RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

The teacher next to me is snoring.. loudly.

Apparently one of my travel schools is getting rid of their NET (me) next semester and will be using the NET from the middle school right next to elementary. Okay, fine, I get that they might want to save money or whatever, but no one informed me about it until a random 3rd grade teacher mentioned it in passing to me in the hallway. Come on, Korea, it's not that hard to freaking tell your employee of the past 4 months something like that so I don't find out off-hand in the middle of the day.

And it was my favorite school.

... Living in the middle of nowhere means no chiropractor nearby to sort out my neck so

If it's any consolation there are barely any chiropractors anywhere in Korea. Big city or small. It's oriental medicine or nothing.

... Living in the middle of nowhere means no chiropractor nearby to sort out my neck so

If it's any consolation there are barely any chiropractors anywhere in Korea. Big city or small. It's oriental medicine or nothing.

Fair enough, I know my friend goes to one in Seoul. I know a lot of people think its BS but I always went to one back home. I'd go like once a month, went since I was a kid so the dude cut me a deal so I could afford it through university. I miss being able to get a monthly visit in :C my current state makes me miss it more :C

Got invited to go to a beer festival. I thought "cool! I can try a variety of beer and maybe stumble upon something I've never had before!"

Check out the link and it's a beer festival put on by Hite and that's ALL they will be serving. Wtf? That is not a beer festival, that's a Hite festival.

My buddy and I were biking from the airport to Muuido and we saw signs for "WORLD BEER FESTIVAL/THIS WEEKEND/MUUIDO"

Holy shit! What luck! We didn't even know about it, what fortune!

We get to the beach and there's 3 fridges that you'd find in a self bar. Selection wasn't terrible, but the hype for a World Beer Festival was quickly doused.

You just missed a craft beer festival in Gapyeong. There's a pool party/craft beer event going on sometime in june... i think the 24th? It's by the same people but it doesn't have as many beer vendors. look up Good Times ROK. They do the craft beer festival every year and it's like 10,000won for 3 beer tickets if you get the early-bird. Free to just go to.

My Friday school is literally the worst. The kids don't want to do anything, and my co-teacher does nothing to make sure they do their work. He literally lets them sit around or sleep the whole period if they want. Or if they pay enough attention to play a game, he gives them all the answers. How am I suppose to have any authority if he has no authority? This is the school that makes me count down the days I have left.

Also, the high schoolers are having some kind of fun event going on right outside the English room window complete with yelling, loud music, and a PA system. How the hell am I supposed to keep anyone's attention? 

Back to the gym... on the treadmill and the woman on the treadmill near me was listening to some insanely annoying Korean comedy podcast or something. It was a man pretending to be a woman or something else. Most obnoxious thing I've ever heard. She had it on full volume and no headphones.

Back to the gym... on the treadmill and the woman on the treadmill near me was listening to some insanely annoying Korean comedy podcast or something. It was a man pretending to be a woman or something else. Most obnoxious thing I've ever heard. She had it on full volume and no headphones.

Take out your phone, load up some Cannibal Corpse, Racer X or Slayer and return the favour.

Had to 'edit' a few student's speeches as their speech contest is coming up. A few paraphrased extracts from one of my favourites:

Hangul
- Hangul is the best writing system in the world
- It's better than other foreign languages
- Other foreign languages have changed over time, Hangul is the only language which has remained
  the same.
- You can sound out any word.
- Unlike other languages, Hangul is Scientific.
- Korea has the highest literacy rate in the world.

Last year, this boy, a really bright and likeable kid, did another speech about kimchi. Pretty much the same tune on how it's God's gift to the world. Most of the essays were the same, glorifying different aspects of Korea and claiming how much better it was than anywhere else. The only different essays were a few speeches on their asspirations... Kind of incredible that 5/6 girls all have the same dream of becoming pastry chefs.

It never fails to amaze me; Korean kids giving a speech on how superior Korea is, to other Koreans... in English.

- You can sound out any word.

Sound out 광안리 or 설날 the way they're written, and Koreans will laugh at you. 

The sucky muscle massage-ish machine thing they used on my neck yesterday left a giant hickey on my neck :'( The meds make it easier to actually turn my head right now, but I look like I got throat punched :'( Surprised the students haven't pointed and gawked at it yet... My makeup skills aren't quite good enough to mask it :'(

The sucky muscle massage-ish machine thing they used on my neck yesterday left a giant hickey on my neck :'( The meds make it easier to actually turn my head right now, but I look like I got throat punched :'( Surprised the students haven't pointed and gawked at it yet... My makeup skills aren't quite good enough to mask it :'(

No need. They wear those suction cup marks with pride around here.

- You can sound out any word.

Sound out 광안리 or 설날 the way they're written, and Koreans will laugh at you. 

try 정로 or 박물관 too. the other day we were talking about 'lost and found' in english class with my 4th graders and one student wrote the translation as 분신물 instead of 분실물.

Last year I had a baby-CT who was...*sigh* ...he was.

This year he has been put in charge of an event. A coworker hosting the event asked for the file he used last year but baby-CT can't give any files to anyone because last year he wiped his PC clean 2x (he formatted his PC the first time, I still remember the technician's face ) to make sure there wasn't any personal information on it - it was a security check of some sorts. He lost all his files.

Now, instead of TELLING coworker 1 he doesn't have the file, he asks another CT who has since left the school for her file she used for her grades. Except this other CT doesn't give him her modified file; no, she gives him my original file. Baby-CT hands it over to my coworker saying it's his file.

I'd already happily given her my file. I'm more than happy to share. But thanks to baby-Genius I ended up in a wonderful circular and never-ending conversation about giving her my CT's files and claiming them as my own! It calmed down when I pointed out that baby-Genius NEVER FREAKING TAUGHT THOSE GRADES!!!!!! and that she could look at the design, the file properties, the file name and the stuff in the file for verification.

But she didn't let it go. Not completely. Because native teachers steal everything.

I'M SO GRATEFUL IT'S FREAKING FRIDAY!!!!

But she didn't let it go. Not completely.

This is possibly my biggest beef with Korea. Even when faced with irrefutable evidence, they'll deny any wrongdoing. Taking responsibility for your mistakes is viewed as a loss of face and is completely unacceptable rather than a chance to atone.

Also, the high schoolers are having some kind of fun event going on right outside the English room window complete with yelling, loud music, and a PA system. How the hell am I supposed to keep anyone's attention? 

This happens at the university I teach at. It's a five-minute walk from the front gate to the building I teach in, which is in the far-left corner of the campus. Students set up a stage and blast out their ballads so loud that i have to close windows and draw curtains to try and minimise the noise. It should not be a noise levels high enough to disturb classes on the fifth floor of a building  as far away as you can get from the stage. I always wonder how they cope in the buildings closest to the stage.

Had to 'edit' a few student's speeches as their speech contest is coming up. A few paraphrased extracts from one of my favourites:

Hangul
- Hangul is the best writing system in the world
- It's better than other foreign languages
- Other foreign languages have changed over time, Hangul is the only language which has remained
  the same.
- You can sound out any word.
- Unlike other languages, Hangul is Scientific.
- Korea has the highest literacy rate in the world.

Last year, this boy, a really bright and likeable kid, did another speech about kimchi. Pretty much the same tune on how it's God's gift to the world. Most of the essays were the same, glorifying different aspects of Korea and claiming how much better it was than anywhere else. The only different essays were a few speeches on their asspirations... Kind of incredible that 5/6 girls all have the same dream of becoming pastry chefs.

It never fails to amaze me; Korean kids giving a speech on how superior Korea is, to other Koreans... in English.

2 things 1, Hangeul has dropped at least 4 letters since its inception. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul#Obsolete_letters

2, James Milner plays for Liverpool, but using Hangeul they call him James Miller on SBS Sports.  Hangeul can spell any KOREAN word!

Last gym complaint... maybe.

Last night a high school boy came in and started using the mirrored GX area to practice his kpop dance moves. He didn't seem to be bothering anyone else, but for some reason it was just annoying to me. Maybe I was just in a blah mood already.