RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Ouch, sorry to hear this happened to you. :(

The name of that plant is the jujube tree (called 대추 in Korean). The berries are used for herbal tea.

And as an FYI to anyone else, I could be wrong, but I think that spider is Korea's native banana spider (they are venomous to humans, but they're also extremely passive and rarely bite -- I don't think the bites are venomous enough to cause death, either, but they're supposed to hurt like hell).

Yeah, I was wondering if it was a jujube, but the leaves, and fruit were way to small, and the thorns disproportionately evil. Also, the plant looked more like a shrubbery than an actual tree.
Still, I went back and tasted a berry, and it was a jujube after all. According to my coworker, who first claimed total ignorance, the dwarf varieties of the plant can be grown closer together, and the fruit makes for better tea than the normal variety.
So anyway, good call Chinguetti. 

And "Banana Spider" seems like such an undignified name. I much prefer "Golden Orb-web Spider".
Did you know that some species of this family grow large enough to catch and eat small birds and snakes? In Taiwan I've seen some that were bigger than my hand!
Beautiful colours, but not a web I want to run into during my evening jog!

Also I just talked to a friend who also renewed and her exam didn't include the anal probing, so it must just be the weird hospital I went to. 

I really don't understand what the exam is for.  The day before I went to the immigration office and got that all sorted, so who even looks at my health results?  They're being mailed to my school.

I also just had my medical test yesterday and no probing. Was worried about it since it was first mentioned... thanks to waygook.org 

Ah, same. I renewed, but haven't had the medical check and was getting a little worried about it now.

Yeah, I was wondering if it was a jujube, but the leaves, and fruit were way to small, and the thorns disproportionately evil. Also, the plant looked more like a shrubbery than an actual tree.
Still, I went back and tasted a berry, and it was a jujube after all. According to my coworker, who first claimed total ignorance, the dwarf varieties of the plant can be grown closer together, and the fruit makes for better tea than the normal variety.
So anyway, good call Chinguetti. 

And "Banana Spider" seems like such an undignified name. I much prefer "Golden Orb-web Spider".
Did you know that some species of this family grow large enough to catch and eat small birds and snakes? In Taiwan I've seen some that were bigger than my hand!
Beautiful colours, but not a web I want to run into during my evening jog!

Yeah, I thought the plant was a little on the small side, too, but figured it was either very young or had been modified.

And "golden orb" or "banana", I touched one by accident last year. I was running my hands through some shrubs and felt something cold and rubbery, and, when I looked, there it was trying to shimmy away. *shudders* Thing looked like its body could cover half my palm.

AND I HAVEN'T RUN MY HANDS THROUGH SHRUBBERY AGAIN SINCE THEN

I don't think my brain could process touching one that's actually as big as my entire hand. Dx

Also I just talked to a friend who also renewed and her exam didn't include the anal probing, so it must just be the weird hospital I went to. 

I really don't understand what the exam is for.  The day before I went to the immigration office and got that all sorted, so who even looks at my health results?  They're being mailed to my school.

I also just had my medical test yesterday and no probing. Was worried about it since it was first mentioned... thanks to waygook.org 

Good to know, thank you!!!

At least I managed to terrify everyone 

A teacher in my office yawns constantly and he vocalizes every...single...on e of them.

We just got my schedule ironed out yesterday, so today I was putting together my schedule for the whole semester, seeing if there was time for supplemental culture classes or not. I found out that the frickin midterm is THE LAST WEEK OF SEPTEMBER which means that I can't even finish two chapters with the students because of Chuseok. I talked about it with my boss and she told me just to finish the listening section of chapter 7 by the midterm. Ok. Can do.

Except I already know there's going to be conflict over this. She never likes how I do things and I'd finally gotten down a half-decent system, and this is going to require that I deviate from it. Initially we were going to try to cram both chapters into the three class hours I have before midterms by skipping something, and I was talking with my coteacher saying that I was afraid the boss teacher was going to get mad at me because doing three pages in one class means that there won't be much time for non-textbook activities... aka the kids will be bored. She told me to just make a powerpoint with pictures that match their interests. Except that's what I've been trying to do anyways, and I just taught with her today and I thought that I had done a good job with the whole engaging pictures bit. Especially given that 90% of the class has me with the digital textbook on the screen (as per my coteachers' instructions) I don't know how I could add anything more to the class. It seems like my materials are never good enough but no one ever gives me suggestions for how to improve them, just "do that thing you're already trying to do except you're not doing it well enough."

After one time that my boss was particularly nasty to me after I had done my best to follow her extremely vague instructions which she refused to/couldn't clarify, I decided to just not try to interpret what she was saying anymore and not worry about whether it was possible and just do whatever she said. I thought I had finally figured out a system and it would be smooth sailing this semester in comparison to the first one which was hellish, but now I'm afraid I'm going to get more of the same harsh criticism followed by non-instructions on how to improve.

I was feeling so hopeful about this semester and that I'd finally settled in. 

I have no internet at home T.T

When I came back from vacation, there was no connection.  It turns out that the apartment building changed owners.  The old owner was providing internet service, but the new owner doesn't want to provide it anymore. 

So that means I need to buy the service.  Except because my school pays for my apartment, my co-teacher told me that the school has to be the one to sign the contract.

But she said the internet service provider she contacted want a minimum contract of 3 years!  ._.  So my other option is... to move.

So I'm moving at the end of September, and I have nothing to do at home until then.  I live in a small town, so I've been bored out of my mind.

I have only been teaching for 3 months, I literally only have 3 months experience and thats it. For the next 5 weeks I have to run 3 hour teacher training sessions where I have to teach Korean English teachers from my whole area how to teach English. WHAT THE??????????

I don't even know where to start with it to be honest. I just know I am going to feel so condescending standing infront of that class of experienced teachers telling them how I think they should teach.

Talk about being thrown in the deep end.

Maybe you could make it more of a discussion based/open type of forum? That way you could all learn from each other. If you're able, perhaps try being more of a facilitator

Maybe you could make it more of a discussion based/open type of forum? That way you could all learn from each other. If you're able, perhaps try being more of a facilitator

Yeah that's exactly what im going to do. Hopefully we can all bounce some good ideas off one another and it won't be as terrible as I am predicting it to be.

My old co teacher is out on Maternity leave. She was great!

Now my new co teacher is an elderly woman who is overly strict and made me a "game" teacher. I will not survive the next 3 months with her...

I am SO worried about that. My current co is pregnant and will be leaving on maternity leave by the end of the year. She is a fantastic co teacher and I would be lost without her.

I'm worried that my new co will either be a strict older teacher or a brand new teacher that doesn't know what to do.

Most of all, I'm worried that I won't have a co at all

One of co-teachers is gonna be on maternity leave next year. Hoping the new teacher will let me continue on as I have been because one of my favorite classes is at that school 

I don't even know if my main coT is gonna be here next year or not. She has the option to apply for another year but hasn't decided yet, I guess. And I think my 3rd coT is a contract teacher cause she teaches at both my elementary schools so who knows if she'll be here next year or not.

Next spring is gonna be a year of change...

^^^

We should start a "my co-teacher is pregnant and I am scared of the future" club.

Seriously?! So many co teachers are going on mat leave right now... Mine leaves on Wednesday... but luckily the teacher who is taking her place is a coteacher who I've already taught with and like in general! Oh wait...wrong thread.. 

So that means I need to buy the service.  Except because my school pays for my apartment, my co-teacher told me that the school has to be the one to sign the contract.

But she said the internet service provider she contacted want a minimum contract of 3 years!  ._.  So my other option is... to move.

That's strange -- I don't know why your co-teacher told you that (the part about how your school has to sign the internet contract). I think she's mistaken -- I've lived in several school-provided apartments over the years and I was always the one who signed my internet contracts, even though my previous schools paid for my previous school-provided apartments. As for the part about the internet service provider she contacted wanting a minimum 3-year contract, unless you live in a very small rural town or something remote, there should be other options of internet companies available to choose from.

So that means I need to buy the service.  Except because my school pays for my apartment, my co-teacher told me that the school has to be the one to sign the contract.

But she said the internet service provider she contacted want a minimum contract of 3 years!  ._.  So my other option is... to move.

That's strange -- I don't know why your co-teacher told you that (the part about how your school has to sign the internet contract). I think she's mistaken -- I've lived in several school-provided apartments over the years and I was always the one who signed my internet contracts, even though my previous schools paid for my previous school-provided apartments. As for the part about the internet service provider she contacted wanting a minimum 3-year contract, unless you live in a very small rural town or something remote, there should be other options of internet companies available to choose from.

I live hella rural and while I didn't sign up for internet, I did sign up for TV and it was just a 2-year contract (which I ended up canceling anyway cause I never watch Korean TV. Cancellation fee was the remainder of one year, so least I don't have to pay a 2nd year for something I never use ).

Surely there's gotta be other options!

So that means I need to buy the service.  Except because my school pays for my apartment, my co-teacher told me that the school has to be the one to sign the contract.

But she said the internet service provider she contacted want a minimum contract of 3 years!  ._.  So my other option is... to move.

Yeah, something isn't right here. I lived hella rural last year in a school apartment, signed my own internet contract for 2 years (They did give me the option of 1 year), which I just transferred with me when I moved.... My internet has nothing to do with the school or any of my landlords.

That's strange -- I don't know why your co-teacher told you that (the part about how your school has to sign the internet contract). I think she's mistaken -- I've lived in several school-provided apartments over the years and I was always the one who signed my internet contracts, even though my previous schools paid for my previous school-provided apartments. As for the part about the internet service provider she contacted wanting a minimum 3-year contract, unless you live in a very small rural town or something remote, there should be other options of internet companies available to choose from.

I live hella rural and while I didn't sign up for internet, I did sign up for TV and it was just a 2-year contract (which I ended up canceling anyway cause I never watch Korean TV. Cancellation fee was the remainder of one year, so least I don't have to pay a 2nd year for something I never use ).

Surely there's gotta be other options!

So that means I need to buy the service.  Except because my school pays for my apartment, my co-teacher told me that the school has to be the one to sign the contract.

But she said the internet service provider she contacted want a minimum contract of 3 years!  ._.  So my other option is... to move.

Yeah, something isn't right here. I lived hella rural last year in a school apartment, signed my own internet contract for 2 years (They did give me the option of 1 year), which I just transferred with me when I moved.... My internet has nothing to do with the school or any of my landlords.

That's strange -- I don't know why your co-teacher told you that (the part about how your school has to sign the internet contract). I think she's mistaken -- I've lived in several school-provided apartments over the years and I was always the one who signed my internet contracts, even though my previous schools paid for my previous school-provided apartments. As for the part about the internet service provider she contacted wanting a minimum 3-year contract, unless you live in a very small rural town or something remote, there should be other options of internet companies available to choose from.

I live hella rural and while I didn't sign up for internet, I did sign up for TV and it was just a 2-year contract (which I ended up canceling anyway cause I never watch Korean TV. Cancellation fee was the remainder of one year, so least I don't have to pay a 2nd year for something I never use ).

Surely there's gotta be other options!

What is the point of this post. You quoted 3 either people and wrote nothing yourself. I see posts like this sometimes. What are you people doing?

I have only been teaching for 3 months, I literally only have 3 months experience and thats it. For the next 5 weeks I have to run 3 hour teacher training sessions where I have to teach Korean English teachers from my whole area how to teach English. WHAT THE??????????

I don't even know where to start with it to be honest. I just know I am going to feel so condescending standing infront of that class of experienced teachers telling them how I think they should teach.

Talk about being thrown in the deep end.

The stuff of nightmares.  I'd genuinely refuse to do it.  I usually bite my tongue and keep quiet about most things at my school but I'd draw the line there.

Do they know that you have no experience?  What do they expect you to tell them?   

"Teaching is a lot like an orange..."