korean teacher how things were with the boy. He was really bright and a nice kid. The teacher told me that life was difficult for them both now because the father has been in Nigeria for 3 years and mom has been in the USA for about the same length of time. They send money to the kids to pay for their rent and food, but the brother is the caretaker of his little sister. There is no adult supervision in their lives and hasn't been for a long time. The boy has been taking care of his sister since she was in Kindergarten.

I was gobsmacked. I asked her if she had called the police. I thought surely this is illegal and something could be done. The teacher told me she had called the police and she was told:

and I quote her, "The police told me there is nothing they can do because they are African children."

Wow! Just freaking wow.

I feel bad that the kids are stuck in a less than ideal situation, but, let's try to look at all sides of this.
What exactly do you think the police should do?   If this were some other multi-cultural society, the obvious answer would be for the state to take the kids and find them a foster home to make sure that they were taken care of.  Let's be real, what Korean family is taking in 2 Nigerian children? (one being a 16 year old male) 
If the police were to seriously get involved, my thinking would be that they'd likely want to just deport them back to Nigeria. 
They have both lived here for most of their life, and they speak the language, know the culture, they're better off here at this point. 

The parents are working in separate countries sending money to them because they can't find jobs here that would a support a family. I'd say that they obviously care and are trying to do what they can, and doing what they think is best for the kids.  Seems like they may have better life opportunities in Korea than they do back in Nigeria. I'm sure this wasn't their plan, and the argument could be made that they shouldn't of had kids if they couldn't afford them, but this is the reality of the situation.

I'm not calling your co-teacher a liar or anything, but I do question exactly how much she knows about their situation.  Is this 16 year old boy really divulging all of this information to her? (or even the girl?)   Have both parents been gone for an entire 3+ years? Never came back to visit?  There is no other family member, friend, adult around at all?  How do these kids enroll in school every year? go from elementary to middle school? What do they do when they're sick?

If the brother has been taking care of them for this long, it honestly probably is best to let them be.  They're both in school, and seem to be healthy. 
I'm not trying to sound callous or anything, but I've seen situations just like this before--they don't have easy fixes, and the parents aren't all necessarily bad ones.

Yesterday I had to stop two first grade middle school boys from molesting a donkey. I can honestly say with all of my experiences here I never thought I would have to add that to my my "What the @#$%" list. I think I am going out to get drunk tonight to try and forget that summer camp 

Details, please.

I did an overnight summer camp with one of my middle schools. It was set up at a retreat area that happened to have a donkey along with a couple of other animals. Several of my students were curious about the donkey and kept on talking about how big his "pepper" was. Honestly I thought they were just being immature middle schoolers like we all have been. Then, shortly before we were to leave, I looked out to see two of my male students poking and smacking at the donkey's "pepper". I immediately yelled at them to stop and asked them what they thought they were doing. They responded by laughing and saying they wanted to make it bigger.......guess that makes it okay.

Whatever, I am out of here in August and only have to see those kids two more times.

Since this is a ranting thread, my (korean) boyfriend insists on lying to his entire family throughout the entire duration of our relationship that we live together, until we get married. How much of this is cultural and how much is it him just being a coward? I'm so pissed right now. He said if he is honest with his family that we live together/will live together, they'll like disown him. Which I seriously doubt. His family's pretty modern. How hard is it to tell your family that you're an GROWN MAN and you make your own freaking decisions? How long are u comfortable with lying? Jesus Christ.

Girl, I feel you. Im in a similar situation, except if his fam says he can't marry me he wont... His family is quite traditional. We've only been dating a year, but he's all over my facebook so my entire family knows, and should. I know its Korean culture to not really discuss it with fam sometimes unless marriage is in the cards. But like if our relationship has an expiry date I dunno.
My bfs parents pay for everything. They paid for his uni, hagwon, and expenses when he lived overseas. They give him pocket money every month, buy him clothes, a new bicycle and doesn't need to get a part time job or anything until he finally gets this job hes been preparing for (which he's already failed the test for 3 times). They have him wrapped right around their money finger. I wish my family could/would do that! "That is Korean culture" ya,ya.
I love him to death.So much that I would consider marrying him. But he says if they say no he CAN'T because they would essentially cut him out of the fam. He's the oldest son, blah blah blah. 
I know its frustrating. You are not alone.

I've been here myself ladies, and I don't want to defend it, but I think it really is a culture thing. I wish it was as easy to tell them to "man/woman up", but it goes a lot deeper than them just being 'cowards'.  It's not at all enviable position, and we, as Westerners don't have the same consequences that many of them would have for the same situation. 

It is totally normal for a Korean male or female to get spending money from their parents well into their 20's. Their parents buy them everything, so the 'children' are dependent on them for a good long while.
I had a gf that had to do lie to her parents about us as well. She didn't want to do it, but what's the alternative?   She lives with them, and is living off of them.
With the way the system is set up in Korea, it seems like it's difficult to do many things on your own when you're young.  So unless she/he is 100% set on marrying you, giving up their family and future security is a huge risk to ask someone to take.

And family here just seems different in Korea. Families are close everywhere in the world, of course..but here...it's on another level. The amount of girls I've met that act like their Mom is their bff is..just..wow.  Koreans are in constant communication with their family...they spend their weekends and holidays with their parents...go on weekend trips with their family..travel abroad with their family...etc,etc.
I don't think it's the same as what most of us are used to.

Yesterday I had to stop two first grade middle school boys from molesting a donkey. I can honestly say with all of my experiences here I never thought I would have to add that to my my "What the @#$%" list. I think I am going out to get drunk tonight to try and forget that summer camp 

Details, please.

I did an overnight summer camp with one of my middle schools. It was set up at a retreat area that happened to have a donkey along with a couple of other animals. Several of my students were curious about the donkey and kept on talking about how big his "pepper" was. Honestly I thought they were just being immature middle schoolers like we all have been. Then, shortly before we were to leave, I looked out to see two of my male students poking and smacking at the donkey's "pepper". I immediately yelled at them to stop and asked them what they thought they were doing. They responded by laughing and saying they wanted to make it bigger.......guess that makes it okay.

Whatever, I am out of here in August and only have to see those kids two more times.

I am dying. I seriously have mascara tracks on my face because I am laughing so hard at this that I'm weeping.

ME: I want to do (this craft: http://www.waygook.org/index.php/topic,89233.msg563090/topicseen.html#new), but I need to check Daiso first and make sure I can find the little plastic squeeze bottles.

CT: They can just bring them from home.

ME: Oh, okay. Are they common in Korea?

CT: After drinking Coke or cider, of course.

ME: Oh, no, I meant the small bottles, the "fish."

CT: THEY CAN BRING FROM HOME.


Holy jeez, fine. Control your fingers, please. Ten to one says that she forgets to mention it to the parents, anyways.