RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Shared food stresses me out SO much.  That's the downside of regular school not being in session.  I want my own tray that no one else can touch!

Can you explain?

Why do you share food when school is not in regular session?

I take it your cafeteria is closed, but why does that equate to sharing food?

It's fairly common for the remaining teachers to order delivery and eat it communally during seasonal breaks. It's happened at all of the schools I've worked at, at least.

I tend to just bring my own food so I don't have to worry about it, but I'm soooooo far past the point of caring what my coworkers think of me as a result. Maybe sixtieshappy isn't there yet.

I understand some teachers wanting to order and eat together (I've never participated due to dietary restrictions).

I was seeking clarification, as the user made it sound like he/she didn't have an option,

Yeah basically I'm never kept abreast of what's going on.

Many days last year we'd all go to a restaurant by our school whose food I really liked but was also communal.  So I wouldn't want to bring my own food in case we ended up going there.  Sometimes they make me pay and order individual portions from some delivery service.  Yesterday my ct yammered something about how when I have camp in a few weeks I'm just going to be eating "bread and juice" that the students have as their snack for my lunch because she can order me extra.  Today the teachers ordered communal food that just showed up and no one asked me to pay.

It stressed me out today because I eat a LOT.  The female teachers basically pick at everything and eat what looks like 100 calories worth.  The only person who eats as much as me is the PE/disciplinarian teacher.  They got four rows of kimbap and there were four of us, so naturally I want them to split it four ways so I can have my own in front of me that no one else touches but of course they keep them all in the middle and the more appealing one was further away from me.  And then they made two individual sized bowls of instant ramen for the four of us to split ffs.

I eat a lot, too, which surprises people because I'm so thin, but a single roll of kimbap and half of a cup noodle is definitely not enough for me. I would be so upset. The other thing about sharing kimbap, especially if there is someone else who also eats a lot, is that I'm also a slow eater. I try to eat faster to at least keep up with everyone but for some reason I can't seem to.

Well, some of the worst little shits showed up for camp. But, it's almost over. 

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?   

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?  

Nah, all of those things sound terrible to me, too. I'd become a hermit if I had to deal with that crap on a regular basis.

Well, some of the worst little shits showed up for camp. But, it's almost over. 

The kids the mothers most want a break from are the ones most likely to be at the English camp in some cases. I swear some K-mothers are treating English camps / afterschool English classes as a babysitting service. There's also a hope their kid will learn some English while there.

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?  

Nah, all of those things sound terrible to me, too. I'd become a hermit if I had to deal with that crap on a regular basis.

I'd rather just chill without any frills. And I used to be in theatre, haha

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?   

Hmm, well the first interesting thing about me is that I am very easily annoyed / angered. The second thing is that I hate stupid games and icebreaker activities. The third interesting thing about me is that I hate the idiot that suggested we do this. Oh, no! Was that not in my head?!



I agree with you. I would much rather be having a beer (maybe not a beer... I prefer coffee or 막걸리 lol) and just chilling.

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?   

Yes.

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?   

Hmm, well the first interesting thing about me is that I am very easily annoyed / angered. The second thing is that I hate stupid games and icebreaker activities. The third interesting thing about me is that I hate the idiot that suggested we do this. Oh, no! Was that not in my head?!



I agree with you. I would much rather be having a beer (maybe not a beer... I prefer coffee or 막걸리 lol) and just chilling.

That's how the game is played.

is it a rule on korean tv that you can only talk when you're chewing food? it's disgusting

Day 1 of camp started out stressfully. I took out my usb from my office computer to take to the English room and then I lost it. It's really small so I think it's gone for good. I checked all my pockets and my path to and from the English room as well as around my desk but no dice. Thankfully I'd already transferred all the important stuff to my new computer so I could just email it to myself but ughhh. That was frustrating.

The boys don't take the projects seriously and so finish quickly but the girls are really into them so at least a bit more than half the class are interested. We did facepainting today and some of the girls really impressed me with their work!

Woke up sick this morning 

But there's no afternoon classes! 

But I still have to stay until 4:25 

Of all the days, the technical room and the art room were suddenly locked today when they hadn't been all year round. Naturally those are the rooms I needed to borrow things from.

Well, the windows happened to be unlocked so we were able to climb in and gather what we needed that way. It's been a Macgyver kinda morning.

Sometimes it's annoying that I have to send packages to school (I live on school grounds and our housing doesn't have separate addresses).

Usually the mailmen deliver packages to the teachers' office and hand them to the secretary. Today for some reason, the admin creep got ahold of a package I ordered from Japan. He was perusing it all creepy like before handing it over to me. I mean thankfully he didn't open it but I'm sure he would have loved to. 

Dear parents,

Please don't send your children half an hour early to camp. My current class is still in full swing.
Also don't bother to send your kid to camp at all if they're going to be showing up ridiculously late every day because their soccer class overlaps with camp.

Sincerely,
the babysitter English camp teacher

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?   

Nope.  Well, maybe, but then so am I. 

I just want a wine/beer and to shoot the breeze, so I agree with you, you're not alone on that.

Actually, the older I get the more I dislike people, just people in general.  There are a few I like, but not many.  I think I need to retire to a farm of some sort. 

A compilation of foreigner based rants.  They've been building up for a while but are all around one theme:  Is it too much to ask to meet normal people?  Just one normal person?

These have all happened this past year:

- A dinner with a big group made up of smaller groups of friends.  "Oh hey, let's go around the table and everyone say three interesting things about themselves".  What?  No!!  Who is that fun for?

- "Why don't we just order one of everything and all share?"  No!!  I'm not paying for a meal and ending up eating two spoonfuls of food.

- We're having a party at the weekend if you want to come?
   Me:  Sounds good!
   Yea it's an Oscars themed movie party.  We're going to all dress as movie stars!
   Me: 

I think my point is; whatever happened to just having some beers and talking or just eating normally and talking.  Why does everything have to be a "quirky" game, or have a "whacky" theme?

Thoughts?  Am I a grumpy old man?   

Nope.  Well, maybe, but then so am I. 

I just want a wine/beer and to shoot the breeze, so I agree with you, you're not alone on that.

Actually, the older I get the more I dislike people, just people in general.  There are a few I like, but not many.  I think I need to retire to a farm of some sort.

Maybe I'm more of an old curmudgeon than I thought.

Dear parents,

Please don't send your children half an hour early to camp. My previously class is still in full swing.
Also don't bother to send your kid to camp at all if they're going to be showing up ridiculously late every day because their soccer class overlaps with camp.

Sincerely,
the babysitter English camp teacher

Can I add, please teach your children to flush the toilet and wash their hands.

And to the student who put their used toilet tissue on top of the upturned tissue basket, there is no hope for you. Please consider a fulfilling career in recycling collection or flier delivery.   

Dear parents,

Please don't send your children half an hour early to camp. My previously class is still in full swing.
Also don't bother to send your kid to camp at all if they're going to be showing up ridiculously late every day because their soccer class overlaps with camp.

Sincerely,
the babysitter English camp teacher

Can I add, please teach your children to flush the toilet and wash their hands.

And to the student who put their used toilet tissue on top of the upturned tissue basket, there is no hope for you. Please consider a fulfilling career in recycling collection or flier delivery.

I'm at a new school and I could be wrong but far higher percentage of students are not all there. Not an English thing, just seem to be missing some sharpness. Hopefully this is something they will grow out of.

I'm putting it on parenting, about 90%.

Addition: Not in a 'special' sense either. Hard to describe properly.

So, today has been a pretty bad day all around. I think I'm going through the anger stage of culture shock because every little thing set me off today. I've also been really upset lately as well. I'm only three months in but I am burnt out. My co-teacher is beginning to get on my nerves too. For example, I had to teach an after-school class with high schoolers. My co-teacher got a call from the high school teacher about the after-school class this morning but he refused to tell me until after the class was over. He came up to me when I returned from the high school saying "Oh, you had a high school class today?" When I told him "yes," he stated that he already knew and that the high school teacher had called him earlier. He then told me later that I should change the class time to the mornings even though he knows I have no control over my schedule. He's also always asking me how much I get paid, and asking about my college debt. I think he's doing it with kind intentions but at the same time, it starts to grate on my nerves because it's not really any of his business. I can't tell if he is trying to build a better relationship with me, especially since I can't speak Korean. But then he always compares me to the last foreign English teacher who could speak Korean. And he will repeatedly ask me if I can understand Korean even though I've told him multiple times, that I'm still in the beginning stages of learning Korean.

Then, with my high school class, I'm supposed to have a two week one hour camp with them, but none of them really want to be there. I've made games and tried to play them but the students have been forcing it so that one team wins and the game is over really quickly. They will then say class over, and I'm just so burnt out. I then have to tell them, "No, class is not over, we'll do something else." I've had the high school classes four times each week since I arrived in October and I'm running out of things to teach. Plus, only a few people at my school call me by name, the rest call me by foreign teacher. Not waygookin but wanamin. I'm not sure how to spell it in korean but I know that it's the politer version of waygookin.  My students and my co-teacher all reference me as foreign teacher. While it doesn't seem like a big deal, there are days where it makes me feel like less of a person because I do have a name. I'm trying to make the most of my situation but at the same time, I just really needed to vent. It can be really frustrating when things like this happen and it's nice to know that others have experienced similar experiences and made it through.