RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

The 14 day quarantine cost increased to 2.1 million.

That’s so expensive!

Why is it so much?

I feel bad for those entering Korea.

yep i saw shocked at this. anyone hear why this happened?

yep i saw shocked at this. anyone hear why this happened?

Just guess, but stimulating the hotel industry?

yep i saw shocked at this. anyone hear why this happened?

100,000 won a day for housing + 50,000 won a day for 3 squares and other amenities. Not THAT bad.

well they just upped it from 1.4m to 2.1m overnight

100,000 won a day for housing + 50,000 won a day for 3 squares and other amenities. Not THAT bad.

.....no.

Make it 10mil. Fund a gov hygiene programme. Hand wash stations, anti-spitting propaganda, rubbish bins, street cleaning.

.....no.

This is going to sound crass, but if you can't afford to spend 100k a night on lodging and 50k a day on food, you probably shouldn't be traveling. If it's for sponsored work, the employer should cover it. Permanent residents, spouses, dependents, citizens, etc. quarantine at home.

This is going to sound crass, but if you can't afford to spend 100k a night on lodging and 50k a day on food, you probably shouldn't be traveling. If it's for sponsored work, the employer should cover it. Permanent residents, spouses, dependents, citizens, etc. quarantine at home.

You make a good point. It sounds expensive, but............. do you REALLY need to come here? Why? Like you said, if your employer isn't paying for that, then f that.

No, you're not travelling around drinking soju and seeing temples, but it's 150 000 a day for EVERYTHING you need.

This is pure speculation, but I imagine the price went up because Korea is viewed as some sort of global safe haven and facilities are getting maxed out/really full and unwieldy to manage. This is to lessen demand.

Yeah, like 150K is NOT that much. That's what, $130 USD. Like I would literally refuse to sleep in an NYC hotel that was $130 a night because of health and sanitation concerns.

I just think some people here are so in the mindset of AirBnB, Couchsurfing, and Hostels while eating street food and backpacking that they don't understand how most of the business world travels. $130 is 3 star travel. Low-end 3 star travel and not even 3 star in many places. Generally speaking, if you can't afford to go 3-star, you can't really afford to travel. 2 star is for some sort of half-travel, half-necessity, lugging kids around stuff to visit inlaws or "no frills needed because I'm here for something specific travel". 1 star is for "I' don't care I'm going to be out partying all day and either sleeping in someone else's bed or on the street or nursing a hangover" or emergency travel because someone died or traveling salesman or something.

And as you said, supply and demand. Korea is probably in demand as a "safe" place. Not to mention those that will come are probably getting reimbursed or have the means where 2.1 million is "whatever" money so they can jack up the price. Heck, if the people coming are 90% corporate, jack the rate up to 10 million like Colbrunn said and take that extra revenue and divert it to somewhere else.

100,000 won a day for housing + 50,000 won a day for 3 squares and other amenities. Not THAT bad.

I would want a good hotel room for that price with all the room cleaning that comes with it.

This is going to sound crass, but if you can't afford to spend 100k a night on lodging and 50k a day on food, you probably shouldn't be traveling. If it's for sponsored work, the employer should cover it. Permanent residents, spouses, dependents, citizens, etc. quarantine at home.

I mean if you're travelling then sure I guess, although I've personally never spent that much travelling (When I was in Ireland I did a weekend in Galway for like 200 euros, and that included buying souvenirs). But EPiK applicants have to pay for the quarantine, which sorta sucks. Makes me extremely glad I miraculously managed to get all my paperwork in on time for the February intake.

*Note: Edited post for clarity

I’ve lost my indignant voice so I’m going to just relate this story as objectively as possible:

I was sitting in an outdoor seating area of a cafe with my daughter, who is just under three years old, enjoying a latte (me) and jelly straws (also me; I let her fashion by finished straws into dolls when I’m done). We were the only two people out there at the time, and I made sure to push the nearest table a good couple meters away should any other customers arrive. Sure enough, others come, but it’s a big party — like 8 people — so they go about combining tables next to ours, bringing them a little closer than I’m comfortable with, but whatever. I try to enjoy my straws. But as we are minding our own business, the first ajoesshi to sit down apparently takes a liking to us (to his defense, my daughter is freaking adorable) and starts to shoot us ogling stares. Whatever, pretend like we don’t notice; carry on. He then starts to try to engage my daughter in infantile conversation. She’s shy. She doesn’t engage back but shows fairly obvious signs of discomfort. I continue to carry on ignoring him, comforting my daughter and hoping he’ll get a clue and give up. Nope. He breaks out his phone and starts taking pictures of us. Okay, pretty f**king weird to take picture of people who are obviously trying to ignore you at the cafe, but whatever, you’re an ajoeshi, so do whatever you please, right? At this point I’m downing the jelly straws a bit more rapidly, not rolling the morsels in my tongue as I normally would and just gulping them down, hoping to expedite our exit. He continues to try to engage, but when that fails to do anything but to make her more uncomfortable, he thinks she’s just playing hard to get, so he ups his game. He moves in closer to give my daughter a good view of his phone to show her the photos he creepily just took of us. Neither of us look. Go the f**k away old man. At this point his 산책 mates join him at the table and I hope the situation is diffused. But then they all join in in talking about us, as we sit beside them. They mostly talk about how much my daughter looks like a doll with her curly locks (which to their defense, she really does). At this point my daughter has moved out of her chair and is standing closer to me, obviously uncomfortable at all the attention...still. At this point one of the ajjumas (no older than 45) thinks it’s a good time to reach over and touch my daughter’s arm and rub it with her pointer and middle fingers as she speaks in some dissonant 에교 voice. In the best of times, just don’t f**king touch strangers trying to enjoy their time at a cafe, but especially during covid, don’t even f**king think about it you dumb *****. At that point I just throw the remaining jellies in my mouth, plastic and all, and gather my things (daughter included) and go.

Which all begs the question...

Are Koreans rude and warm???

A topic for another thread, no doubt. (Kyndo?)

But EPiK applicants who even want to be recommended have to travel to Korea and pay for the quarantine

what?

A topic for another thread, no doubt. (Kyndo?)

hey! that's my trick

what?

nvm, double-checked and I misread the E-mail. If you get recommended you fly to Korea, and then pay for quarantine.
I wonder if they have to pay the original number (1.4) or the updated number.

nvm, double-checked and I misread the E-mail. If you get recommended you fly to Korea, and then pay for quarantine.
I wonder if they have to pay the original number (1.4) or the updated number.

what does it mean to get recommended? did they massively overhaul the application system in the last few years? when i applied, you came to korea only after you already got the job (assuming you dont fail the drug/TB test or something)

what does it mean to get recommended? did they massively overhaul the application system in the last few years? when i applied, you came to korea only after you already got the job (assuming you dont fail the drug/TB test or something)

yeah, that's pretty much how it works still, recommended is just shorthand (EPiK vets you and then recommends you to a MOE/POE and unless there's something super weird like COVID going on that usually means you're getting the job)

so recommended > probably offered a contract > off you go

He breaks out his phone and starts taking pictures of us. Okay, pretty f**king weird to take picture of people who are obviously trying to ignore you at the cafe, but whatever, you’re an ajoeshi, so do whatever you please, right? At this point I’m downing the jelly straws a bit more rapidly, not rolling the morsels in my tongue as I normally would and just gulping them down, hoping to expedite our exit. He continues to try to engage, but when that fails to do anything but to make her more uncomfortable, he thinks she’s just playing hard to get, so he ups his game.

He moves in closer to give my daughter a good view of his phone to show her the photos he creepily just took of us. Neither of us look. Go the f**k away old man.

 At this point one of the ajjumas (no older than 45) thinks it’s a good time to reach over and touch my daughter’s arm and rub it with her pointer and middle fingers as she speaks in some dissonant 에교 voice. In the best of times, just don’t f**king touch strangers trying to enjoy their time at a cafe, but especially during covid, don’t even f**king think about it you dumb *****. At that point I just throw the remaining jellies in my mouth, plastic and all, and gather my things (daughter included) and go.

Gross!

There's a serious child fetish going on here and I get that plenty of the older generation just think of it as innocent and harmless, but no... culture or age isn't an excuse to condone this.
In Korea, EVERYONE is fully aware that you're not permitted to take pictures of anyone, particularly kids, without their permission.

 UGH. I don't even know what to say about my school's temperature reading devices.

I got a cold. From GF's daughter. She had one on the weekend and I picked it up on Monday. I tell my coworker that I have a cold and how I got it. As long as the temperature checks are fine, I'm in the clear. I wear my mask, I eat alone at lunch. I don't want to spread it around, especially not in this climate of Corona.  (And yes, it is a cold, daughter went to the hospital and got it checked out)

So, I take my temperature this morning. The temperature camera at the entrance has two zones. You stand in front and there are two squares on the TV, let's call them left and right. This morning, 36.5. Awesome.

I have been keeping a log this week. Before, lunch, leave. 3 times a day and when I talk to my co-teachers about what I said about the cold. If our school egts an outbreak, I'm not getting blamed for it. I have the paperwork.

So, I go after lunch. I stand in the left zone, same as this morning. 37.8. Alarm goes off. Okay, WTF. That's like, REALLY sick. Like, bedridden sick.

  아, 잠시만요~~~~~~ (woman watching the door) 보건실 선생님 찾아요.

I decide to stand to the side. This shit happens. Yesterday I got a 37.4 and the alarm didn't go off and the door ajeossi smiled and said it was okay and to go.

Back to today. I'm standing in the right zone. It says 36.9. Well, that's.............. good? Woman comes back with forehead reader.

I show her the tv reading but ask for a forehead thermometer anyway. 36.4


How the hell do three different readings (although one can argue that the TV uses the same camera so it's one reading. But that's even worse because I had an almost ONE DEGREE spread between the zones. And the zones are arbitrary. The camera basically reads two subjects within frame. There are two squares on the TV for ease of use, I'm sure the camera could measure more subjects if it wanted to) get through??????

How can we believe anything????

UGH. I don't even know what to say about my school's temperature reading devices.

Made in....China

we have these shite little cardboard "dividers" between desks that do nothing
kids stand one metre apart to go to school, clump together at the end of the day
some fumigator guy comes in wednesdays with some half-arsed fumigating - does nothing much, i'm sure. probably should do everyday, if anything
kids sit apart but group together as soon as class ends
kids get their temp checked only after walking through the entire school

it's all for show