"Tell me honestly, did you ACTUALLY go to church in America?""Yes. But it was different. We didn't go all day. We went from 10-12.""And did your parents live together before they were married?""Yes.""Oh, well good Christians don't do that."...I'm really, really trying to work through what his possible thinking process could have been to think it was okay to say that to me. I have theories. But I'm way too talkative and this will turn into a novel no one cares about if I try to articulate. So. Just trust that I am super pissed.
Quote from: Aristocrat on March 14, 2017, 08:07:32 amYesterday, I helped my CT pin up a nice large map, in our classroom. It was one of the Koreanized maps, with Korea in the center complete with Dokdo and 'Sea of Korea' labelled in a bolder font than capital cities, but I digress. There were a few other teachers in the class as we usually meet there, at 3, for coffee and conversation. We started playing a 'find the country' game. After giving her a few difficult and obscure ones, like Uzbekistan and Lithuania, and having her fail, I went easier:Saudi ArabiaSicilySpainArgentinaGreenlandAlgeriaIceland... When she failed to find any of them, the other 2 teachers tried and couldn't find a single one.I hid my shock by keeping the mood light and tried to help them save face by feigning ignorance to a few which they asked me to find (all Asian countries and ridiculously easy). I'm no Geography whiz, but the level of Geography of fairly level-headed Koreans seems quite shocking. How can you go through life knowing so little about the outside world? To be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either.
Yesterday, I helped my CT pin up a nice large map, in our classroom. It was one of the Koreanized maps, with Korea in the center complete with Dokdo and 'Sea of Korea' labelled in a bolder font than capital cities, but I digress. There were a few other teachers in the class as we usually meet there, at 3, for coffee and conversation. We started playing a 'find the country' game. After giving her a few difficult and obscure ones, like Uzbekistan and Lithuania, and having her fail, I went easier:Saudi ArabiaSicilySpainArgentinaGreenlandAlgeriaIceland... When she failed to find any of them, the other 2 teachers tried and couldn't find a single one.I hid my shock by keeping the mood light and tried to help them save face by feigning ignorance to a few which they asked me to find (all Asian countries and ridiculously easy). I'm no Geography whiz, but the level of Geography of fairly level-headed Koreans seems quite shocking. How can you go through life knowing so little about the outside world?
Quote from: scpru on March 14, 2017, 07:55:44 am"Tell me honestly, did you ACTUALLY go to church in America?""Yes. But it was different. We didn't go all day. We went from 10-12.""And did your parents live together before they were married?""Yes.""Oh, well good Christians don't do that."...I'm really, really trying to work through what his possible thinking process could have been to think it was okay to say that to me. I have theories. But I'm way too talkative and this will turn into a novel no one cares about if I try to articulate. So. Just trust that I am super pissed.Well, Mary and Joseph tried to get a hotel room together one Christmas Eve.:o
Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on March 14, 2017, 09:01:01 amQuote from: Aristocrat on March 14, 2017, 08:07:32 amYesterday, I helped my CT pin up a nice large map, in our classroom. It was one of the Koreanized maps, with Korea in the center complete with Dokdo and 'Sea of Korea' labelled in a bolder font than capital cities, but I digress. There were a few other teachers in the class as we usually meet there, at 3, for coffee and conversation. We started playing a 'find the country' game. After giving her a few difficult and obscure ones, like Uzbekistan and Lithuania, and having her fail, I went easier:Saudi ArabiaSicilySpainArgentinaGreenlandAlgeriaIceland... When she failed to find any of them, the other 2 teachers tried and couldn't find a single one.I hid my shock by keeping the mood light and tried to help them save face by feigning ignorance to a few which they asked me to find (all Asian countries and ridiculously easy). I'm no Geography whiz, but the level of Geography of fairly level-headed Koreans seems quite shocking. How can you go through life knowing so little about the outside world? To be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either.One would hope a teacher who is tasked with educating our children would, though.I can not imagine any of my teachers from Elementary through highschool not knowing where those countries were on a map.There are some real dumb dumbs in the classrooms here.
Quote from: CO2 on March 14, 2017, 09:48:01 amQuote from: kyndo on March 14, 2017, 09:45:17 amWhat does sex have to do with living together? You're so innocent.Totes.Oh, and while we're on this subject, I feel like this would be a great time for an out-of-context quote:Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on March 14, 2017, 09:01:01 amTo be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either.
Quote from: kyndo on March 14, 2017, 09:45:17 amWhat does sex have to do with living together? You're so innocent.
What does sex have to do with living together?
To be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either.
Quote from: kyndo on March 14, 2017, 09:51:07 amQuote from: CO2 on March 14, 2017, 09:48:01 amQuote from: kyndo on March 14, 2017, 09:45:17 amWhat does sex have to do with living together? You're so innocent.Totes.Oh, and while we're on this subject, I feel like this would be a great time for an out-of-context quote:Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on March 14, 2017, 09:01:01 amTo be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either. Can you find West Areola?
Koreans are known for being blunt, and sometimes you do have to laugh it off, but I don't know. I think I have to draw the line at comments about my family... It's really not his business in the first place, and disrespecting my parents in the pursuit of changing my mind makes me doubly annoyed.Anyway. I'm probably going to act like it didn't happen, unless he decides to talk about it. (Doubt it. Saving face and all.) If he does, I'll just be honest and tell him I don't want to talk about the co-habiting topic anymore. That's reasonable enough. Avoid future issues and all, right?
Quote from: #basedcowboyshirt on March 14, 2017, 09:01:01 amQuote from: Aristocrat on March 14, 2017, 08:07:32 amYesterday, I helped my CT pin up a nice large map, in our classroom. It was one of the Koreanized maps, with Korea in the center complete with Dokdo and 'Sea of Korea' labelled in a bolder font than capital cities, but I digress. There were a few other teachers in the class as we usually meet there, at 3, for coffee and conversation. We started playing a 'find the country' game. After giving her a few difficult and obscure ones, like Uzbekistan and Lithuania, and having her fail, I went easier:Saudi ArabiaSicilySpainArgentinaGreenlandAlgeriaIceland... When she failed to find any of them, the other 2 teachers tried and couldn't find a single one.I hid my shock by keeping the mood light and tried to help them save face by feigning ignorance to a few which they asked me to find (all Asian countries and ridiculously easy). I'm no Geography whiz, but the level of Geography of fairly level-headed Koreans seems quite shocking. How can you go through life knowing so little about the outside world? To be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either.While I want to disagree and call you out, there are a lot of ignorant Americans when it comes to the outside world as well. Most Americans never even leave the US for any period of time. Sporcle is a good way to learn where plcaes are. It's helped me a lot when it comes to the obscure countries.
Quote from: gagevt on March 14, 2017, 02:05:32 pmQuote from: #basedcowboyshirt on March 14, 2017, 09:01:01 amQuote from: Aristocrat on March 14, 2017, 08:07:32 amYesterday, I helped my CT pin up a nice large map, in our classroom. It was one of the Koreanized maps, with Korea in the center complete with Dokdo and 'Sea of Korea' labelled in a bolder font than capital cities, but I digress. There were a few other teachers in the class as we usually meet there, at 3, for coffee and conversation. We started playing a 'find the country' game. After giving her a few difficult and obscure ones, like Uzbekistan and Lithuania, and having her fail, I went easier:Saudi ArabiaSicilySpainArgentinaGreenlandAlgeriaIceland... When she failed to find any of them, the other 2 teachers tried and couldn't find a single one.I hid my shock by keeping the mood light and tried to help them save face by feigning ignorance to a few which they asked me to find (all Asian countries and ridiculously easy). I'm no Geography whiz, but the level of Geography of fairly level-headed Koreans seems quite shocking. How can you go through life knowing so little about the outside world? To be fair, ask your average North American where anything is, and most of them won't know, either.While I want to disagree and call you out, there are a lot of ignorant Americans when it comes to the outside world as well. Most Americans never even leave the US for any period of time. Sporcle is a good way to learn where plcaes are. It's helped me a lot when it comes to the obscure countries. I think it is sadly common for public schools in the US to neglect world geography. I was always interested in learning more about other countries but instead it felt like classes always went over the same narrow scope. Part of it was probably due to having to teach to standardized testing, I'm sure. But hey. I can probably still name all 50 states and capitals from memory.
Maybe my expectations of people are a bit too high, but (and this is just my opinion) I don't think you can blame your school. I mean, knowing where Spain, Sicily and Brazil is on a map is something you learn by just being alive.
Koreans are known for being blunt, and sometimes you do have to laugh it off, but I don't know. I think I have to draw the line at comments about my family. Usually I try to be the perfect picture of a happy-go-lucky foreigner, a "happy virus" as the Koreans call it, because I don't want to give all of us a bad name. But honestly, I also don't want to perpetuate a notion that you can say whatever you want to foreigners and get away with it. That's a separate rant in itself: how to not give people like you a bad name, while also not sacrificing your dignity/values. Have not figured that out yet.But yeah. Went basically like this, if you wanted elaboration:[Talking about differences in medicine culture because he's trying to tell me to go to the doctor for a simple stye... Lull in the conversation, and then]Him: Tell me honestly, did you actually go to church in America?Me: Yes. But it was different. We didn't go all day. We went from 10-12.H: And did your parents live together before they were married?M: Yes.H: Oh, well good Christians don't do that.M: [slipped into English because I was appalled] What?H: Good Christians wait until after marriage to live together.M: It doesn't say that in the Bible.H: Huh? Bible? Ohhh-- Oh Bible... Well...M: My parents are real Christians. Good Christians.H: Oh...[Awkward silence. He hits his thigh with his fist like he always does when he doesn't like the quiet.]H: In Korea, Christians--M: --are different. Because of the different cultures.[More silence.]M: Do you know Catholic?H: Yes.M: Do you know the Pope?H: Pope? Pope... No, I don't know the Pope.M: Ohhh. Okay.[Then we had to go our separate ways anyway.]Mind you... he had ample opportunity to tell me if I misunderstood, or if he didn't mean it in a bad way, didn't have ill intentions, etc. A simple "Wait, hold on, you're not understanding me--" would have made me write it all off as a language barrier thing. But he didn't.Granted... I get that he's trying to "take care of" me. I really get it. But there's a line to be drawn there, too. I'm an adult. Yes, a young one, but still an adult. It'd be different if I was going out drinking to excess, ending up passed out in a bus shelter... Yeah, okay. Give me a lecture and try to change my ways, then. But plenty of people live together before getting married and are completely normal people, lead normal lives. It doesn't hurt anyone. It won't hurt me if it ever even happens. (Spoiler alert: I don't even have a boyfriend.) I'm not out here trying to change the Korean masses into co-habiting, sex-crazed fiends. (Which I've explained to him before it has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with wanting to make sure my s/o and I would be compatible living together.) It's really not his business in the first place, and disrespecting my parents in the pursuit of changing my mind makes me doubly annoyed.Anyway. I'm probably going to act like it didn't happen, unless he decides to talk about it. (Doubt it. Saving face and all.) If he does, I'll just be honest and tell him I don't want to talk about the co-habiting topic anymore. That's reasonable enough. Avoid future issues and all, right?
Quote from: Aristocrat on March 14, 2017, 05:48:12 pmMaybe my expectations of people are a bit too high, but (and this is just my opinion) I don't think you can blame your school. I mean, knowing where Spain, Sicily and Brazil is on a map is something you learn by just being alive.You are of course welcome to have your opinion. I meant more in terms of actually learning about culture (for example, I learned about various Asian cultures via reading in my free time, learned scarcely anything about Asian cultures in school), not simply pointing out the countries on a map. It may be that my memory is foggy but I feel that my knowledge of where other countries are located can be more attributed to looking at encyclopedias as a child rather than to my schooling. I also think it would have been great if learning a second language started at a much younger level. My main point is that some schools just may not put much emphasis on learning about other countries and while I think that it's a shame, I'm not really going to judge those who are ignorant about geography. There are many people who may simply not be interested in geography whether or not it's taught in school. There's a wealth of knowledge in the world and it's likely many people are more intrigued by other things. And I'm sure there are things in my knowledge bank that some would think ought to be generally known whereas others would disagree.
Quote from: yirj17 on March 14, 2017, 06:16:33 pmQuote from: Aristocrat on March 14, 2017, 05:48:12 pmMaybe my expectations of people are a bit too high, but (and this is just my opinion) I don't think you can blame your school. I mean, knowing where Spain, Sicily and Brazil is on a map is something you learn by just being alive.You are of course welcome to have your opinion. I meant more in terms of actually learning about culture (for example, I learned about various Asian cultures via reading in my free time, learned scarcely anything about Asian cultures in school), not simply pointing out the countries on a map. It may be that my memory is foggy but I feel that my knowledge of where other countries are located can be more attributed to looking at encyclopedias as a child rather than to my schooling. I also think it would have been great if learning a second language started at a much younger level. My main point is that some schools just may not put much emphasis on learning about other countries and while I think that it's a shame, I'm not really going to judge those who are ignorant about geography. There are many people who may simply not be interested in geography whether or not it's taught in school. There's a wealth of knowledge in the world and it's likely many people are more intrigued by other things. And I'm sure there are things in my knowledge bank that some would think ought to be generally known whereas others would disagree.Yeah if someone's not interested in Geography or travelling then chances are they're not going to be able to point to a place on the map. All I remember from geography in school is that Great Bear Lake exists somewhere in Canada and it's either the biggest lake or big enough to be of note. And I know I'm awful world geography it but that's because A) I was a total jerkbag in school and didn't care/listenand B) I only ever traveled to Florida from Canada before coming to KoreaAsk me about the world of Theadus and I can tell you exactly where the Tevinter Imperium is and about it's long history with blood magic. People have different interests and priorities. I'm not saying geography isn't important but chances are you don't remember it from school unless you were really interested in it.