RAVING/HAPPY SH!T MEGATHREAD

It's my one year anniversary this weekend and I just spent the afternoon preparing the gifts.

First year is papaer and I painted and created a lot of cool stuff. Pumped for this  weekend!

Congrats!!  Have a good time!! 

It's my one year anniversary this weekend and I just spent the afternoon preparing the gifts.

First year is papaer and I painted and created a lot of cool stuff. Pumped for this  weekend!

holy shit co2 are u married?

It's my one year anniversary this weekend and I just spent the afternoon preparing the gifts.

First year is papaer and I painted and created a lot of cool stuff. Pumped for this  weekend!

holy shit co2 are u married?

No.

On Friday, I had a class that I don't particularly like. One of the students is such a little asshole...or so I thought. I had written "No" on the board to begin a negative response to a yes/no question and that was enough to set the class off in a chorus of "No Japan. We hate Japanese people." Most of this was in Korean, of which I understand enough to know what they were saying. I'm supposed to pretend I don't understand a word of Korean though, so when this happens, I have to keep my mouth shut. The student whom I not only think is an asshole, but would also be most likely the one to lead the chants of "Kill Japanese," almost immediately shuts everyone else down (and I'm translating this): "Hey everyone. Don't say that! Japanese people are good. It's Abe that's bad." In my head, I'm just like, "Hell yeah! We don't have to conflate an entire people with a government we dislike!" I gave him a thumbs up, but I doubt he understood why. He became my new favorite though.

My Korean friend has returned to Korea after 4 years in Prague!

_{cuz his dad has cancer............. ..}

On Friday, I had a class that I don't particularly like. One of the students is such a little asshole...or so I thought. I had written "No" on the board to begin a negative response to a yes/no question and that was enough to set the class off in a chorus of "No Japan. We hate Japanese people." Most of this was in Korean, of which I understand enough to know what they were saying. I'm supposed to pretend I don't understand a word of Korean though, so when this happens, I have to keep my mouth shut. The student whom I not only think is an asshole, but would also be most likely the one to lead the chants of "Kill Japanese," almost immediately shuts everyone else down (and I'm translating this): "Hey everyone. Don't say that! Japanese people are good. It's Abe that's bad." In my head, I'm just like, "Hell yeah! We don't have to conflate an entire people with a government we dislike!" I gave him a thumbs up, but I doubt he understood why. He became my new favorite though.

I don't tolerate this at all, particularly as I find that it's actually the younger students who are the most vocal. When I hear a single "No Japan", I shut that sh*t down immedietely. I really don't care to stop them from being brainwashed little monkeys, but the problem I had was the bullying. One boy actually had the balls to say that his dream was to visit Japan. Every other boy went a nationalistic frenzy and started shouting at him. I slammed the desk and raised my voice to silence the class and spent a good 10min telling them to keep their opinions to themselves and that my English class was NOT going to be their political platform.

I haven't had a problem since. I've noticed that it's only the boys who get vocal, the girls usually stay silent.

Incidentally, my CT told me that a Korean HS student took legal action against a teacher for trying to spread anti-Japanese propaganda during class.

More so for my own mental well-being, I don't allow this type of nonsense at all.

Last month, my school won a provincial tournament and I'd done a lot of practicing with my students and helped them with tactics and a lot of encouragement.  Next month is the national contest in the south of Korea for four days (W-S).  At lunchtime, my principal came to me and told me he wants me to go with the students as I'd helped them so much and they seem to respond to my coaching.     Three days of no school!!     But four days of only eating Korean food.   

I'm having dakgalbi for the fourth time this week tonight.

Was in Chuncheon last weekend, had charcoal and pan.

Had it at school on Monday, too. (Third day in a row.)

Now? Another charcoal grill one. Good thing I love dakgalbi.

Incidentally, my CT told me that a Korean HS student took legal action against a teacher for trying to spread anti-Japanese propaganda during class.

This?

Public high school teachers in Seoul forced students to engage in “anti-Japan” acts, such as holding posters that say “Japan must apologize” at a school marathon event

https://asianews.network/2019/10/28/south-korean-high-school-students-protest-teachers-forcing-anti-japan-acts/

According to South Korean media reports, teachers at Inhun High School in southern Seoul ordered students to make posters calling for a boycott of Japanese products prior to the marathon event held on Oct. 17. On the day of the event, they were forced to shout slogans such as “Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party should collapse,” referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The protesting students revealed the situation on Facebook, saying, “Students are not political toys,” and held a press conference on Oct. 23 in front of the main gate of their school.

In addition, teachers at the school summoned students to the teachers’ room to reprimand them for criticizing the Moon administration, and called other students “dogs and pigs” because of their views of a controversy involving former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.

Here's a particularly sad bit:

High school students in the country face fierce competition to pass entrance exams to universities. The protesting students said, “We have suffered under the ‘political teachers’ without complaining because we were worried that they might write badly about us in school recommendations to universities.”

Like in the first semester, I have a lot of fun in my speaking tests, especially when interviewing my student who lived in Australia.  It's great to hear a student who doesn't have North American pronunciation.  One of the questions was:

 'How did you celebrate your last birthday?'
 'Well, me and a few of the guys went to, what do you call it, karaoke?...'
 

I could sit and listen to them talk all day.  Just the 'karaoke' pronunciation had me laughing. 

Kpop mixed in with the flight announcements; this rocks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lSbPWn_6R4

in February, I got some from Gmarket that included Taurine. but for some reason, on Gmarket they've stopped selling 5HTP.  so I used Coupang this time and got this one.  the coupang site + customs stuff is all in Korean, so hopefully you can navigate it.

https://www.coupang.com/vp/products/189611216?itemId=541549728&vendorItemId=4416798772&isAddedCart=

I ordered on the Friday and it got delivered on the following Thursday.  I didn't take these ones yet, as I still finishing the previous ones.  Usually about 200mgs an hour before bed is fine.  don't feel any problems with them.

I know that this is from a while ago, but the reason that they stopped selling 5-htp on gmarket (and iherb) for Korea is that it's technically classified here as a medication needing a prescription.

If you search for various amino acids on iherb, you can find listings but actually clicking on the product gives you a "page unavailable" message, because they really can't legally ship it. It's entirely possible that your stuff you order on coupang could end up getting held at customs as a result if they look through your stuff...

In case a few fans don't know it, Bojack Horseman's season 6 (Part A) is on Netflix right now. Released las month.

Also, first episode of Rick and Morty's season 4 is releasing... tonight? Anyway, should be able to watch it by tomorrow, or the day after next at the latest.

I'm saving my Nutty Bars and Snoballs for it. :)

In case a few fans don't know it, Bojack Horseman's season 6 (Part A) is on Netflix right now. Released las month.

Also, first episode of Rick and Morty's season 4 is releasing... tonight? Anyway, should be able to watch it by tomorrow, or the day after next at the latest.

I'm saving my Nutty Bars and Snoballs for it. :)

Have they been released in Korea yet? (Bojack) My Netflix says new episodes available but as of last night, there weren't any yet.

In case a few fans don't know it, Bojack Horseman's season 6 (Part A) is on Netflix right now. Released las month.

Also, first episode of Rick and Morty's season 4 is releasing... tonight? Anyway, should be able to watch it by tomorrow, or the day after next at the latest.

I'm saving my Nutty Bars and Snoballs for it. :)

Have they been released in Korea yet? (Bojack) My Netflix says new episodes available but as of last night, there weren't any yet.

I finished it a week ago. No VPN. Weird.

In case a few fans don't know it, Bojack Horseman's season 6 (Part A) is on Netflix right now. Released las month.

Also, first episode of Rick and Morty's season 4 is releasing... tonight? Anyway, should be able to watch it by tomorrow, or the day after next at the latest.

I'm saving my Nutty Bars and Snoballs for it. :)

Have they been released in Korea yet? (Bojack) My Netflix says new episodes available but as of last night, there weren't any yet.

I finished it a week ago. No VPN. Weird.

That's super weird. It has a New Episodes! badge on the icon, but when I open it, the season list just stops at last season.

So my main co-teacher has decided she hates me now, for some reason, and I cannot figure out why.  As far as I know, Monday last week everything was fine;  then I got sick that night with food poisoning so I ended up taking Tuesday off and when I came back Wednesday, everything had changed.

~I wasn't aware of anything wrong at first until Thursday during lunch hour, when I went to brush my teeth in the teacher's bathroom. She was in the bathroom when I went in and immediately left not too long after I arrived; I didn't think anything of it at first, just figured she had finished, until I walked back to the office and saw her standing next to the communal sinks where the kids wash the mops, brushing her teeth.  So she basically left the bathroom to avoid me.  After that I thought maybe she was a little upset with me or just having a bad day, but then later she was joking around with the other teachers in our office so I knew it was definitely me. Afterwards I tried to share some Halloween candy I had shipped from the U.S. with her as a thank you for helping me with some super noisy students (something she never does. She usually just lets them do whatever they want) but she instantly snaps at me with, "NO THANK YOU. I don't like sweet foods."...okay.

~Friday, the next day, I'm usually at my secondary school but I had received a message from my co-teacher at the secondary school that I wouldn't be needed there, so I was at my main school on Friday deskwarming and getting lessons done. I was there for a few hours and most everybody knows that if I'm not needed at my secondary school I stay at my main, so nobody really questions why I'm there. At this point, I'm just working on lessons for the next week, listening to something on Netflix, when my main co-teacher all of a sudden yells in my ear "Sangneem" and tapping my shoulder. It was a little weird because she doesn't usually speak to me in Korean, but since she had just been talking to the vice principal I figure she was still in Korean-brain. Anyway I take off my headphones and she's talking to me in Korean, pointing at the office door - after a few seconds she sees the confusion on my face and goes, "oh apologies. Go outside"....uh okay. I go outside thinking she wants to talk and when I turn around to close the door, I see that she's going back to her desk. WTF. So I sit outside for about five minutes, waiting for her, when I finally give up and go back into the office, she just looks and me and goes "oh yes. Come back in.". Again wtf.

~Yesterday during a class with her, I was having problems with the students and I made the mistake of accidentally saying her name without adding 'teacher' at the end (I honestly make this mistake with my other cts, not just her, but the others usually let it go. It's something I'm admittedly still working on - most of the time I usually just say 'Ms. blah blah') and she immediately just snaps at me, "I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND. IT'S (NAME) TEACHER." Mind you at this point my students are being a*holes and I'm getting really frustrated with them and she's just lit a match on the gasoline. Now all of the students are dying laughing and I'm p-i-PISSED. I snap at the kids, get them back under semi-control and finally start my lecture when she gets up again and goes (IN THE MIDDLE OF MY LECTURE) "Your microphone is too loud. It makes me ears ring" - like I really care at this point since I'm still pissed.

-Today I'm not even in the office for 10 mins in the morning when she calls my name (WITHOUT adding 'teacher' at the end, may I add?) and demands that I send her my lesson plan before our first class in 15 minutes. She has only asked for my l.p. once, at the beginning of the school year, and never again since but now she is demanding I send it to her every week. Then she spends the entire class time scrutinizing my class like it's an open class (and still not helping me keep the kids under control). After the class, I finally ended up breaking down and crying from the stress of dealing with her.

I'm not even hurt or anything that she doesn't like me (I honestly couldn't care less about it) but it's the random suddenness of it all. I literally was helping her decided which jacket/vest looked best on her two weeks ago and now she hates my guts and is undermining me in front of our students every-which-way. She's been teaching for like 25 years and apparently has a reputation from all of her schools about getting into fights and arguments with all of the teachers and I truly have been waiting for my day to come cause she's done this with the other teachers in department, but this is just ridiculous. I really can't wait for school to end in 6 weeks. I'm over this woman.

So my main co-teacher has decided she hates me now, for some reason, and I cannot figure out why.  As far as I know, Monday last week everything was fine;  then I got sick that night with food poisoning so I ended up taking Tuesday off and when I came back Wednesday, everything had changed. ....

I think you meant to post this in the Ranting thread?

Anyway, I'd say it looks pretty clear that you committed the cardinal sin of taking a sick day. Some Koreans take this as a personal slight and will try to punish you for it. Korean females have also got a setting called "extra petty" that they can turn on for such innocuous situations.

I took a day off few years ago as my wife was having emergency surgery and her family didn't live in our city. My "boss" was fine, as he always is. Very understanding and accommodating. The Office Manager, however believed me taking that personal day was a personal affront. Even though they have basically nothing to do with my job, whatsoever. She snapped at me a few times and I realized what was going on. The next time she talked to me rudely I just laughed and asked what was wrong with her. She was like "I don't know what you are talking about". I told her to not talk to me again if she cant behave like an adult and that i thought she was highly unprofessional. That word "unprofessional" seems to be a real buzzword for Koreans.

You have to understand, this woman sits in our department's office all day doing nothing. It's a jobsworth job that has no purpose at all. She is supposed to liaise with foreign staff or help us if we have a problem. No one uses her services as she has always been uniformly useless. We either take care of issues ourselves 95% of the time or go directly to our dept. head. Me missing a day of work has precisely zero impact on her life. She doesn't teach, she doesn't talk to students, she doesn't do any of my admin work. She sits there studying TOEIC, browsing the internet and looking at her phone. How dare she think she has the right to talk down to me or anyone else for that matter.

Your situation is more difficult as you have to work closely with your CT. I would either confront it directly or ignore it completely. Don't let her see that it is effecting you. What she is doing is unacceptable and again highly unprofessional. You are legally entitled to sick days, she has no right to act like a petulant child, abusing her position to make herself feel like she has some power. TBH, by the sounds of it, she is slightly loopy.

I think you meant to post this in the Ranting thread?

Yeah, I'm sorry. I realized just now that I clicked on the wrong link when I wrote this. But thanks for your reply either way, I really appreciate it.

There's been more drama since then and the VP is now involved, which is unfortunate; and  you would be correct about the loopy part - she has a huge reputation in all of her schools about her insanity and overall behavior. Unfortunately confronting her has proven, with others, to make things even worse - our former principal even told my other co-teacher once to just give into her because he worked with her two years ago at another school and knows how she is prone escalate things. She's very unprofessional and does not care that people think that of her, so long as she doesn't have to really work but still make money.

Anyway, I only have six weeks left to deal with her and the head teacher (who does not like her) and VP have been talking to my other co-teachers to hear my side of things, and they know that this is what she does so they're taking her complaints about me with a grain of salt. The only concern I really have at the moment is the fact that renewals have just come out and she is my main co-teacher that handles that stuff and she's spiteful enough to hold that information back from me - or possibly worse - so I'm trying to take care of that on my own as much as possible.

Again, apologies for posting this in the wrong group!!

Man, feels good to rant on this site.

I have a lot of anger built up over time. Fukk me, haha.