RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

There was also a large and unsightly centi/milli/whateverpede in my foyer this morning. Swept up the carcass to toss outside and it started wriggling. Today has not begun well.

Back-to-back speaking tests today. This is my only free period.

I feel like I should mutiny.

Them kids don't even know Final Fantasy. Shame on them.

Funny story. I was talking to one of my advanced students about games because he was surprised I like them. So I said my favorite is The Legend of Zelda. He didn't know what it was. I asked if he knew Final Fantasy. His response...

"I only know famous Korean games."

My response...

"Oh... Overwatch is Korean? Blizzard is a Korean company? League of Legends was made by a Korean game company, too?"

His "foot in mouth" expression was great 

I'm sure he probably meant to say "I only know games famous in Korea," but good for you! You sure showed him!

You know, if I had realized it at the time, I wouldn't have said it. I'm not in the habit of being an asshole to one of my favorite students for no reason. I misunderstood. Lord.

Them kids don't even know Final Fantasy. Shame on them.

Funny story. I was talking to one of my advanced students about games because he was surprised I like them. So I said my favorite is The Legend of Zelda. He didn't know what it was. I asked if he knew Final Fantasy. His response...

"I only know famous Korean games."

My response...

"Oh... Overwatch is Korean? Blizzard is a Korean company? League of Legends was made by a Korean game company, too?"

His "foot in mouth" expression was great 

I'm sure he probably meant to say "I only know games famous in Korea," but good for you! You sure showed him!

You know, if I had realized it at the time, I wouldn't have said it. I'm not in the habit of being an asshole to one of my favorite students for no reason. I misunderstood. Lord.

While I think it's a shame that Korea never really got into console gaming (they are missing out, especially on stuff like older Zelda and Final Fantasy titles), I think gamer elitism is kinda lame.  Honestly this is an area where ignorance can be forgiven.

Make it an opportunity to show a short trailer of your favorite game if that's possible. Share that there is more out there than what they know. I've briefly educated a class before on how Link is not called Zelda 

I was supposed to give speaking and writing tests today during my first class. I wanted to give them last week so that I would have an adequate amount of time to score them but my co-teacher insisted that I postpone them until this week. She said that they would be busy with other tests so they wouldn't have time to study for mine. Anyway, when I get to my class, the students are not there so I head back to the teachers room. It is a ghost town. After roaming the halls I finally find another teacher who says "didn't we tell you? there is a poetry reciting performance today? the first two classes are cancelled. Also, we would like to invite you to watch and give some comments."
A few minutes later I was standing in front of about 400 students and 20 teachers with a mic in my hand. Luckily today is the last day of classes so there are very few opportunities for further surprises.

Back-to-back speaking tests today. This is my only free period.

I feel like I should mutiny.

Me too, but not back to back. Just speaking tests. The results have been underwhelming, and my expectations were low. Considering everyone was given a transcript of questions to memorize, you'd think it would be okay. Good thing we are just giving everyone an A though..

I'm having an off day today.

Not as in "yay, I have today off!", unfortunately. More like "everything is awful and off-kilter today."

I'm really terrible at coping with days like that these days. I don't know wtf my deal is. I quit drinking over three years ago, and I still don't really know how to cope with sh!tty days without alcohol. 

Oh well. Who cares, really, as long as I don't let it affect my job performance.

What an awful day!

Had some dodgy sweet chilli sauce, from Lotte Mart, on my food last night and I get to school, holding back the runs. I have 4 classes back to back, no time for the loo.

Get to the classroom late (8:45) and my CT isn't there. All the windows are shut and the class feels like a damn 찜질방. I open the windows, but it's still punishingly hot.

Students arrive and first class feels like teaching a graveyard (this class is notoriously shy). No students wants to answer questions or participate.

To make things worse, at the behest of the principal, my CT will not turn on the aircon and the mercury has climbed to 33 degrees.

I convince my CT to set up the fans, she does and it helps a bit. I'd planned to play Go Fish, which requires cards and the fans are blowing the cards off the student's desks.

My CT runs to turn off all the fans. I tell her that it's going to get really hot and that she can just tilt the fans to face upwards, thus maintaining circulation without blowing the cards off the student's desks.

She doesn't understand and I go to show her how to tilt the fan... She panics and runs up to me saying "No! No! I'll do it."
Offended and not in the best of moods, I tell her that I'm a 30yr old man, who has graduated from University, with an honours degree. I know how to operate a simple fan without breaking it.

The fan idea works, but for whatever reason, perhaps spite, she decides to turn the damn things off while we're playing.

I finish teaching my last class of the day and tell my CT that I'm going home as I'm feeling poorly.
She takes her sweet ass time printing out the form to sign, but eventually I finished it and out the door.

I'm getting tired of Korean food again. And I'm tired of Koreans being like "you can find everything you eat in America in Korea easily right?" and they get shocked when I tell them no, we eat more than pizza and hamburgers. No, I can't easily (or affordably) continue my same diet from home here. I'll deal, but I don't know why so many people here are like "we have all the same food as America right?!" I mean, I wouldn't assume that my home has the same food available as any other country so why the hell would Korea be the exception? Another annoying thing is when I actually have to tell an adult human that no, Korea isn't the only country that eats rice.

Omg this though. I am starting to run out of ideas of what food to eat here. I'm also a vegetarian which makes it even more difficult. I miss home cooked food soooo much but all the ingredients here are so darn expensive. Same with the fruit. At home I'm used to having fresh fruit all the time. Here though they either don't have the fruit or it's way too expensive. When I do actually find western food around here it's not purely western but instead it's the Korean's take on it. Which is totally ok. This is their country, they can do what they want. I'm just frustated with going out for burgers or pizza and having allergic reactions because they cook their food differently. On this note, does anyone know if Korea cooks their western food in peanut oil? Like Pizza Hut and Loving Hut? I am mildly allergic to peanuts but I seem to be reacting to some other strange ingredient here.

Ahh What?What? I see you are very good with chopsticks, but we must show you proper way to hold them.

Ahh no thanks I'm good, I can get the food in my mouth quite well thank you. (I mean I really can).

But What?What? is ignored and has hands grab hands and chopsticks, interrupting her meal, and completely destroying any will she has left of ever eat school lunch again.

Seriously folks, should I stop you from eating your soup and show you the correct ****** way to hold a spoon. No. Why? Well it's not the way I would hold a spoon, but that doesn't seem to impede your ability to get the soup in your mouth so I leave that shit alone goddamnit.... and I have had countless of you show me the "correct" way to hold chopsticks and you do not all hold chopsticks the same way...



AND I want the damn AC on AND also I am so tired of this waygook.org temporarily unavailable bullshit

My CT runs to turn off all the fans. I tell her that it's going to get really hot and that she can just tilt the fans to face upwards, thus maintaining circulation without blowing the cards off the student's desks.

She doesn't understand and I go to show her how to tilt the fan... She panics and runs up to me saying "No! No! I'll do it."
Offended and not in the best of moods, I tell her that I'm a 30yr old man, who has graduated from University, with an honours degree. I know how to operate a simple fan without breaking it.

Ugggggggghhhhhhhhhh, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the infantilisation of the foreign teacher amazes me.

"Wow, you took the subway to Yeoju? Isn't that difficult?" NO

"Wow, you went to Noraebang? How?" IT'S EASY.

"Wow, insert X here." YOU KNOW I'VE BEEN HERE OVER 4 YEARS.

Imagine a Korean was in Toronto for 4 years?

"Oh, wow! You made it down to Niagara Falls all by yourself? How on Earth did you manage that? You know how to do that?"

People would call me the most condescending prick in the world.

Did you ever notice that the media in Korea can report opinions or numbers but never the two together?

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170622000709

This is a story about income in Korea.

It notes that men out earn women 1.7:1, but doesn't discuss why.

My CT runs to turn off all the fans. I tell her that it's going to get really hot and that she can just tilt the fans to face upwards, thus maintaining circulation without blowing the cards off the student's desks.

She doesn't understand and I go to show her how to tilt the fan... She panics and runs up to me saying "No! No! I'll do it."
Offended and not in the best of moods, I tell her that I'm a 30yr old man, who has graduated from University, with an honours degree. I know how to operate a simple fan without breaking it.

Ugggggggghhhhhhhhhh, I've said it before and I'll say it again, the infantilisation of the foreign teacher amazes me.

"Wow, you took the subway to Yeoju? Isn't that difficult?" NO

"Wow, you went to Noraebang? How?" IT'S EASY.

"Wow, insert X here." YOU KNOW I'VE BEEN HERE OVER 4 YEARS.

Imagine a Korean was in Toronto for 4 years?

"Oh, wow! You made it down to Niagara Falls all by yourself? How on Earth did you manage that? You know how to do that?"

People would call me the most condescending prick in the world.

I honestly cannot take it anymore. I was asking myself today what it is that puts me in these foul moods so suddenly, and it is this ridiculous condescension. I am not an imbecile. I think coming from a background where I was considered an expert in my field to being treated like I have a severe intellectual disability has now just gotten old and annoying. It was quite nice at first,  not having to think for 20 other people, but I just can't anymore.  I thought I was really cool for escaping the rat race, now I just want it back because at least I was treated like I had a brain cell or two. Also I am now in my forties so I think I am just taking it really hard. Yeah. cause a 40 year old clearly cannot figure out how a printer works or how to feed herself or catch a new bus.

My annoying coT keeps asking me to speak Korean to the students because they supposedly "think it's funny." I shoot her down every time now. I get a feeling she wants to feel superior about her pronunciation of her native tongue.   

One time she insisted I repeat some Korean sounds after her (like ㅆ and ㄸ) and the students just gave me looks like they didn't get the point of the demonstration and/or thought her crazy. She was trying to show that my pronunciation was off but I like to think I'm passable.

My annoying coT keeps asking me to speak Korean to the students because they supposedly "think it's funny." I shoot her down every time now. I get a feeling she wants to feel superior about her pronunciation of her native tongue.   

One time she insisted I repeat some Korean sounds after her (like ㅆ and ㄸ) and the students just gave me looks like they didn't get the point of the demonstration and/or thought her crazy. She was trying to show that my pronunciation was off but I like to think I'm passable.

Tell her to choose one of each of the following words and if you guess right 100% of the time you'll do it:
right, light
pirate, pilot
fan, pan
lion, ryan
foot, put
tower, towel

No more sugar coating: I hate my Thursday/Friday school. If I had to be at this school more than a day and a half, I would have quit already. My coteacher does NO discipline at all besides the occasional "Be quiet~" and the kids never do what I tell them to do. I'm so done. They have exams next week, which will give me a break, and then I'm showing movies until the end of the semester. Why pretend like they're going to learn anything?

When the new semester starts, I'll do the pages I'm supposed to do (which they totally ignore) then show a video. I'm done putting effort into teaching them. They don't want to learn.

Did you ever notice that the media in Korea can report opinions or numbers but never the two together?

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170622000709

This is a story about income in Korea.

It notes that men out earn women 1.7:1, but doesn't discuss why.

An explanation of why men out earn women, for example, wouldn't be an opinion if backed up by facts and numbers to arrive at a conclusion. That conclusion could be challenged, but the discussion would take place with facts as the basis.

The problem is when actual opinions are entered into the mix to try and shutdown a discussion of facts. For instance, if someone says, "Men are just constantly oppressing women because they're all misogynists" or "Women aren't as capable as men," and this explains the wage difference, then the discussion more often than not becomes whether or not that opinion is true, not why, objectively, there is an actual wage difference. The Western media typically mixes these two together to coverup important issues. The Korean media doesn't necessarily have to go as far because South Koreans are often taught in schools not to question things. If people get upset at the numbers or facts, decades of certain thinking take hold, and then the opinion articles enforcing a concept and that old thinking can be employed.

Yonhap News Agency sort of has that Western style in that they always push a single political line, blurring facts and opinions, which is to be expected as they're state-run.

Did you ever notice that the media in Korea can report opinions or numbers but never the two together?

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170622000709

This is a story about income in Korea.

It notes that men out earn women 1.7:1, but doesn't discuss why.

An explanation of why men out earn women, for example, wouldn't be an opinion if backed up by facts and numbers to arrive at a conclusion. That conclusion could be challenged, but the discussion would take place with facts as the basis.

The problem is when actual opinions are entered into the mix to try and shutdown a discussion of facts. For instance, if someone says, "Men are just constantly oppressing women because they're all misogynists" or "Women aren't as capable as men," and this explains the wage difference, then the discussion more often than not becomes whether or not that opinion is true, not why, objectively, there is an actual wage difference. The Western media typically mixes these two together to coverup important issues. The Korean media doesn't necessarily have to go as far because South Koreans are often taught in schools not to question things. If people get upset at the numbers or facts, decades of certain thinking take hold, and then the opinion articles enforcing a concept and that old thinking can be employed.

Thanks.

I should have said "analysis" instead of opinion.

Did you ever notice that the media in Korea can report opinions or numbers but never the two together?

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170622000709

This is a story about income in Korea.

It notes that men out earn women 1.7:1, but doesn't discuss why.

An explanation of why men out earn women, for example, wouldn't be an opinion if backed up by facts and numbers to arrive at a conclusion. That conclusion could be challenged, but the discussion would take place with facts as the basis.

The problem is when actual opinions are entered into the mix to try and shutdown a discussion of facts. For instance, if someone says, "Men are just constantly oppressing women because they're all misogynists" or "Women aren't as capable as men," and this explains the wage difference, then the discussion more often than not becomes whether or not that opinion is true, not why, objectively, there is an actual wage difference. The Western media typically mixes these two together to coverup important issues. The Korean media doesn't necessarily have to go as far because South Koreans are often taught in schools not to question things. If people get upset at the numbers or facts, decades of certain thinking take hold, and then the opinion articles enforcing a concept and that old thinking can be employed.

Thanks.

I should have said "analysis" instead of opinion.

No, I would say you were correct. One rarely finds an actual analysis in the Western media; just overblown opinions.

Did you ever notice that the media in Korea can report opinions or numbers but never the two together?

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170622000709

This is a story about income in Korea.

It notes that men out earn women 1.7:1, but doesn't discuss why.

An explanation of why men out earn women, for example, wouldn't be an opinion if backed up by facts and numbers to arrive at a conclusion. That conclusion could be challenged, but the discussion would take place with facts as the basis.

The problem is when actual opinions are entered into the mix to try and shutdown a discussion of facts. For instance, if someone says, "Men are just constantly oppressing women because they're all misogynists" or "Women aren't as capable as men," and this explains the wage difference, then the discussion more often than not becomes whether or not that opinion is true, not why, objectively, there is an actual wage difference. The Western media typically mixes these two together to coverup important issues. The Korean media doesn't necessarily have to go as far because South Koreans are often taught in schools not to question things. If people get upset at the numbers or facts, decades of certain thinking take hold, and then the opinion articles enforcing a concept and that old thinking can be employed.

Thanks.

I should have said "analysis" instead of opinion.

No, I would say you were correct. One rarely finds an actual analysis in the Western media; just overblown opinions.

Analysis is really what I want to see, but I do I agree that honest analysis is becoming rarer in the west as well.

We used to see some of it from public broadcasters (CBC, BBC, PBS), but they have taken a swing to the left in recent years.

I used "opinion" in perhaps a more archaic usage - the current use is more aligned with "position".

"I think women are paid less because they often choose lower paying lines of work, and they also often leave the workforce after having children," is an opinion based on some analysis. It is open to new data, and dares you disprove me.

"I think women are paid less because that is their place. I am a [right wing party] supporter, and a member of [conservative religious sect]," is more of a "position" sort of opinion, and not open to new data.