RAVING/HAPPY SH!T MEGATHREAD

Was outside when a student came outside with a can of spray paint and actually started spraying the walls and building columns with it. I was like, "wtf?" Right in front of me. And it's not like he didn't see me standing there, either. He just really seemed to think I wouldn't say anything about it.

I got him to stop, took him to the art teacher (kid had wandered off from art class) and let the teacher know what the boy had been up to. Got to watch as the kid was forced to scrub the paint off. Was laughing the whole time. He was pretty good-humored about it, too, but was really red in the face. Don't know what these kids think sometimes.

And later, a bunch of boys made a fort out of the sofas, chairs and foot rests by their home base.

Really happy to see that the spirit of Friday is alive and well.

One of my students drew me in class



(Lol at her giving me super Korean aegyo sal )

Hello.  My name is kevinvrich.     Are you a sharpie because you are ultra fine.

But I have a girlfriend.      Or do I?

Went to go make myself some tea in the Teacher's main room. Saw a lady (seen her before, not sure what she does though) watching youtube with head phones on and popping bubble wrap....

Kinda weird.

Wasn't able to access the internet through the school's network with my personal computer because none of the teachers knew what the wifi password was and the computer tech guy wouldn't give it to me because he didn't think a mac would be granted access. No matter how many times I explained that as long as my computer can see the network all I need is the password, he couldn't get around the idea that the school's network would just outright reject my computer for not being a PC. And I'm all like, "How is this the computer tech guy?"

Fast forward to today, my school computer is broken so I've been taking my personal computer to class this whole week. Kids are excited about it, most haven't seen a mac in person before, and they want to see it in action.

So they give me the wifi password, and tada!

Amazing how the students are more helpful than the adults. I think from now on I'm just going to bypass the teachers and adminstrators, and go straight to the students whenever I need this kind of information.

Wasn't able to access the internet through the school's network with my personal computer because none of the teachers knew what the wifi password was and the computer tech guy wouldn't give it to me because he didn't think a mac would be granted access. No matter how many times I explained that as long as my computer can see the network all I needed was the password, he couldn't get around the idea that the school's network would just outright reject my computer for not being a PC. And I'm all like, "How is this the computer tech guy?"

Haha I've encountered this too, it's great. Everyone at my school was totally convinced that my iPhone couldn't connect to the school network purely because it's an iPhone, a lot suggested I just got buy a Samsung  But it was the wrong password the whole time 

On another note, I really love my vice principal. It obviously helps that he is one of the most high-level English speakers in the school but he is always chatting to me, explaining when to use Korean words, and offering me his homemade ginseng Korean tea. Overall he's the chillingest, nicest guy.

Haha I've encountered this too, it's great. Everyone at my school was totally convinced that my iPhone couldn't connect to the school network purely because it's an iPhone, a lot suggested I just got buy a Samsung  But it was the wrong password the whole time 

Honestly, I think the only reason why he's the computer tech guy is because he knows more than the other teachers (which isn't by much... I once surprised him with how I could play a media file on a media player that wasn't GOM). I feel like the school is just too cheap or something to actually invest in a real tech guy.

But at least everyone is nice. xD They're not too hard to impress, makes life way easier.

Haha I've encountered this too, it's great. Everyone at my school was totally convinced that my iPhone couldn't connect to the school network purely because it's an iPhone, a lot suggested I just got buy a Samsung  But it was the wrong password the whole time 

Honestly, I think the only reason why he's the computer tech guy is because he knows more than the other teachers (which isn't by much... I once surprised him with how I could play a media file on a media player that wasn't GOM). I feel like the school is just too cheap or something to actually invest in a real tech guy.

But at least everyone is nice. xD They're not too hard to impress, makes life way easier.

Uggghhhhh, GOM player. No I don't want 4 ads open in my media program. VLC for the win. Google chrome for the win. Typing in yout into the searchbar and having it come so I can press enter instead of navering "유투브" for the win.

Wasn't able to access the internet through the school's network with my personal computer because none of the teachers knew what the wifi password was and the computer tech guy wouldn't give it to me because he didn't think a mac would be granted access. No matter how many times I explained that as long as my computer can see the network all I need is the password, he couldn't get around the idea that the school's network would just outright reject my computer for not being a PC. And I'm all like, "How is this the computer tech guy?"

Fast forward to today, my school computer is broken so I've been taking my personal computer to class this whole week. Kids are excited about it, most haven't seen a mac in person before, and they want to see it in action.

So they give me the wifi password, and tada!

Amazing how the students are more helpful than the adults. I think from now on I'm just going to bypass the teachers and adminstrators, and go straight to the students whenever I need this kind of information.

Just so you know in the future if something like this ever comes up.  If you have a computer that automatically connects to a wireless network you can find out the password by going into the wireless settings.  There is a little box you can check that says "show password" or "show characters". Once that is checked it will show the password instead of the usual "*******"

Haha I've encountered this too, it's great. Everyone at my school was totally convinced that my iPhone couldn't connect to the school network purely because it's an iPhone, a lot suggested I just got buy a Samsung  But it was the wrong password the whole time 

Honestly, I think the only reason why he's the computer tech guy is because he knows more than the other teachers (which isn't by much... I once surprised him with how I could play a media file on a media player that wasn't GOM). I feel like the school is just too cheap or something to actually invest in a real tech guy.

But at least everyone is nice. xD They're not too hard to impress, makes life way easier.

Uggghhhhh, GOM player. No I don't want 4 ads open in my media program. VLC for the win. Google chrome for the win. Typing in yout into the searchbar and having it come so I can press enter instead of navering "유투브" for the win.

Chrome is nice, but I find that it's painfully slow on these computers. I think Chrome is very CPU hungry, and these computers...are rubbish and have computer AIDS.

Just so you know in the future if something like this ever comes up.  If you have a computer that automatically connects to a wireless network you can find out the password by going into the wireless settings.  There is a little box you can check that says "show password" or "show characters". Once that is checked it will show the password instead of the usual "*******"

Yeah, this was one of the first things I tried after I finally gave up trying to get the password from a person, but, unfortunately, the school actually had this feature disabled on their laptops. xD

It never occurred to me before now to ask a student, though. Should have known that someone probably gave a few of them the password for whatever reason and that they would have spread that info around the school to each other.

Uggghhhhh, GOM player. No I don't want 4 ads open in my media program. VLC for the win. Google chrome for the win. Typing in yout into the searchbar and having it come so I can press enter instead of navering "유투브" for the win.

Same here, hate GOM, but the teachers AND students never seem comfortable using anything but. And it gets corrupted so easily.

Hate Chrome, too. xP Makes most computers I have to use lag waaay too much. No problems on my personal computer, though, but I also don't like how Chrome is formatted, so it's Firefox and Safari for me.

Haha I've encountered this too, it's great. Everyone at my school was totally convinced that my iPhone couldn't connect to the school network purely because it's an iPhone, a lot suggested I just got buy a Samsung  But it was the wrong password the whole time 

Honestly, I think the only reason why he's the computer tech guy is because he knows more than the other teachers (which isn't by much... I once surprised him with how I could play a media file on a media player that wasn't GOM). I feel like the school is just too cheap or something to actually invest in a real tech guy.

But at least everyone is nice. xD They're not too hard to impress, makes life way easier.

Yeah, the tech guy at my school is a second grade teacher too. Oh well!

As for naver, CO2 ... I could give my thoughts on it but it wouldn't be appropriate for the happy shit mega thread

This coming weekend is 3 days and then the following week is 3 days of speaking tests! I love my school life (most of the time  )

I had a really good weekend.  On Friday my CT spontaneously notified me that he'd received the materials for us to make puppy chow, and that the students really wanted to do it that afternoon.

Somehow everything ended up coming together, and we were able to use the home ec room, find appropriate utensils, and throw everything together.  It was quick, pretty clean as far as cooking projects go, and the students were absolutely over the moon about it.  It only took half of our club time, so I let them spend the other half snacking on it and watching Conan-in-Korea videos

On Saturday we had a student/teacher/parent hiking excursion to some mountain outside of Sunchang (not Suncheon), and that was awesome too.  The kids were really surprised and excited that I came, and the mountain wasn't a difficult hike.  It had a cool suspension bridge too, and the whole trip was over and done with my 3:30PM.  I then got my stuff together and went to the green tea spa by the beach on my own and was there for like three hours.   Then, later that night my coworkers wanted to drink, so I went over to the teachers' dorms and someone brought nail polish, so one male teacher let me paint his toenails and the other guy painted my friend's. 

I don't know. I feel like I'm so much a part of this school and the community here.  It's going to be really hard to leave...I'm writing a goodbye speech to say at my farewell dinner to learn in Korean, because I really want them to understand how welcomed they've made me feel over the last year.  I already start to feel emotional when I dwell on the thought of leaving, and it's still like three months away.  I'm excited for my move to Seoul, but leaving isn't going to be easy and I'm not sure any job can compare to this one...

I literally love how Korea has made credit cards into like an awesome game where you can try to max out your discounts by finding the perfect card(s).

But in Korea, I get a 10,000 per month discount on public transportation, 10% off my phone and internet bill, 5% off two taxi rides every month, 50% off Starbucks (up to 20,000 discount per month), 10% off convenience store purchases and 10% off Gmarket and Auction.

Plus points which can be converted to cash.

If you're someone who likes to micromanage your finances, Korea is a playground of awesome toys.

Must be nice.  I was using my card for 8 months before I found it it was a credit card.

I feel ya. I really like my main school and already sense I'll miss this gig once the time comes to move on. Also, island schools have a shorter term (3 years, then Korean teachers have an option to apply for a 4th if they so wish) so it feels like the changeover rate is higher. This year we got 4 new teachers and at the end of this year I already know 3 are leaving; and that's not including the 2 contract Korean teachers whose fates are even more in flux depending on their own plans or whether they get hired again.

Next year there's realllly gonna be a day of change, for better or for worse. 

Someone bought ice cream for the office again. I guess this is their method of combating summer heat 

On a side note though, why does cookies and cream ice cream here always have coffee undertones??? 

No classes for the rest of the week as students will be on class trips.  I'm taking a vacation day Friday to go to the beach, and Monday is a holiday.  Life is good (for now).   

Someone bought ice cream for the office again. I guess this is their method of combating summer heat 

On a side note though, why does cookies and cream ice cream here always have coffee undertones??? 

I don't know, but it's the sugar related bane of my existence because I love cookies and cream and hate coffee.

Re-signed today. Time keeps on slippin' slippin'... into the fuuuuture...