RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

yeah all far points here

has anyone experienced this one? i ask my wife/other koreans why she/they don't hang out with their friends more. "oh, he/she's married now".

wtf does that even mean?

After i first got married my wife used to ask my permission to see her old school/uni friends (she doesn't bother now). Maybe a lot of Korean men just say 'no you can't meet your old friends' and that's the end of it.

Goes both ways- men can't hang out with old friends if there are women and same goes for women hanging out if men are there. If there are going to be, they either have to bring the other along or if they're "lucky" provide constant updates. There's probably some exceptions, but generally it's a state of lockdown.

if i hear one more ****** kid shout "i hate japan" today i'm going to ****** snap

are you teaching elementary? i've read a lot on here recently about students talking about japan but none of my students have said anything

Me too neither.

One of my colleagues has a daughter in univerrsity in Japan, and the other teachers seem more jealous than anything.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190919000853

Beer imports from Japan are only 3% of what they were a year ago. That's a huge drop.

if i hear one more ****** kid shout "i hate japan" today i'm going to ****** snap

are you teaching elementary? i've read a lot on here recently about students talking about japan but none of my students have said anything

Me too neither.

One of my colleagues has a daughter in univerrsity in Japan, and the other teachers seem more jealous than anything.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190919000853

Beer imports from Japan are only 3% of what they were a year ago. That's a huge drop.

I'm at elementary and it gets mentioned constantly. A few 3rd grade boys went so far as to hold their hand in front of their eyes so they wouldn't see the Doraemon character in one of my PPT slides. I had to stop a few classes telling them that political opinions were NOT allowed in my classes.
At the entrance of one of the larger elementary schools in the city sits a massive "Boycott Japan" banner.

With those same students I play a game where I ask them to find countries on a map (incredibly easy countries like China, USA and Korea) most students couldn't find more than 3. Some couldn't even locate Korea on a map, yet at such a young age they're indoctrinated with such strong political opinions. absolute madness!

Did you know Dokdo education is part of the national curriculum for all elementary and middle school school students?

From the Ministry of Education:

"The content on the Dokdo islets has been beefed up to shed light on the wrongfulness of Japan’s illicit claim for sovereignty over the islets and raise students’ awareness on Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo, so that they may hold an informed view of history."

At the entrance of one of the larger elementary schools in the city sits a massive "Boycott Japan" banner.

I saw a "No Japan" banner at the entrance of a city hall.

A government endorsed boycott?

You should have seen the anti-USA sentiments in 2002-2004 over the American military truck that ran over a couple of girls on the road. The soldiers didn't go to jail and the locals cried injustice. (And the speedskater Ohno fiasco didn't help)

I was asked a lot: "Are you American?" and i told them the truth: "I am Canadian" and the news was met with cheers and claps often (they were glad i wasn't American). In a friggin' museum an entire group of students burst into applause when i said where i'm from. It was weird. And in the classroom, boos when America was discussed.

any other people here married to koreans who don't really like chuseok?

listening to everyone trying to break the sound barrier just by chewing, being forced to sit around all day watching god-awful korean tv, getting moaned at for not having a baby yet, getting told by my wife to speak more with the in-laws despite them speaking korean like machine guns about topics i don't know anything about

ughhhhh

If you're American, you can take your wife to the states and show her American Thanksgiving where she can be forced to sit around all day watching a sport she doesn't understand or care about (football), getting moaned at by the cousin who just started her sophomore year and has decided she knows everything there is in the world or dealing with drunk offensive uncle, getting told by her spouse to speak more with the family even though they're speaking mile-a-minute about topics she knows nothing about or cares about. And odds are that if she speaks about anything that doesn't involve her country or "women's stuff", she'll likely not be taken seriously or respected (or even actively disrespected if the in-laws are the more ignorant kind). Same thing that goes on with us.

That's what holidays are. It always kind of sucks for someone, especially immigrants who are on the outside of everything, but it's what you do because that gets the family together and at the end of the day, if you're ever in a jam, family is supposed to be there to help out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgm2-gD3GrA

There are 4 or 5 of them, and it's always once a week at least.  It's mainly as I'm in school first that I notice the cars in the morning.  I work in high school, I finish late (after 8pm) so I know the feeling of being tired at the end of a day and I also know the Korean thing of 'blowing off steam' after a hard day.  But I go home.  These guys have wives.  Go the fukc home and see your wives.  Knowing how bad Koreans are at drinking, wouldn't you just hate being a wife and having to put up with your husband coming home one or two times a week wasted and having to deal with that?  I have dinner with a couple of female co-teachers, who are my really good friends, and they complain about their husbands doing just this.  It's just selfish, and like I said, a lack of professionalism and dignity.  It's not a 'holier than thou' thing, just there is so much wrong with it that can affect a number of people.   

Totally agree with you. I have problem students who have issues with their fathers, and this is a common theme with them.

I found out this morning, 2 of my female students are in a situation like this, absive alcoholic fathers, and the mother's aren't in their life anymore.
Luckily, one of the local churches looks after them a lot. The 2 girls aren't a problem though. One tries really hard in class, even though her English is really low; The other is 2nd highest in her class for English ability.

the mother's aren't in their life anymore.

Where did the mothers go? Just disappeared / cut contact?  Sad situation.

the mother's aren't in their life anymore.

Where did the mothers go? Just disappeared / cut contact?  Sad situation.

It wasn't specified to me, so I'm not sure; And yeah, really sad. :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgm2-gD3GrA

Props have to be given to China for, at least, elevating petiness to an art form; throwing a massive tantrum whenever Taiwan or Hong Kong are referred to as countries.

Korea, on the other hand, is just... lame. Korea reminds me of the annoying little brother who gets upset whenever he feels left out. The world is focusing on the trade war between the US and China and Korea wants to join in too.
I'm sure most of these boycotters couldn't tell you how this little scuffle started, heck, after an hour of research, I can barely get my head around how complex this thing is.

End of the day, Koreans are illustrating exactly why they're some of the best consumers on Earth. Luckily, my CT is one of many who thinks this whole thing is ridiculous and doesn't fall this chaebol BS.

the mother's aren't in their life anymore.

Where did the mothers go? Just disappeared / cut contact?  Sad situation.

When people get divorced here, often it seems like one parent takes custody and the other parent has basically zero contact. And it's not a case of the parent being dead beat, more that its just a natural consequence.. The reasons I've heard are that it will hamper the kid having to have intermittent contact with the one parent, so better off just having none. Or it would make it very hard for the non majority custody parent to establish a new relationship as some people wouldn't want to marry a man or woman who already has kids. So just cut off completely a start fresh.

I know of few kids in this exact situation. Obviously there will be divorced couples that share the burden, but a surprising number don't.

the mother's aren't in their life anymore.

Where did the mothers go? Just disappeared / cut contact?  Sad situation.

When people get divorced here, often it seems like one parent takes custody and the other parent has basically zero contact. And it's not a case of the parent being dead beat, more that its just a natural consequence.. The reasons I've heard are that it will hamper the kid having to have intermittent contact with the one parent, so better off just having none. Or it would make it very hard for the non majority custody parent to establish a new relationship as some people wouldn't want to marry a man or woman who already has kids. So just cut off completely a start fresh.

I know of few kids in this exact situation. Obviously there will be divorced couples that share the burden, but a surprising number don't.

Much more common, IMHO, for one of the sets of grandparents to take custody. The bio parents try to remarry and never discuss it. Sparkling!!!

any other people here married to koreans who don't really like chuseok?

listening to everyone trying to break the sound barrier just by chewing, being forced to sit around all day watching god-awful korean tv, getting moaned at for not having a baby yet, getting told by my wife to speak more with the in-laws despite them speaking korean like machine guns about topics i don't know anything about

ughhhhh

If you're American, you can take your wife to the states and show her American Thanksgiving where she can be forced to sit around all day watching a sport she doesn't understand or care about (football), getting moaned at by the cousin who just started her sophomore year and has decided she knows everything there is in the world or dealing with drunk offensive uncle, getting told by her spouse to speak more with the family even though they're speaking mile-a-minute about topics she knows nothing about or cares about. And odds are that if she speaks about anything that doesn't involve her country or "women's stuff", she'll likely not be taken seriously or respected (or even actively disrespected if the in-laws are the more ignorant kind). Same thing that goes on with us.

That's what holidays are. It always kind of sucks for someone, especially immigrants who are on the outside of everything, but it's what you do because that gets the family together and at the end of the day, if you're ever in a jam, family is supposed to be there to help out.

i'm not american. can't relate to this in the slightest

i'm not american. can't relate to this in the slightest

I am American, and I can't relate to it, either.

any other people here married to koreans who don't really like chuseok?

listening to everyone trying to break the sound barrier just by chewing, being forced to sit around all day watching god-awful korean tv, getting moaned at for not having a baby yet, getting told by my wife to speak more with the in-laws despite them speaking korean like machine guns about topics i don't know anything about

ughhhhh

If you're American, you can take your wife to the states and show her American Thanksgiving where she can be forced to sit around all day watching a sport she doesn't understand or care about (football), getting moaned at by the cousin who just started her sophomore year and has decided she knows everything there is in the world or dealing with drunk offensive uncle, getting told by her spouse to speak more with the family even though they're speaking mile-a-minute about topics she knows nothing about or cares about. And odds are that if she speaks about anything that doesn't involve her country or "women's stuff", she'll likely not be taken seriously or respected (or even actively disrespected if the in-laws are the more ignorant kind). Same thing that goes on with us.

That's what holidays are. It always kind of sucks for someone, especially immigrants who are on the outside of everything, but it's what you do because that gets the family together and at the end of the day, if you're ever in a jam, family is supposed to be there to help out.

i'm not american. can't relate to this in the slightest

Football dominates television screens during Thanksgiving. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_Thanksgiving_Day
"The Cowboys Thanksgiving game has regularly been the most watched NFL regular season telecast each year, with the Lions Thanksgiving game usually in the top five."
The kid who comes back from college and starts pontificating about politics is a common trope, as is the drunk conservative uncle. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-is-your-drunk-uncle-at-thanksgiving_n_56312292e4b0c66bae5aacdc  https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/how-survive-thanksgiving-when-politics-loom-large-ncna821206  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/15/politics-really-is-ruining-thanksgiving-according-to-data-from-10-million-cellphones/

And yes, the culture shock and "outsider" stuff is common for immigrants suddenly thrust into a holiday gathering in their new homes. It should be pretty easy to understand, given that we have dealt with such stuff in Korea- The TV programming that doesn't interest you and you don't understand, family arguments and political fights that we may be witnesses to and are unsure how to navigate, "drunk uncle" who decides to rant about stuff.

This stuff is so common and prevalent. Really, if someone is trying to suggest that football, politics, family arguments about politics, and other stuff aren't issues with Thanksgiving, I don't know what to say. When Thanksgiving rolls around this year, go to some American news sites and look for all the articles about navigating political discussions, other family troubles, and letters to advice columnists.

any other people here married to koreans who don't really like chuseok?

listening to everyone trying to break the sound barrier just by chewing, being forced to sit around all day watching god-awful korean tv, getting moaned at for not having a baby yet, getting told by my wife to speak more with the in-laws despite them speaking korean like machine guns about topics i don't know anything about

ughhhhh

If you're American, you can take your wife to the states and show her American Thanksgiving where she can be forced to sit around all day watching a sport she doesn't understand or care about (football), getting moaned at by the cousin who just started her sophomore year and has decided she knows everything there is in the world or dealing with drunk offensive uncle, getting told by her spouse to speak more with the family even though they're speaking mile-a-minute about topics she knows nothing about or cares about. And odds are that if she speaks about anything that doesn't involve her country or "women's stuff", she'll likely not be taken seriously or respected (or even actively disrespected if the in-laws are the more ignorant kind). Same thing that goes on with us.

That's what holidays are. It always kind of sucks for someone, especially immigrants who are on the outside of everything, but it's what you do because that gets the family together and at the end of the day, if you're ever in a jam, family is supposed to be there to help out.

i'm not american. can't relate to this in the slightest

Major difference being that Thanksgiving is, at most, a day affair... in some cases, nothing longer than a meal.
Chuseok extends to 4 days, where you'll all sleep in a tiny apartment, there isn't enough privacy to take a dump without every one of your relatives noticing.

So today I drilled 4 holes into the wall in my apartment to put up a shelf. 4 little holes. The entire thing took maybe 5 minutes and that wasn't all drilling. I could have done it during the weekend but I didn't want to bother the neighbors much, so I did it on a Monday at 3pm.
Just when I finished, the doorbell rings. It was the 경비 fella. He asked if I was drilling because some tenant complained about the noise. So I said yes, it was me, it was only 4 holes and it's all done. He told me that I should have told him earlier what I was planning to do. WTF? I can't drill for 5 minutes on a weekday afternoon without someone complaining? And what is this insane nonsense that I need to announce it in advance? That doesn't make the noise any less or the process faster. It was clearly drilling sound, not blasting music with heavy bass or having a karaoke party. I didn't drill because I enjoy the noise it creates. I did it because it had to be done and it can't be done quietly.
I just can't understand the logic in this. Probably because there is none.
It was 5 minutes for heaven's sake. Of course a more serious construction would be different. Still, there is nothing the neighbors can do about it. When we had all our windows changed a couple months ago, my wife went door to door to the surrounding apartments and apologized for the inconvenience and noise in advance. The building management was also notified. But that took an entire day and a whole lot more noise.
So I told the guy: "Okay, I just realized that I need to put up some pictures as well so I will be drilling some more. I announced it now, right? Great then, bye!" So I went on to drill some more...