RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

and 어서와~ 한국은 처음이지? (the one where the foreigners visit).

this is probably the worst one, on all of tv. foreigners doing stuff that koreans do every day. "wow, look how much foreigners love korea!", "haha! look! a foreigners is eating spicy food. it's too spicy for him!", "omg the foreigners just said the subway is really efficient. look how great us koreans are". it only EVER shows things in a 100% positive light- gratingly so. it feels like the main purpose of the show is so the korean audience can give themselves a big ol' pat on the back. after all, judging from this tv show, korea is amazing and all foreigners love it so much that they have absolutely 0 negative things to say

I... what? Have you literally ever actually watched it? There are the parts that are obviously scripted where the producers told them to say some dumb overly positive stuff about how great Korea is, but if you actually watch it, there are lots of times when people are less than impressed with what they're doing or seeing.

It's definitely one of the least insulting and condescending portrayals of foreigners on TV that I've seen. Not to mention it's one of the few times that you'll see foreigners being normal people, instead of acting how Korean producers think foreigners should act.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

When Oglop has his kid/s, I'm well going to sign him up for one of these shows. 

Narrator:  'Look at this shattered British guy coming home from his long day at work, and then doing the 50/50 housework'

Oglop:  '뭐야' 

Narrator:  'Look, he spilled the washing powder all over the floor before stepping on a soiled nappy'
*repeated three times with a boing sound* 

Wife:  오빠 바보!

*canned laughter* 

Oglop:  FML 

there's a dystopian future if i've ever heard one

well, as long as the tv company pays me to see what a pathetic loser i am, it wouldn't be so bad

well, as long as the tv company pays me to see what a pathetic loser i am, it wouldn't be so bad

Hmmm, I had you down as more of a loveable Hugh Grant kind of guy...

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

I'm utterly burnt out.

In his infinite wisdom, the principal at my main school (3 days a week), decided to reduce the summer holiday period to 7 weekdays! They didn't keep on top of the maintenance and the school will be undergoing renovations from January to late February, meaning there'll be no 2 week school period at the start of February. Still, the point of summer holidays is to take a break during the hottest weeks of the year and a break from a pretty stressful job; you don't go 2 days without eating and expect to gorge yourself on the 3rd day.

Since I had to do a week of camp, I had 2 days of holiday before coming back to school, this was after a long and stressful first term. The students are all miserable and unmotivated making it even more difficult to teach them,  my CT, who never complains, is complaining. The license given to each principal to basically whatever the hell they want is one of the stupidest things in this countries education systems.
 
For the first time in my life, I'm getting headaches for no reason, I'm cutting almost every workout short and I just don't have the energy to do anything but waste time playing computer games.

This year cannot end fast enough.

I'm utterly burnt out.

Since I had to do a week of camp, I had 2 days of holiday before coming back to school, this was after a long and stressful first term. The students are all miserable and unmotivated making it even more difficult to teach them,  my CT, who never complains, is complaining. The license given to each principal to basically whatever the hell they want is one of the stupidest things in this countries education systems.
 

   Burnout sucks. I hate that feeling of knowing that your classes could be better, but can't summon the motivation to grind out the quality prep that it requires. Combine that with unhappy kids, and, well... my condolences. 


    Oh, and make doubly sure that your school understands the new contracts (I'm assuming you're EPIK!): since you only took 2 vacation days this summer, they are obliged to give you the remaining 24 (minus whatever discretionary holidays the school has taken, which won't be more than 3) over the winter holidays.
That's nearly five weeks of vacation!
If the school doesn't schedule a long enough break to accommodate that, then they're SOL: our vacation days take precedence over their scheduling (although the *scheduling* of our vacation days does not, unfortunately.    )

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

They're between China and Japan. I think most Westerners could tell you some things about the two countries..... but prod them about Korea and it becomes a lot less evident. Canadians have the same problem with the US as neighbours.

We love ANY attention we get.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

yeah, of course it's this. but it feels like not liking a single korean food/thing is slighting the whole country and causes outrage. it's okay not to enjoy every single aspect of a country. i would never feel offended if somebody doesn't like fish and chips or english public transportation (i'd actually be curious about non-british peooples' *actual* thoughts more than anything)

wasn't there one episode with some russian girls and one girl diidn't have a very good time? something about her getting sick and staying in the hotel most of the time, and really just wanting to go home. apparently it received a lot of complaints as people took it to her hating korea. i'd like an article about that if anyone has one.

The new trainers I bought have perfect pebble-sized compartments in their treads.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

yeah, of course it's this. but it feels like not liking a single korean food/thing is slighting the whole country and causes outrage. it's okay not to enjoy every single aspect of a country. i would never feel offended if somebody doesn't like fish and chips or english public transportation (i'd actually be curious about non-british peooples' *actual* thoughts more than anything)

wasn't there one episode with some russian girls and one girl diidn't have a very good time? something about her getting sick and staying in the hotel most of the time, and really just wanting to go home. apparently it received a lot of complaints as people took it to her hating korea. i'd like an article about that if anyone has one.

Talking of seeking conformation, I've noticed the only cultural topics my students (who are planning to study in the UK) ask me about are the negative ones abut the UK that they've already heard about. So they'll ask me about not being able to access the internet in the underground, the generally slow internet speed, the expensive transport, the way a lot of pubs close at 11 etc.. They'll never say something like 'I've heard that the UK has a really good live music scene/fascinating history/is great for fashion etc...is that true? 

damn. i've noticed this actually.

"oh you're from england? i heard english food is really bad"
"err..nice to meet you too"

not that i give a shit either way that someone said something negative about the uk, but, yeah, imagine saying something negative about korea in the first sentence of meeting someone

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

yeah, of course it's this. but it feels like not liking a single korean food/thing is slighting the whole country and causes outrage. it's okay not to enjoy every single aspect of a country. i would never feel offended if somebody doesn't like fish and chips or english public transportation (i'd actually be curious about non-british peooples' *actual* thoughts more than anything)

wasn't there one episode with some russian girls and one girl diidn't have a very good time? something about her getting sick and staying in the hotel most of the time, and really just wanting to go home. apparently it received a lot of complaints as people took it to her hating korea. i'd like an article about that if anyone has one.

It's like they have an inferiority complex.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

yeah, of course it's this. but it feels like not liking a single korean food/thing is slighting the whole country and causes outrage. it's okay not to enjoy every single aspect of a country. i would never feel offended if somebody doesn't like fish and chips or english public transportation (i'd actually be curious about non-british peooples' *actual* thoughts more than anything)

wasn't there one episode with some russian girls and one girl diidn't have a very good time? something about her getting sick and staying in the hotel most of the time, and really just wanting to go home. apparently it received a lot of complaints as people took it to her hating korea. i'd like an article about that if anyone has one.

It's like they have an inferiority complex.

3....2.....1 with demartian....

Oh no, he's been muted....

 

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

Every time I've seen it I just hear things like, "this is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten" or "Korea is the most impressive place I've ever been". It's so cringe worthy. I have to leave the room. I literally cannot stand it

Oglop, why do you think Koreans are always looking for this kind of affirmation?  I haven't come across it in other countries.

If I could have a go at answering this, Western tourists coming here is still a comparatively novel thing. Obviously if it's an important enough event to make a TV show about it, viewers would rather see Western tourists liking stuff here than slagging it off. Koreans also get a lot of propaganda at school - in particular in English lessons they're specifically taught how to tell foreigners how great Korea is. Hence you only have to mention K pop to a Korean adult and they will tell you apropos of nothing that K pop is famous all over the world. Straight from Middle School English unit 10.

yeah, of course it's this. but it feels like not liking a single korean food/thing is slighting the whole country and causes outrage. it's okay not to enjoy every single aspect of a country. i would never feel offended if somebody doesn't like fish and chips or english public transportation (i'd actually be curious about non-british peooples' *actual* thoughts more than anything)

wasn't there one episode with some russian girls and one girl diidn't have a very good time? something about her getting sick and staying in the hotel most of the time, and really just wanting to go home. apparently it received a lot of complaints as people took it to her hating korea. i'd like an article about that if anyone has one.

The hypersensitivity to any [perceived] criticism isn't super related to those TV shows, though. I remember when Academy-award winning film Birdman was released, there was a line in it where a character says the place she's in 'smells like kimchi.' This was literally deemed newsworthy and people were calling for the movie to be banned from showing in Korea.

Also, you can find people like that around the world. They love to complain how their country is in the dumps because of whatever reasons, and how terrible everything is. But the moment anyone else says anything even remotely critical about the country, and they're immediately the most offended person in the world. Funny, that.

damn. i've noticed this actually.

"oh you're from england? i heard english food is really bad"
"err..nice to meet you too"

not that i give a shit either way that someone said something negative about the uk, but, yeah, imagine saying something negative about korea in the first sentence of meeting someone

Hi, I'm Kevin. Oh, you're from Korea? That's the country with all the dead students in that boat, right?

Aristocrat:  "They didn't keep on top of the maintenance and the school will be undergoing renovations from January to late February, meaning there'll be no 2 week school period at the start of February."

My commiserations on what was clearly an astonishingly short summer break.  But your school does the come back in February for a week or two before having another spring break vacation?  I thought those had been eliminated across the board?  We first did it at my school last year and I got the impression we were behind the curve.  We'll close down on January 10th next year and that's it until the new year in March.  Obviously I was mistaken. 

Hi, I'm Kevin. Oh, you're from Korea? That's the country with all the dead students in that boat, right?

Lately I've been getting a lot of comments about the string of mass shootings that's been going on in the States, lol. At least it's recent. ;P