RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

I don't quite follow...

How/why are you whistling?

Are you whistling a harmless tune or are you whistling to get the attention of other teachers/students?

I whistle softly on my way to and from school sometimes, but I never whistle to get someone's attention or while walking the halls, especially if classes are being held (no sound proofing).

Are you saying that you whistle during your class?

I don't quite follow that, but surely you can see how/why that is completely inappropriate and a distraction to your students, not to mention modeling "harmful" behavior.

In class I'll whistle along to the song at the beginning of class. Sometimes after class I'll just whistle a tune under my breath.

I never whistle at the students, no way. And no wolf whistles. ahaha

Your harmful is in quotations because you think it's BS? haha

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

it's not fair on the kindergarten teacher if you don't go...

translation: the kindergarten teacher wants an extra free period, and the dancing english monkey must provide! 

i would strongly encourage you to contact your MOE/POE about this. they are just gonna try pull the same shit with your replacement unless the MOE/POE puts them in their place.

I don't know the difference between the MOE / POE, however, the only guy who speaks English at mine stopped taking / blocked my calls and emails once I started asking about renewing / getting transferred. :\

However, the new teacher - if there is one (I still don't know if my job got cut or not, every week I get given a new reason why I wasn't able to renew / get transferred) shouldn't have time to do it anyway. They'll need that spare time to prepare for the afterschool class. It usually takes me Monday - Wednesday to prepare for my normal classes (I get a lot of free time on Wednesday's, on Thursday, I get about 2.5 hours of free time, however, the school only has 3 computers to use between all the staff members, so I can only use an hour of that time for prep. Friday, which is when they want the kindergarten class, has lunchtime - until end of the day available to prep).

I'll probably leave it in my note to tell the MOE / POE if they get asked, if there is a replacement. A lot of schools in my area lost students this year, so I'm not sure if they are cutting a NET, just want a fresh new body that doesn't know how the Korean school system works - to try get more out of them, or if I generally didn't do a good enough job - however, I worked hard and wasn't anything if I wasn't doing well enough. :\

MOE = Metropolitan Office of Education - these are what the offices of education are called in the major metropolitan cities (Daegu, Busan, Daejeon, etc.)

POE = Provincial Office of Education. Same as above except for the provinces.

they are the same thing, the name is just different depending on whether you live in a major metropolitan city or province.

It was wholly unprofessional for that guy to stop taking your calls. I would actually contact EPIK about it.

Ahh, so for me, it would be POE - there are no more english speakers left in my MOE (They got rid of the last Korean worker that had even a little English ability just before the end of the school year). (I'm not in a big city like Daegu, Busan, Seoul, Etc. - but my town does have an office of education, and I'm considering it as an MOE, though I'm not sure if it would come under that).

The guy who stopped taking my calls / emails, is actually the guy I would need to report that too. Unless I go higher than him, but then I'd need one of my co-teachers, as people above him don't speak English :( I think he is higher up than my MOE. He's at the POE and does the hiring among other jobs.

I'm not sure how I would go about doing that too. It's not something I could really do after work, and I think they are closed on the weekends. :\
I think talking to my co-teacher at my main school about it, is about the most I could do, but I'm not sure if he would do anything.

I definitely don't whistle to get people's attention, or over the teacher when she's talking. I just do it in the halls when I'm walking around.  Not random whistling, either. I like to whistle actual songs. I can't even help myself, haha.

I used to drive my coworkers nuts with humming. Apparently I hum the stock Samsung-phone alarm tune over and over and over when I'm cranking out powerpoint lessons in the office.

Luckily I now work at several different schools so I'm not around anybody long enough to really irritate them. 

I will get an official warning if I whistle in class again.

One of my principals once asked my CoT to tell me to stop whistling in the halls, because it's "inappropriate in school." My CoT assured me that Koreans think whistling is very rude. None of the other Koreans I've talked to about it since then knew wtf they were talking about, but oh well. I stopped doing it at that school.

I'm a whistler, though, so I do it and have done it at all my other schools  . I'm reasonably good at it, too, so some of my students think it's neat.

I don't even realise I'm doing it. My grandma just............... ..... does it. My Co-T thought I was slighting her, because she's asked me to stop a couple of times. I have no idea I'm doing it. I'm trying to be more conscious of it now.

The best part is, she was kind of laying into me yesterday about it and how the VP knows now, and she said, QUOTE.

"You've been dating (EX-GF NAME HERE) a long time and I thought she would have told you about Korean culture and what to do and not to do..........."

Cue the waterworks......... ...... 

"We broke up last week. (EXPLAIN VAGUE DETAILS HERE)"

Oh................. .. 

She was much nicer to me for the rest of her rant about my whistling and clothing choices.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAH

I thought you were joking about getting a warning for whistling.  Wtf?

Oh god, mark me down as a whistler too.  I do it all the time (walking through the halls, walking outside etc).

The only thing I've ever heard is that whistling at night is considered bad luck because it supposedly summons snakes.  Or maybe the devil?

Don't hold me to that though 

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

I've heard it from one guy in particular about once or twice a month for the last few years. Then the odd person randomly.

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

I've heard it from one guy in particular about once or twice a month for the last few years. Then the odd person randomly.

Closest I've heard is "Please understand." 

Back home people are less polite and the most similar thing I can think of is, "Well, this is how we do things here." Usually with some 'tude.

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I have literally never heard this phrase from a Korean person. I feel like I'm being left out of an inside joke. How many times have you guys heard it? I've heard "cock", when someone tries to say "coke". I've heard that countless times and each time it brings a chuckle out of me.

I've actually tried to get a Korean to say it. Not as in "Hey, can you say this for me?", that would be too easy. Instead, I have actively manufactured situations to bring out that statement organically. "WTF! Why do Koreans do this!? It makes no sense!" But alas, nothing. My quest continues

I've heard it from one guy in particular about once or twice a month for the last few years. Then the odd person randomly.

Closest I've heard is "Please understand." 

Back home people are less polite and the most similar thing I can think of is, "Well, this is how we do things here." Usually with some 'tude.

Me too, never.

I guess you only hear it if you do something that isn't understanding.

It says something about the people who hear it often i guess!

ya'll have seriously never heard it? i've even read it in news articles. not that exact thing but close. something like "korea is unique because of blah blah blah," or "this issue is caused by the unique blah blah blah of korea". or when they report on crimes and what the perpetrator gave as an excuse, the perpetrators usually make some reference to some unique or special situation of theirs to excuse their crime.

ya'll have seriously never heard it? i've even read it in news articles. not that exact thing but close. something like "korea is unique because of blah blah blah," or "this issue is caused by the unique blah blah blah of korea". or when they report on crimes and what the perpetrator gave as an excuse, the perpetrators usually make some reference to some unique or special situation of theirs to excuse their crime.

Often when you call them out on something.

Intelligent people use it to resolve their cognitive dissonance.

"I learned this and believe it to be true... but your [logic, knowledge of physics, astronomy, biology, etc...] is sound.  Both cannot be true, so there must be something special in Korea that you just cannot understand."

The fools, well, the translation "Well, that's how it is done here" is probably closer.

ya'll have seriously never heard it? i've even read it in news articles. not that exact thing but close. something like "korea is unique because of blah blah blah," or "this issue is caused by the unique blah blah blah of korea". or when they report on crimes and what the perpetrator gave as an excuse, the perpetrators usually make some reference to some unique or special situation of theirs to excuse their crime.

I guess? 

 I've never ever seen or heard the exact phrase  "Please understand our/his/their/hers/whatevers unique situation". Its just a meme at this point.


Also I find it a bit cringey when I see people use it, like people who say om nom nom.

 I've never ever seen or heard the exact phrase  "Please understand our/his/their/hers/whatevers unique situation". Its just a meme at this point

All memes are deep-seeded in reality and truth. 

Edit: Holy shit, it's deep-seated???????? I had no idea. Seed are low and they make strong roots, right? No? WHAT ELSE AM I WRONG ABOUT

 I've never ever seen or heard the exact phrase  "Please understand our/his/their/hers/whatevers unique situation". Its just a meme at this point

All memes are deep-seeded in reality and truth. 

Edit: Holy shit, it's deep-seated???????? I had no idea. Seed are low and they make strong roots, right? No? WHAT ELSE AM I WRONG ABOUT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnXKVY-_i2c

Does anyone remember people saying, "Please understand, this is our culture" over minor things back where they came from?

I've never heard any reference to America being exceptional. Nor anyone saying, "If you don't love it, leave it" in a famous Merle Haggard song. No "That's the American Way" or any other similar argument used to explain anything from guns to the fact that we don't use a computer to call balls and strikes.

If you seriously can't think of similar examples back home, you really need to open your mind more.

I've never heard any reference to America being exceptional. Nor anyone saying, "If you don't love it, leave it" in a famous Merle Haggard song. No "That's the American Way" or any other similar argument used to explain anything from guns to the fact that we don't use a computer to call balls and strikes.

If you seriously can't think of similar examples back home, you really need to open your mind more.

Told ya, a meme for everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FEW5mh7iAI

Edit: Holy shit, it's deep-seated???????? I had no idea. Seed are low and they make strong roots, right? No? WHAT ELSE AM I WRONG ABOUT

Fake news. It will always be deep-seeded for me. I think this is some sort of plot by the alternate universe that opened up following the activation of the Large Hadron Collider. First they made Shazaam! disappear, now they've unleashed this.

I will get an official warning if I whistle in class again.

One of my principals once asked my CoT to tell me to stop whistling in the halls, because it's "inappropriate in school." My CoT assured me that Koreans think whistling is very rude. None of the other Koreans I've talked to about it since then knew wtf they were talking about, but oh well. I stopped doing it at that school.

I'm a whistler, though, so I do it and have done it at all my other schools  . I'm reasonably good at it, too, so some of my students think it's neat.

I'm an occasional whistler on those rare moments at school when I'm feeling cheery enough to do so.  I lived in the Korean countryside for few years and it was the only place that I've ever heard any comment about the habit.  According to the gardener at the last rural school I worked at whistling attracts snakes!  I guess it's a Korean old wife's tale equivalent.  In fairness the gardener said it to me in a good-natured way, kind of like,

"Hey, don't you know that snakes like whistling? haha"