RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

After hiking my calves, quads and other leg muscles used to hurt.

Nowadays, my knees, ankles and a hip ache.

how's your form? feel free to post a form check

Getting old is shit.  I turned my right knee a few weeks ago but it wasn't painful at the time, but since then my knee kind of clicks (not audibly) when I walk.  So I went to the doctor in Daejeon yesterday and he said I have 'early osteoarthritis' in my right knee.  I love being active, doing exercising, hiking, football etc.  Now, I suppose I've got to rethink what to do to keep active without making this crap worse.  I might get a second opinion in Seoul in the next couple of weeks...     Like I said, getting old is crap. 

Get KT-Tape, not the crappy Chinese or Korean ripoffs, the real tape. I train for sprinting 6 days a week and the tape really does minimize the risk of my knees and ankles getting injured.
Other than the tape, RICE; Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Or you could just rub some cheese on your knee

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/felix-magath-cheese-cure-former-fulham-manager-admits-telling-brede-hangeland-to-use-bizarre-9750312.html

Waygookin: 1 large cheese pizza please. 
Demartino: Our state of the art pen and notepad aren't able to decipher 'cheese pizza' therefore your request has been denied.

Most places don't use notepad and pen for sales tracking these days. They usually have an electronic POS that links to credit cards and keeps track of inventory and everything. One of the major reason is loss prevention, particularly when you're in an industry frequently staffed by 19 year olds making minimum wage.

There is a KT shop in the slightly bigger small town from me, where the 1 lady that works there will absolutely refuse to let me into the shop without a Korean person with me.
When my contract finished, and I got told I could go renew it for a large discount, I went a couple times by myself, and tried to show her the message from KT (which was is in Korean), she literally just tried pushing me out the door while saying "opso" repeatedly. Finally managed to get my co-T on a non-busy day to come with me, and it took like 5 minutes, and while she was doing it, she'd keep looking at me, and giving me an angry facial expression haha.

I can sort of understand for something as big as a phone contract. The person is probably freaked out about getting something wrong and some dispute arising, which might well have happened before in their past. You did the right thing. If something bad happened with another foreign customer and she's applying it to you, that isn't fair to you, but her wanting to have a Korean speaker there to ensure no miscommunication is understandable.

She could still not be such an ass about it.

There is a KT shop in the slightly bigger small town from me, where the 1 lady that works there will absolutely refuse to let me into the shop without a Korean person with me.
When my contract finished, and I got told I could go renew it for a large discount, I went a couple times by myself, and tried to show her the message from KT (which was is in Korean), she literally just tried pushing me out the door while saying "opso" repeatedly. Finally managed to get my co-T on a non-busy day to come with me, and it took like 5 minutes, and while she was doing it, she'd keep looking at me, and giving me an angry facial expression haha.

I can sort of understand for something as big as a phone contract. The person is probably freaked out about getting something wrong and some dispute arising, which might well have happened before in their past. You did the right thing. If something bad happened with another foreign customer and she's applying it to you, that isn't fair to you, but her wanting to have a Korean speaker there to ensure no miscommunication is understandable.

She could still not be such an ass about it.

I mean, that wasn't the first time she had done that to me. Late last year, a button on the phone I got from that store fell off, and I needed to get it replaced/fix. My co-t and VP (who both speak English) didn't know what to do, so they wrote me a small note in Korean explaining what had happened, and to call their phone so they could find out what needed to be done, as they were both busy around that time and couldn't come to the store with me in person. She done the same thing, just physically tried pushing me out the door as soon as I walked in by myself. I ended up going down to the olleh down the street while on the phone to my VP, I showed the young lady the note, then handed her my phone, the boss spoke to her and got the info. Me and the olleh worker felt a bit awkward at this, but it got done in like a minute.

The 2nd time I went by myself for the contract. I called the English support KT line before going into the shop, and they even said they'd talk to her in Korean about what I needed. (shop was empty, so I could have walked in, handed her my phone to talk to the KT support member (it would've been a little weird, but wouldn't have taken long). Hell, when my co-teacher came, the only thing she needed to relay was, that I wanted to change to a 1 year contract. And to tell me to give her my ARC for all the info for the contract. Most of our 5 minutes there was just watching the lady fill out the contract with my ARC info haha.

Getting old is shit.  I turned my right knee a few weeks ago but it wasn't painful at the time, but since then my knee kind of clicks (not audibly) when I walk.  So I went to the doctor in Daejeon yesterday and he said I have 'early osteoarthritis' in my right knee.  I love being active, doing exercising, hiking, football etc.  Now, I suppose I've got to rethink what to do to keep active without making this crap worse.  I might get a second opinion in Seoul in the next couple of weeks...     Like I said, getting old is crap. 

Get KT-Tape, not the crappy Chinese or Korean ripoffs, the real tape. I train for sprinting 6 days a week and the tape really does minimize the risk of my knees and ankles getting injured.
Other than the tape, RICE; Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

I was thinking about that tape, or getting hold of a decent knee support sock.  Does the tape take hairs off when you pull it off?  The couple of times that someone has stuck a 'Passeuh' on me, have been incredibly painful to remove.  Other than the RICE stuff, it's just kind of disappointing to have this in my early-forties.  It'll degenerate, which upsets me most. 

Feel free to skip this teaching-rant.  

Just had a particularly frustrating 4th grade class. Several students delay the start of the class by making requests to go and drink water and/or use the bathroom. My policy is a hard 'no' because this is the first lesson after lunch and the students are just stalling. Co-teacher doesn't seem to have any policy beyond saying 'yes' to every single request shouted at her and not even acknowledging when children come and go unannounced. 4 students turn up with water balloons (some filled, some just balloons). They obviously prove a huge distraction which the co-teacher doesn't acknowledge; instead just singing along by herself to the song she's put on the TV (modeling good behavior? It didn't work). I tell the students they can't have these in the classroom and confiscate them until the end of class. Much protest ensues. Later find a boy has also bought the water-pump (syringe?) with him which is filled with water that he is spraying about. I confiscate this as well.

The student who I'm reasonably sure has fetal alcohol syndrome (and the corresponding behavioral and learning issues which, surprise surprise, remain unacknowledged) is being particularly disruptive and eventually just leaves the room. I follow him (obviously) and ask him why and where he's going. Turns out in their homeroom there's a bunch of students who are just hanging out. None of them look upset but apparently some friendship-drama has occurred and they can't possibly come to class. Homeroom teacher is MIA. I tell them it's class-time and they better come to class before getting another student who followed me out of the room to go back. Much protest ensues.

I get the names of the no-show students from the other students in order to message the homeroom teacher and essentially ask him to do his goddamn job. Absent students arrive with 5 minutes to spare and 2 burst into tears about the whole situation (at this point I hold back and listen on the off-chance that someone's relative has died or something equally serious has happened). Co-teacher takes the list and disappears. Half the students are in the classroom, half aren't. I guess class is over.

Well, I just got a message from the co-teacher. Apparently one of the students (not a clue; it's romanized and has typos) bought water balloons to share and some students took more than their fair share "so many students are upset and did not come to English class". There's no plan of action, no talk of consequences, absolutely nothing about what is and isn't appropriate to bring into the classroom and how we can enforce this, and nothing about how students can and should resolve personal issues. Always, there's this undercurrent that if someone gives you a reason for bad behavior, you must accept it.

On the plus side, I taught 6th grade alone today and they finished their work to a high-standard and early enough that we could watch a Halloween-themed cartoon.

Am I the only person who thinks that students should be scared of their teachers?

I don't mean learning in constant fear, but the idea that if you fukk about, and in ways that are very CLEAR and OBVIOUS, that there will be hell to pay?

Is that just me? Man, I remember Mme. Mullholland. The last thing I'd want to do is piss her off, Jesus.

Getting old is shit.  I turned my right knee a few weeks ago but it wasn't painful at the time, but since then my knee kind of clicks (not audibly) when I walk.  So I went to the doctor in Daejeon yesterday and he said I have 'early osteoarthritis' in my right knee.  I love being active, doing exercising, hiking, football etc.  Now, I suppose I've got to rethink what to do to keep active without making this crap worse.  I might get a second opinion in Seoul in the next couple of weeks...     Like I said, getting old is crap. 

Get KT-Tape, not the crappy Chinese or Korean ripoffs, the real tape. I train for sprinting 6 days a week and the tape really does minimize the risk of my knees and ankles getting injured.
Other than the tape, RICE; Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

I was thinking about that tape, or getting hold of a decent knee support sock.  Does the tape take hairs off when you pull it off?  The couple of times that someone has stuck a 'Passeuh' on me, have been incredibly painful to remove.  Other than the RICE stuff, it's just kind of disappointing to have this in my early-forties.  It'll degenerate, which upsets me most. 

Lol, yep, the tape does sting a bit when pulling off, but proper KT-tape stays on for a while (I re-apply mine every 4 days or so). Trick is to remove it while showering. Some hairs will come off, but it's not like waxing... well I've never waxed so, I don't know.

It won't necessarily degenerate. Injuries like these are oftentimes the result of imbalances. In my case, focusing too much on maxing out my deadlifts created an imbalance with my glute meds (quads got super strong, while glute meds stayed the same). Once I hit the track and started sprinting, the imbalance caused unnecessary stress on one side of my knee, which lead to an injury.  After icing and taking a few weeks off, the tape helps me train without pain so that I can re-strengthen the weaker muscles and correct the imbalance. The light injury was probably a good thing as it was my bodies way of telling me "Dude, something's wrong, fix it before carrying on."

Active guys, like us, simply notice the imbalances sooner, because we put ourselves in situations where our body has to go through it's movement patterns. A couch potato will simply become desensitized to things like back or knee pain, simply right it off as age and/or not put themselves in situations (like sports or training) to notice.
 The older you are, the more years you've possibly been doing things like sitting at a desk for hours to create those imbalances; A smartphone addicted teenager can get away with these bad habits (for now) because, they've simply been doing them for fewer years than we have. So, it's not that your body is necessarily putting up a white flag as a result of age, it's simply that you've had more time to create imbalances.

The absolute best thing you could do is a gait analysis. I've been to different doctors in Korea with no luck, they seem pretty crap at diagnosing sports related injuries. A gait analysis would have you walking and running on a treadmill, with sensors hooked up to your joints, and a professional analysing your walking and running form. This was how I discovered my issue. Sadly, I haven't had luck finding anywhere in Korea that does a gait analysis, I did mine in California.

When it comes to the knee, and since you're active, it's almost certain that you've got a bio-mechanical imbalance. The usual suspects are relatively weak/tight: core, glute meds, hamstrings, hip flexors or calves. Try strengthening the above and getting them more flexible. The tape isn't a cure, but it does help you get through the rehab process.

Am I the only person who thinks that students should be scared of their teachers?

I don't mean learning in constant fear, but the idea that if you fukk about, and in ways that are very CLEAR and OBVIOUS, that there will be hell to pay?

Is that just me? Man, I remember Mme. Mullholland. The last thing I'd want to do is piss her off, Jesus.

No, you're not the only one. Fear is an element of respect for many.

Oh on my cell phone running Android i can see the ads. Only windiws has the ad blocker.

Look up youtube vanced. Has adblock, background playback, and other features. I never use the stock youtube app anymore.

There was this silly woman today sitting on the busy steps going down to the line 4 platform at Sadang. She had her bag next to her to make it worse. I had to jump over the bag. Not sure what the hundreds of people behind me did but she was certainly going to get walked on. I was tempted to step on her bag. Why would you do it? I yelled something out to her as i jumped over her bag. Probably everyone else would understand her "special and unique" situation.

Last night I was sitting at the window in a bar in HBC. I'm not sure what the name of the road is... It's a big hill that has Jacoby's burger place, Pocket bar, etc. Anyway, a woman who had some affiliation with the bar, or was possibly a supplier, parked her car half-on, half-off the sidewalk while she came in to drop off some stuff. I don't know exactly how long she was there, maybe 5-10 minutes, when someone inevitably smashed into it. Cue big commotion, the woman shocked that leaving her car jutting into a busy road could have consequences, the other driver (who was probably on his phone when he hit her car) shocked that Korean roadways sometimes have obstacles that require using one's peripheral vision.

While they were outside dealing with the insurance, making phone calls, etc., another woman pulled up behind them, presumably thinking this was a good impromptu parking zone, and left about 3/4 of her car sitting in the lane, with just her right wheels on the sidewalk. I probably don't need to tell you that she was paying absolutely no attention to what was going on in front of her, and spent at least 5 minutes sending text messages and using her phone to do her makeup. By doing so, she blocked other drivers' view of the accident so they had to swerve around her, and then quickly swerve again to avoid the two cars that had collided. Finally a tow truck and the police came (the guy who collided into the first parked car had blown his tire). Of course, they were blocked by the idiot consuming almost an entire lane so she could do her makeup. Also, they probably thought she had something to do with the accident, so they parked in a way that completely hemmed her in. Only then did she take any notice of what was going on, and promptly set about looking pouty and panicked, then started doing a bunch of ridiculous mini-moves in the car - a little reverse here, a tiny twist there...

That was all the stupidity I could take and at this point I had to look away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGiQOCX9UbM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfki5G8yU2k

Gotta love it. The lady who owns/manages the villa across the street from my place (I am on the inside of a corner) has 200IQ. So instead of pushing all the garbage along the road into a pile, putting it into a bag and throwing it out in the bins 20 meters away she just leaves it in a pile across the street from my building. This isn't a 1 off, she has been doing this for 2 years. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfki5G8yU2k

Yeah. The city looked particularly post apocalyptic when i opened the curtains this morning.

When it comes to the knee, and since you're active, it's almost certain that you've got a bio-mechanical imbalance. The usual suspects are relatively weak/tight: core, glute meds, hamstrings, hip flexors or calves. Try strengthening the above and getting them more flexible. The tape isn't a cure, but it does help you get through the rehab process.

Cool.  Will look into this more.  I've been a member of the gym in my apartment complex since I've lived there as it's only 10 000 won and there are all the machines etc I'll need in the short term.  I think it's just the fact I'll have to change my exercise/training routine.  If it's nice outside, I love to go outside especially now it's cooler and the autumn leaves are changing.  But I suppose now this'll have to take precedence over that, as I need to get to the bottom of it and work at improving it.

This is one bit of living not only in Korea, but in the countryside.  The lack of decent rehab stuff.  Even in Seoul, like you said, stuff like the Gait analysis is nowhere about.  Also, with respect to medical insurance too.  Coming form England, there were always other alternatives, which were free and more beneficial to fitness and recovery and better in the long run.  Even water/swimming therapy would be a good benefit, I suppose, but as my city only has two swimming pools, it's always pandemonium there and probably wouldn't be that nice to do at all. 

After I last dislocated my shoulder 6 years ago, I went to Seoul (takes two hours) every Saturday, for sports therapy in Itaewon for two hours.  It got me 95% of my range of motion back, if slightly painfully done, but that's what I needed to do.  Maybe, I'll just have to wait until go back to England in the winter and do the Gait analysis in London. 

Non-Americans who say or write "Y'all".

TBH even when Americans say it, outside southerners, i cant stand it.

Non-Americans who say or write "Y'all".

TBH even when Americans say it, outside southerners, i cant stand it.

I think this stuff is quite common. It seems like this is a convergence of language both subconsciously and consciously.

I know Australians have been known to say "no worries", now it's quite common elsewhere. English people would say "cheers", same thing as above. Inquiry was commonly a four-syllable word in places that now many use three.

The one I find most fascinating is the pronunciation of the word herb. Specifically, by Americans. I wonder if the h was spoken at one point and later dropped, or if it was never spoken. My tinfoil hat theory goes like this: "The English are all classy-like. I think the English do not pronounce the h at the beginning of words. If we didn't pronounce the h in herb, we would be classy-like."

fin