RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Found out next weekend there's a teacher's workshop that I'm required to attend. Overnight. So there goes my Friday night + Saturday. Gonna have to cancel a planned temple stay to, I assume, sit around on a floor eating something pickled while everyone speaks Korean.

Maybe it'll be fun? Or maybe I can fake my own death?

You should start a new line of pizzas. Chinguetti's Pizza. Or maybe you should open up your own pasta place instead. Chinguetti's Spaghetti. I would support you, even if it's candy corn pizza despite the fact that I think candy corn is disgusting.

I like it. Company creed: "Where a pizza is never just a pizza."

And "Stairway to Heaven" played backwards would be the company theme song.

This is going places.

Chinguetti's Spaghetti, endorsed by Dr. Giraffe. Speciality: spaghetti pizza?

And I don't think I could try candy corn pizza. Curious as I am when food is concerned, I still have my limits 

There was an indian restaurant I frequented when I was studying abroad in Seoul that served spaghetti curry

There's now a Japanese spaghetti restaurant in Gangnam. Spaghetti is now a global dish, apparently~

Spaghetti curry, huh? Why not.

My business would be centered around appearing to ruin your favorite dish, but try it because not really.

Can you buy those little 3 organic banana packs where you are? I started buying them, but found they were still getting moldy 1 - 2 days after buying them (so was always throwing the 3rd one, and sometimes 2 of the 3, away) - no matter where I kept them as well.

Apparently there's a crapton of variables that can have a massive affect on how well a banana will keep.

A lot of people will avoid refrigerating bananas because refrigeration will apparently cause bananas to go bad faster -- but in reality, it just causes the peel to brown. The bananas inside will still remain good for a while... but this also effectively stops the ripening process, and it won't resume again even if you remove the bananas from the fridge (so basically, only stick bananas in the fridge once they get to the amount of ripeness you prefer).

And learn to keep bananas away from other fruits - the gas these fruits release will cause bananas to ripen faster. That's why you see bananas organized in grocery stores AWAY from certain types of fruits (like apples and pears).

That's the extent of what I know about it, though. I hate bananas.

This culture drives me up the wall.

I see this 6th grade class twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays. Last Wednesday, just after class began, a boy stood up and threw a ball of paper wrapped in tape, with all his strength, straight into the head of the girl sitting in front of him. My CT, as usual, is in a daze and I'm the only one who spots it. I stop the class and tell him to give the other one he has in his hand. He refuses, and starts getting hysterical, refusing to admit that he did anything wrong. I tell him to leave the class, he refuses and breaks into tears, bawling like a 3-year old.

My CT starts talking to him, having a long conversation instead of getting him out of the classroom and continuing whatever they have to say there so I can carry on with the lesson... We've already wasted 5-minutes. My CT insists on hearing his "story", giving him the stage to act like an entitled little prince.
After another few minutes, my CT tells me he thinks he's being treated unfairly. I quietly ask her to stop entertaining his tantrum and take the pointless conversation outside. The girl's still rubbing her head in pain and I saw the whole thing so obviously he threw it. She carries on listening to his bawling. All the while he's back chatting both of us and being incredibly rude.

We decide to call the homeroom teacher, since he's refusing to follow our instructions... Surprise, the HR teacher is in a different dimension. He puts his head down on the desk and I decide to continue the class and deal with him afterwards. After class I tell him that until he apologises for his behaviour in front of everyone (the class needs to see that disobeying a teacher's instructions can't be tolerated), he will sit at the back of the room and not be part of anything.

He throws another tantrum and me CT entertains is. I try to get him to calm down and explain, softly, that he did something wrong and once he apologises and promises not to do it again, everything will be cool... No dice, he gets even ruder, so I just send him off. I tell my CT that next class, he's to be sent to the back and no one is to interact with him. She also promises to chat with the HR teacher.

Today, I arrived 2min late for class and guess who I find slouching in his chair, cutting up bits of eraser over the floor. I tell him to go to the desk at the back, he refuses. I ask my CT to get the HR teacher to drag him out... Across the classroom, not quietly so the other students can't hear, my CT asks me to "understand his situation and ignore him". I say no and tell him again, to move to the back chair. He throws another weeping tantrum. CT goes to him and they have another pointless argument. She insists on listening to his BS, during class, instead of taking it outside.

How thick do you have to be to not know that you never undermine another teacher in front of the students? It seems that she's trying to find a way to take his side and ignore the situation.
F*ck, she's useless.

Hahah what makes spaghetti Japanese?

What makes it Japanese? Sushi atop spaghetti?

Hell, if they threw okonomiyaki on top I'd eat that

This culture drives me up the wall.

I see this 6th grade class twice a week, Wednesdays and Fridays. Last Wednesday, just after class began, a boy stood up and threw a ball of paper wrapped in tape, with all his strength, straight into the head of the girl sitting in front of him. My CT, as usual, is in a daze and I'm the only one who spots it. I stop the class and tell him to give the other one he has in his hand. He refuses, and starts getting hysterical, refusing to admit that he did anything wrong. I tell him to leave the class, he refuses and breaks into tears, bawling like a 3-year old.

My CT starts talking to him, having a long conversation instead of getting him out of the classroom and continuing whatever they have to say there so I can carry on with the lesson... We've already wasted 5-minutes. My CT insists on hearing his "story", giving him the stage to act like an entitled little prince.
After another few minutes, my CT tells me he thinks he's being treated unfairly. I quietly ask her to stop entertaining his tantrum and take the pointless conversation outside. The girl's still rubbing her head in pain and I saw the whole thing so obviously he threw it. She carries on listening to his bawling. All the while he's back chatting both of us and being incredibly rude.

We decide to call the homeroom teacher, since he's refusing to follow our instructions... Surprise, the HR teacher is in a different dimension. He puts his head down on the desk and I decide to continue the class and deal with him afterwards. After class I tell him that until he apologises for his behaviour in front of everyone (the class needs to see that disobeying a teacher's instructions can't be tolerated), he will sit at the back of the room and not be part of anything.

He throws another tantrum and me CT entertains is. I try to get him to calm down and explain, softly, that he did something wrong and once he apologises and promises not to do it again, everything will be cool... No dice, he gets even ruder, so I just send him off. I tell my CT that next class, he's to be sent to the back and no one is to interact with him. She also promises to chat with the HR teacher.

Today, I arrived 2min late for class and guess who I find slouching in his chair, cutting up bits of eraser over the floor. I tell him to go to the desk at the back, he refuses. I ask my CT to get the HR teacher to drag him out... Across the classroom, not quietly so the other students can't hear, my CT asks me to "understand his situation and ignore him". I say no and tell him again, to move to the back chair. He throws another weeping tantrum. CT goes to him and they have another pointless argument. She insists on listening to his BS, during class, instead of taking it outside.

How thick do you have to be to not know that you never undermine another teacher in front of the students? It seems that she's trying to find a way to take his side and ignore the situation.
F*ck, she's useless.

Goddammit, Aristocrat, it's almost Friday night and you've spiked my blood pressure 15 points.

My 2 rants:
My school allowed me to finish 2 hours early today, as everyone is leaving early. (this part, is happy); however, the parents picking up the students blocked off the bus stop area, so the bus I needed to catch drove right past without stopping, even though I was waving out to it to stop. Some of the students missed the bus as well, and the next one won't be here for another 2 hours. The bus driver saw us and slowed down, but didn't stop. So now, all the teachers and students are gone, and I'm the only one in the school. I don't know if I'm expected to lock anything or what I'm supposed to do, as no-one has told me anything.

2nd - next weeks culture trip.
I have to go on a 2 day culture trip with the area's education office. It doesn't start until 2pm, but until then, we have to teach all morning, then we have an 8 hour schedule for the first day, and a 10 hour schedule for the 2nd day. While I don't care about being paid for it. I still have to teach between 8am and 2pm on the first day, then have to do 8 hours of the trip stuff. While I do appreciate the time off work, and would love to see some Korean history stuff, the reason I put this in the rant section is: the first day of the trip involves heights. And I'm phobic of heights. I stated this in the interview for the job, and have told the people running the trip, back at the summer camp (when they mentioned something to do with heights).
So basically, I don't get any time to myself on the first day, and the day 1 activities that are planned I can't do. It's going to be even more of a waste of my time than deskwarming. :(

Day 2 sounds enjoyable, I'm looking forward to the second day; but the first day. I'm going to be both stressed and bored.

Re: Japanese Spaghetti

See for yourself. Thanks 지수스~

http://jeesus.tistory.com/62

**(forgot the link, sorry)**

How thick do you have to be to not know that you never undermine another teacher in front of the students? It seems that she's trying to find a way to take his side and ignore the situation.

A CoT of mine came into the classroom a little shaken today and told me that she had just been scolded (unfairly) by the head teacher and that he took her out into the hallway specifically because that's where children would be so that they could witness it and further compound her shame.

This culture drives me up the wall.

[edited the rest out to save space - kobayashi]

now you know why the men in this country grow up to be such bratty, arrogant, self-entitled pricks. because of stuff like this.

Re: Japanese Spaghetti

See for yourself. Thanks 지수스~

http://jeesus.tistory.com/62

**(forgot the link, sorry)**

Wow that's... certainly unique

Probably tastes fine though

This culture drives me up the wall.

There is a strange insistance upon hearing out the students explanations for bad behavior at my school also and of course the explanations are ridiculous but always accepted. Is this common all over Korea? Kids at my school can essentially do anything and the only punishment seems to be occasionally writing some lines (and you have to get the teacher in charge of discipline for the entire school to bestow that harsh punishment).

I've been cursed at, flipped off, and just openly disrespected and it is just accepted as normal. Kids just get sent to the hall (where they usually just goof off and play), I have to send kids out of class all the time and so do the Korean teachers. Sent a couple kids out to the hall today and they pulled the fire alarm, did not even warrant a talking to from a Korean teacher.

Also, no matter what they do, if they say "sorry" afterwards then everything is ok. They usually say it with a big grin on their faces with no remorse whatsoever. A lot of my kids are great and it brings me a ton of joy teaching them but I will do my best to teach only adults after this year.

This culture drives me up the wall.

There is a strange insistance upon hearing out the students explanations for bad behavior at my school also and of course the explanations are ridiculous but always accepted. Is this common all over Korea? Kids at my school can essentially do anything and the only punishment seems to be occasionally writing some lines (and you have to get the teacher in charge of discipline for the entire school to bestow that harsh punishment).

I've been cursed at, flipped off, and just openly disrespected and it is just accepted as normal. Kids just get sent to the hall (where they usually just goof off and play), I have to send kids out of class all the time and so do the Korean teachers. Sent a couple kids out to the hall today and they pulled the fire alarm, did not even warrant a talking to from a Korean teacher.

Also, no matter what they do, if they say "sorry" afterwards then everything is ok. They usually say it with a big grin on their faces with no remorse whatsoever. A lot of my kids are great and it brings me a ton of joy teaching them but I will do my best to teach only adults after this year.

Honestly, I think the sorry is the worst part because they do it with that bratty exaggerated voice. "Oh, soooooorry teacher."

I wish I worked where you do, #basedcowboyshirt. My school situation is the same but... we could stand to have more enforcement of rules (or maybe more rules in the first place?)


I did my best but I didn't finish my worksheets. Ugh. I'm gonna have to come in early on Monday

I don't understand where you're all working. I work at a normal public school in a relatively low income area. When a kid is being disrespectful to anyone, whether it's a teacher or a student, all my co-teachers zero in on it immediately and either change that student's seat, or make them come sit by the teacher's desk, or just yell at them.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but yeah - I've never had to deal with that.

I work at a high school in Seoul and I have the good students come up to me all the time and complain about how the bad students never get in trouble. It happens all the time and no matter what the level the offense is. I had 4 students try to sneak out of my class (and they were terrible sneakers) twice so they could go listen to some of their friends practice a singing competition. I reported them for being so disrespectful and flat out disobeying me and nothing happened.

I got lucky and have really well behaved students. When they do step out of line, they're aware of it and they get disciplined by their homeroom teachers if not another KT (at least in middle school). In elementary the kids are sometimes rowdy but I'm assuming the homeroom teachers discipline them if they misbehave since they're overall well behaved kids.

I remember being in middle school and the kids were not nearly so polite-- much larger school though. My schools here are tiny. I am stuck in the middle of nowhere but I'd rather deal with that inconvenience than with rude and ill behaved students.

I don't understand where you're all working. I work at a normal public school in a relatively low income area. When a kid is being disrespectful to anyone, whether it's a teacher or a student, all my co-teachers zero in on it immediately and either change that student's seat, or make them come sit by the teacher's desk, or just yell at them.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but yeah - I've never had to deal with that.

I'm at 4 school and at 2 of them, as you say, my CTs would pounce on a student at the slightest hint of disrespect to me or them. Needless to say, these classes have the most positive atmosphere, the smartest kids, and there's never been a single incident of anything worse than simple hormones doing their thing.

At the other 2, one CT thinks every child is too precious for words and she doesn't have a solid bone in her body. The other CT is constantly in lala land and treats 6th grade students like adults.

I don't understand where you're all working. I work at a normal public school in a relatively low income area. When a kid is being disrespectful to anyone, whether it's a teacher or a student, all my co-teachers zero in on it immediately and either change that student's seat, or make them come sit by the teacher's desk, or just yell at them.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but yeah - I've never had to deal with that.

I'm at 4 school and at 2 of them, as you say, my CTs would pounce on a student at the slightest hint of disrespect to me or them. Needless to say, these classes have the most positive atmosphere, the smartest kids, and there's never been a single incident of anything worse than simple hormones doing their thing.

At the other 2, one CT thinks every child is too precious for words and she doesn't have a solid bone in her body. The other CT is constantly in lala land and treats 6th grade students like adults.

This is the problem in terms of the latter two schools you mentioned. They treat them as their parents treat them. However, the two schools you mentioned that are good at discipline will eventually succumb to the mollycoddling approach due to pressure. This might be due to the fact that parents, who are of the age when hagwon madness began, remember how hard it was for them, and so they are thinking that times have changed and we don't need all the pressure. I don't know for sure. But that coupled with the fact that they were probably physically punished as students, has led them to a softer approach. That's in the classroom only. Not home, where it's perfectly ok to beat them if they don't listen.

Now, you may think I contradicted myself in saying that teachers treat them in the same way their parents do, considering the physical punishment that parents do. However, the parents still treat their kids like kings despite that. Not every household is the same. And not all Korean parents are the same. But we're talking about the majority.

Green pork? What would make pork go green?

      Simply put, the green colour that is sometimes observed on bacon and ham is the result of the action of non-pathogenic bacteria which break down the oxygen transport protein myoglobin to produce porphyrin derivatives. These derivatives are large heterocyclic compounds which can have greenish colours.
      Back in the day, folks claimed that the green colour showed that the meat was no longer dangerous to consume: it certainly never killed anyone. However, there is little doubt that it did change the flavour considerably.

    Also, Auracana chickens lay green eggs, so it really is possible to have natural green eggs and ham!

I will not eat them in a house.
I do not like them with a mouse.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them ANYWHERE!

Ah, Some classic Dr. Seuss. Such a great story writer! An excellent role model for all our children!

...um...